What is the origin of the Antikythera machine we see in the Indiana Jones movie?

Without a doubt, one of Harrison Ford’s most memorable roles is Indiana Jones, a character he played a total of five times between 1981 and this year. And, precisely, the one we are interested in focusing on in this article is Indiana Jones and the Bell of Destiny, his fifth and last film, although there is no trace of other things that the main character wants. The Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail, as you will see if you continue reading this article, there is physical evidence that the Antikythera Machine actually exists.

To understand the origin of the Antikythera Machine we must go back to the 1st century AD, when a ship sailing south of Crete to Rome was shipwrecked between the islands of Cythera and Antikythera. But, as bad luck would have it, due to the tsunami of 6 AD, the inventory was worse than before.

Fortunately, the size of the ship was enough that at the beginning of the 20th century, during the expedition in which Jacques Costa took part, at a depth of sixty meters, it was possible to save a part of the ship, including the above-mentioned part. Cargo had, among other treasures, some automatic statues which, strangely enough, do not seem to have come from Greece, and the Antikythera machine which we are most excited about.

Although it is clear that this device does not allow you to travel through time, as Indiana Jones did in the movie, although at that time it was believed that our planet was the center of the Earth, it has various advantages. Universe, served as a calendar. Astronomy, in addition to calculating the movement of the moon (what we now call phases), of the sun or planets such as Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Mercury (their existence, as opposed to what is known, was unknown to the Greeks).

The Antikythera Machine consisted of 96 cogwheel gears that could represent past astronomical conditions as well as future days, allowing the Greeks to predict events such as eclipses with millimeter precision.

Making the Antikythera machine must not be the easiest thing in the world, because on the back you could see about 3,400 letters in ancient Greek, which probably served as a guide for the tool, while on the front it represented twelve symbols. , without a doubt, look at the signs of the zodiac.

It should come as no surprise that Indiana Jones and Destiny’s Archimedes Deal is cited as the inventor, as Cicero himself believed the physicist to be the inventor of the Antikythera Machine, which is believed to have been encased in a box known as the Pinnacle. Translated into our language, it would be a tablet, so this gadget can be considered a precursor to today’s digital devices. It was probably considered sacred, so its use must have been limited to priests in temples or libraries.

However, it should be clear that the remains found in the ship did not correspond to the original model of the Antikythera machine, because this device, as happens in everything in life, had to go through different stages of evolution, besides doubting that. The first one is about two hundred years old.

However, the Christian invasion in the 4th century, which led to the destruction of the pagan temples and everything inside them, may be the reason why the Antikythera machine did not survive. In fact, if it weren’t for the shipwreck, we might never have seen the existence of this artifact, so Steven Spielberg had to think of something else to do in his latest Indiana Jones movie.

One of the most disturbing facts is the discovery of evidence of Sumerian and Babylonian letters in the remains of the Antikythera machine, which casts doubt on the connection between both cultures with Greece much older than one might expect.

So if the movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny caught your attention and you’re curious about the remains that could be recovered from the Antikythera Machine, apparently you can find them at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. You can check it in the photo below this article.