3 - 4 pm (CET)

Dr. Paul Iversen

The Antikythera Mechanism, so named after the Greek island in whose waters it was salvaged in 1901 from a shipwreck datable to ca. 70-60 BCE, is a remarkable geared device that was constructed in the 2nd or 1st century BCE to calculate and display various astronomical, calendrical and athletic time periods. It also featured many inscriptions inscribed on its preserved outer and inner surfaces that are key to understanding its functions and the theory behind the gearing. Some of these were noticed at, and several months after, the Mechanism’s recovery in 1901, but it was not until 2016 that members of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project published a complete edition of these. They did so using data gathered in 2005 from the surviving 82 fragments by the employment of two newer technologies known as Micro-Focus X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT) and Polynomial Texture Mapping (or PTMs for short now more widely known as Reflectance Transformation Imaging or RTI).

This talk will offer a very brief introduction to the discovery and study of the Antikythera Mechanism and its functions, and then using the data gathered in 2005 will offer new texts, including the new placement of some fragments, of what in the literature are referred to as the Parapegma Inscription, the Back Cover Inscription, and the Front Cover Inscription.

Participants can join the online Chronoi Talk by clicking on the following link:

https://fu-berlin.webex.com/fu-berlin/j.php?MTID=m3d802b2ee19c68ec0620ca541666795a

The conference room can be accessed using the following methods:

• Joining directly in your browser; simply click the link above, and look for a button with this option near the bottom of the webpage.

• Downloading the program to your computer (instructions can be found by following the meeting link)

• Using the smartphone app called “Cisco Webex Meetings."

You are welcome to enter the online conference room up to 15 minutes in advance of the start time.