The Antikythera Mechanism for Teachers

With great success, the seminar for teachers for the Antikythera Mechanism was held at the Science and Technology Museum, on October 17, 2019. It was organized by the Museum and the Academy of Institutions and Cultures, in collaboration with the Departments of Cultural Affairs of Primary and Secondary Education.

The speaker at the event and for the seminar for teachers was Professor Kyriakos Efstathiou, Director of the Laboratory of Machine Tools and Conformational Engineering of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and now holds the ERA chair (European) and the UNESCO chair (International) on Digital Cultural Heritage.

Prof. Efstathiou, who is one of the leaders of the Interdisciplinary Research Team of Aristotle University, revealed in a very illustrative way, interesting images and videos the path from the discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism, the decryption and the technical means used up to the attempts to produce copies at various stages of the research.

In a very illustrative way, the speaker proved why the Antikythera Mechanism is an important scientific instrument of antiquity for calculating the position of the sun and the moon in the sky for each day of the year, the phases of the moon and predicted the eclipses of the sun and the moon, as well as the calculation of the Olympic games and other games. He also proved the reasons why we are now sure that the gears of the Antikythera Mechanism are the first to be made in world history and this knowledge overturned the data in the history of Technology. So today the Antikythera Mechanism is a milestone in the World History of Technology.

In the context of the teacher’s seminar, Prof. Efstathiou demonstrated to the participants using the functional copy presented in the exhibition, how it works. Then the sculptor from Patras Mr. Efstathios Leontis spoke. He showed the models of the sculpture he undertook to create for Antikythera, as a tribute to the spongers who discovered the Mechanism and presented the elements that inspired him to create the work, as well as the methodology he followed.