The Missing Face of the Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera Mechanism survives as 82 corroded bronze fragments in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. After a shipwreck of about 70 to 60 BC, it lay about 2,000 years underwater, and its front did not come back whole; some of what survived was lost again after its recovery in 1901. This video separates what the fragments, early photographs, X-ray tomography and Greek inscriptions still prove, a zodiac, a calendar, the Sun, the Moon and text on five planets, from what every reconstruction has to supply. We compare four published ways of rebuilding the front, with pointers, dials or rings, and show where the evidence ends. The reconstructions in this video are AI-assisted illustrations based on the published evidence, not photographs. 0:00 Intro 1:02 Eighty-Two Pieces in Athens 2:46 The Second Loss 4:48 Reading Through Bronze 7:01 What the Letters Demand 9:16 Pointers, Dials or Rings 11:35 Where the Proof Runs Out 13:28 Back to the Glass Case Credits: Logg Tandy — CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International