The composition "Gears", (Granazi in Greek, was
inspired by the so called Antikythera device. The
Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek analogue
computer used to predict astronomical positions and
eclipses for calendar and astrological purposes decades
in advance. It could also have been used to track the
four-year cycle of athletic games which was similar to
an Olympiad, the cycle of the ancient Olympic Games.
The artefact was retrieved from the sea in 1901, and
identified on 17 May 1902 as...(+)
The composition "Gears", (Granazi in Greek, was
inspired by the so called Antikythera device. The
Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek analogue
computer used to predict astronomical positions and
eclipses for calendar and astrological purposes decades
in advance. It could also have been used to track the
four-year cycle of athletic games which was similar to
an Olympiad, the cycle of the ancient Olympic Games.
The artefact was retrieved from the sea in 1901, and
identified on 17 May 1902 as containing a gear wheel by
archaeologist Valerios Stais, among wreckage retrieved
from a wreck off the coast of the Greek island
Antikythera. The instrument is believed to have been
designed and constructed by Greek scientists and has
been variously dated to about 87 BC, or between 150 and
100 BC, or to 205 BC, or to within a generation before
the shipwreck, which has been dated to approximately
70-60 BC. The device, housed in the remains of a 34 cm
× 18 cm × 9 cm wooden box, was found as one lump,
later separated into three main fragments which are now
divided into 82 separate fragments after conservation
works. Four of these fragments contain gears, while
inscriptions are found on many others. The largest gear
is approximately 14 centimetres in diameter and
originally had 223 teeth. It is a complex clockwork
mechanism composed of at least 30 meshing bronze gears.