Antikythera Wreck exhibition at Athens Airport

The National Archaeological Museum's touring exhibition, entitled "Antikythera Wreck -The Treasures-The Ship-The Mechanism", will debut on Monday (until the end of January 2013) at the Eleftherios Venizelos Athens International Airport. Passengers and visitors at the airport will have the opportunity to view actual artifacts from Antikythera wreck.

This is the first time that all of the findings from the Antikythera wreck, dated betwethen 60-50 BC, will be displayed together, while some of the items have never been displayed before.

Sometime before Easter 1900, Elias Stadiatis, a sponge diver, discovered the wreck of an ancient cargo ship off the the isle of Antikythera, at a depth of 42 m (138 ft). Sponge divers retrieved several statues and other artifacts from the site.

The mechanism itself was discovered on May 17, 1901, when archaeologist Valerios Stais noticed that a piece of rock recovered from the site had a gear wheel embedded in it. Examination revealed that the "rock" was in fact a heavily encrusted and corroded mechanism that had survived the shipwreck in three main parts and dozens of smaller fragments.

The device was surprisingly thin, about 33 cm (13 in) high, 17 cm (6.7 in) wide, and 9 cm (3.5 in) thick, made of bronze and originally mounted in a wooden frame. It was inscribed with a text of over 2,000 characters, many of which have only just recently been deciphered.   

The Antikythera Mechanism is believed to be an ancient mechanical calculator (also described as a rudimentary "mechanical computer") designed to calculate astronomical positions. It was discovered in the Antikythera wreck off the western Cyclades island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, and has been dated to about 150-100 BC. 

SOURCE: ATHENS NEWS AGENCY