Shipwreck in Aegean hides technological marvel from antiquity

In a recent article, Popular Mechanics highlights that beneath the crystal-clear waters of the Aegean Sea, a shipwreck lost to time guarded a secret that would astonish the modern world. 

In 72 B.C.E., as the Roman Republic edged closer to imperial dominance, its military campaigns were accompanied by the large-scale looting of conquered lands. One such mission, led by Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus, involved a fleet tasked with transporting vast treasures back to Rome. Most of the ships reached the bustling port of Ostia, southwest of the capital—except one.

A Greek vessel, heavy with cargo that included coins, jewelry, glassware, bronze statues, and marble masterpieces, was caught in a violent storm as it crossed the Aegean Sea. The ship smashed into the rocky shores of the island of Antikythera, and its hull—measuring five inches thick—was torn open. The vessel sank over 100 feet beneath the surface, coming to rest on a steep, submerged slope just off the island’s coast.

That ill-fated voyage marked the beginning of one of archaeology’s most enduring mysteries: the Antikythera mechanism.

Discovered by sponge divers in the early 1900s, the device stunned researchers. Believed to be an ancient astronomical calculator—and possibly the earliest known analog computer—it was unlike anything else ever recovered from antiquity. The mechanism’s complexity has fascinated and baffled scholars for more than a century.

Now housed in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, the Antikythera mechanism is as famous for what it is missing as for what remains. Only about a third of the device has been found—roughly the size of a shoebox, broken into 82 fragments of varying size. The rest lies somewhere beneath the sea, unrecovered.

Over 100 years after its discovery, the Antikythera mechanism continues to inspire intense research and heated debate. A wide range of specialists—from mathematicians and engineers to astrophysicists and marine archaeologists—have attempted to reconstruct its functions and decode its purpose.

As new technologies and techniques push the boundaries of underwater exploration and digital modeling, the story of the Antikythera mechanism remains far from over. With each passing year, this 2,000-year-old artifact continues to unlock new clues—not just about itself, but about the brilliance and ambition of the ancient world.

By Naila Huseynova