A calculator referred to as the "world's first computer" that was used to chart eclipses may also have been used to tell fortunes.
The Antikythera Mechanism, which dates from around 60 BC, is a complex piece of clockwork made up of 30 gears, and was used to map the movement of the sun and planets across the sky. The device was also used to track solar and lunar eclipses.
New research suggests the device, which was discovered in a small wooden box in 1901, may also have been used to tell fortunes. Inscriptions on the Antikythera Mechanism, which was used in ancient Greece, also confirm its ability to track planets, according to Mike Edmunds from the astrophysics department at Cardiff University.
Additionally, the inscriptions revealed that ancient astronomers used the device to predict the colour of eclipses – which may have been seen as omens. "We are not quite sure how to interpret this, to be fair," said Edmunds. "But it could hark back to suggestions that the colour of an eclipse was some sort of omen or signal. Certain colours might be better for what's coming than other colours."
"If this is so, this is the first instance we have in the mechanism of any real mention of astrology rather than astronomy."
Other ancient civilisations also had ways of tracking the position of planets, the sun and the moon. A recent study found that an ancient Mayan observatory was used to track the position of Venus and Mars, with doors and windows within the structure aligned with the movement of the sun.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
