A 2,000-year-old Greek device is often called the world's oldest analog computer.

A computer from ancient Greece sounds like a category error. The Antikythera mechanism was recovered from a shipwreck and is now famous as a geared calculating device. Britannica describes it as an ancient computer used for astronomical and calendar calculations. It was not electronic and it was not a laptop. It was a mechanical device for tracking the sky, which is still far more advanced than most people expect from 2,000 years ago. The surprise is how modern the idea feels: gears, prediction, and calendar math in an ancient object.

1 discovery explored