There have been some technical difficulties here at PastPresenters.com over the past week, but everything should be working now including browsing old posts!

In the days the site was out, something very exciting happened: the world’s oldest known computer was presented in a neat computer simulation. If you have yet to hear about this fine piece of Greek machinery, the computer is 2,000 years old. We shouldn’t be surprised, pre-dating this computer are inventions like the battery, indoor plumbing and the automatic door opener.

Now, the device itself was found 108 years ago but exactly what it does has only recently been decoded and published… and now, as I said, simulated:

The device, which was found in an ancient Greek shipwreck dates from the 2nd century BCE. It was operated by turning a handle on the side. It modelled the movements of the major astral bodies which supported a local calendar, a Hellenic games (e.g. Olympic games) calendar, and a star calendar, while also displaying moon phases and eclipses.

About the author: E P Wohlfart is a twenty-something freelance writer with a Classical Archaeology degree, a laptop and a maxed-out library card. Aside from administrating PastPresenters.com, which she started in 2008, she works with several historical publications and is a regular contributor at Suite101.