La verdadera historia de Hamlet, príncipe de Dinamarca

Fuente:

http://eldrakkar.blogspot.com/2009/08/la-verdadera-historia-de-hamlet.html

Información:

jueves 6 de agosto de 2009

La verdadera historia de Hamlet, príncipe de Dinamarca

Saxo Grammaticus, historiador danés, vivió aproximadamente entre 1150 y 1220. De su vida poco se sabe, aparte de que se cree que nació en la isla de Zelanda (Dinamarca) y que fue secretario del arzobispo Axel Absalón desde 1180 hasta 1201. Es conocido por su Gesta Danorum o Historia Danesa, texto datado en el siglo XII, que guarda la historia antigua de los daneses en dieciséis tomos escritos en latín.

Parece ser que fue el rey danés Valdemar I el que le hizo el encargo. La obra incluye traducciones de piezas vernáculas que reemplazan a las originales, perdidas en el tiempo. Versa sobre la historia más antigua de Dinamarca, desde el rey mitológico Dan hasta el 1185 aproximadamente. Los nueve primeros libros de Gesta Danorum están dedicados a mitos y leyendas, incluyendo muchas viejas canciones y poemas; los siete últimos describen, principalmente, guerras y hazañas de los reyes de Dinamarca y sus huestes hasta su época.

Su elegante latín y sus conocimientos sobre la antigua Roma, presentes en la Gesta Danorum, hacen suponer que se educó fuera de su país, quizá en alguna de las grandes escuelas eclesiásticas de Francia. Saxo Grammaticus no fue su nombre real, recibió el apelativo grammaticus, término latino para un maestro de letras, en el Compendium Saxonis de la 'Chronica Jutensis', hacia 1342.

El otro motivo por el que es reconocido Saxo es porque en los libros III y IV de su obra magna se desarrolla la historia del príncipe Amled (aunque se cree que originariamente esta leyenda pertenece a la desaparecida saga islandesa de Almódi o Amleth, que Saxo Grammaticus reversionó en su Gesta Danorum), la cual se supone que inspiró el Hamlet de William Shakespeare. ¿Cómo? La Gesta Danorum fue traducida libremente al francés por François de Belleforest en 1570 con el título de Histoires tragiques. En 1608 Thomas Kyd publicó una versión inglesa de la obra de Belleforest titulada The Hystorie of Hamblet y ésta, también conocida como el Ur-Hamlet, podría ser la fuente directa utilizada por Shakespeare.

La historia del Amled de Saxo

En los días de Rørik Slyngebond, rey de Dinamarca, Gervendill era gobernador de Jutlandia, quien fue sucedido por sus hijos Horvendill y Feng. Horvendill, tras volver de una expedición vikinga en la que había matado a Koll, rey de Noruega, se casó con Gerutha, hija del rey danés Rorik, que le dio un hijo al que llamaron Amled. Pero Feng, enfermo de envidia, asesinó asu hermano y persuadió a Gerutha para que se convirtiera en su esposa. Amled, temeroso de compartir el destino de su padre, finge ser imbécil, aunque su tío le pondrá varias pruebas para desenmascararlo. También trataron de unirlo a una hermosa muchacha, su hermanastra, pero su astucia lo salvó.

Sin embargo, cuando Amled mata al curioso oculto en el aposento de su madre, Feng sabe a ciencia cierta que el príncipe está fingiendo su idiotez. Así, lo envía a Inglaterra en compañía de dos asistentes que llevan una carta para el rey extranjero, en la que se le pide que dé muerte a Amled. Éste descubre su contenido y cambia el mensaje para que el rey inglés ejecute a los ayudantes y le conceda a él la mano de su hija. Tras la boda, Amled regresa a su reino con una parte del oro que ha reunido y llega a tiempo para el banquete de su propio funeral. Allí pone en marcha su venganza: emborracha a los cortesanos, prende fuego al palacio y atraviesa con su espada a Feng, asesino de su padre. Luego, se proclama rey.

Amled regresa a Inglaterra en busca de su esposa, pero descubre que tanto el rey inglés como el finado Feng se habían jurado mutuamente vengar la muerte del otro. Entonces, el rey inglés lo envía a conseguir la mano de la reina escocesa Hermuthruda, quien mataba a todos sus pretendientes, pero que, en esta ocasión, se enamora de Amled y se casa con él. A su regreso a Inglaterra, su primera esposa le cuenta la verdad de la venganza de su padre y se enfrentan en una batalla. Amled ganó el primer día e hizo empalar a los caídos enemigos, lo que aterrorizó al personal. Después de esto, volvió a Dinamarca con sus dos esposas, donde encontró la enemistad de Wiglek, sucesor de Rorik. Amled murió luchando contra éste y Hermuthruda, aunque había jurado morir con él, se casó más tarde con el vencedor.

http://isone.blogspot.com/2008/07/saxo-grammaticus-y-el-prncipe-amled.html

-----

Royal deceit / Prince of Jutland (1994)
Título español: La verdadera historia de Hamlet, príncipe de Dinamarca

Dirigida por Gabriel Axel. Con Christian Bale, Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Kate Beckinsale

Durante Siglo VI, Helen Mirren es la reina de Jutlandia quién protegerá a su hijo Amled, interpretado por Christian Bale, al ser demasiado inocente para adivinar las intrigas de su tío. La gran baza es precisamente Gabriel Byrne, quién perfila a éste tío maquiavélico, cegado por las ansias de ser rey. Fenge mata a su hermano, el rey, y a uno de sus sobrinos. Amled logra escapar fingiendo locura pero el joven planeará su venganza.

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Warfare - The Viking Age Wiki

Fuente:

http://vikings.wikia.com/wiki/Warfare

Información:

Warfare

From The Viking Age Wiki

Our knowledge about arms and armour of the Viking age (8th to 11th centuries Europe) is based on relatively sparse archaeological finds, pictorial representation, and to some extent on the accounts in the Norse sagas and Norse laws recorded in the 13th century.

According to custom, all free Norse men were required to own weapons, as well as permitted to carry them at all times. These arms were also indicative of a Viking's social status. A wealthy Viking would have a complete ensemble of a helmet, shield, chainmail shirt, and animal-skin coat, among various other arms and accoutrements of war. A less well-off man, however, could only afford a single weapon and perhaps a shield.

The spear and shield were the most basic arms and accoutrements of the Viking warrior. Most would probably also wear a knife of some description, commonly of the seax type which was common in Dark Ages' Europe. As an alternative, or perhaps in addition to the spear, a warrior might carry a bow or axe. The wealthiest Vikings would have worn a sword in addition to his main arms and have had access to body armour, such as a helmet and a mail hauberk.

Four 9th-10th cent. Viking arrowheadsBows were used both for hunting and in battle. They were made from yew, ash or elm trees. The draw force of a 10th century bow may have reached some 90 pounds force (400 N), resulting in an effective range of at least 250 m. A bow found at Viking Hedeby, which probably was a full-fledged war bow, had a draw force of well over 100 pounds. A unit of length used in Icelandic law (the Grágás) called a bowshot (ördrag) corresponded to 480 m.

Arrowheads were typically made from iron and produced in various shapes and dimensions, according to place of origin. Most arrowheads were fixed onto the arrow shaft by a shouldered tang that was fitted into the end of a shaft of wood. Some heads were also made of wood or antler. Evidence for eagle feather flights has been found with the feathers being bound and glued on. The end of the shaft was flared with very shallow self nocks, although some arrows possessed bronze cast nocks.

The earliest find of these relics were found in Denmark, seemingly belonging to the leading-warrior class, as per the graves in which they were discovered.

Contents [hide] 1 Spear 2 Shield 3 Knife 4 Sword 5 Axe 6 Atgeir 7 Armour 7.1 Helmet 7.2 Mail 7.3 Lamellar 8 Archaeological finds 9 Saga accounts 9.1 Battles 9.2 Duels 10 Images 11 External links 12 References

[edit] Spear The spear was the most common weapon of the Viking warrior. Spears consisted of metal heads on wooden shafts of two to three meters in length. The heads could measure between twenty and sixty centimetres, with a tendency towards longer heads in the later Viking age. Spear heads with wings are called krókspjót (barbed spear) in the sagas. Some larger-headed spears were called hoggspjót (hewing spear) and could also be used for cutting.

The spear was used both as a throwing weapon and as a thrusting weapon. Most evidence indicates that they were used in one hand. Limited evidence from a saga indicates that they may have been use in two hands, but not in battle.

[edit] Shield The shield was the most common means of defence. The Viking shield was typically round, being a successor to earlier Germanic shields with a diameter of around 80–90 cm or more and a typically thickness of less than 10mm, made of planks of woods such as fir, pine, willow or linden. It usually had a central hole with a hand grip, the hand being protected by a metal boss. Shields were likely covered with rawhide or leather. The Gokstad ship has places for shields to be hung on its railing, and the Gokstad shields have holes along the rim for fastening some sort of non-metallic rim protection. Some Viking shields may have been decorated by simple patterns, although some skaldic poems praising shields might indicate more elaborate decoration and archaeological evidence has supported this. Towards the end of the Viking age, the Norman kite shield came into fashion.

[edit] Knife See also: Seax

The Seax was in widespread use among the Migration period Germanic tribes, and is even eponymous of the Saxons. It appears in Scandinavia from the 4th century, and shows a pattern of distribution from the lower Elbe (Elbe Germans) to Anglo-Saxon England. While their popularity on the continent declines with the end of the Migration period, they remain in frequent use in both England and Scandinavia throughout the Viking Age.

[edit] Sword Main article: Viking sword Owning a sword was a matter of high prestige. A sword mentioned in the Laxdæla saga was valued at half a crown, corresponding to the value of 16 milk-cows.

The Viking sword was for single-handed use to be combined with a shield, with a blade length of typically 60–80 cm. Its shape was still very much based on the swords of the Dark Ages and on the Roman spatha, with a tight grip, long deep fuller, and no pronounced cross-guard.

[edit] Axe See also: Danish axe

Based on the everyday tool for splitting wood, axes specialized for use in battle evolved, with larger heads and longer shafts. Some axe heads were inlaid with silver designs. In the later Viking era, there were axe heads with crescent shaped edges measuring up to 45 cm, called breið-exi (broad axe).

[edit] Atgeir Main article: Atgeir A polearm known as the atgeir is mentioned in several Norse sagas and other literature. Atgeir is usually translated as "halberd", but may have been more akin to a glaive.

[edit] Armour

[edit] Helmet Helmets from the Viking Age are very rare - only one example is known to exist.[1] This Viking helmet was made of iron and was in the shape of a rounded or peaked cap made from four plates after the spangenhelm pattern, and was excavated from Gjermundbu, Norway, and dated to the 10th century. This helmet has a rounded cap with no horns on top and has a "spectacle" guard around the eyes and nose, in addition to a possible mail aventail. The eyeguard in particular suggests a close affinity with the earlier Vendel period helmets. From runestones and other illustrations, we know the Vikings also wore simpler helmets, often peaked caps with a simple noseguard. Unlike what is often shown in popular culture, there are no sources that prove that Viking helmets had horns mounted on them.

[edit] Mail Once again, only a single fragmented but possibly complete mail shirt has been excavated in Scandinavia, from the same site as the helmet - Gjermundbu in Norway. Scandinavian Viking age burial customs seems to not favor burial with helmet or mail armour, in contrast to earlier extensive armor burials in Swedish Valsgärde.The mail shirt is currently interpreted as elbow-and-knee length. Probably worn over thick clothing, the mail shirt will protect the wearer from blows that get past his defence. Mail was very expensive in early medieval Europe, and would only have been worn by rich warriors. Mail armour of this type may also be known as a byrnie.

[edit] Lamellar More than thirty lamellae (individual plates for lamellar armour) were found in Birka, Sweden, in 1877, 1934 and 1998-2000.[2] They were dated to the same approximate period as the Gjermundbu mailshirt (900-950AD) and may be evidence that some Vikings wore lamellar armour.

[edit] Archaeological finds Coppergate Helmet Gokstad Ship Oseberg Royal Mounds Sutton Hoo Thorsberg bog Valsgärde Vendelhi

[edit] Saga accounts

[edit] Battles Battle of Hafrsfjord Battle of Hastings Battle of Hjörungavágr Battle of Svolder Battle of Nesjar Battle of Stiklestad

[edit] Duels Kormakssaga, holmgang of Kormak and Bersi

Fuente:

http://heronarmoury.co.uk/index.php?page=swords/9-13

Información:

9th to 13th Century Swords

Broadswords Swords Seax

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2006

Eddas - The Viking Age Wiki

Fuente:

http://vikings.wikia.com/wiki/Eddas

Información:

Eddas

From The Viking Age Wiki

The term Edda (Plural: Eddas or Norse plural: Eddur) applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland between the 8th- and the 13th century.

Contents [hide] 1 Etymology 2 The Poetic Edda 3 The Prose Edda 4 External links

[edit] Etymology There are several theories concerning the origins of the word edda. One theory holds that it is identical to the word that seems to mean "great-grandmother". (See Ríg.) Another theory holds that edda derives from Old Norse óðr, "poetry." A third is that it means "the book of Oddi", Oddi being the place where students (including Snorri Sturluson) were educated. The most plausible idea is that the word was coined as a diminutive of Latin "edo" (I compose [poetry]) in imitation of Old Icelandic "kredda" (superstition), which is derived from Latin "credo" (creed, literally 'I believe'). See www.VSNRweb-publications.org.uk/Edda.pdf

[edit] The Poetic Edda Main article: Poetic Edda The Poetic Edda, also known as Sæmundar Edda or the Elder Edda, is a collection of Old Norse poems from the Icelandic medieval manuscript Codex Regius ('The King's Manuscript'). Along with Snorri's Edda the Poetic Edda is the most important source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends. The first part of the Codex Regius preserves poems that narrate the creation and destruction of the Old Norse mythological world as well as individual myths about gods such as Odin, Thor and Heimdall. The poems in the second part narrate legends about heroes and heroines such as Sigurd the Dragonslayer, Brynhildr and Gunnar.

The Codex Regius was written down in the 13th century but nothing is known of its whereabouts until 1643 when it came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson, then Bishop of Skálholt. At that time versions of Snorri's Edda were well known in Iceland but scholars speculated that there once was another Edda - an Elder Edda - which contained the pagan poems Snorri quotes in his book. When the Codex Regius was discovered it seemed that this speculation had proven correct. Brynjólfur attributed the manuscript to Sæmundr the Learned, a larger-than-life 12th century Icelandic priest. While this attribution is rejected by modern scholars the name Sæmundar Edda is still sometimes encountered.

Bishop Brynjólfur sent the Codex Regius as a present to the Danish king, hence the name. For centuries it was stored in the Royal Library in Copenhagen but in 1971 it was returned to Iceland.

[edit] The Prose Edda Main article: Prose Edda The Younger Edda, known also as the Prose Edda or Snorri's Edda is an Icelandic manual of poetics which also contains many mythological stories. Its purpose was to enable Icelandic poets and readers to understand the subtleties of alliterative verse, and to grasp the mythological allusions behind the many kennings that were used in skaldic poetry.

It was written by the Icelandic scholar and historian Snorri Sturluson around 1220. It survives in seven main manuscripts, written down from about 1300 to about 1600.

The Prose Edda consists of a Prologue and three separate books: the Gylfaginning, concerning the gods' creation and destruction, the Skáldskaparmál, a dialogue between Ægir, the god of the sea and Bragi, the god of poetry, and the Háttatal, a demonstration of verse forms used in Norse mythology.

The Antikythera Mechanism - Tempyra

Fuente:

http://www.tempyra.com/?p=6

Información:

The Antikythera Mechanism

July 16th, 2007 at 3:09 am (Intriguing Antiquity)

This small device is something that absolutely stunned me when I came across it in a technology story on the New Zealand Herald website. The precision with which this was built is astounding, but the calculation and design that must have gone into its construction is what really gets me. How do you build the first analog computer on an island off the coast of Greece around 100 - 150BC… without using the Internet?!

Reading a bit more about the Antikythera Mechanism really fascinated me, things like this satisfy my very generalized interests in classical history, archaeology, gadgets and technology. One might theorize that the pictures would also appeal to the steampunk aesthetic in some. Here is what I found when doing more research:

About 75-80 BC a Roman merchant ship sunk on a popular trade route between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, most likely destined for Rome. That ship was carrying something that has taken extensive use of 21st century technology to completely identify; the Antikythera Mechanism.

Following a storm in 1900 that moved sponge divers from their normal diving places the wrecked ship was discovered off the Greek island of Antikythera. Elias Stadiatis, the sponge diver who found the wreck at 42 meters below sea level, returned to the surface exclaiming he’d found a heap of naked, dead women on the sea floor. The wreck contained a valuable assortment of Greek statues and other items.

One of these other items was an encrusted bronze lump. Eight months after this was recovered, the archaeologist, Valerios Stais, realized something unusual had been found - when a artefact originally thought to be rock broke apart to reveal a fragment of gear wheel. Further investigations found that there were three main fragments and dozens of smaller pieces.

Known now as the Antikythera Mechanism, the Greek device is an order of magnitude more complicated than anything else of its era or the following thousand years. The level of miniaturization and complexity of its parts are comparable to that of 18th century clockwork.

The complete mechanism is 33cm high, 17cm wide and 9cm thick, made of bronze and was originally mounted in a wooden frame. More than 2000 characters are inscribed on it. There are three main dials, one on the front and two on the back. Contained within it are upwards of 30 gear wheels, operated (most likely) by a crank handle.

The first reconstruction using information from the available fragments was by the British science historian, Derek J. De Solla Price during the early 1970s. More recently Allan George Bromley, Michael Wright and the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project have built on Price’s model with newer information from gamma ray and x-ray studies.

Price (with Charalampos Karakalos) was the first to theorize that the purpose of the mechanism was to calculate the motion of astronomical objects. This makes the Antikythera mechanism the first analog computer.

Michael Wright, from the Imperial College London, reinterpreted the work of Price between 2002 and 2005 and developed a radically different assembly for the mechanism’s 30 gears. His work is used as the basis for research by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, a team of Greek and British scientists which have been studying the mechanism in situ at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Their findings and photos of the mechanism’s fragments and of reconstructions can be found here, at the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project homepage.

1. Wes said,

   July 16, 2007 at 10:49 pm

   It really is absolutely amazing, and shows what the individual is capable of in isolation. Not to suggest that this unknown inventor lived in a bubble, but the diffusion of knowledge was lesser, and there were fewer shoulders to stand on at the time of its creation. I think it also eludes to just how fragile scientific endevour can be, and how it needs to be nurtured and protected (within reason, of course).

   I really think the importance of this device to human history has been gravely overlooked. I know many other discoveries had not been made at this point, particularly in terms of manufacturing process, but to have produced an analog computer in this era, and then to be lost for well over a millenia? It almost hurts to think about the possibility of how much has been lost. It makes a much stronger case for the equal diffusion of knowledge to all and sundry.

2. Charlie said,

   July 10, 2008 at 2:52 am

   By the internets :)

3. Kevin said,

   July 10, 2008 at 5:08 am

   and to think that the romans were most likely going to jsut toss this artifact aside in place of the more precious jewles that the ship was carring. typical roman, dont understand it, then its barbaric.

4. Milander said,

   July 10, 2008 at 7:53 am

   @wes said,

   you’re missing the point, if this device was so valuable and unique it would never have been transported by sea. It is far more likely that there were many, a few hundred, of these devices well know and well used at the time.

   Never forget that if all humanity were to disappear overnight our entire civlisation, all our works, buildings, literature, everything, would be completely destroyed to the extent that no visiting alien would ever know we had ever existed within 100, 000 years. The only evidence we ever existed at all would be the plaque left on the moon by apollo 11.

   Might sound crazy but I firmly believe that there were other cultures and civilisations before us, possibly even reptilian given that they had 250 million years to rise and fall. It is entirely possible that all evidence of their existence has been erased from history.

   Besides which there are stranger things out there than this device such as the crystal skulls, the ruins of Delathamaya and the battery of Baghdad.

5. Tempyra » Blog Archive » On holiday said,

   July 11, 2008 at 1:29 pm

   [...] Tempyra.com has been getting lots more visitors than usual lately. One of my first posts, from nearly a year ago, has just become very popular. If you haven’t seen that one yet, here it is. [...]

6. dinosuar said,

   July 15, 2008 at 7:24 am

   Hi wake up where is proof of finding ? who when what why you have been hoaxed and are spreading a lie cheers dinosuar

7. heitz said,

   July 16, 2008 at 5:53 am

   “How do you build the first analog computer on an island off the coast of Greece around 100 - 150BC… without using the Internet?!”

   Are you serious?
   That statement proves that people living thousands of years ago were far more intelligent than people like you, today.
   There wer5e no corporations and mass media outlets that herded you to and fro and coerced you into doing what you think you wanted to do.
   People used to think for themselves and crafted things to actually improve their environment… not go out and buy a saladshooter because the tv told them they need it, and because theyre too lazy to chop lettuce themselves, and then not even bother to use it cause theyve grown too fat on fast food and preservatives.

8. sasha said,

   July 16, 2008 at 8:48 am

   Hi Heitz,

   No, I wasn’t being serious actually - it was something more akin to sarcasm. Feel free to make any more assumptions that might take your fancy with my next two paragraphs.

   I’m not so sure whether people really thought for themselves more, in the time period that the Antikythera mechanism is thought to be constructed in, than the present. Why? Because of the constraints imposed by religion, education, communication technology, and social inequality. <– That is a generalised statement, not specific to 100 - 150 BC Greece, just to Europe & the Middle East around that time.

   As for people in the past being “far more intelligent” than the likes of me, there have been and will always be people smarter than I. And you. Intelligence is distributed along a bell curve. If you’ve got any evidence to show that the average has decreased over time, then I’d love to see it as I was under the impression that over the last half century average IQ scores seem to be increasing.

9. Wes said,

   July 17, 2008 at 1:40 am

   @Milander: I’m not missing any point and your assumptions are misguided. For one, I’m pretty sure Greeks and pretty much the entirety of human civilisation was pretty limited in terms of transportation when this mechanism was new and shiny. Why *wouldn’t* you take it by a more direct sea route, than a treacherous land base path? It would be quicker and, dare I say it, more gentle on a fragile mechanism, weather permitting of course.

   As for your spurious claim about evidence of our existence being erased without 100,000 years I have one word for you: Dinosaur. Look it up, we’ve been finding these remains for years and years on end now. And some of them are MILLIONS of years old. Wow, just wow.

   If that doesn’t grab you though, I can enlighten you of stone age tools made by precursors to modern humans as well. The oldest stone tools are apparently 2.6 million years old. Gone in 100,000? I don’t think so.

10. dan said,

    July 25, 2008 at 4:17 pm

    wes

    you’re missing the point, this could have been a proto type. maybe the person, or persons wanted to make sure it worked before they put it on the market, as they say. anyway they tested things way back then too.

11. Wes said,

    July 25, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    At some point did “you’re missing the point” become a staple diet of opening sentence of numskulls everywhere? Dan, your post has no point, at all. Even the original post, which I think your post is trying to reference also has no point. And maybe my maths is a little rusty but I think 0+0 = 0. At any rate, this is about -archaeology- not numbers. At the point this thing existed in history there is no evidence to show that there had been any item/find that came before it which was as complicated or well engineered for its suggested purposes. Let’s throw your “theory” a bone for a moment and say they manufactured 2000 of these things (an optimistic number given the period) it would STILL be a marvelous find due to the fact that from our current records it is still the first of its kind.

    For further reference, look up “Mass Production” and its invention and then see how long it took to make things before the introduction of such machines.

12. Jeff said,

    July 28, 2008 at 1:44 am

    Hopefully, the great minds of old did not waste their efforts berating each other — throwing each others’ words back at one another and polluting the issue with biting personal jabs. Get beyond the he-said-she-said crap and take the higher road. There is a great find here, certainly worthy of analysis, discussion, and debate.

    We can only guess at what earlier civilizations knew and were capable of by what we find. Our knowledge of them are mere assumptions based on perhaps a small fragment of findings. I’m sure we are only scratching the surface of knowledge lost to the ages. There is so much we don’t know about what we have found, but think about what we have not yet found, what we will never find, and the inaccurate conclusions we may draw upon those things we do find. On the whole, our knowledge of past civilizations will always be limited and therefore, our assumptions mostly incomplete and probably inaccurate.

    Personally, I look forward to the continued search for early technology. I’m convinced that the more we look and the more evidence we find of early technology, the more our previously conceived notions will be proven false. The technology we have today is not the result of a single, continuous path of improvement, but rather a multitude of serial, parallel, and overlapping accomplishments that we continuously rediscover and use for our present-day purposes. The Antikythera mechanism is but one modern-day discovery of ancient technology that once again reshapes our thinking about ancient capabilities. This is cools stuff.

13. sasha said,

    July 28, 2008 at 1:51 am

    Hi Jeff,

    Thank you for making such a fair and balanced comment :-)

    “There is so much we don’t know about what we have found, but think about what we have not yet found, what we will never find, and the inaccurate conclusions we may draw upon those things we do find. On the whole, our knowledge of past civilizations will always be limited and therefore, our assumptions mostly incomplete and probably inaccurate.”

    I also wonder about these things and agree with what you say about the present human society not having a complete ‘picture’ of what has gone before us. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if future societies have a distorted view of ours - even with the communication technology and massive amounts of stored data that we possess.

14. Giorgis said,

    December 20, 2008 at 9:19 am

    Guys, have faith in our selves. This device is not out of nothing. There were many famed devices, this is the only one that survived. Look up astrolabe and heron of Alexandria.

    G