Exploring Ancient Devices and Astrologers in Historical Context

In episode 440 astrologers Chris Brennan and Sam Ogden discuss the Antikythera Mechanism, which is a complex mechanical device that was recovered from an ancient shipwreck, and how it may have been used for astrology. The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in the year 1901 by a group of sponge divers who found an ancient shipwreck near a Greek island named Antikythera. They had found a Greek merchant ship that sank around the year 60 BCE, and divers were able to recover a number of ancient statues, pottery, as well as a corroded mechanical device with lots of gears. Over the past century a series of researchers have slowly reconstructed the device, and recently advanced X-ray scans have allowed scholars to look inside to see how it worked. We now know that it was a complex astronomical device that depicted the movements of the cosmos, and it was also a sort of mechanical calculator or computer that could compute positions of the planets in the past or future, predict when eclipses would occur, and more. The discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism is important because it is far more advanced than what was previously thought possible in terms of technology around the 1st century BCE, and similar devices were not reinvented in Europe until after 13th century. For our purposes as astrologers the most interesting piece is how the Antikythera Mechanism ties in with the history of ancient astrology, and that there is in fact some evidence the device was used for astrological purposes, as well as that there was at least one astrologer who is said to have owned a similar device. In this episode we situate the device within the context of the history of astrology, talk about its possible astrological uses, and also discuss how the mechanism may helps us to reconstruct the origins of Hellenistic astrology as a result of the planetary order depicted on the device. This episode is available in both audio and video versions below. Sam's Website http://www.brothermoonhealing.com Sources and Further Reading Alexander Jones, A Portable Cosmos: Revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, Scientific Wonder of the Ancient World, Oxford University Press, 2017. Tony Freeth and Alexander Jones, "The Cosmos in the Antikythera Mechanism," ISAW Papers 4 (February, 2012). Tony Freeth, D. Huggon, A. Decanalis, et al, "A Model of the Cosmos in the ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism," in Scientific Reports, 11, 5821 (2021). Tony Freeth, “Wonder of the Ancient World,” in Scientific American Magazine, Vol. 326, No. 1 (January 2022), p. 24. Timestamps 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:17 Antikythera Mechanism overview 00:06:39 Alexander Jones’ book on the device 00:10:59 Discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism 00:19:54 Chart for the discovery 00:27:54 Reconstructing the device 00:30:40 Dating the shipwreck and Mechanism 00:34:00 Geography: Antikythera, Rhodes, and Epirus 00:40:00 Transmission of Mesopotamian astrology 00:44:58 Archimedes 00:50:45 Planetary order dating 00:54:53 Order of the Seven Zoned Sphere 01:04:53 Planets and other dials on the device 01:15:15 How astrologers may have used the device 01:31:25 Astrologer’s boards 01:48:42 Dimensionality in the cosmos 01:53:00 Ascent and descent of the soul through the spheres 01:57:00 Thema Mundi depicted on the Antikythera Mechanism? 02:19:38 Geminos and the Thema Mundi 02:24:13 Eclipse prediction 02:41:15 Posidonius and astrologers with devices 03:05:50 Astrologers in Rhodes: Thrasyllus and Critodemus 03:15:45 Sphere-making tradition 03:20:20 Loss of this technology; rise of astrolabes 03:27:36 Balbillus 03:28:26 Researchers of the Antikythera Mechanism 03:30:27 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny 03:31:09 Planets moving clockwise in the Mechanism 03:32:39 Trade secrets 03:35:13 Origins of Hellenistic astrology 03:37:33 Stoicism, fate, astrology, and Mechanisms