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Words to know
archaeologist
a person who studies very old objects from the past
mathematicians
people who are experts in numbers and shapes
astronomers
people who study the stars and planets
radiography
the use of rays to see inside a solid object
interlocking
fitting closely together so the parts connect
reconstructed
put back together from its separate parts
sophistication
being very advanced and cleverly designed
engineering
the work of building machines and structures
A In the spring of 1900, a crew of Greek sponge divers took shelter from a storm beside Antikythera, a small island between Crete and the Peloponnese. On the seabed, more than 40 meters down, they found the wreck of a cargo ship. The vessel had sunk in the first century BCE while carrying bronze and marble statues, glassware, and coins. Salvage work supervised by the Greek government continued into 1901, when divers raised an unpromising, heavily corroded lump of bronze. In 1902, the archaeologist Valerios Stais examined the finds at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Embedded in the encrusted mass, he noticed something extraordinary: a precisely cut bronze gear wheel.
B That single observation began decades of scholarly confusion. The prevailing view held that the ancient Greeks were brilliant mathematicians and astronomers but modest engineers. No comparable object had ever been excavated, and no ancient text described one in technical detail. Some specialists therefore dismissed the gear as a later intrusion — an object that must have fallen onto the wreck centuries after the ship went down. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the fragments sat in the museum as an unresolved puzzle, admired occasionally but understood by no one.
C Advanced imaging eventually solved the mystery. In 1971, the historian of science Derek de Solla Price had the fragments examined with X-ray and gamma-ray radiography. The images revealed some 30 interlocking gears and allowed him to argue that the object was a mechanical astronomical calculator. A far more ambitious study followed in 2005, when an international team scanned the 82 surviving fragments with microfocus X-ray computed tomography. The purpose-built scanner weighed roughly 8 tons. The scans exposed the internal gearwork in three dimensions and made legible thousands of Greek characters inscribed on the plates — in effect, a partial instruction manual hidden inside the corrosion for two millennia.
D The reconstructed mechanism proved to be an astronomical computer of remarkable sophistication. By turning a hand crank, the user drove dozens of bronze gears that moved pointers across a series of dials. The front face displayed the positions of the sun and the moon in the zodiac and indicated the moon’s phase. Dials on the back tracked the 19-year Metonic cycle, which reconciles the solar year with the lunar month, and the 223-month Saros cycle, which the device used to predict solar and lunar eclipses. An ingenious pin-and-slot arrangement even reproduced the moon’s variable speed as it orbits the Earth. A smaller dial recorded the four-year cycle of Greek athletic festivals, including the Olympic Games.
E Why such technology later disappeared remains a matter of debate, although several explanations command support. Bronze was expensive and was routinely melted down and recycled, so obsolete or damaged instruments rarely survived. The Antikythera device endured only because it sank. Moreover, the specialized knowledge needed to design such gearing was probably confined to a handful of workshops, which left the tradition vulnerable to warfare and economic decline. Whatever the cause, nothing of comparable mechanical complexity appears in the surviving record until the astronomical clocks of medieval Europe, well over a thousand years later.
F The mechanism has forced historians to reassess ancient science and engineering. Literary evidence suggests that the device was not unique. The Roman orator Cicero, writing in the first century BCE, described geared models of the heavens attributed to Archimedes and to the philosopher Posidonius. Exactly when the Antikythera mechanism was built is still debated. Estimates range from the late third century BCE to the early first century BCE, though many scholars favor a date in the second century BCE. Whatever its precise date, the device demonstrates that Greek craftsmen could translate sophisticated astronomical theory into precise metal machinery. Ancient science, it turns out, was not limited to abstract speculation; it could be engineered, geared, and held in the hands.
Exam practice
Exam-style questions written by ESLDesk for practice.
They are not official IELTS or TOEFL questions, and ESLDesk is not affiliated with the exam providers.
True / False / Not Given
Do the following statements agree with the information in the passage?
Choose True if the statement agrees with the passage, False if it
contradicts the passage, or Not Given if the passage does not say.
The divers who discovered the wreck had stopped at the island to escape a storm.
Show answer
True — Paragraph A: the sponge divers 'took shelter from a storm beside Antikythera' when they found the wreck.
Experts in the early twentieth century generally believed that the ancient Greeks had been accomplished engineers.
Show answer
False — Paragraph B: the prevailing view held the Greeks were brilliant mathematicians and astronomers 'but modest engineers.'
The 2005 study allowed researchers to read writing that had been concealed for roughly two thousand years.
Show answer
True — Paragraph C: the scans made legible thousands of Greek characters 'hidden inside the corrosion for two millennia.'
The mechanism displayed the movements of the planets across the sky.
Show answer
Not Given — Paragraph D lists sun and moon positions, calendar cycles, and festivals on the dials but never mentions planets.
Researchers have now agreed on the exact year in which the mechanism was constructed.
Show answer
False — Paragraph F: 'Exactly when the Antikythera mechanism was built is still debated,' with estimates spanning two centuries.
Matching Headings
The passage has 6 paragraphs, A–F.
Choose the best heading for each paragraph from the list below. There are two extra headings you will not use.
What the device could actually do
Explanations for a lost art
The treasures carried by the sunken ship
A chance discovery on the seabed
Rethinking what ancient science could achieve
Seeing inside the fragments at last
The dial that tracked athletic festivals
Early skepticism about an unexplained find
Show answer
iv. A chance discovery on the seabed — Paragraph A recounts how storm-bound divers happened upon the wreck, leading to the gear wheel find.
Show answer
viii. Early skepticism about an unexplained find — Paragraph B is about decades of disbelief: specialists dismissed the gear as a later intrusion.
Show answer
vi. Seeing inside the fragments at last — Paragraph C describes the 1971 radiography and 2005 CT scans that revealed the hidden interior.
Show answer
i. What the device could actually do — Paragraph D details the functions: dials, calendar cycles, eclipse prediction, and lunar motion.
Show answer
ii. Explanations for a lost art — Paragraph E weighs the explanations for why such gearing technology vanished from the record.
Show answer
v. Rethinking what ancient science could achieve — Paragraph F argues the find forces historians to reassess ancient science and engineering.
Summary Completion
Complete the summary below. Choose no more than two words
from the passage for each answer.
In 1900, Greek sponge 1 sheltering from a storm found an ancient shipwreck, and the salvage that followed brought up a corroded bronze lump that baffled experts for decades. Modern X-ray scans finally exposed dozens of interlocking 2 inside it, along with Greek writing that amounted to a hidden instruction 3. Scholars now know that the device modeled the sun and moon and even used a 223-month cycle to predict 4.
Show answers
divers — Source: 'a crew of Greek sponge divers took shelter from a storm beside Antikythera.'
gears — Source: 'The images revealed some 30 interlocking gears' and 'drove dozens of bronze gears.'
manual — Source: 'in effect, a partial instruction manual hidden inside the corrosion for two millennia.'
eclipses — Source: 'the 223-month Saros cycle, which the device used to predict solar and lunar eclipses.'
