What ancient device, discovered in 1901, is often called the world’s first computer?

The Antikythera mechanism, discovered in 1901, is often called the world’s first computer.

It is a complex ancient Greek device made with interlocking bronze gears, probably constructed around the late second or early first century BCE. Divers found its corroded fragments in a shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, but its importance became clear only after decades of study and improved imaging.

The mechanism could model astronomical cycles, including the positions of the Sun and Moon and the timing of eclipses. Its gearing also represented the Greek calendar and the four-year cycle of major athletic games. Surviving inscriptions helped researchers reconstruct how it operated.

Calling it a computer is a modern comparison: it was an analogue calculating machine, not an electronic computer. Its precision shows that ancient Greek engineering and mathematical astronomy were more advanced than many surviving artifacts alone suggest.