Question

The ancient Greek Antikythera mechanism, retrieved from a shipwreck in 1901 and believed to date from the first century BCE, is similar to which 18th century mechanism?

Answer 1

Orrery
The orrery is a model of the solar system, more or less as we currently know it, that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and moons. The Antikythera mechanism showed the diurnal motions of the Sun, Moon and the five planets known at the time, and was geocentric rather than heliocentric. Various models addressing the same questions were developed over the centuries by mathematicians, astronomers and engineers, but the orrery is considered the first planetarium of the modern era. The first orrery was built by clock makers George Graham and Thomas Tompion around 1704 in England and presented to the Earl of Orrery.