[SagelyGuru]

It is sad that even in this case, the orthodox line that "the ancients were ignorant about the movement around the Sun" is pushed by the very people who perhaps ought to know better. This machine would clearly have been a useful predictor of the positions of the planets regardless whether you subscribe to the heliocentric model or not.

It was more likely inspired by the pythagorian numerical model of the universe. Who is to say that Pythagoras was wrong? For example, all of modern chemistry is explainable in those terms.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

"Ignorant" is a bit of a value judgement that I didn't perceive the article as attempting to make. Heliocentricism was indeed the dominant theory in ancient times. There were competing theories but they didn't have many supporters. It makes sense that the Antikythera device would probably reflect the prevailing opinion of its time.

[naikrovek]

correct. this is a geocentric device, but that doesn't change how good it is at predicting movements in the sky as viewed from Earth.

[lupire]

How so chemistry?

[SagelyGuru]

The orbits of the electrons very much follow the pythagorean (natural numbers) laws.

[ptr2voidStar]

Care to explain further?