The Museum of Ancient Greek Technology

A museum dedicated to the advanced technological inventions of ancient Greek scientist Archimedes was opened in August of 2014 in Ancient Olympia, Greece. More than fifty incredible inventions of ancient Hellas have been reconstructed, including Archimedes’ screw, the robot-servant of Philon, the automatic theatre of Heron, ancient war machines, and the famous analogue ‘computer’ of Antikythera, covering the period from 2,000 BC up to the end of the ancient Hellenic world. The exhibition highlights the brilliance of the inventors of our past, and the amazing creations that laid the foundations for the technology we see today.

The museum was an initiative of engineer Kostas Kotsanas who has also established the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology in Katakolo, southern Greece. According to Kotsanas, the museum aims to highlight even the most unknown aspects of Archimedes’ scientific work, which shows that the technology of the ancient Greeks was not that far from the beginnings of modern technology.

The Archimedes’ museum is permanently hosted in a two-storey building in the centre of the city of Ancient Olympia. The Archimedes’ Museum is of the most unique thematic museums in Greece. The aim of the Archimedes’ museum is to feature, in absolute validity and reliability, this unknown perspective of that great wise man of antiquity and to prove that the technology of the Ancient Greeks during the 3rd century B.C. was shockingly similar to the beginning of our modern technology. According to this review:

"The exhibits are accompanied by rich audio-visual material (in Greek and English), such as explanatory labels and giant posters with information, detailed diagrams, photos and complete bibliographical references, while many of the exhibits are interactive. There are projecting stations with video and animation as well as documentaries in which the exhibitor explains the function and the use of the mechanisms. The exhibition (in thematic sections) follows the modern educational perception in Pedagogic and Museum Education so that it acts multileveled, as far as the greatness of ancient Greek technological thought and technique is concerned, in all levels of the educational community and the wider public."
 

I have written about the amazing inventions of the ancient Hellenes before on this blog. Many of the mechanisms featured in that article have been rebuilt by Kotsanas for the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology. For a bit of a tour (more useful if you speak Greek, but still interesting if you don't), watch: