September 30, 2002

4:43 PM

Cicero, writing in the first century BC, mentions an instrument “recently constructed by our friend Poseidonius, which at each revolution reproduces the same motions of the sun, the moon and the five planets.” Archimedes is also said to have made a small planetarium, and two such devices were said to have been rescued from Syracuse when it fell in 212BC. This reconstruction suggests such references can now be taken literally.
posted by grumblebee (9 comments total)

My thanks to boing boing. Sorry about the odd little squares.
posted by grumblebee at 4:44 PM on September 30, 2002

I heard that if you calibrate it just right, it will point you to last week's Metafilter threads.
posted by planetkyoto at 4:54 PM on September 30, 2002

Double post, I'm afraid. : (
posted by cx at 4:54 PM on September 30, 2002

Wow, a simultaneous double double-post notification. The planets must be just right.
posted by brownpau at 4:59 PM on September 30, 2002

"When the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars..."
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:16 PM on September 30, 2002

I've been so busy lately, I haven't posted much, so it's kind of lame that I jump on the double post patrol. Sorry. It is a cool story, though. I never considered that history could go backwards -- I mean, knowledge being lost -- until I read a book called Lies My Teacher Told Me which dissects 12 of the most popular American high school history books (mine was in there, still in use after all these years).
posted by planetkyoto at 5:20 PM on September 30, 2002

DOUBLE POST!
posted by grumblebee at 8:06 PM on September 30, 2002

Oh wait ... why am I chastising MYSELF?!? Anyway. Sorry about the double. The original was in a comment, not a front page post, so I didn't notice it. I didn't do a search, because it seemed too new, and I didn't see it on the front page.
posted by grumblebee at 8:07 PM on September 30, 2002

Best double-post call-out ever, grumblebee. And thanks anyway - I missed last week's post too, and was fascinated by the news.
posted by rory at 3:12 AM on October 1, 2002