From 21/11/2015 until 31/01/2016
Antiken Museum Basel
Skulpturhalle
Mittlere Str. 17
Basel
Switzerland
The traveling exhibition “The Hi-Tech Inventions of Ancient Greece”, hosted by the Antiken Museum Basel in Switzerland, offered visitors the opportunity to encounter many innovative inventions of ancient Greek technology presented through functional reconstructions. Highlights include Philon of Byzantium’s Automatic Servant, a remarkable example of early programmable automata, and the Antikythera Calculating Mechanism, the earliest known analog computer.
The exhibition also features Ktesibios’ Hydraulic Clock, demonstrating advanced principles of time measurement through controlled water flow, as well as the Aeolipile of Heron of Alexandria, which illustrates the use of steam power to produce motion. It further highlights the application of mechanical advantage in lifting and construction through the tripod crane, a remarkable example of Greek pulley technology (6th c. B.C.) and its use in block-and-tackle systems. Alongside these are mechanisms related to automation, hydraulics, and astronomy, revealing the lasting influence of ancient Greek technology on the foundations of modern engineering.