This Washington Post article is a good launching spot to read about this 2100-year-old machine that was recovered more than 100 years ago from a shipwreck in Greece.
“The ancient Greeks came dazzlingly close to inventing clockwork centuries sooner than really happened. That they chose to utilize the technology not to mark the minutes, but to plot out their place in the universe, shows just how deeply they regarded the significance of celestial events in their lives.”
askyermom 
Waddaya think?