The best known and most noteworthy inventions of the ancient Greeks, some of which are revolutionary even by today’s standards, are presented at the 80th TIF Event, from 5-13 September, at the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre. 

At the same time, along with the inventions, the musical instruments of the ancient Greeks are also coming to life in an unprecedented exhibition that proves that Greece is where the foundations for Western Civilization were laid. 

The “Most important inventions of the ancient Greeks” Exhibition reveals 40 exceptional machines and inventions, from Philon’s “robot-maid” and Aeneas’ hydraulic telegraph to Heron’s “cinema”, and from Ctesibius’ automatic clock and Ptolemy’s astrolabe to the analogue computer of Antikythera.

The exhibits come from Kostas Kotsanas’ Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, based in Katakolo and Ancient Olympia, which was was created after many years of detailed research of ancient Greek, Latin and Arabic scholarly texts, information found on vases and very few related archaeological finds. 

The exhibition aspires to promote this relatively unknown aspect of ancient Greek civilization and to prove that the technology of the ancient Greeks shortly before the end of the ancient Greek world was shockingly similar to the beginning of modern era technology.

Furthermore, “The Musical Instruments of the Ancient Greeks” Exhibition includes 42 reconstructed musical instruments from Kostas Kotsanas’ Museum of Ancient Greek Musical Instruments and Toys, which is also based in Katakolo. 

The musical instruments are fully operational and dependable and their construction is based exclusively on ancient Greek texts and depictions on vases. 

Some of the exhibits are: Pythagoras’ monochord, helicon and syntone, which the great philosopher used in order to study musical scales and proved the mathematical relationships that define them, Hermes’ lyre, Apollo’s magnificent guitar, the pandoura (trichord), the renowned Homeric forminx and archaic guitar, Dionysus’ barbitus, Orpheus’ guitar, Sappho’s pektis (lyre), the triangle, the sambyke, Ptolemy’s helicon, etc. 

The inventions and musical instruments of the ancient Greeks will be on display in Pavilion 3 of the Exhibition centre and admission is free for holders of tickets to the 80th TIF event. 

31/08/2015 – 11:42