The largest gear is approximately 13 centimetres (5.1 in) in diameter and originally had 223 teeth. Four of these fragments contain gears, while inscriptions are found on many others. The device, housed in the remains of a 34 cm × 18 cm × 9 cm (13.4 in × 7.1 in × 3.5 in) wooden box, was found as one lump, later separated into three main fragments which are now divided into 82 separate fragments after conservation efforts. On it was identified as containing a gear by archaeologist Valerios Stais. This artefact was among wreckage retrieved from a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera in 1901. It could also be used to track the four-year cycle of athletic games which was similar to an Olympiad, the cycle of the ancient Olympic Games. The Antikythera mechanism ( / ˌ æ n t ɪ k ɪ ˈ θ ɪər ə/ AN-tih-kih- THEER-ə) is an ancient Greek hand-powered orrery, described as the oldest example of an analogue computer used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses decades in advance. The Antikythera mechanism (Fragment A – front and rear) visible is the largest gear in the mechanism, approximately 13 centimetres (5.1 in) in diameter.
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