Reference / Paper · 2016

The Inscriptions of the Antikythera Mechanism, 3: The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions

Almagest 7(1). Zodiac and calendar dial labels and the parapegma star-calendar.

Author: Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones
Year: 2016
Type: Reference / Paper
Credit: Almagest / AMRP

antikythera
inscriptions
parapegma

3 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions 68 DOI 10.1484/J.ALMAGEST.5.110734 Department of Primary Education, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens/ Institute of Historical Research/National Hellenic Research Foundation, Greece E-mail: [email protected] A. Jones Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York, USA E-mail: [email protected] Abstract The dial at the center of the front face of the Antikythera Mechanism was surrounded by two scales, one representing the zodiac, the other the Egyptian calendar year. The Zodiac Scale was inscribed with the names of the zodiacal signs as well as series of index letters in alphabetic order, while the Egyptian Calendar Scale was inscribed with the Greek names of the Egyptian months. In addition, two rectangular plates, the remains of which survived displaced from their original positions, bore an inscription, called the Parapegma Inscription, comprising an alphabetically indexed list of annually repeating astronomical events relating to the Sun and to fixed stars. This paper gives transcriptions and translations of the inscriptions on the dial scales and the Parapegma Inscription, and deduces the original structure, layout, and location of the Parapegma Inscription. A provisional astronomical analysis of the data in the Parapegma Inscription and tentative restorations of some of its damaged and missing lines are also provided. 69 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions Y. Bitsakis This is an open access chapter distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International License. 3.1 Introduction Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions The front face of the Antikythera Mechanism bore a single circular dial that occupied most of the area of a square plate, the Dial Plate (Fig. 3.1). The dial had multiple pointers radiating from its center to represent the longitudes of the Sun, Moon, and the five planets known in Αntiquity.1 Surrounding the dial were two concentric graduated scale rings. The outer Egyptian Calendar Scale was divided into twelve sectors, each containing thirty subdivisions, and one smaller sector containing five subdivisions, representing the 365 days of the Egyptian calendar year. Each sector was inscribed with the Greek name of an Egyptian month, running clockwise. The inner Zodiac Scale was divided into twelve sectors, each containing thirty subdivisions, representing the twelve zodiacal signs and the 360 degrees of the zodiac.2 Each sector of the Zodiac Scale was inscribed with the name of a zodiacal sign, running clockwise in order of increasing longitude, and with small letters, running clockwise in alphabetic order, placed outside and immediately clockwise of the graduation marks corresponding to various degrees in the zodiacal signs. These “index letters” linked the associated degrees to lines of an inscription, called the Parapegma Inscription, that was inscribed on two rectagular Parapegma Plates, which we name PP1 and PP2. 70 1 Paper 5 in this series - IAM 5.5; Freeth & Jones 2012, section 2.3; previously conjectured by Wright 2002. 2 The sectors of the Zodiac Scale are not exactly equal, as shown by Evans, Carman, & Thorndike 2010, who argue that this was an intentional feature making it possible to display the Sun’s true longitude with the same pointer that indicated the Egyptian calendar date. Other reconstructions since Wright 2002b have hypothesized separate pointers for the true Sun and mean Sun (though Wright presciently remarked that this was necessary “on the assumption that both Zodiac and calendar rings were equally divided”). Parapegma inscription col. i Parapegma inscription col. ii Parapegma inscription col. iii Parapegma inscription col. iv Figure 3.1: Reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism’s front face Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions 71 The Parapegma Inscription comprised a list of solstices, equinoxes, entries of the Sun into the zodiacal signs, and first and last appearances of stars and constellations before dawn and after dusk. Thus whenever the pointer on the front dial representing the position of the Sun in the zodiac pointed at a degree division bearing an index letter, the viewer could look up the corresponding line of the Parapegma Inscription and read off a prediction of a solar or stellar event predicted for the date in question. We will show in this paper that the Parapegma Plates also formed part of the Mechanism’s front face, above and below the Dial Plate, as originally proposed by Price, so that it would have been easy to consult the inscription while watching the dial. 3 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions The present edition of the Front Dial Inscriptions and Parapegma Inscription takes advantage of the Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM) and Microfocus X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT) imaging of the fragments that was carried out in 2005 by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project in collaboration with the National Archeological Museum.4 CT has made it possible to read text hidden beneath layers of accreted matter or on surfaces embedded within fragments, for example on portions of the dial scales that are concealed behind PP1 (Fig. 3.2). CT and PTM imaging are both helpful in detecting and reading text on exposed but damaged surfaces. The part of the Parapegma Inscription that we reconstruct as PP1 col. i was entirely unknown to its previous transcribers, Rehm, Price and Stamires. The fragments of plate bearing the text that we assign to the two columns of PP2 were known to Price and Stamires, but many letters that were either invisible or illegible to them can now be read accurately through CT. Even PP1 col. ii, which is on a fully exposed plate, has been augmented with letters that were missed by all previous transcribers from Rehm onwards. Complementing the new imaging technologies, a 1905 photograph has enabled us to locate two of the small fragments as pieces broken off PP2 and to verify the reading of a lost part of PP1 col. ii, for which we were previously dependent on Price’s adaptation of Rehm’s unpublished transcriptions. 72 3 4 Price 1974, 16-17 with Fig. 7. IAM 1.2. Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions 73 Figure 3.2: Fragment C, CT composite image of the inscriptions of the Zodiac Scale and Egyptian Calendar Scale (Image: Antikythera Mechanism Research Project) With more of the Parapegma Inscription at our disposal, we have learned a great deal about its structure. Rehm and Price recognized that the inscription contains chronologically ordered statements of the first and last morning and evening appearances of certain stars and constellations. It also turns out to contain statements of the solstices and equinoxes and of the Sun’s entry into the twelve thirty-degree zodiacal signs. The number of listed events was 42, nearly twice as many as the 24 that Price had guessed. Price’s conjecture that the inscription occupied two plates above and below the dial, in columns of text occupying half the width of each plate, was correct, as can be shown both from the logic of the inscription’s arrangement and from physical evidence, although his hypothetical placements of the surviving fragments were not.5 Each of the four columns of the inscription comprised the events falling within one of the four astronomical seasons demarcated by the solstices and equinoxes, and its location on the plates positioned it nearest to the corresponding quadrant of the dial. We have also confirmed another of Price’s conjectures, that the dial was oriented such that the graduation marking the beginning of the zodiacal sign Aries and the vernal equinox was at the top. We thus obtain a clearer and more secure reconstruction of the appearance of the Mechanism’s front face than has previously been possible. 5 See Price 1974, 17, fig. 7, for his hypothetical layout, according to which the parapegma began in the right half of the upper plate, and continued through two columns on the lower plate, so that the text on C-1, our PP1 col. ii, is the left column of his lower plate. 3.2 Fragments preserving parts of the Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions The preserved Front Dial Inscriptions are entirely in Fragment C, while parts of the Parapegma Inscription are in C and the four small fragments 9, 20, 22, and 28. The dimensions of Fragment C (Fig. S3 and S4) are approximately 106 mm (width) by 96 mm (height) by 22 mm (thickness). It consists of three originally separate major components that fused together during the long immersion of the Mechanism. These are, listed from back (C-2) to front (C-1): (1) The Moon Casing, a circular disk or boss of diameter 65 mm having a shallow cylindrical wall (1 mm thickness) projecting outwards 7 mm from the disc where not broken away, the whole resembling the lid of a jar. There are numerous mechanical details that need not be described here.6 This was the casing, with a surviving fragment of the assembly, of a display of the spherical Moon making its revolution around the Earth while exhibiting its cycle of phases. We are not concerned with the Moon Casing in the present paper. Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions (2) Part of the front face of the Mechanism, the principal element of which was the Dial Plate, a nearly square plate approximately 165 mm height by 171 mm width, with a circular cutout of diameter approximately 132 mm, and a ring-shaped sink, about half the depth of the plate, having outer diameter about 162 mm and inner diameter about 146 mm. One corner of the Dial Plate, amounting to a little less than a quarter of the whole, survives. 74 The ring-shaped surface between the inner circumference of the sink and the circumference of the cutout was engraved with the Zodiac Scale. This scale, about a fifth of which survives, was graduated by radial lines into twelve sectors labelled with the names of the signs of the zodiac (letter height averaging about 1.8 mm), and each sector was subdivided by shorter radial lines (about 3 mm long) into 30 individual degrees, some of them labelled with letters of the Greek alphabet (letter height averaging about 1.2 mm).7 The sink, which was normally concealed, was drilled through with 365 small holes, of diameter about 0.7-0.8 6 For details see Wright 2006, where the purpose of this component was brilliantly explained for the first time, and Carman & Di Cocco 2016. 7 A shallow circular groove runs around the dial along the exterior ends of the short graduation strokes on both the Zodiac and Egyptian Calendar Scales. Perhaps these were guidelines to help the engraver keep the strokes equal in length. The sink was occupied by a removable ring, the Egyptian Calendar Ring, whose thickness was approximately equal to the sink's depth so that its exposed front face was flush with the Dial Plate. This face was engraved with the Egyptian Calendar Scale, graduated into sectors corresponding to the twelve 30-day months and the five additional "epagomenal" days of the Egyptian calendar year, with smaller graduations marking the single days; again about a fifth of this scale survives. The Greek names of the Egyptian months were inscribed in the pertinent sectors (letter height averaging about 1.8 mm). Somewhere on the back face of the ring there must have once existed a peg placed so that it could be fitted in any of the 365 holes in the zodiac ring, allowing any desired alignment of the Egyptian year with the zodiacal signs.9 It was thus a moveable calendar ring for the "wandering" year of the Egyptian calendar. The exposed front faces of the Dial Plate, the Egyptian Calendar Ring, and the Zodiac Ring were all more or less flush. The surviving corner of the Dial Plate is perforated by a small rectangular hole, though which passes a cylindrical shaft joining a circular thumb button on the Dial Plate's front to a flat bolt on the back (Fig. 3.3). The bolt ran through a bearing riveted to the plate's back along its edge (only one supporting block of the bearing flanking the bolt survives), so that by means of the thumb button it could be slid back and forth a few millimeters. With the button at its furthest position from the plate's edge, the bolt's end would be approximately flush with the edge. This was evidently a catch by which the Dial Plate could be held in position or removed to expose the gearwork behind; there were probably such catches in all four corners of the plate.10 8 The outer circumference of the sink appears to be cut right through the Dial Plate so that the part comprising the sink and the Zodiac Scale constitutes a separate element from the outer part of the Dial Plate. This may have been a consequence of imperfect workmanship in making the sink (M. T. Wright, by personal communication). The parts of the plate were held together by a thin backing ring and a curious channel-shaped feature that ran along the back of the scales. There are also remains of what may have been a second, smaller backing ring adhering to the back of the zodiac scale, suggesting that there once existed a further plate element filling in the circular cutout and providing a “background” for the revolving pointers. 9 If there had been more than one peg, irregularities in the positions of the pegholes might have made it difficult to install the ring in some orientations. 10 Wright 2011, 12. In Fragment F there is a broken corner of a plate furnished with a very similar sliding catch. The catch is in better condition than the one in C, and the bearing is intact. The identification of this corner as part of the Back Cover Plate (Freeth & Jones 75 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions mm, at approximately equal spacing around the ring.8 Figure 3.3: Fragment C, CT slices through the thumb button (left), hole in Dial Plate (center), and bolt of the sliding catch (right, with remains of the mounting of the bearing to the bolt’s right, near the upper edge) (Images: Antikythera Mechanism Research Project) Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions The original orientation of the surviving part of the Dial Plate, relative to the Mechanism as a whole, is partially determined by the two surviving straight edges of the plate, which are respectively perpendicular and parallel to a radius running from the center point of the scales through the graduation on the Zodiac Scale marking the beginning of the zodiacal sign Libra. The names and letters inscribed on the dials do not establish which of the four possible orientations is correct, since they run around the rings, perpendicular to whatever radius passes through them.11 76 (3) The Parapegma Plates, two plates inscribed with text on one face. Both are fragments broken on most sides, so that their original extent is not immediately obvious, but one of them has part of a straight lower edge, and the other has part of a straight upper edge preserved. These edges are exactly parallel to the lines of inscribed text. The larger fragment, which we will call PP1, is pressed against parts of the Moon Casing and the Dial Plate and its scales, and it is significantly buckled, especially where it lies on top of the thumb button. Its inscribed text faces forwards, and is oriented such that the beginning of Libra on the Zodiac Scale is upward. Its lower edge is preserved. 2012, 1.4.1) is not at all a certainty since the fragment is uninscribed and is stuck on F with the face bearing the thumb button facing inwards, against the Back Plate, so its position has obviously been disturbed. The possibility that it was actually another corner of the front Dial Plate that broke off and fell through to the rear of the Mechanism cannot be excluded. 11 Decisive physical evidence, such as matching fracture marks, seems to be lacking that would demonstrate whether (and if so, in what way) Fragment C was originally joined directly to Fragment A. Price (1974, 12 and 47) believed that he had confirmed such a fit in 1961, but his claim has been contradicted by Wright 2006, 323. Figure 3.4: CT slices through the bearing on PP1 in Fragment C: (left) parallel to the plate and through the feet of the bearing; (right) perpendicular to the plate (Images: Antikythera Mechanism Research Project) Figure 3.5: Nail or rivet near the edge of PP2 in Fragment C: (left) CT slice through the plate; (right) CT slice slightly behind the rear (uninscribed) face of the plate (Images: Antikythera Mechanism Research Project) In PP1, parts of nine lines of a column of the Parapegma are preserved, with a baseline-to-baseline spacing of about 5.1 mm, along with a vestige of a single 77 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions Riveted to the back of PP1 and along the right surviving end of this edge is a bearing (Fig. 3.4) that appears to have been like the less well preserved bearing of the catch on the Dial Plate. There is no evidence of any component mounted on PP1 that would have passed through this bearing. The other fragment, PP2, is pressed against the Moon Casing, and its inscribed side faces backwards (and thus is partly concealed by the Moon Case), again oriented so that the beginning of Libra is upward. Near the left extremity of its straight edge (with respect to the inscribed side), and very close to the edge itself, the plate is perforated by a small drilled hole, apparently filled by a nail or rivet that continues through a thin vestige of a more or less rectangular feature that was mounted on the back (uninscribed) face of the plate (Fig. 3.5). line of another column. PP2 preserves parts of four lines of a column of the inscription, with baseline-to-baseline spacing about 5.6 mm. The normal letter height on both plates ranges from about 2.5 mm to about 3.0 mm. The average letter spacing (from left side to left side) is about 3.0 mm, again with considerable variation from line to line. Later in this paper (section 3.9) we will show, as Price suspected, that the radius through the beginning of Aries on the Zodiac Dial Scale pointed straight upwards, and the radius through the beginning of Libra straight down. This is not, however, something that one can deduce by simply looking at the fragment. As it is normally portrayed in photographs and drawings, and as it has been mounted in the Museum for many years, the radius through the beginning of Libra points upwards, because with this orientation all the inscribed texts visible on the dials and plates are more or less right way up. The three components of Fragment C described above are stuck together in a manner that obviously does not reflect their original positions in the original Mechanism. Besides facing in opposite directions, the texts inscribed on the two parapegma plates are not exactly horizontal, as defined by the radii perpendicular to the radius through the beginning of Libra. PP1 is tilted about 6° counterclockwise from horizontal, and PP2 is tilted clockwise about 4°. The Moon Casing was originally at the center of the dials, with its periphery concentric with them; but in its present position it is displaced so far off center that part of it is directly behind, and stuck to, the back of the dial scales. All these elements must have shifted in position and orientation during or after the shipwreck. Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions Photographs allow us to trace the history of Fragment C in reverse order from its present state, which has not significantly altered since 1953.12 For Fragment C in its previous state, the most substantial evidence we have is the pair of Karo’s 1905 photographs showing C-1 (supplementary Fig. S10) and C-2, and the 1918 photograph of C-2.13 These show that both parapegma plates were much more extensively preserved than they are now.14 The 78 12 Photographs from Price’s 1958 visit to the Museum, in the Adler Planetarium collection, show Fragment C with a small piece broken off of PP2 (as it was in the 1953 photographs and in its present condition). This damage seems to have been repaired at the time, and has no significance for our investigations. 13 The 1918 photograph of C-1 is spoiled by bad exposure and lighting, at least in Rehm’s print. See also Theofanidis [1927-1930], “99” [correct pagination: 91] and 1934, 144 for rather crude line drawings of C-2 that appear to confirm that the fragment still had the 1905-1918 outline, as well as a transcription by Leonardos that includes some text that was no longer on Fragment C after the breakage. 14 The breakage must have been accidental, and probably occurred during the emergency For the 1903 state, we depend on the photographs in Svoronos’s volume on the Antikythera wreck of C-1 (Fig. S9) and C-2, and Rediadis’s verbal description in the same volume. C-2 shows even more accretion material than in the post-1905 state, but apparently no other distinct features. C-1, on the other hand, has layers of material almost entirely covering the surfaces that were exposed in 1905. These layers were carefully removed in the c. 1905 conservation work. During his 1958 visit, Price saw Fragment G, a fairly extensive piece of inscribed plate assembled from many smaller pieces — in his notes, he calls it the “jigsaw fragment”. Probably through study of the early photographs, he realized that G had originally been the great part of the layer of material in the 1903 photograph of C-1 that concealed the parapegma plates. Though he says little about Fragment G in his 1959 Scientific American article, he alludes to it as the “front door” of the Mechanism, and a schematic diagram of his reconstruction of the original relative positions of the major fragments shows that he had established that, when it was part of C, G’s inscription —the Front Cover Inscription15— was facing forwards like the inscription on PP1, but was oriented the other way up.16 In 1974 he presented this hypothesis explicitly if rather circumspectly.17 Close inspection of the 1903 photograph confirms that Price had the relationship of G and C exactly right. Relying on the criteria of lettering size, line spacing, and characteristic vocabulary,18 we can identify four small fragments as having belonged to the Parapegma Inscription (Fig. 3.6). Three of these were already identified as such by Stamires and Price.19 wartime storage (IAM 2.1). 15 See IAM 6. 16 Price 1959, 65 and diagram on 62-63. This diagram (as well as a photograph in the Adler Planetarium collection from 1958 showing Price examining the fragments) shows a slightly larger Fragment G than now exists, incorporating the present Fragment 29 at its bottom left. 17 Price 1974, 21-22 with figure 10. The statement on p. 47 that Fragment G was assembled from pieces removed from Fragment B is presumably a typographical error. 18 See IAM 1.4. 19 Price 1974, 46, fig. 35. 79 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions back faces of the parapegma plates on C-2 were covered with a layer of accretion, so that the inscription that is now easily made out on the small remaining exposed surface of PP2 was invisible. This surface was probably cleaned during the 1953 conservation. Figure 3.6: Fragments 9, 20, 22, and 28 (Images: National Archaeological Museum, Athens, photographer: Kostas Xenikakis, copyright: Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports/Archaeological Receipts Fund) Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions Fragment 9. Width 21 mm, height 23 mm. A piece of plate with parts of four lines of inscription (letter height about 2.3 mm, baseline-to-baseline about 4.7 mm), almost entirely concealed by a layer of other material; slightly above the top line is a straight edge parallel to the text, which must have been the original top edge of the plate. Fragment 9 does not appear in any photographs before 2005, and is not mentioned in Gears from the Greeks. 80 Fragment 20. Width 36 mm, height 27 mm. The fragment is composed of two pieces of plate that slightly overlap. One of these, which bears part of one line of inscription (letter height about 2.5 mm), has a straight upper edge running parallel to the text; this would have been the original edge of the plate. Between the left margin of the text and this edge, a small circular hole is drilled through the plate, and a small object having a rectangular cross-section is lodged in the hole, seemingly the remains of a peg or rivet. The edge of the other plate that overlies this edge at a slight angle (about 10°) is also straight and thus an original edge. In the transcription of the parapegma inscription in Gears from the Greeks this is fragment (ii). Fragment 22. Width 47 mm, height 32 mm. A piece of plate, preserving no original edges, with parts of six lines of inscription (letter height about 2.5 mm, baseline-to-baseline about 5.3 mm). This is Price’s fragment (v). Fragment 28. Width 20 mm, height 25 mm. A piece of plate, preserving no original edges, with parts of four lines of inscription (letter height about 2.3 mm, baseline-to-baseline about 5.3 mm). This is Price’s fragment (iv), but Price and Stamires evidently had difficulty making out the text, and their attempt at a transcription has the fragment oriented the wrong way up. During his visits to the Museum in 1905 and 1906, Rehm transcribed PP1 col. ii, as well as the single word, Παχών, on the Egyptian Calendar Scale.20 His reading of Παχών was reported in print in a monograph on the Mechanism by K. Rados, but the transcription of the Parapegma Inscription remained in manuscript, and in fact Rehm never referred to it in any of his substantial later publications on parapegmata. 21 Meanwhile in the 1920s the epigrapher Vasileios Leonardos read part of the parapegma text —not very accurately— for Ioannis Theofanidis, who included it in his encyclopedia article on the voyages of St. Paul with a terse interpretation of the text as instructions for determining the season of the year. 22 In 1958, Price and Stamires transcribed the texts that they could make out on what was left of the plate and the dials, and Price published a drawing of Fragment C with these transcriptions the following year.23 Price also discovered that the lines of the Parapegma Inscription were keyed to graduations on the dial by means of a series of alphabetically ordered index letters. Subsequently he gained access to Rehm’s papers, and the transcriptions that he included in his 1974 Gears from the Greeks incorporate Rehm’s readings from the parts of Fragment C that had broken off.24 In this work Price also drew attention for the first time to the survival of other bits of parapegma text visible on the back face of the other plate stuck to the front dial on Fragment C as well as on three small fragments. As we have already noted, he conjectured that the Parapegma Inscription was laid out in a two-column format on two rectangular plates that were originally situated above and below the front dial, and he attempted a tentative and partial reconstruction of the parapegma text. 20 The extant transcriptions of the Parapegma Inscription are Rehm 1905, 21 and Rehm 1906b, 3. Both must have been copied from manuscript transcriptions that have not been located. Price 1974, 46 incorporates readings from Rehm’s 1906 version, a handwritten copy of which (not quite identical to the one in Rehm 1906b) is in the file of Price’s transcriptions at the Adler Planetarium, Chicago. The Παχών reading is first reported, with the first letter indicated as illegible, in Rehm 1905, 19, and with all letters shown as clear in Rehm 1906a, 86. 21 Rados 1910, 34. Rados learned of the reading from a lecture that Karo gave at the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Athens on December 6, 1906 about the Antikythera wreck, in which he presented part of Rehm’s unpublished research on the Mechanism (Rados 1910, 1, note 1); see IAM 2.1. 22 Theofanidis [1927-1930] “99” [correct pagination: 91]. The text is reproduced in Theofanidis 1934a, 144, where it is described as "une instruction pour les levers et couchers des astres du Zodiaque". 23 Price 1959, 65. 24 Price 1974, 18 (dial inscriptions), 46, and 49 (parapegma). 81 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions 3.3 Previous transcriptions Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions The provisional new texts of inscriptions on the Mechanism published in 2006 did not include the Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions. 25 A partial restoration of these inscriptions based on a preliminary version of the texts published here was incorporated in T. Freeth’s digital reconstruction of the Mechanism’s front face as published in 2012. 26 82 25 Freeth et al. 2006. 26 Freeth & Jones 2012, Fig. 4. Dr. Freeth participated in discussions with the present authors concerning the Parapegma Inscription during 2008-2012, and we gratefully acknowledge his responses to proposed readings and provision of CT images. In sections 3.7 and 3.8 we will show that Fragments 20 and 22 can be exactly placed as parts of PP2 that were still on Fragment C in its post-1905 state, and that Fragment 9 was originally a piece from the top of PP2, to the left of what remained of PP2 on the post-1905 state of C. Our transcription assumes these placements. On the other hand it remains uncertain where Fragment 28 belonged (see 3.11), so we present its text as an unplaced fragment. More generally we adopt a cautious and minimal approach to restoring the Parapegma Inscription's text; more extensive restorations dependent on hypothetical elements are offered in sections 3.9-3.11. The transcriptions are based on the 2005 CT, PTM, and photographs, and on the 1905 photograph of C-1 (supplementary Fig. S10). Letters that are extant or legible only in the 1905 photograph are underlined.27 For the Parapegma Inscription, the notations x+1 etc. (z+1 etc. for Fragment 28) are used to number lines when it is not visually evident how many lines preceded the top line of a surviving sequence. The fragments preserving parts of each line of the Parapegma Inscription are indicated in parentheses to the left of the text. Names of zodiacal signs on the Zodiac Scale 1. Extending from left edge to the 19th graduation of the leftmost (Virgo) sector (counting clockwise from the presumed longer graduation marking the beginning of this sector, which we count as the 1st graduation): [Παρθ]ένος ̣ Virgo 2. Extending from the 9th to the 17th graduation of the next (Libra) sector: Χηλαί Libra 3. Extending from the 9th to the 20th graduation of the next (Scorpio) sector: Σκ ̣ορπί ̣ος Scorpio κ ̣: entire letter visible but faint | ι̣: indistinct 27 Karo’s 1905 photograph of C-1 is the only known photograph to show legibly the part of PP1 col. ii that was subsequently lost to breakage, as well as the small region of the calendar dial exposed in Fragment C’s post-1905 state. This area of the dial, with its month-name inscription, is still extant but was in better condition in 1905 than it is now. Other photographs from before 2005 show no details of the inscriptions that cannot be seen at least as well by means of CT or PTM. 83 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions 3.4 Transcription and translation 4. Extending from the 10th graduation of the next (Sagittarius) sector to the right edge: Τοξ[ότης] Sagittarius Index letters on the Zodiac Scale Virgo sector (preserved from its 15th graduation on, but surface damaged to the left of the 19th graduation): 28 To the right of the 19th graduation: Ψ̣ To the right of the 21st graduation: Ω The index letters in this sector were read from PTM ak32a; they cannot be seen in CT. | Ψ̣: lower portion of a vertical with a broad serif. Libra sector: To the right of the 1st graduation: Α To the right of the 11th graduation: Β To the right of the 14th graduation: Γ To the right of the 16th graduation: Δ Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions Scorpio sector: To the right of the 1st graduation: Ε To the right of the 4th graduation: Z To the right of the 17th graduation: Η To the right of the 22nd graduation: Θ 84 Sagittarius sector: To the right of the 1st graduation: Ι To the right of the 3rd graduation: Κ ̣ To the right of the 7th graduation: Λ Κ ̣: entire letter visible but faint 28 Price 1959, 65, reports no index letters in this sector, but Price 1974, 18, reports “with great uncertainty” Ω to the right of the 18th graduation (counting clockwise from the extrapolated 1st graduation as defined above). We suspect that he interpreted the remains of the psi that we report above as the lower right portion of this supposed omega. 1. Extending from the 7th through the 18th graduation of the leftmost (Pachon) sector (counting clockwise from the presumed longer graduation marking the beginning of this sector, which we count as the 1st graduation): Παχ̣ών Pachon Indistinct traces of χ are visible in the 2005 photograph and PTM (ak32a); the letter is clear in the Karo photograph. 2. Extending from the 10th through the 19th graduation of the next (Payni) sector: Παῦνι Payni 3. Extending from the 10th through the 21st graduation of the next (Epeiph) sector: Ἐπείφ Epeiph Parapegma Inscription PP1 col. i. top margin 2.5 mm. (9) 1 [Αἰγοκέρως ἄρχ]ε̣ται ἀνα[τέλλειν.] 2 [ v τροπαὶ χει]μ̣ερινα[ί. Α] 3 [ –7– ἐπιτέλ]λ̣ει v ἑσ̣[πέριος/περία. nn] 4 [ –13– ] ̣Ε ̣[ 3-4 lines lost (C) x+1 [ — — — (9) ] IA 1 [Capricorn] begins to rise. 2 Winter [solstice. 1] 3 [ ] rises in the evening. [nn] 4 [ ]...[ 3-4 lines lost (C) x+1 [ — — — ] 11 85 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions Names of Egyptian months on the Egyptian Calendar Scale 1 Ε̣: serifed top and bottom horizontals, apparently some spread towards right, notch along edge about halfway between the two horizontals; either Ε or Σ 2 Ṃ : apparent upper right end of ascending oblique, meeting a straight vertical (inclining slightly counterclockwise of true vertical) near the top; the bottom of the vertical not preserved | Ι̣2: serif and very top of vertical 3 Λ̣ : lower portion of descending oblique along edge with serif at bottom; Ν appears to be excluded since there is no trace of the right vertical | v: one letter | Σ̣: trace of upper left corner along edge 4 ̣1: top of serifed(?) vertical along edge | ̣2: notch along edge at top height, belonging to a serif or gently descending oblique x+1: this line vertically half-way between col. ii lines x+6 and x+7, and ending immediately to the left of the beginnings of those lines col. ii. ——— x+1 [Κ v –12– ] ̣Ι ἑσ̣[π]ερ̣[ί]α̣[ nn] x+2 Λ v Ὑάδ̣[ες δύον]ται ἑσ̣περίαι̣. v ΚΑ x+3 Μ v Ταῦρο̣ς̣ ἄ̣ρχ̣ε̣ται ἀνατέλλειv. Α x+4 [Ν v] Λύ̣ρα ἐ[πιτ]έ̣λ̣λ̣ε̣[ι] ἑσπερία. v ΙΑ x+5 Ξ̣ v Πλειὰς ἐπι[τ]έλλει ἑῶι̣α̣. v ΙΖ̣ x+6 Ο v Ὑὰς ἐπιτέλλει v ἑώια. v Κ̣Ε x+7 Π v Δίδυμοι ἄρχονται ἐπιτέλλει̣ν̣. [Α] x+8 Ρ v Ἀετὸς ἐπιτέλλει ἑσπέριο[ς. nn] x+9 Σ v Ἀρκτοῦρος δύνει v ἑῶι̣ος. v Ι̣ bottom margin 7 mm. ——— x+1 [Κ ] in the evening. [nn] x+2 Λ Hyades set in the evening. 24 x+3 Μ Taurus begins to rise. 1 x+4 [Ν] Lyra rises in the evening. 11 x+5 Ξ Pleiad rises in the morning. 17 x+6 Ο Hyad rises in the morning. 25 x+7 Π Gemini begin to rise. [1] x+8 Ρ Aquila rises in the evening. [nn] x+9 Σ Arcturus sets in the morning. 10 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions (C) 86 All lines v1 (following index letter): average about 2 mm. x+1 . : serifed right ends of horizontals at top and baseline level, apparently diverging slightly, and a horizontal or mark just above half height, either Ε. or .Σ| .σ: lower left corner and indistinct trace of upper left corner | ρ: very bottom of vertical and serif, faint | v2: half a letter x+2 .δ : lower part of descending oblique visible in Karo photograph; Rehm also reads δ | σπ: very indistinct, but π is clear in Karo photograph | .ι3: only top of vertical with serif, PP2 col. iii. (C+22) top margin 7.5 mm 1 [Α v Χηλ]αὶ ἄρχονται ἐπιτ̣[έ]λ[λ]ειν. 2 [ v ἰσημ]ερ̣ί̣α̣ φθ̣ινοπ̣ω̣ρι̣νή. v Α 3 [Β v –5– ἐπι]τέλλουσιν [ἑ]σ̣π̣έριοι. ΙΑ 4 [Γ v –6– ἐπιτ]ελλε[ι ἑσ]περία. ΙΔ (22) 5 [Δ v –14– ἐπι]τ̣έλ̣λει. ΙC 6 [Ε v Σκορπίος ἄρχεται ἐπιτέλ]λ̣ειν. Α̣ ——— (C+22) 1 [Α] Claws (i.e. Libra) begin to rise. 2 [ ] Autumnal equinox. 1 3 [Β ] rise in the evening. 11 4 [Γ ] rises in the evening. 14 (22) 5 [Δ ] rises [in the morning/evening.] 16 6 [Ε Scorpio begins] to rise. 1 ——— 1 τ̣2: left portion of horizontal, and serifed bottom of vertical 2 ρ̣ι̣α̣: complete but blurry | θ̣: indistinct traces | π̣: right end of horizontal and short right vertical | ω̣: complete but blurry | ι̣4: top of serifed vertical | v2: width of one letter 3 σ̣2: bottom left corner | π̣2: bottom of right vertical 5 τ̣2: horizontal along edge 6 [ἐπιτέλ]λ̣ειν: or [ἀνατέλ]λ̣ειν | 6 λ̣2: apex along edge | Α̣: top parts of ascending and descending obliques 87 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions faint | v2: one letter x+3 .ι2: indistinct, along break x+4 v2: two letters x+5 Ξ. : most bottom stroke with serif at right end; right portion of middle stroke | .ι4: serifed top of vertical stroke | α. 2: lower part of serifed ascending oblique stroke | v2: width of one to two letters | Ζ. : top and bottom serifed horizontal strokes, straddling a crack; vertical stroke would coincide with crack x+6 v2: one letter | v3: width of four letters | Κ . : serifed vertical, faint traces of left ends of both oblique strokes, close to following Ε x+7 ι̣ν ̣: indistinct traces x+8 v2: width of one letter | Ε. : very faint but complete x+9 v2: half a letter | ι ̣2: indistinct traces | v3: width of three letters | Ι ̣: vertical stroke serifed at both ends, surface damaged to the right col. iv. (22+20) top margin 7.2 mm 1 Μ v Καρκί[νος ἄρχεται ἐπιτέλλειν.] (22) 2 [τροπαὶ θεριναί. Α] 3 Ν v Ὠρί̣[ων ἐπιτέλλει ἑῶιος. nn] 4 Ξ v Κ̣ύων̣ [ἐπιτέλλει ἑῶιος. nn] 5 Ο v Ἀετ[ὸς δύνει ἑῶιος. nn] 6 Π̣ v Λ̣[έων ἄρχεται ἐπιτέλλειν. Α] ——— (22+20)1 Μ Cancer [begins to rise.] (22) 2 [ Summer solstice. 1] 3 Ν Orion [rises in the morning. nn] 4 Ξ Sirius [rises in the morning. nn] 5 Ο Aquila [sets in the morning. nn] 6 Π Leo [begins to rise. 1] ——— All lines v1 (following index letters): average about 2.5 mm 1 [ἐπιτέλλειν]: or [ἀνατέλλειν] 2 ν̣ή: the surface of the plate bearing the writing is twisted about 30° counterclockwise from horizontal 3 ι̣1: bottom serif of vertical stroke 4 Κ ̣: descending oblique with serif | ν̣: left vertical with serif 6 Π̣: horizontal | Λ ̣: ascending oblique with bottom serif, and top of descending oblique | [ἐπιτέλλειν]: or [ἀνατέλλειν]. Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions Unplaced fragment (Fragment 28). 88 ——— (28) z+1 [ ] Κ̣[n?] z+2 [ –n– ἄρχεται ἐπιτ]έ ̣λ λειν. [Α] z+3 [ –n+6– ἑσπέ]ριος. v Ι̣C z+4 [ –n+6– ἑσπε]ρία ̣. v Κ[n?] ]Ε ̣ ̣ ̣[ z+5 [ –n+11– ] ——— ——— (28) z+1 [ ] 2[n?] z+2 [ begins] to rise. [1] z+3 [ ] in the evening. 16 z+4 [ ] in the evening. 2[n?] z+5 [ ]…[ ] ——— 89 Y. Bitsakis, A. Jones: IAM 3. The Front Dial and Parapegma Inscriptions z+1 Κ ̣ : apparently a descending oblique with serif, and faint lower portion of vertical, but it is not certain that these are not accidental marks z+2 ε̣3: trace of bottom horizontal along edge z+3 v: two letters. Ι̣: top of a serifed vertical z+4 ά ̣: lower end of ascending oblique with serif | v: three letters z+5: The original surface of