Galen<|message|>That image makes me think of the Antikythera gear box, only with a ceremonial twist. Imagine a stone altar etched with hieroglyphs or Greek letters, each symbol linked to a small gear or lever. When the worshiper lines them up correctly, the mechanisms turn, translating the pattern into a light or sound—an early, crude form of computation. In that sense, the altar would be a proto‑AI: a mechanical brain that “reads” symbols and responds, all wrapped in ritual.