Eh - but that's the problem. It's unique. The Parthenon is relatively normal (special as temples go, but in many ways just another damn temple). If we knew what the Antikythera Mechanism was FOR or if it had any successors then it would be more interesting for teaching. Otherwise it's an outlier - and a terrible embarrassment for anyone among classicists who believe in progress -- after all, why WEREN'T there successors?

Well, since it was found in a shipwreck, it's fair to assume it never went any further from its creator than the hold of that ship on the way to its first owner. That it never arrived is likely the reason no one ever mentioned the device (surely unique), why it was never reproduced, why the technology was never developed further, and so on.

There were other analog calculators in use at the time, mentioned in writings by ancient historians such as Cicero. This item was found beside coins and other items from Rhodes which was the center of naval and astrological technology at the time. The naval fleets from Rhodes were able to navigate at night way better than any other navies which is probably why Rhodes was one of the last governments to resist Roman dominance. Some say the bronze from other similar mechanisms would have been remelted and used as weapons because nobody could understand how to use a sophisticated tool like this.

Bob
Chicago

"Well, since it was found in a shipwreck, it's fair to assume it never went any further from its creator than the hold of that ship on the way to its first owner. That it never arrived is likely the reason no one ever mentioned the device (surely unique), why it was never reproduced, why the technology was never developed further, and so on."

That only works if the creator went down on the ship also. That person would know more about its principles of operation and the methods of fabrication than anyone who merely had posession of the object itself.

If the creator lived on, then one would expect to see more such devices.