ABACVS?

[Caius Fabius]

I was looking through my various museum photos, trying to document the use of abacus for numerical calculations. I found a bronze plate with little balls, but, what about the abacus? Is there any evidence for the use of abacus for the 1st century AD or sooner in the Roman empire/republic?

[tlclark]

Absolutely.

A 1st C. Example from the Palazzo Massimo




Travis

[tlclark]

Or maybe this is the "bronze plate with little balls" you were talking about.

If you mean by "abacus" a counting device markers for orders of numbers, then this qualifies, but if you mean beads on a rods, that I don't know.

[Crispvs]

Slightly OT, but if you want to get hold of a reproduction of the type of abacus Travis has just posted, Len Morgan does a good reproduction.
http://www.romanarmy.net/fabrica.htm
The abacus is not listed on the website but can still be bought from him.

Crispvs

[Caius Fabius]

I have some photos of the Roman Abacvs, but I picked up several Russian ones and was trying to see it they fit. They don't. Their design dates to the 17th century AD. Oh well! :lol:

[Martin Moser]

here's literature on this (which I have):

Rudolf Fellman: Römische Rechentafeln aus Bronze. in Antike Welt. Zeitschrift für Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte. 14. Jg. 1983, Heft 1. pp 36-40

He describes a few of the finds, their construction and how to work with them