Roman abacus

A reconstruction of a Roman hand abacus, made by the RGZ Museum in Mainz, 1977. The original is bronze and is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France, in Paris. This example is missing many counter beads.
Velser's reconstruction of Roman abacus (ca. 1600)

The Ancient Romans developed the Roman hand abacus, a portable, but less capable, base-10 version of earlier abacuses like those that were used by the Greeks and Babylonians.[1]

  1. ^ Sugden, Keith F. (Fall 1981). "A History of the Abacus". Accounting Historians Journal. 8 (2): 1–22. doi:10.2308/0148-4184.8.2.1.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)