Salamis Tablet

An early photograph of the Salamis Tablet, 1899. The original is marble and is held by the National Museum of Epigraphy, in Athens.

The Salamis Tablet is a marble counting board (an early counting device) dating from around 300 BC, that was discovered on the island of Salamis in 1846. A precursor to the abacus, it is thought that it represents an ancient Greek means of performing mathematical calculations common in the ancient world. Pebbles (Latin: calculi) were placed at various locations and could be moved as calculations were performed. The marble tablet itself has dimensions of approximately 150 × 75 × 4.5 cm.[1]