Search Results

Sign in Modify your search

Perform this search in

Narrow Your Choices

Availability

Subject

 1-3 of 3 Results

  • Keywords: addition x
Clear all

Article

abacus  

Serafina Cuomo

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Science, Technology, and Medicine
An abacus (ἄβαξ, ἀβάκιον), a counting board, was the usual aid to reckoning in antiquity. The Greeks and Romans alike used a board with vertical columns, on which (working from right to left) units, tens, and hundreds; or (where money was in question) units of currency, for instance the Attic signs for ⅛ obol, ¼ obol, ½ obol, 1 obol, drachma and so on, could be inscribed. The Salamis abacus is an example of a type of flat, large counting board, made of stone, of which more than twenty have survived from antiquity (Figure 1).There are also significantly fewer examples of small, bronze abacus. (Figure 2).The extant flat, large counting boards have been found in the Greek-speaking part of the Mediterranean, whereas the small bronze abaci appear to originate in the Roman world, and are engraved with Roman numerals. There are different possible reconstructions of how calculations were carried out on the ancient Greek or Roman abacus, which would seem to indicate that different procedures were also in use in antiquity In general, with addition, the totals of the columns were carried to the left, as in ordinary 21st-century addition.

Article

arithmetical tables  

Giuseppina Azzarello

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 April 2021
Subjects:
  1. Science, Technology, and Medicine

Greek arithmetical tables are systematic series of calculations written on papyrus and other light materials such as potsherds, wooden and wax tablets, and paper. About 150 items stemming from Egypt and covering a wide chronological range (4th century bce–13th century ce) have been published. Calculations are normally written in columns and separated by vertical and horizontal lines. They consist of addition, multiplication, squares and division, which are expressed in form of fractions (4: 2 = 2 is expressed as ½ of 4 = 2), and their results are given as the addition of juxtaposed unit fractions, a feature originating in Egyptian mathematics. Every kind of operation presents different patterns and features which can be of help in determining chronology and context. It is particularly challenging to establish the context of the tables, as they can belong to reference books used by professional accountants or be school texts. Material, handwriting, spelling, and the presence of other inscriptions on the same item, such as drawings, personal names, or even school exercises, can shed light on this point.

Article

Book of Daniel  

Anathea E. Portier-Young

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
21 December 2022
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Jewish Studies

Extant in three main ancient editions, the book of Daniel is a Jewish text composed c. 165 bce. Major themes are divine and human sovereignty, allegiance, identity, knowledge, and eschatology. The bilingual Hebrew and Aramaic version preserved in the Masoretic Text (MT) comprises twelve chapters and is one of the earliest examples of the apocalypse literary genre. Chapters 1–6 contain court legends about four Judean captives in Babylon—Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael (renamed Belteshazzzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego)—during the reigns of four kings: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus. Daniel excels as an interpreter of dreams and visions, yet as the four Judeans rise to positions of power, they must choose between loyalty to king and loyalty to God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are sentenced to death in a fiery furnace for refusing to worship an idol, and Daniel is thrown into a pit of lions for praying to his deity. Yet each of the four experiences divine deliverance. In chapters 7–12, Daniel recounts a series of apocalyptic visions and discourses foretelling a sequence of empires and the concomitant subjugation, suffering, resistance, and deliverance of the Judean people. The ancient Greek versions of the text, Old Greek and Proto-Theodotion, differ in various respects from MT Daniel, most notably in their inclusion of the tales of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Azariah, and the Song of the Three Youths. The book of Daniel influenced the development of Jewish and Christian eschatology, including beliefs about resurrection and judgment after death. Early Christian art and liturgy drew on the tales in Daniel to express hope of salvation. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus identifies himself with the “one like a human being” (commonly translated “son of man”; Dan. 7), implicitly identifying the kingdom he inaugurates with the kingdom of the holy ones that succeeds the four empires in Daniel’s vision.