Well, first it is no more a computer than a slide rule or abbacus.

In fact, it is essentially a round slide rule. You can see a picture of one if you scroll down a little here: http://www.eaglehaslanded.com/sliderule.htm

Interesting ... a slide rule is a computer? Whether the original straight type or the round type, like an abacus, it's more a manual calculator than a computer. But that is probably a semantical issue. I still have my slide rule from High School (lo' those many years ago!) made of bamboo and a minimum of plastic ... and I still know how to use it.

Exactly what the devise is that is the subject of Alexei's link is still being worked out. Keeping in mind the socio-cultural context and Weltanschaung from which that devise came, much mythology intertwined the intellectual environment of academia, maths and science included. Separating them from each other at this point in time 2000+ years later may be a bit of a challenge ... especially if things like dials for astrology and the locations of the gods are combined with other dials for early logarithmic functions. While math and geometry knowledge is openly available to everyone today, access to higher mathematical and geometry functions at that time was secretive and not freely available ... some of the knowledge was tightly held within closed levels of the intellegentsia because it was a source of power.

References to the tradition and the intellectual descendants of Archimedes notwithstanding, "Freeth was quick to qualify himself, calling this no more than a 'plausible conjecture.'" A "plausible conjecture" is a fancy way of saying "we're guessing," "we're not sure," or "This is one hypotheses which we have not yet tested." Nevertheless, it's very interesting.

I used a round slide rule in high school. Everybody in the advance math classes had one. I have never seen another one anywhere else until the picture. I have seen the story of the ancient computer before and you are right about it.

Guys,

Whether it is an abacus, a slide rule or a computer is not really the point, at least not what I intended to discuss when I originally posted...

Its impossible, I think, to call it a computer, as I truly believe that Intel was quite far from conception some 2000 yrs ago and microprocessors (the one variable that differentiates a computer from other machines).

The idea here is that there is an instrument that these folks used to calculate when it was time to hold another Olympic game(s)... Meaning, calculate when 4 yrs had passed and to do so with the 'precision' they did, was what, in my mind was a great point to debate.

Oh well... I will be a tad bit more diligent in posting materials more to the groups liking next time...

It's unclear to me why you would need a "device" to count when four years have passed. Wouldn't a calendar suffice?

FWIW, the term "computer" was originally an occupational description. In WWII the War Department hired gobs of (generally) women to calculate -- by hand using pencil and paper -- ballistics tables for aiming howitzers and such. Later, when Univac, etc. were created, these machines were originally called "electronic computers", much like cars (or was it trains?) were originally called, at least colloquially, iron horses. Eventually, the "electronic" was dropped and now we just call them computers. The History Channel is a wonderful thing.

Dutch