The Vovelle

Bri's picture

One of my favorite things  in the world are Vovelles.  Vovelles are a sort of primitive computer that  were integrated into old manuscripts.  The Greeks certainly used the mathematics and principles behind them (see the Antikythera Mechanism). and may possibly have made them, but scrolls of that period haven't preserved.  The ones we know mostly date from the 15th century.  Most of them involve calculations relating the lunar and solar calculators; either for navigation or for medicine.  Keeping in mind the medicine was hard to distinguish from  Astrology.