The Greek number system.

The Greek civilization used an absolute-value number system. Until about 300 BC it was similar to all other such number systems, which used series of sticks and other basic figures:

The Greek numerals before about 300 BC

1	I	100	H	1000	M
2	II	200	HH	2000	MM
3	III	300	HHH	3000	MMM
4	IIII	400	HHHH	4000	MMMM
5	G	500		5000
6	GI	600	H	6000	M
7	GII	700	HH	7000	MM
8	GIII	800	HHH	8000	MMM
9	GIIII	900	HHHH	9000	MMMM
10	D	1000	X
20	DD	2000	XX
30	DDD	3	XXX
40	DDDD	4000	XXXX
50	>	5000
60	D	6000	X
70	DD	7000	XX
80	DDD	8000	XXX
90	DDDD	9000	XXXX

At around 300 BC Greek scientists introduced the use of letters from the alphabet to write numbers. There is some debate whether this idea was first used by Greek or Jewish scientists; the use of alphabet letters for Hebrew numbers occurred at about the same time. In any case the Greek civilization was among the first to introduce this system:

The Greek numerals since about 300 BC

1	A	Alpha	10	I	Iota	100	R	Rho
2	B	Beta	20	K	Kappa	200	S	Sigma
3	G	Gamma	30	L	Lambda	300	T	Tau
4	D	Delta	40	M	My	400	U	Ypsilon
5	E	Epsilon	50	N	Ny	500	F	Phi
6		Diagamma	60	X	Xi	600	C	Chi
7	Z	Zeta	70	O	Omicron	700	Y	Psi
8	H	Eta	80	P	Pi	800	W	Omega
9	Q	Theta	90		Koppa	900		San

Higher numbers used the same letters with superscripts: 'A for 1000, 'B for 2000 etc., ^aM for 10,000, ^bM for 20,000 etc. (Often the superscripts were placed above the main symbol, not before.)

First examples of this system to write Greek numbers date from the third century BC, which indicates that the introduction of alphabet letters for numbers was one of the innovations introduced by the rise of Greek science. The Roman numerals are direct descendants of the Greek numerals.

home