thumb|Detail of stela showing tributes paid by allies of Athens in the League of Delos. The amounts are in Attic numerals, using the drachma sign "𐅂" instead of the generic unit sign "Ξ™". Some amounts are "𐅄" = 50, "Ξ—Ξ—Ξ—" = 300, "𐅅ΗΗΗ" = 800, "ΔΔΔ𐅂𐅂𐅂" = 33, "Ξ§" = 1000, and "Χ𐅅𐅄Δ𐅂𐅂"? = 1562?.

thumb|Plaque above the main entrance to the orphanage, which later became a prison, on the Greek island of Aegina. The ancient Greek inscription translates as β€œThe Governor erected this orphanage in the year 1828”. The year is shown as Χ𐅅ΗΗΗΔΔΠΙΙΙ.

The Attic numerals are a symbolic number notation used by the ancient Greeks. They were also known as Herodianic numerals because they were first described in a 2nd-century manuscript by Herodian; or as acrophonic numerals (from acrophony) because the basic symbols derive from the first letters of the (ancient) Greek words that the symbols represented.

The Attic numerals were a decimal (base 10) system, like the older Egyptian and the later Etruscan, Roman, and Hindu-Arabic systems. Namely, the number to be represented was broken down into simple multiples (1 to 9) of powers of ten β€” units, tens, hundred, thousands, etc.. Then these parts were written down in sequence, in order of decreasing value. As in the basic Roman system, each part was written down using a combination of two symbols, representing one and five times that power of ten.

Attic numerals were adopted possibly starting in the 7th century BCE and although presently called Attic, they or variations thereof were universally used by the Greeks. No other numeral system is known to have been used on Attic inscriptions before the Common Era.

{|class="wikitable"

|-

! style="background-color:#FFFDB0;" | Value

! style="background-color:#FFFDB0;" | Symbol

! Talents

! Staters

! Notes

! Etruscan

! Roman

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 1

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | Ξ™

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" |

|

| Tally mark?

| style="text-align:center" | 𐌠

| style="text-align:center" | I

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 5

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | Ξ 

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | π…ˆ

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅏

| Old Greek: ΠΕΝ΀Ε Modern:

| style="text-align:center" | 𐌑

| style="text-align:center" | V

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 10

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | Ξ”

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅉

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅐

| Old Greek: Ξ”Ξ•ΞšΞ‘ Modern:

| style="text-align:center" | 𐌒

| style="text-align:center" | X

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 50

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅄

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | π…Š

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅑

| "Ξ”" in "Ξ ": 10 Γ— 5 = 50

| style="text-align:center" | 𐌣

| style="text-align:center" | L

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 100

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | Ξ—

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅋

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅒

| Old Greek: Ξ—Ξ•ΞšΞ‘Ξ€ΞŸΞ Modern:

| style="text-align:center" | 𐌟

| style="text-align:center" | C

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 500

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅅

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | π…Œ

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅓

| "Ξ—" in "Ξ ": 100 Γ— 5 = 500

| style="text-align:center" | ?

| style="text-align:center" | D

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 1000

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | Ξ§

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅍

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅔

| Old Greek: Ξ§Ξ™Ξ›Ξ™ΞŸΞ™ Modern:

| style="text-align:center" | ?

| style="text-align:center" | M

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 5000

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅆

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | π…Ž

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" |

| "Ξ§" in "Ξ ": 1000 Γ— 5 = 5000

| style="text-align:center" | ?

| style="text-align:center" | <span style="text-decoration:overline;">V</span>

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 10000

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | Μ

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" |

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅕

| Old Greek: ΜΞ₯Ξ‘Ξ™ΞŸΞ™ Modern:

| style="text-align:center" | ?

| style="text-align:center" | <span style="text-decoration:overline;">X</span>

|-

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;text-align:right" | 50000

| style="background-color:#FFFDB0;font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅇

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" |

| style="font-size:150%;text-align:center" | 𐅖

| "Μ" in "Ξ ": 10000 Γ— 5 = 50000

| style="text-align:center" | ?

| style="text-align:center" | <span style="text-decoration:overline;">L</span>

|}

The symbols representing 50, 500, 5000, and 50000 were composites of an old form of the capital letter pi (with a short right leg) and a tiny version of the applicable power of ten. For example, 𐅆 was five times one thousand.

Special symbols

The fractions "one half" and "one quarter" were written "𐅁" and "𐅀", respectively.

The symbols were slightly modified when used to encode amounts in talents (with a small capital tau, "Ξ€") or in staters (with a small capital sigma, "Ξ£"). Specific numeral symbols were used to represent one drachma ("𐅂") and ten minas "𐅗".

The symbol for 100

The use of "Ξ—" (capital eta) for 100 reflects the early date of this numbering system. In the Greek language of the time, the word for a hundred would be pronounced (with a "rough aspirated" sound /h/) and written "Ξ—Ξ•ΞšΞ‘Ξ€ΞŸΞ", because "Ξ—" represented the sound /h/ in the Attic alphabet. In later, "classical" Greek, with the adoption of the Ionic alphabet throughout the majority of Greece, the letter eta had come to represent the long e sound while the rough aspiration was no longer marked. It was not until Aristophanes of Byzantium introduced the various accent markings during the Hellenistic period that the spiritus asper began to represent /h/, resulting in the spelling .

Simple multiples of powers of ten

Multiples 1 to 9 of each power of ten were written by combining the two corresponding "1" and "5" digits, namely:

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;"

| rowspan=2 style="width:10em" | Units

| Ξ™ || II || III || IIII || Ξ  || Ξ I || Ξ II || Ξ III || Ξ IIII

|-

| style="width:3em" | 1

| style="width:3em" | 2

| style="width:3em" | 3

| style="width:3em" | 4

| style="width:3em" | 5

| style="width:3em" | 6

| style="width:3em" | 7

| style="width:3em" | 8

| style="width:3em" | 9

|-

| colspan=10 style="height:2px;background-color:#DDE0FF;" |

|-

| rowspan=2 |Tens

| Ξ” || ΔΔ || ΔΔΔ || ΔΔΔΔ || 𐅄 || 𐅄Δ || 𐅄ΔΔ || 𐅄ΔΔΔ || 𐅄ΔΔΔΔ

|-

| 10 || 20 || 30 || 40 || 50 || 60 || 70 || 80 || 90

|-

| colspan=10 style="height:2px;background-color:#DDE0FF;" |

|-

| rowspan=2 |Hundreds

| Ξ— || Ξ—Ξ— || Ξ—Ξ—Ξ— || Ξ—Ξ—Ξ—Ξ— || 𐅅 || 𐅅Η || 𐅅ΗΗ || 𐅅ΗΗΗ || 𐅅ΗΗΗΗ

|-

| 100 || 200 || 300 || 400 || 500 || 600 || 700 || 800 || 900

|-

| colspan=10 style="height:2px;background-color:#DDE0FF;" |

|-

| rowspan=2 |Thousands

| Ξ§ || ΧΧ || ΧΧΧ || ΧΧΧΧ || 𐅆 || 𐅆Χ || 𐅆ΧΧ || 𐅆ΧΧΧ || 𐅆ΧΧΧΧ

|-

| 1000 || 2000 || 3000 || 4000 || 5000 || 6000 || 7000 || 8000 || 9000

|-

| colspan=10 style="height:2px;background-color:#DDE0FF;" |

|-

| rowspan=2 |Tens of thousands

| Μ || ΜΜ || ΜΜΜ || ΜΜΜΜ || 𐅇 || π…‡Ξœ || π…‡ΞœΞœ || π…‡ΞœΞœΞœ || π…‡ΞœΞœΞœΞœ

|-

| 10000 || 20000 || 30000 || 40000 ||50000 ||60000 ||70000 || 80000|| 90000

|}

Unlike the more familiar Roman numeral system, the Attic system used only the so-called "additive" notation. Thus, the numbers 4 and 9 were written ΙΙΙΙ and ΠΙΙΙΙ, not ΙΠ and ΙΔ.

General numbers

In general, the number to be represented was broken down into simple multiples (1 to 9) of powers of ten β€” units, tens, hundred, thousands, etc.. Then these parts would be written down in sequence, from largest to smallest value. For example:

  • 49 = 40 + 9 = ΔΔΔΔ + ΠΙΙΙΙ = ΔΔΔΔΠΙΙΙΙ
  • 2001 = 2000 + 1 = ΧΧ + I = ΧΧΙ
  • 1982 = 1000 + 900 + 80 + 2 = Ξ§ + 𐅅ΗΗΗΗ + 𐅄ΔΔΔ + ΙΙ = Χ𐅅ΗΗΗΗ𐅄ΔΔΔΙΙ
  • 62708 = 60000 + 2000 + 700 + 8 = π…‡Ξœ + ΧΧ + 𐅅ΗΗ + ΠΙΙΙ = π…‡ΞœΞ§Ξ§π……Ξ—Ξ—Ξ Ξ™Ξ™Ξ™.

<!--

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin-left:10px; border: 1px #999 solid;" width=480px;

|+ The acrophonic numerals in comparison to the Roman numeral system.

|-

! height=50px | Ξ™

! <big>Ξ </big>

! <big>Ξ”</big>

! 𐅄

! <big>Ξ—</big>

! 𐅅

! <big>Ξ§</big>

! 𐅆

! <big>Μ</big>

|-

|rowspan="2"| 1

|rowspan="2"| 5

|rowspan="2"| 10

| <small><span style="line-height:100%"> 5 <br> Γ— <br> 10</span></small>

|rowspan="2"| 100

| <small><span style="line-height:100%"> 5 <br> Γ— <br> 100</span></small>

|rowspan="2"|1000

| <small><span style="line-height:100%"> 5 <br> Γ— <br> 1000</span></small>

| 10000

|-

| 50

| 500

| <small><span style="line-height:100%"> 1000 <br> Γ— <br> 5</span></small>

| <small><span style="line-height:100%"> 1000 <br> Γ— <br> 10</span></small>

|-

! width=10% height=50px | <big>I</big>

! width=10% | <big>V</big>

! width=10% | <big>X</big>

! width=10% | <big>L</big>

! width=10% | <big>C</big>

! width=10% | <big>D</big>

! width=10% | <big>M</big>

! width=10% |<big><span style="text-decoration:overline;">V</span></big>

! width=10% |<big><span style="text-decoration:overline;">X</span></big>

|-

|}-->

Unicode

See also

Notes and references

de:Griechische Zahlen