How the old Slavs (Serbs) wrote numbers

Abstract

Traces of old Slav literacy date back to the second half of the ninth century. The first missionaries among the Slavs were the educators and monks, brothers Cyril (827–869) and Methodius (?–885), who compiled the Old Slavic alphabet. The basis of this alphabet was the ancient Greek cursive script. The Slavic alphabet led to the appearance of mathematical literacy among the Old Slavs, which means among the Serbs too. Numerals were written using letters, following the Greek alphabetic system. As well as showing how the 27 letters were used to write numbers from 1 to 999, this paper will show how the Old Slavs also used alphabetical letters to write much larger numbers. They also had special names for large numbers. Further, we shall present the traces of the Old Slavic ways of writing numbers, such as can be found in old inscriptions on medieval monastery arches, old charts, and medieval Serbian books. Most commonly, they denoted dates or quantities.

Notes

¹ One of the most beautiful Serbian monasteries, Gracanica, is the endowment of King Milutin, built in 1321. It is located in the village of Gracanica in Kosovo.

² Serbian monastery Decane is located in Kosovo and is one of the greatest monuments of Serbian cultural heritage. It was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage list on 3 July 2004. Its construction began in 1327, and ended in 1335. Its founder was Serbian King Stefan Uros III of Decane (c. 1276–1331).

³ Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic (1787–1864) was a Serbian scientist and reformist. He was the founder of the most perfect phonetic alphabet and script.