Herbert Weir Smyth [n.d.], A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [info] [word count] [Smyth].

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348

Notation.—The system of alphabetic notation came into use after the second century B.C. The first nine letters stand for units, the second nine for tens, the third nine for hundreds ( ^cross27 letters). In addition to the 24 letters of the alphabet, three obsolete signs are employed: ς, a form identical with the late abbreviation for στ, in place of the lost ϝ (3), once used for 6; ϟ (koppa), in the same order as Lat. q, for 90; for 900, [sampi ] sampi, probably for san, an old form of sigma, + pi. From 1 to 999 a stroke stands above the letter, for 1000's the same signs are used but with the stroke below the letter (α = 1, τνυμ α = ^cross1000). Only the last letter in any given series has the stroke above: ρνζ 157, υα 401, τνυμ ασαμπι ι 1910. is sometimes used for 10,000; β for 20,000, etc.

a. In the classical period the following system was used according to the inscriptions: Ι = 1, ΙΙΙΙ = 4, Γ (πέντε) = 5, ΓΙ = 6, Δ (δέκα) = 10, ΔΔ = 20, Η (ἑκατόν) = 100, ΗΗ = 200, Χ = 1000, Μ = 10,000, Ι

[unresolved image link] (πεντάκις δέκα) = 50, ΓχΧ (πεντάκις χί_λιοι χί_λιοι) = 6000.

b. For the numbers from 1 to 24 the letters, used in continuous succession, are frequently used to designate the books of the Iliad (Α, Β, Γ, etc.) and of the Odyssey (α, β, γ, etc.).

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Herbert Weir Smyth [n.d.], A Greek Grammar for Colleges; Machine readable text [info] [word count] [Smyth].

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