"ES" <ruby-ml / magical-cat.org> writes:

> On Sat, March 5, 2005 5:38 pm, Mark Hubbart said:
>> The rule of thumb as I remember it is that you can't prefix a symbol
>> that is greater than one order of magnitude (base ten). So, IX is
>> okay, where IC and IM are not.
>
> This is the correct modern stipulation. The Romans were slightly less
> formal about it as long as the intention was clear (there's the famous
> example of IIII instead of IV, as IV was forbidden because it appears
> in the name of IVPITER).

Afaik, this was the reason for Christians not to use IV (especially on
church clocks), not for the Romans.

-- 
Christian Neukirchen  <chneukirchen / gmail.com>  http://chneukirchen.org