Could the Romans count to 5,000? I guess we might never know. After doing extensive research on the matter, I have discovered that the number 5,000 is not listed among Roman numerals. The farthest you can count to, in fact, is 4,999 and nothing above. Here is a chart showing the numerals and how to convert them.
I- 1 (no surprise there, right?)
V- 5
X- 10
L- 50
C- 100
D- 500
M- 1000
The numbers work in sets of fives. So it works like this:
III- Each figure up to 3 is the equivalent of one. This figure shown here is the number 3.
IV- This is the number 4. The I is before the V, signifying that 4 is one number before 5. Nine is like this as well. Except that it's one before ten.
V- This is 5. I swear I've already explained this to you. :)
VII- This is 7. Because the I's are after the V, signifying that the number 7 is two numbers after 5.
Is it starting to make sense now?
Another example. Below is the the highest number that the Romans could count to.
MMMMCMXCIX- 4,999
Here's how.
MMMMCMXCIX- The M's, because there's four of them, represent 4,000.
MMMMCMXCIX- C (100) is before M (1000). This is 900. This is like the number four explained above.
MMMMCMXCIX- Same principle as above just a place value below- 90
MMMMCMXCIX- This one's easy- 9
I hope that's helpful to those of you who would like to know what chapter you are on when reading Heroes of Olympus and such. Oh, and if anyone can tell me what the Roman numeral for 5,000 is, would you please let me know? I'm sure that the Romans could count past that if they wanted to. We are probably just blind. Or lazy. Which ever one works.
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