More on this subject:
http://homepages.sover.net/~donnl/iiiivsiv.html
http://www.ubr.com/clocks/faq/iiii.html
http://www.eudesign.com/mnems/romanos.htm
Roman
Numerals
like IV, IX, XIV, XIX, XL etc.
did not yet exist at the time of the Roman Empire but
were introduced later. The IV most likely not before the 13 th
(?)
century.
The IX appears already on many
of the earliest mechanical clocks during the
14 th century, but the ancient roman numerals VIIII, XIIII, XVIIII,
XXIIII were
still used with
several early Renaissance and Gothic dials. Attached pictures show interesting early examples of a combined use of ‘ancient’ and
’later’ Roman numerals.
Common introduction of the ‘later’ IX at clock dials could also be for reasons of favourable spacing and legibility. At the time of introduction of the IV, it was likely to late to affect the well-established ancient Roman IIII. Moreover since subsidiary ‘quarter’ dials and early Italian ‘4 hour’ dials, seemed to make its ongoing use, at circular clock dials, very obvious.
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ca. 1490
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England ca.
1370
