So
Why Do We Study Roman Numerals?
As
with many great 'beginnings' there is a mythical tale surrounding
the founding of Rome.
The
story begins when the Roman God of War Mars had twin sons
to the priestess Rhea Silvia. This displeased the evil king
of the day and he had Rhea Silvia imprisoned. The evil king
then ordered a slave to kill the children.
The
kindly slave could not bring himself to kill the infants
so he set them adrift in a basket on the river Tiber. Downstream
the children were found by a 'she wolf' who had just lost
her cubs. The wolf rescued the boys from the river and suckled
them. Soon after this a shepherd named Faustulus took the
boys home and raised them as his own.
When
the boys grew up they went on to found a new city. Romulus
then killed Remus in an argument over what the new city
should be named. Romulus then named the city Rome after
himself and went on to be the city's first king.
Over
the next M years or
so Rome became a major super power. It took its language,
numbers and ways of doing things all over the known world.
As a result, some of these things are still evident in our
society today e.g. roads, sewerage systems and roman
numerals.
So
we learn to read and write roman numerals because our
society still uses them occassionally.
