THAT our common numerals are of Hindu origin seems to
be a well-established fact,* and that Europe received them
from the Arabs seems equally certain, but how and when these
numerals reached the Arabs is a question that has never been
satisfactorily answered. It is the object of the present article
to call the attention of students of the history of mathematics
to newly discovered evidencef showing that the Hindu
numerals were known to and justly appreciated by the Syrian
writer Severus Sebokht who lived in the second half of the
seventh century; that is, about a hundred years before the
date of the first definite trace that we have hitherto had of
the introduction of the system into Bagdad. J It will also be
shown, on the basis of such information as is available respecting
his life and works, that Sebokht was in the most
favorable position for getting information of this kind, and
that he furthermore had in his possession the most powerful
means for the propagating of such knowledge.
Severus Sebokht of Nisibis, bearing the title of bishop,
lived in the convent of Kenneshre on the Euphrates! in the
time of the patriarch Athanasius Gammala (who died in 631)
and his successor John.|| He distinguished himself in the
studies of philosophy, mathematics, and theology, and in his
time the convent of Kenneshre became the chief seat of Greek
learning in western Syria. Of his astronomical and geograph-
* Smith and Karpinski, The Hindu-Arabic Numerals, Boston, 1911.
f By the French orientalist M. F. Nau in the Journal Asiatique, series 10,
vol. 16 (1910).
J Smith and Karpinski, The Hindu-Arabic Numerals, p. 92.
§ W. Wright, Short History of Syriac Literature, London, 1894, pp.
137-139.
|| Sebokht took part, together with the Jacobite patriarch Theodorus,
in a public dispute against the Maronites in the year 659. We have also a
letter written by him in the year 665. From these details we may conclude
that he flourished in the beginning of the second half of the seventh century.
(M. F. Nau, in the Journal Asiatique, series 9, vol. 13, p. 60.)
368 NEW LIGHT ON OUR NUMERALS. [May,
ical works there are a few fragments in a manuscript now in
the British Museum.* These fragments consider such questions
as whether the heaven surrounds the earth in the form
of a wheel or of a sphere; the habitable and uninhabitable
portions of the earth; the measurement of the heaven, the
earth, and the space between them; and the motion of the sun
and the moon. His treatise on the plane astrolabe was
published with a French translation by M. F. Nau in the
Journal Asiatique, series 9, volume 13. Sebokht also wrote a
short treatise on eclipses, in which he ridicules the then accepted
belief in a celestial dragon as the cause of all such
phenomena.!
But the most interesting of Sebokht's writings for the student
of history is undoubtedly a fragment of a manuscript^ published
by M. F. Nau, in the Journal Asiatique (series 10, volume
16, page 225) in which he directly refers to the Hindu numerals.
He seems to have been hurt by the arrogance of certain Greek
scholars who looked down on the Syrians, and in defending
the latter he claims for them the invention of astronomy.
He asserts the fact that the Greeks were merely the pupils of
the Chaldeans of Babylon, and he claims that these same
Chaldeans were the very Syrians whom his opponents condemn.
He closes his argument by saying that science is
universal and is accessible to any nation or to any individual
who takes the pains to search for it. It is not therefore a
monopoly of the Greeks, but is international.
It is in this connection that he mentions the Hindus by way
of illustration, using the following words: " I will omit all
discussion of the science of the Hindus, a people not the same
as the Syrians; their subtle discoveries in this science of
astronomy, discoveries that are more ingenious than those of
the Greeks and the Babylonians; their valuable methods of
calculation; and their computing that surpasses description.
I wish only to say that this computation is done by means of
nine signs. If those who believe, because they speak Greek,
that they have reached the limits of science should know these
things they would be convinced that there are also others
who know something." This fragment clearly shows that
not only did Sebokht know something of the numerals, but
* Add. 14, 538, pp. 153-155.
f See Notes d'Astronome Syrienne, Journal Asiatique, series 10, vol. 16
(1910).
Ï Ms., Syriac, Paris No. 346.
1917.] NEW LIGHT ON OUR NUMERALS. 369
that he understood their full significance, and may even have
known the zero as Rabbi ben Esra did, in spite of the fact
that he, too, speaks of nine numerals. There are two questions
that may immediately arise: (1) How could Sebokht
have obtained any information about the Hindu numerals?
and (2) What are the chances that Sebokht was instrumental
in introducing the numerals to the Arabian scholars?
The first of these questions may be answered very easily.
Nisibis, the place where Severus lived, was the chief city* of
Mygdonia, a small district in the northeast part of Mesopotamia.
It was situated in a rich and fruitful country, was
long the center of a very extensive trade, and was the great
northern emporium for the merchandise of the east and the
west. Since the exchange of goods is always accompanied
by the exchange of ideas, it is only reasonable to surmise that
the different systems of numeration were known in Nisibis,
where they could hardly escape the attention of a man like
Sebokht, who would surely have been looking for just such
information.
The second question is more difficult to answer. It may
be said, however, that the weight of the evidence is in favor of
Sebokht's work being at least one of the agencies by means of
which the knowledge of the numerals was transmitted to the
Arabs. He was the head of his convent and occupied a commanding
position in the literature of his country. He had
many pupils, one of whom, Athanasius of Balad,f was the
patriarch of the Jacobites, while such others as Jacob of EdessaJ
and probably George, Bishop of the Arab Tribes,§ were well
known as translators and polygraphers. We may be certain
that the knowledge of the numerals possessed on the banks
of the Euphrates by Severus was transmitted by him to his
numerous pupils and through them to other scholars all over
Syria. Since we know that Syrian scholars were employed by
the caliphs as translators and educators, || it would be only
natural that these Syrians should impart to the Arabs, among
other facts relating to the sciences, the knowledge of the Hindu
numerals.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.
* See Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography,
f W. Wright, Short History of Syriae Literature, pp. 154-155.
Î Ibid., pp. 141-154.
§ Ibid., pp. 156-159; M. F. Nau in the Journal Asiatique, series 10,
vol. 16.
be a well-established fact,* and that Europe received them
from the Arabs seems equally certain, but how and when these
numerals reached the Arabs is a question that has never been
satisfactorily answered. It is the object of the present article
to call the attention of students of the history of mathematics
to newly discovered evidencef showing that the Hindu
numerals were known to and justly appreciated by the Syrian
writer Severus Sebokht who lived in the second half of the
seventh century; that is, about a hundred years before the
date of the first definite trace that we have hitherto had of
the introduction of the system into Bagdad. J It will also be
shown, on the basis of such information as is available respecting
his life and works, that Sebokht was in the most
favorable position for getting information of this kind, and
that he furthermore had in his possession the most powerful
means for the propagating of such knowledge.
Severus Sebokht of Nisibis, bearing the title of bishop,
lived in the convent of Kenneshre on the Euphrates! in the
time of the patriarch Athanasius Gammala (who died in 631)
and his successor John.|| He distinguished himself in the
studies of philosophy, mathematics, and theology, and in his
time the convent of Kenneshre became the chief seat of Greek
learning in western Syria. Of his astronomical and geograph-
* Smith and Karpinski, The Hindu-Arabic Numerals, Boston, 1911.
f By the French orientalist M. F. Nau in the Journal Asiatique, series 10,
vol. 16 (1910).
J Smith and Karpinski, The Hindu-Arabic Numerals, p. 92.
§ W. Wright, Short History of Syriac Literature, London, 1894, pp.
137-139.
|| Sebokht took part, together with the Jacobite patriarch Theodorus,
in a public dispute against the Maronites in the year 659. We have also a
letter written by him in the year 665. From these details we may conclude
that he flourished in the beginning of the second half of the seventh century.
(M. F. Nau, in the Journal Asiatique, series 9, vol. 13, p. 60.)
368 NEW LIGHT ON OUR NUMERALS. [May,
ical works there are a few fragments in a manuscript now in
the British Museum.* These fragments consider such questions
as whether the heaven surrounds the earth in the form
of a wheel or of a sphere; the habitable and uninhabitable
portions of the earth; the measurement of the heaven, the
earth, and the space between them; and the motion of the sun
and the moon. His treatise on the plane astrolabe was
published with a French translation by M. F. Nau in the
Journal Asiatique, series 9, volume 13. Sebokht also wrote a
short treatise on eclipses, in which he ridicules the then accepted
belief in a celestial dragon as the cause of all such
phenomena.!
But the most interesting of Sebokht's writings for the student
of history is undoubtedly a fragment of a manuscript^ published
by M. F. Nau, in the Journal Asiatique (series 10, volume
16, page 225) in which he directly refers to the Hindu numerals.
He seems to have been hurt by the arrogance of certain Greek
scholars who looked down on the Syrians, and in defending
the latter he claims for them the invention of astronomy.
He asserts the fact that the Greeks were merely the pupils of
the Chaldeans of Babylon, and he claims that these same
Chaldeans were the very Syrians whom his opponents condemn.
He closes his argument by saying that science is
universal and is accessible to any nation or to any individual
who takes the pains to search for it. It is not therefore a
monopoly of the Greeks, but is international.
It is in this connection that he mentions the Hindus by way
of illustration, using the following words: " I will omit all
discussion of the science of the Hindus, a people not the same
as the Syrians; their subtle discoveries in this science of
astronomy, discoveries that are more ingenious than those of
the Greeks and the Babylonians; their valuable methods of
calculation; and their computing that surpasses description.
I wish only to say that this computation is done by means of
nine signs. If those who believe, because they speak Greek,
that they have reached the limits of science should know these
things they would be convinced that there are also others
who know something." This fragment clearly shows that
not only did Sebokht know something of the numerals, but
* Add. 14, 538, pp. 153-155.
f See Notes d'Astronome Syrienne, Journal Asiatique, series 10, vol. 16
(1910).
Ï Ms., Syriac, Paris No. 346.
1917.] NEW LIGHT ON OUR NUMERALS. 369
that he understood their full significance, and may even have
known the zero as Rabbi ben Esra did, in spite of the fact
that he, too, speaks of nine numerals. There are two questions
that may immediately arise: (1) How could Sebokht
have obtained any information about the Hindu numerals?
and (2) What are the chances that Sebokht was instrumental
in introducing the numerals to the Arabian scholars?
The first of these questions may be answered very easily.
Nisibis, the place where Severus lived, was the chief city* of
Mygdonia, a small district in the northeast part of Mesopotamia.
It was situated in a rich and fruitful country, was
long the center of a very extensive trade, and was the great
northern emporium for the merchandise of the east and the
west. Since the exchange of goods is always accompanied
by the exchange of ideas, it is only reasonable to surmise that
the different systems of numeration were known in Nisibis,
where they could hardly escape the attention of a man like
Sebokht, who would surely have been looking for just such
information.
The second question is more difficult to answer. It may
be said, however, that the weight of the evidence is in favor of
Sebokht's work being at least one of the agencies by means of
which the knowledge of the numerals was transmitted to the
Arabs. He was the head of his convent and occupied a commanding
position in the literature of his country. He had
many pupils, one of whom, Athanasius of Balad,f was the
patriarch of the Jacobites, while such others as Jacob of EdessaJ
and probably George, Bishop of the Arab Tribes,§ were well
known as translators and polygraphers. We may be certain
that the knowledge of the numerals possessed on the banks
of the Euphrates by Severus was transmitted by him to his
numerous pupils and through them to other scholars all over
Syria. Since we know that Syrian scholars were employed by
the caliphs as translators and educators, || it would be only
natural that these Syrians should impart to the Arabs, among
other facts relating to the sciences, the knowledge of the Hindu
numerals.
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.
* See Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography,
f W. Wright, Short History of Syriae Literature, pp. 154-155.
Î Ibid., pp. 141-154.
§ Ibid., pp. 156-159; M. F. Nau in the Journal Asiatique, series 10,
vol. 16.