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era vertical I, II, III like Roman numerals, but soon becoming horizontal like the Han Chinese numerals. In the oldest inscriptions, 4 looks like a +, reminiscent of the X of neighboring {{IAST, and perhaps a representation of 4 lines or 4 directions. However, the other unit numerals appear to be arbitrary symbols in even the oldest inscriptions. It is sometimes supposed that they may also have come from collections of strokes,

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