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Why do some analog clocks with Roman numerals have ’4’ as ’IV,’ while others have ’IIII’? This is one of those questions where no one seems to have a definitive answer, and probably no one ever will. What we do have is a handful of competing theories, some with plenty of holes and others that might just be true. You’ll have to pick the one that sounds best to you and roll with it. Once upon a time, when Roman numerals were used by the actual Roman Empire, the name of the Romans’ supreme deity, Jupiter, was spelled as IVPPITER in Latin. Hesitant to put part of the god’s name on a sundial or in accounting books, IIII became the preferred representation of four. Of course, IVPPITER wasn’t being worshipped much by the time clocks and watches replaced sundials, but clockmakers may have stuck with IIII just for the sake of tradition. In another blow to the Jupiter theory, subtractive notation—where IV, instead of IIII, represents four—didn’t become the standard until well after the fall of the Western Roman Empire
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