> You are wondering about the dates I have suggested for the introductions
> of the Hebrew and Greek systems of alphabetic numeration - c200BC and
> c600BC, respectively. May I therefore direct your attention to the
> following web address where the relevant history is discussed:
> http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/SNHIG.html
At this web site the following is attributed to Martin Bernal:
> In summary, the early borrowing by the Greeks of a 28-letter Semitic
> alphabet is consistent with the (numismatic and papryrological) evidence
> for the development of the three-ennead alphabetic numeration system in
> Greece (possibly by the tenth cent. BCE, but definitely by the fourth
> cent. BCE).
>
> Of course this evidence doesn't preclude the possibility that the Jews
> already knew about gematria from the Babylonians, or that they were doing
> it on some other basis.
So it seems your opinions are not shared by all. It's hard to prove that
something like this didn't exist prior to the first recorded instance of
it. But I would think that if alphabetic numeration came into Greek
culture after the establishment of the Pythagorean number cult (500
BC)?,
the Pythagoreans would have had something to say about it, either
criticizing it or taking credit for it.
-- Cliff Lundberg ~ San Francisco ~ cliff@noevalley.com