Cyrillic Numerals
Prior to the 18th century, a system of Cyrillic numerals was commonly used in Russia. It was replaced when Peter the Great's civil script reforms standardized the use of Arabic numerals, which had been growing in popularity throughout the 1600s. Because you may encounter these numerals in your research, both in early Russian documents and later documents in Church Slavonic, it is important that you familiarize yourself with how they work.
Various letters represent each unit (1-9), multiple of ten (10-90), and multiple of one hundred (100-900). The total value of a number is the sum of all its symbols’ values. For example, the number 123 is represented as РКГ, where Р is 100, К is 20, and Г is 3.
П = 80
И = 8
988
ѹ = 400
ч = 90
ѕ = 6
6496 Byzantine Calendar (988 Gregorian Calendar)
The Byzantine calendar starts from what was then believed to be the date of the world’s creation: September 1, 5509 BC. Year 1 runs from that date to August 31, 5508 BC. To convert a Byzantine year to a Gregorian year, simply subtract 5508. To convert Byzantine years into Gregorian years, subtract 5508. See the Calendars page for more information about calendars used in the Russian Empire.
ѡ = 800
і = 10
в = 2
1812
Remember that the order goes from highest value to lowest value except for the numbers 11-19.
к = 20
е = 5
2025
Unlike Arabic numerals, where digits represent place value (ones, tens, hundreds, etc.), Cyrillic numerals are not positional. Each symbol stands for a specific value, so there’s no need to include a separate character to indicate hundreds.
For values of 1000 and larger, unit symbols are paired with a multiplier symbol. The most common and best understood of these multipliers is the thousand sign, ҂, which generally appears before a unit symbol as a comma with two small bars through it. The sign can be paired with unit symbols to represent values of 1,000 (҂а), 2000 (҂г), and so on, up to 9000 (҂Ѳ). Because dates (years) are common contexts for these numerals, ҂ is the multiplier you are most likely to encounter. Multipliers exist for greater orders of magnitude, but scholars are less certain of their meaning.
Symbols are listed from greatest value to least value, except for 11-19, in which the numbers are listed the same way they are said: nine-teen, девят-на-дцать (nine-ten), ІѲ.
То help readers distinguish numbers from letters, a wavy line called a titlo is placed above numbers. The titlo may be above the entire numeral, just one symbol, or omitted entirely. In the gallery above, you can see some examples of Cyrillic numerals representing famous years in Eastern European history. Click on the arrows to navigate from image to image.
Examples:
Arabic Numerals | Example |
198 | 
РЧИ |
| 6363 | 
҂Ꙅ Т Ѯ Г |
Variants:
Units | |
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Multiples of Ten | |
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Multiples of 100 | |
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- Image: Byalyaev, I.S. Prakticheskiy Kurs izucheniya Drevney Russkoy Skoropisi dlya chteniya
Rukopisey XV-XVIII sloletii. (Moscow: Sinodal’naya Tipografiya, 1907).
Additional Resources:
- For more information on Cyrillic Numerals, see the Wikipedia page on the topic. Here you can learn more about the origin of the system, its connection with Greek numerals, and greater count multipliers.
- This article from Matthew Bialawa includes the basics of the Old Church Slavonic alphabet, number, and date systems.
- http://prevodnik.gorazd.org/old-church-slavonic-numerals-converter-kb-info