Misc. GR. Beyond the Zero. Below is historian H. W. Brands

[Mark Kohut]

On current evidence, it seems that not until about the time of Christ did
anyone devise a numerical symbol to signify what we call zero. The English
*zero* ultimately comes from the Arabic *sifr*, reflecting the Middle
Eastern origins of the idea.

A symbol signifying an empty column in a place-sensitive number—like 0 in
203—appeared much earlier, in Mesopotamia. But this symbol doesn’t seem to
have been thought of as a number itself.

Nor did the system of numbers that spread farthest in classical times, the
Roman numeral system, have a symbol for zero. There is no place-value (ones
column, tens column, hundreds column, etc.) in the Roman system. When
Romans ran out of pigs, they didn’t have any pigs; they didn’t have zero
pigs.

Zero is subtle concept. It was the first number to have no physical
manifestation; it is purely abstract. Many people had difficulty grasping
it. Some found it distasteful or threatening; a few called it the work of
the devil.