Chorasmian Number Ten

It is the numeral ten in historical Khwarezmian notation. Seven basic signs represent one, two, three, four, ten, twenty and one hundred. Five through nine add signs; larger values come first, and 𐿊 combines with 𐿉 to build multiples of ten.

Where was this number written?

The numeral survives in inscriptions from Khwarezmian history. Khwarezmian, an Eastern Iranian language, was spoken around the Amu Darya delta in Central Asia. The earliest surviving inscriptions in the language include silver bowls from the Achaemenid period of ancient Persian rule. Unicode encodes a later cursive script, attested on coins from the 2nd century CE onward; those coins have no numeral signs. Number signs survive on silver vessels from the 6th–8th centuries CE and ossuaries (containers for human bones) from the 7th–8th centuries CE.

The writing system developed from Imperial Aramaic, an ancient script, and is related to Iranian traditions such as Parthian, Pahlavi and Sogdian. Arabic writing replaced the script around the turn of the 10th century; Turkic languages had replaced Khwarezmian by the 14th century.

Why does it sometimes look like a box?

A missing-glyph box means the font lacks this sign. Unicode identifies the character, but each font needs its own drawing. A box or blank means the active font does not include it; the character and its value have not changed.

Khwarezmian lines normally run right to left. Some inscriptions are vertical, with the lines advancing from left to right.