One thing the Wikipedia article sort of covers, but doesn't really bring out properly, is the fact that during the period of the Roman empire it was normal to use what we think of as the infinity sign to represent 1000, rather than an M.
The infinity sign in this role crops up regularly in inscriptions, but a particular nice place to see it is on the bags of money on the Herald's tray in the middle of the Magerius Mosaic. They represent in handy visual form the amount of money (4000 denarii) which Magerius paid the hunting troupe for the four leopards which they had killed during the show.
This mosaic is from Tunisia, and dates to the third century AD - i.e. lateish within the history of the western empire. The M thing is post-Classical, really.
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The infinity sign in this role crops up regularly in inscriptions, but a particular nice place to see it is on the bags of money on the Herald's tray in the middle of the Magerius Mosaic. They represent in handy visual form the amount of money (4000 denarii) which Magerius paid the hunting troupe for the four leopards which they had killed during the show.
This mosaic is from Tunisia, and dates to the third century AD - i.e. lateish within the history of the western empire. The M thing is post-Classical, really.