I didn't actually realise they're letters. To me it's distinct symbols just like 0 is a distinct ascii symbol from O.
Now that you mention it, I realise that I knew that five is V and M is a thousand or something, but the symbol for one/1, is that actually defined as a capital i and not just a line of some form? Since surely the digit for one came before the latin script
Latin (and ancient Greek) didn't have dedicated symbols for numbers, but at sone point the Romans started using a shorthand system based on existing alphabetic symbols, which we now call "Roman numerals".
It's quite possible the "I"s started out as just a line to mark one item before the shorthand was developed, but certainly over time it became identified to capital "I".
I didn't actually realise they're letters. To me it's distinct symbols just like 0 is a distinct ascii symbol from O.
Now that you mention it, I realise that I knew that five is V and M is a thousand or something, but the symbol for one/1, is that actually defined as a capital i and not just a line of some form? Since surely the digit for one came before the latin script