Mathematician Charles Seife writes in Zero: the biography of a dangerous idea:

"Unfortunately, the Greeks and Romans hated zero so much that they clung to their own Egyptian-like notation rather than convert to the Babylonian system, even though the Babylonian system was easier to use. ...

"However, the Greeks so despised zero that they refused to admit it into their writings, even though they saw how useful it was. The reason: zero was dangerous.

"In earliest times did Ymir live: was nor sea nor land nor salty waves, neither earth was there nor upper heaven, but a gaping nothing, and green things nowhere."

—THE ELDER EDDA

"It is hard to imagine being afraid of a number. Yet zero was inexorably inked with the void—with nothing. There was a primal fear of void and chaos. There was also a fear of zero. Most ancient peoples believed that only emptiness and chaos were present before the universe came to be."