[Mariner]

So...these guys surely realize there was math before the 3rd or 4th century, right?

And while the zero may not have looked like “0”, it was still there.

[Mariner]

“By 1770 BC, the Egyptians had a symbol for zero in accounting texts. The symbol nfr, meaning beautiful, was also used to indicate the base level in drawings of tombs and pyramids and distances were measured relative to the base line as being above or below this line.[12]”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0

[InABunkerUnderSF]

So...these guys surely realize there was math before the 3rd or 4th century, right?

There was math but try doing long division using Roman or Babylonian numerals. The place-decimal system with it's place holder "0" was a really good idea.