NUMBERS 1-9 ARMENIAN Starts with MEG alchemical precipitation.
noun Size, greatness, largeness, magnitude, bulkiness, hugeness, bigness, grandeur, dignity, fortune, richness; power, elevation.
Germain suggests that there is a need for us to understand the universal scheme of creation so that all we create and do will be harmonious with eternal Law and cosmic principles. When they, the Alchemists talk about the law of precipitation they mean the spiritual energies that are drawn out of the Universal and coalesced in Matter.
“Plato’s fabricator of the Universe created order from the primordial chaos of these elements by means of the essential forms and numbers. The ordering according to number and form on a higher plane resulted in the intended disposition of the five elements in the physical universe. The essential forms and numbers then act as the interface between the higher and lower realms. They have in themselves, and in their analogues with the elements, the power to shape the material world” …Robert Lawlor
The ancient traditions teach that man is destined to become a perfected Christed being, a Buddha, an Adam Kadmon, conscious of himself in all multi-dimensional diversity, inseparate from “All That Is”.
“There is a pattern of the mind and it is identical to the pattern of the cosmos”. (Pribram)
In the sacred geometry of Plato’s Timeas, a cosmology of the relationship of primal energies, the body of creation, the Demiurge, the I Am That I Am, geometrically is a perfect sphere Plato called Becoming generated by the expansion in time of the primal center point, Being, through space. The original chaos that existed in the space between Being and Becoming, “That” which was between “I Am” and “I Am”, was organized by the harmonic nesting of the regular solids: cube, icosahedron, octahedron, tetrahedron and dodecahedron. Each represented a qualitative element: earth, water, air, fire and ether and a plane of consciousness: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and akashic.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be Light: and there was light.” …Genesis 1:1-3
“To know God, Nature and Man, one must first know geometry.” …Pythagoras
Pythagoras summarized the teaching of the laws of creation in the “holy tetractys”, a pattern of ten points.

Law of One, Law of Two, Law of Three, Law of Four, Law of Ten
Being-Spirit: Duality: Trinity:
Materialization: Completion:
All is Energy
Energy expresses as vibration
Vibration manifests as form
Form materializes in volume
All evolves to One again
Magus is a member of a priestly caste of ancient Persia.a sorcerer.
The Armenian root words *MEGI = AllOne as in creation and MEDZ = Great, Gigantic, Large.
Anaximenes of Miletus, a student and successor of Anaximander, replaced this infinite, boundless arche with air, a known element with neutral properties. According to Anaximenes, there was not so much a war of opposites, as a continuum of change.
Heraclitus, however, did not accept the Milesian monism and replaced their underlying material arche with a single, divine law of the universe, which he called Logos. The universe of Heraclitus is in constant change, while remaining the same. That is to say, when an object moves from point A to point B, a change is created, while the underlying law remains the same. Thus, a unity of opposites is present in the universe simultaneously containing difference and sameness. An aphorism of Heraclitus illustrates the idea as follows:The road up and the road down are the same thing. (Hippolytus, Refutations 9.10.3)This is an example of a compresent unity of opposites. For, at the same time, this slanted road has the opposite qualities of ascent and descent. According to Heraclitus, everything is in constant flux, and every changing object contains at least one pair of opposites (though not necessarily simultaneously) and every pair of opposites is contained in at least one object. Heraclitus also uses the succession of opposites as a basis for change: Cold things grow hot, hot things grow cold, a moist thing withers, a parched thing is wetted. (DK B126) An object persists despite opposite properties, even as it undergoes change.
MERCURIUS AS BOTH UNITY AND A TRIUNITY
Classical thermodynamics is the description of the states of thermodynamic systems at near-equilibrium, that uses macroscopic, measurable properties. It is used to model exchanges of energy, work and heat based on the laws of thermodynamics. The qualifier classical reflects the fact that it represents the first level of understanding of the subject as it developed in the 19th century and describes the changes of a system in terms of macroscopic empirical (large scale, and measurable) parameters. A microscopic interpretation of these concepts was later provided by the development of statistical mechanics.
Atmospheric thermodynamics is the study of heat-to-work transformations (and their reverse) that take place in the earth's atmosphere and manifest as weather or climate. Atmospheric thermodynamics use the laws of classical thermodynamics, to describe and explain such phenomena as the properties of moist air, the formation of clouds, atmospheric convection, boundary layer meteorology, and vertical instabilities in the atmosphere.
During fine weather away from thunderstorms, the air above the surface of Earth is positively charged, while the Earth's surface charge is negative. This can be understood in terms of a difference of potential between a point of the Earth's surface, and a point somewhere in the air above it. Because the atmospheric electric field is negatively directed in fair weather, atmospheric electricity is always present, and the convention is to refer to this as the potential gradient. There is a weak conduction current of atmospheric ions moving in the atmospheric electric field and the air is weakly conductive due to the presence of these atmospheric ions.The atmospheric potential gradient leads to an ion flow from the positively charged atmosphere to the negatively charged earth surface.
Objects protruding in these fields, e.g. flowers and trees, can increase the electric field strength to several kilovolts per meter. These near-surface electrostatic forces are detected by all organisms and organisms such as the bumblebee use it to navigate to flowers and the spider to initiate dispersal by ballooning. The atmospheric potential gradient is also thought to affect sub-surface electro-chemistry and microbial processes.
Imagine a sphere of Iron, as big as two-third the size of the moon and as hot as 5700 Kelvin. That is the Earth’s core. Earths dipole orientation is defined by its axis. The two positions where the axis of the dipole that best fits the geomagnetic field that intersect the Earth's surface are called the North and South geomagnetic poles. The electric current running through the molten metal core of the earth is in a bi-stable state. There are two quasi-stable states of electric current around the equator of the earth. The magnetic dipole of the earth has a direction determined by the flow of electrons near the equator of the earth. The orientation of the spin axis of the earth remains the same. However, the magnetic dipole points.The same theory describes the magnetic dipole of the sun. The core of the sun contains plasma. Plasma is a fluid and conducts electricity. The sun rotates, producing Coriolis force. So the magnetic dipole of the sun is formed in an analogous way to the magnetic dipole of the earth.
The magnetic dipole of the earth flips on average every 50000 years. The magnetic dipole of the sun changes on average every 11.5 years.
Plato, the Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century B.C.E., believed that the universe was made of five types of matter: earth, air, fire, water, and cosmos. Each was described with a particular geometry, a platonic shape. For earth, that shape was the cube.
Just as a binary relation is formally defined as a set of pairs, i.e. a subset of the Cartesian product A × B of some sets A and B, so a ternary relation is a set of triples, forming a subset of the Cartesian product A × B × C of three sets A, B and C.
An example of a ternary relation in elementary geometry can be given on triples of points, where a triple is in the relation if the three points are collinear. Another geometric example can be obtained by considering triples consisting of two points and a line, where a triple is in the ternary relation if the two points determine (are incident with) the line.
Pinnacle is the culminating point, the cullmination, in Armenian pinnacle is գագաթ or գագաթնակէտ, the cullminating point.
Mercurius corresponds not only to Christ, but to the triune divinity in general which is clearly indicated. “Tractatus aureus” puts the parallel with Christ as Logos clearly when he declairs that Mercurius/Hermes is the Logos become world. Hermes is not only the counterpart of Christ in so far as he is the “son”; he is also the counterpart of the Trinity as a whole in so far as he is conceived to be a chthonic triad, as three, a triune in a system where he is the head in-between the higher and the lower powers”. Mercurius relates to a primitive creative Godhead with his ability to beget himself. In the “Allegoriae super librum Turbae” he says: “The mother bore me and is herself begotten of me.” As the uroboros dragon, he impregnates, begets, bears, devours, and slays himself, and “himself lifts himself on high.”- As the product of his own transformation, Mercurius is most often associated with the Uroboros, the tail-eating serpent, who devours and gives birth to itself ("himself lifts himself on high"). Because Mercurius is said to be both the circumference and the center of this serpentine ring, he is divine. (Gods are often compared to the center: they are infinite, yet occupy no space)
Jung speaks of the axiom of Maria as running in various forms through the whole of alchemy like a leitmotiv. In "The Psychology of the Transference" he writes of the fourfold nature of the transforming process using the language of Greek alchemy:"It begins with the four separate elements, the state of chaos, and ascends by degrees to the three manifestations of Mercurius in the inorganic, organic, and spiritual worlds; and, after attaining the form of Sol and Luna (i.e., the precious metal gold and silver, but also the radiance of the gods who can overcome the strife of the elements by love), it culminates in the one and indivisible (incorruptible, ethereal, eternal) nature of the anima, the quinta essentia, aqua permanens, tincture, or lapis philosophorum. This progression from the number 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 is the 'axiom of Maria'..."
The Axiom of Maria may be interpreted as an alchemical analogy of the process of individuation from the many to the one, from undifferentiated unconsciousness to individual consciousness.
The dragon is probably the oldest pictorial symbol in alchemy of which we have documentary evidence.
It appears as the Ouroboros, the tail-eater, in the Codex Marcianus, which dates from the tenth or eleventh century, together with the legend ‘the One, the All’.
Time and again the alchemists reiterate that the opus proceeds from the one and leads back to the one, that it is a sort of circle like a dragon biting its own tail. For this reason the opus was often called circulare (circular) or else rota (the wheel).
Mercurius stands at the beginning and end of the work: he is the prima materia, the caput corvi, the nigredo; as dragon he devours himself and as dragon he dies, to rise again in the lapis.
He is the play of colours in the cauda pavonis and the division into the four elements.
He is the hermaphrodite that was in the beginning, that splits into the classical brother-sister duality and is reunited in the coniunctio, to appear once again at the end in the radiant form of the lumen novum, the stone.
a symbol uniting all the opposites.” associated with Egyptian Thoth. Present in every stage of transformation as striking opposites. He is the simultaneous omnipresence of every level of being and the connecting psychic principle between all beings - the One and the All. Mercurius is hermaphroditic, bisexual, androgynous soul of metals, the ‘metallic’ man; both good and evil, material and spiritual, trickster-like child of Sol and Luna, and also - the son of Tiamat. He has a masculine body and a feminine soul. Mercurius is the Mediator, Servator, Salvator. He is the reflection of mystical experience, the Self, and the individuation process (Jungian psychology). His corresponding planet and metal is Mercury. Mercurius is also often described as quicksilver, which has a fluid, water-like quality. At the same time, he possesses fiery characteristics, especially in his embodiment as the alchemical gold. He arises from moisture like vapor, while Mercurial fire is found in the center of the earth (or the ‘dragon’s belly’).
The alchemy of Gemstones are often treated to enhance the color or clarity of the stone. Depending on the type and extent of treatment, they can affect the value of the stone. Some treatments are used widely because the resulting gem is stable, while others are not accepted most commonly because the gem color is unstable and may revert to the original tone.
Heat can either improve or spoil gemstone color or clarity. The heating process has been well known to gem miners and cutters for centuries, and in many stone types heating is a common practice. Most citrine is made by heating amethyst, and partial heating with a strong gradient results in "ametrine" – a stone partly amethyst and partly citrine. Aquamarine is often heated to remove yellow tones, or to change green colors into the more desirable blue, or enhance its existing blue color to a deeper blue.
Nearly all tanzanite is heated at low temperatures to remove brown undertones and give a more desirable blue / purple color. A considerable portion of all sapphire and ruby is treated with a variety of heat treatments to improve both color and clarity.
When jewelry containing diamonds is heated for repairs, the diamond should be protected with boric acid; otherwise, the diamond, which is pure carbon, could be burned on the surface or even burned completely up. When jewelry containing sapphires or rubies is heated, those stones should not be coated with boric acid (which can etch the surface) or any other substance. They do not have to be protected from burning, like a diamond (although the stones do need to be protected from heat stress fracture by immersing the part of the jewelry with stones in the water when metal parts are heated).
Lapis armenus, also known as Armenian stone or lapis stellatus, in natural history, is a variety of precious stone, resembling lapis lazuli, except that it is softer, and instead of veins of pyrite, is intermixed with green. "The Armenian stone" is so similar to lapis lazuli that it has often not been distinguished from it;[1][2] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary for instance treats the two terms as synonyms.[
The Azurite Lapis Armenus is often found in association with another copper carbonate; the Malachite [18] also known as the green lapis lazuli (also identified with the Latin Chrysocolla).[19] The Sumerian epic “Lugalbanda and the Anzud bird” mentions this Malachite in Arrata:
“Aratta’s battlements are of green lapis lazuli, its walls and its towering brickwork are bright red, their brick clay is made of tinstone dug out in the mountains where the cypress grows.”
The cube is the only regular hexahedron and is one of the five Platonic solids. It has 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices.
վեհ adjective Majestic, sublime, grand, imposing.
Cuneaform math was set up on a base sixty notation and in this notation, division and multiplication were difficult tasks. In order to ease this difficulty, they used tables of recipricals.
Recipricals are the 'reflective' numbers in division and multiplication.
For instance Anu was first among all the Gods, thus Anu's number was 60 or 360. (60 divided by 1 equals 60). Note that Enlil and Enki do not have perfect recipricals to 60 and are thus divided into 360.
Here are the numbers of the Gods and their reciprical order:
the table is laid out with the god name, the reciprical order, and then the math for 60 or 360. I.E
Anu 60, 1 (60/1=60), (360/60=6) (6+1=7 the number of the unknowable)
TABLE of recipricals to 360:
Anu 60, 1 (60/1=60), (360/60=6) (6+1=7 the number of the unknowable)
Enlil 50, 2 (60/50=1.2),(360/50=7.2)
Ea 40, 3 (60/40=1.5),(360/40=9) (9 the number of the desire to grow, and 3X3=9, the '3' are Anu, Enlil, and Enki)
The 60 of Anu notes his perfection and the numbers of Enlil and Enki being none reciprocal to 60 shows their greater Status in the order of the gods.
TABLE of recipricals of 60
Anu 60, 1 (60/1=60) (the all and Judge of the All)
Sin 30, 2 (60/2=30 days to a lunar month) (Sun, the day light and Judge of the Day)
Shamash 20, 3 (60/3=20 days to a solar month) (Moon, the night light and Judge of the Night)
Ishtar 15, 4 (60/4=15 days to the full Moon) (Venus brightest planet in the sky and Judge of the Heart)
Nebo 12, 5 (60/5=12 months to a year and thus record keeping of animals and grain throught the seasons) (Mercury fastest planet and Judge of the Mind)
The King / Enlil (Jupiter) as king 10, 6 (60/6=10 lunar months to human gestation, 10 as the 1 the number of man brought to the highest order and thus the king's perfection and mastery over the material world of form represented by Enki's reciprocal of 9 and the Judge of Man)
7 has no perfect reciprical to 60 or 360 but comes to 8.54 for 60. Seven is the number of Mystery and Magic and its reciprical is closest to the reciprical of Enki the lord of magic and form and solver of dilemnas(9).
8 has no perfect reciprical to 60 but due to it's imbalance to 60, it is the number of Conflict and Obstacles that must be overcome. It is also the number of Nergal the Lord of the Underworld(mars) and has the riprocal of 45 to 360. 8 are the rays of the star that means 'god' in cuneaform and all the gods but Enki and Anu went to the realm of death to face trials and obstacles in order to learn a moral / social lesson.
9 has no reciprical to 60 but it is the reciprical of 40 (Enki) to 360
So far we have touched upon the numbers of all the major (planetary) Dieties but one: Rimon / Adad (Saturn) who's Number is 4.
4 has the reciprical 15 (60/15=4) The number four is the four elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Water. Adad was the lord of the four elements that granted life. Ishtar (15) is the life principle, thus life (15) manifests through Anu (60) on earth through the four elements (4).
I hope that this will shed some light on the Number of the Gods.
Note these number harmonies as reciprocals of 360 the number of degrees in the zodiac:
Mercury (360/12=30 days)
Venus (360/15=24 hours)
Sun (360/20=18 orginal signs in the Sumerian Zodiac)
Mars(360/8=45 degrees in the 8 seasonal divisions of the old Sumerian Calender)
Jupiter(3600/50=72 Shedu / spirits of the heavens)
saturn (360/4=90 degrees that make up the four quarters of the year)
Note: Parpol gives the following numbers for the gods
1. 1 (Anu) (1 as reciprical of 60)
2. 60 (Ea) (1 as reciprical of 60)
3. 30 (Sin) (2 as reciprical of 60)
4. 50 (Ellil) (no reciprical of 60)
5. 20 (Shamash) (3 as reciprical of 60)
6. 15 (Ishtar) (4 as reciprocal of 60)
7. 40 (Nabu) (no reciprical of 60)
8. 10 (Adad) (6 as reciprical of 60)
9. 14 (Nergal) (reiprical is 4.2)
10. 3,600 (The King) (no reciprical to 60)
St. Augustine, six is the perfect number: "Six is a perfect number in itself, and not because God created the world in six days
The hexad--6--The Pythagoreans held the hexad--6--to represent, as Clement of Alexandria conceived, the creation of the world according to both the prophets and the ancient Mysteries. It was called by the Pythagoreans the perfection of all the parts. This number was particularly sacred to Orpheus, and also to the Fate, Lachesis, and the Muse, Thalia. It was called the form of forms, the articulation of the universe, and the maker of the soul.
Among the Greeks, harmony and the soul were considered to be similar in nature, because all souls are harmonic. The hexad is also the symbol of marriage, because it is formed by the union of two triangles, one masculine and the other feminine. Among the keywords given to the hexad are: time, for it is the measure of duration; panacea, because health is equilibrium, and the hexad is a balance number; the world, because the world, like the hexad, is often seen to consist of contraries by harmony; omni sufficient, because its parts are sufficient for totality (3 +2 + 1 = 6); unwearied, because it contains the elements of immortality.
According to Emory University's Philippe Rochat, there are five levels of self-awareness which unfold in early development and six potential prospects ranging from "Level 0" (having no self-awareness) advancing complexity to "Level 5" (explicit self-awareness).Level 0: Confusion. At this level the individual has a degree of zero self-awareness. This person is unaware of any mirror reflection or the mirror itself. They perceive the mirror as an extension of their environment. Level 0 can also be displayed when an adult frightens himself in a mirror mistaking his own reflection as another person just for a second.
Level 1: Differentiation. The individual realizes the mirror is able to reflect things. They see that what is in the mirror is different from what is surrounding them. At this level they can differentiate between their own movement in the mirror and the movement of the surrounding environment.
Level 2: Situation. At this point an individual can link the movements on the mirror to what is perceived within their own body. This is the first hint of self-exploration on a projected surface where what is visualized on the mirror is special to the self.
Level 3: Identification. This stage is characterized by the new ability to identify self: an individual can now see that what's in the mirror is not another person but actually them. It is seen when a child, instead of referring to the mirror while referring to themselves, refers to themselves while looking in the mirror.
Level 4: Permanence. Once an individual reaches this level they can identify the self beyond the present mirror imagery. They are able to identify the self in previous pictures looking different or younger. A "permanent self" is now experienced.
Level 5: Self-consciousness or "meta" self-awareness. At this level not only is the self seen from a first person view but it is realized that it is also seen from a third person's view. They begin to understand they can be in the mind of others. For instance, how they are seen from a public standpoint.[21]
In Pythagorean Tetractyan math, there are ten numbers plus a non-number, a special “zero” non-number a liminal, which is related to a transitional or initial stage of a process, occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.
Mēden: Emptiness
Monad: Individuation
Dyad: Relation
Triad: Harmony
Tetrad: Form
Pentad: Growth
Hexad: Order
Heptad: Essence
Octad: Mixture
Ennead: Realization
Decad: Wholeness
Moreover, we noted before that there are special relationships between pairs of these numbers if you take the whole Tetractys and reflect it around a central horizontal axis: Being: Mēden/Decad, Becoming: Monad/Ennead, Variation: Dyad/Octad, Accordance: Triad/Heptad
Structure: Tetrad/Hexad, Growth: Pentad.

The first four numbers of the Decad before the Pentad (Monad through Tetrad) as “manifesting” and the second set after the Pentad (Hexad through Ennead) as “manifested”, the Upper and Lower Tetractyes, respectively, and how they relate to the three systems.
These relationships are, in a sense, a more “ideal” version of each of their correspondent numbers, and form a sort of meta-Tetractys. For instance, the Monad has the secret of individuation (a thing in the process of becoming a single thing), while the Ennead has that of realization (a thing in the process of becoming real); both reveal the secret of becoming, but do so in different ways. The numbers after the Pentad are reflections of the numbers going before, both reflecting off an ideal numerical concept.

Three Circles, Rings, give us what is called the “Tripod of Life”
in Sacred Geometry the three intersecting rings form the “Tripod of Life”
Rings or circles are a symbol of wholeness and unity. They have no beginning and no end. They represent the infinite possibilities of creation the are contained in the void. In the study of Sacred Geometry, two intersecting circles as above represent the coming together of two Ones and their common area gives us vessica piscis from which all other geometric shapes can be generated. Three intersecting circles represents the coming together of the three Ones.
Three intersecting circles forms the basic trefoil unit, generally known as the “Tripod of Life”. Three intersecting Circles are a very powerful representation of the creative force of the Universe, and inscribe three intersecting vessica piscis. At their center is formed a triangle with curved sides. (Straight-sided triangles are shapes that represent balance, stability, and equilibrium and their three internal angles add up to 360 degrees of rotation.) This triangle with curved sides is depicted on the tip of the forefinger of the triple goddess, Aphrodite.
The “Tripod of Life” is a lens for the most powerful energy a creative force from Higher Realms. It forms the core of what is named the sacred “Seed of Life”, which are the seven interlocking circles. The “Seed of Life” is a basic building block of the “Flower of Life” pattern which depicts fundamental forms of time and space as it illustrates the interconnection of all life.
Nabu-ri-man-nu (also spelled Nabu-rimanni; Greek sources called him Ναβουριανός, Nabourianos, Latin Naburianus) (fl. c. 6th – 3rd century BC) was a Chaldean astronomer and mathematician.
Classical and ancient cuneiform sources mention an astronomer with this name: The process of representation is characterized by using signs that we recall mentally or phonetically to comprehend the world. Saussure says before a human can use the word "tree" she or he has to envision the mental concept of a tree. Realism, sometimes called naturalism, in the arts is generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully.
Measurement in Science
Philosophers have written on a variety of conceptual, metaphysical, semantic and epistemological issues related to measurement.
Measurement is an integral part of modern science as well as of engineering, commerce, and daily life. Measurement is often considered a hallmark of the scientific enterprise and a privileged source of knowledge relative to qualitative modes of inquiry. Despite its ubiquity and importance, there is little consensus among philosophers as to how to define measurement, what sorts of things are measurable, or which conditions make measurement possible. Most (but not all) contemporary authors agree that measurement is an activity that involves interaction with a concrete system with the aim of representing aspects of that system in abstract terms (e.g., in terms of classes, numbers, vectors etc.)
Modern philosophical discussions about measurement—spanning from the late nineteenth century to the present day—may be divided into several strands of scholarship. These strands reflect different perspectives on the nature of measurement and the conditions that make measurement possible and reliable. The main strands are mathematical theories of measurement, operationalism, is the theory in the philosophy of science that presupposes that all physical entities, properties and processes can be defined as a set of operations by which they are apprehended,) realism, in philosophy is the doctrine that universals or abstract concepts have an objective or absolute existence. The theory that universals have their own reality is sometimes called Platonic realism because it was first outlined by Plato's doctrine of ‘forms’ or ideas. It is the doctrine that matter as the object of perception has real existence and is neither reducible to universal mind or spirit nor dependent on a perceiving agent.
information-theoretic accounts and model-based accounts. These strands of scholarship do not, for the most part, constitute directly competing views. Instead, they are best understood as highlighting different and complementary aspects of measurement. The following is a very rough overview of these perspectives:
Mathematical theories of measurement view measurement as the mapping of qualitative empirical relations to relations among numbers (or other mathematical entities). Operationalists and conventionalists view measurement as a set of operations that shape the meaning and/or regulate the use of a quantity-term.
Realists view measurement as the estimation of mind-independent properties and/or relations.
Information-theoretic accounts view measurement as the gathering and interpretation of information about a system.
Model-based accounts view measurement as the coherent assignment of values to parameters in a theoretical and/or statistical model of a process.
Circle is the locus of points equidistant from a given point, the center of the circle. The common distance from the center of the circle to its points is called radius. Thus a circle is completely defined by its center (O) and radius (R): C(O, R) = O(R) = {x: dist(O, x) = R}.
Because of its symmetry the circle is considered as the perfect shape. It is the symbol for the total symmetry of the 'divine.' The Greek scholar Proclus (500 AC) wrote: "the circle is the first, the simplest and most perfect form". As Christian symbol it represents eternity, and the sleeping eye of God (Genesis 1:2). Metaphysical speculation.
Although the philosophy of measurement formed as a distinct area of inquiry only during the second half of the nineteenth century, fundamental concepts of measurement such as magnitude and quantity have been discussed since antiquity. According to Euclid’s Elements, a magnitude—such as a line, a surface or a solid—measures another when the latter is a whole multiple of the former (Book V, def. 1 & 2). Two magnitudes have a common measure when they are both whole multiples of some magnitude, and are incommensurable otherwise (Book X, def. 1). The discovery of incommensurable magnitudes allowed Euclid and his contemporaries to develop the notion of a ratio of magnitudes. Ratios can be either rational or irrational, and therefore the concept of ratio is more general than that of measure (Michell 2003, 2004; Grattan-Guinness 1996).
Aristotle distinguished between quantities and qualities. Examples of quantities are numbers, lines, surfaces, bodies, time and place, whereas examples of qualities are justice, health, hotness and paleness (Categories §6 and §8). According to Aristotle, quantities admit of equality and inequality but not of degrees, as “one thing is not more four-foot than another” (ibid. 6.6a19). Qualities, conversely, do not admit of equality or inequality but do admit of degrees, “for one thing is called more pale or less pale than another” (ibid. 8.10b26). Aristotle did not clearly specify whether degrees of qualities such as paleness correspond to distinct qualities, or whether the same quality, paleness, was capable of different intensities. This topic was at the center of an ongoing debate in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Jung 2011). Duns Scotus supported the “addition theory”, according to which a change in the degree of a quality can be explained by the addition or subtraction of smaller degrees of that quality (2011: 553). This theory was later refined by Nicole Oresme, who used geometrical figures to represent changes in the intensity of qualities such as velocity (Clagett 1968; Sylla 1971). Oresme’s geometrical representations established a subset of qualities that were amenable to quantitative treatment, thereby challenging the strict Aristotelian dichotomy between quantities and qualities. These developments made possible the formulation of quantitative laws of motion during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Grant 1996).
The concept of qualitative intensity was further developed by Leibniz and Kant. Leibniz’s “principle of continuity” stated that all natural change is produced by degrees. Leibniz argued that this principle applies not only to changes in extended magnitudes such as length and duration, but also to intensities of representational states of consciousness, such as sounds (Jorgensen 2009; Diehl 2012). Kant is thought to have relied on Leibniz’s principle of continuity to formulate his distinction between extensive and intensive magnitudes. According to Kant, extensive magnitudes are those “in which the representation of the parts makes possible the representation of the whole” (1787: A162/B203). An example is length: a line can only be mentally represented by a successive synthesis in which parts of the line join to form the whole. For Kant, the possibility of such synthesis was grounded in the forms of intuition, namely space and time. Intensive magnitudes, like warmth or colors, also come in continuous degrees, but their apprehension takes place in an instant rather than through a successive synthesis of parts. The degrees of intensive magnitudes “can only be represented through approximation to negation” (1787: A 168/B210), that is, by imagining their gradual diminution until their complete absence.T
he Teachings of Pythagoras revolved around the idea that when considering the deepest level, of reality, the roots, the law governing the universe, we have to accept that at source it is essentially expressed mathematically, by number. Today these principles form a foundation for many concepts of traditional Western thought. A series of symbolic forms were constructed to mirror the concepts of the universe. Using a compass, straightedge, and writing utensil, mathematical philosophers created and continue to create these symbolic representations. One of his most basic notions revolves around the symbolism and numerical beauty associated with the Divine Proportions.
Pythagoras expressed his thoughts and ideas by using numbers, words and symbols. For instance, a point is the essence of a circle. With a point, a line and a circle, a number and a word he instructed his disciples that the science of mathematics must be divided into two major parts. The first is concerned with the multitude, or the constituent parts of a thing, and the second with the magnitude, or the relative size or density of a thing. Sacred Geometry and the magnitude of mind of the super-conscious.
Monad or the Mega, the name for the number One in Armenian.
Believing that nothing exists without a center, mathematical philosophers expressed this center with a point and drew a circle around it. This symbol is called the monad and it represents the number one. This figure is the most stable, and the mathematical philosophers also called it the First, The Essence, The Foundation, and Unity. The monad is the origin of the number One. The monad is a particle, the seed that grows into a tree. The seed of thought. The monad in relation to other numbers preserves the identity of every other number or anything it encounters. Any number multiplied by one is itself, and any number divided by one is itself.
Dyad Vesica Piscis, Yergu in Armenian
Of all shapes, the circle and the point are the the relationshipparent of all following lines. When a circle is mirrored, two mirrors are created. These two circles side by side build thefoundation for all following numbers. The overlap of the two circles allows each one to share the center of the other. This shape that is created is called the vesica piscis (Latin for “fish’s bladder”).
The vesica piscis is a passageway to the journey of conscious thought or spiritual self discovery. The notion of Hieros Gamos and fertility are intentionally associated with it.
In order for ‘one to become many’, the circle (or one) must be transformed by a reflection of itself, another. By contemplating itself, the circle has now become yoked. Each point is now connected with a line, It is replicated with each point sharing the center of the other. The geometry of creating a line that connects, unites the two centers of the two circles opens up the possibility of creating a triangle, square, and pentagon, hexagon and all the following numbers.
From this line between these figures an infinite number of principles flow forward.
The contradictory side of the dyad involves the principles of separateness, “twoness” or “otherness”. The Greek philosophers referred to the dyad as “audacity” because of the boldness of separation from the one, and “anguish” because there is still a sense of tension of a desire to return to oneness. It is a fact that the dyad can be contradictory or complimentary, it can be used to divide or unite, it can repel or attract, separate or unite. Pythagoras held and imposed the idea that One, is the first principle, the monad, that it is male,it is god and it is good and intelligent; but the undefined dyad is feminine, a deity and evil, surrounding the mass of matter.
We observe that in order for one to become many, it must transform. By contemplating itself, or by reflection, the circle is able to become a yogi. Yoked with another circle sharing the center of the other. The geometry of creating a line that connects the two centers of two circles creates the dyad. The dyad good or bad, male or female, is the link between the One and the Many, the three and all following numbers.
The Triad, Yerek in Armenian
The triad represents the number three. The number three represents the one all, all one. It is the first born, the ‘eldest’ number. The equilateral triangle serves as its geometric representation and is the first shape to emerge from the vesica piscis. The triangle contains the smallest area within the greater perimeter. The number three is the only number equal to the sum of the previous numbers. For instance, one plus two equals three. And three is also the only number whose sum also equals their product. Or, one plus two plus three equals one times two times three. The triad signifies wisdom, piety, prudence, friendship, peace, and harmony. The triangle represents perfect balance and is a polygon of stability and strength.
The Tetrad, Chorse in Armenian
The triangle can be extended within and beyond the vesica piscis by extending the lines - referred to as chords in geometry - through the center to the corners of the opposite sides of the circle. Connecting these new lines with horizontal lines creates a larger triangle. Extending lines to further fill the vesica piscis results in a ‘profound harmony’. A chord of a circle is a straight line segment whose endpoints both lie on the circle A chord that passes through a circle's center point is the circle's diameter. The word chord is from the Latin chorda meaning bowstring.
The word Chords, for straight line segments and Course as in let nature or the law take its course and Cardinals as in the four set directions, lines paths in life,are a perfect match to an etymological link to the name Chorse for the number four in PIE Armenian.
In English, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the noun “course” originally meant an onward movement in a particular path, or the action of running or moving onward.
Consequently, “course” has long been used to mean a customary or habitual succession of things, or a part of such a series.
It has also been used for hundreds of years to mean the place or time where the series has its “run,” as well as the natural order or the ordinary manner of proceeding.
This notion—of a habitual path or a prescribed series of things—explains a great many uses of “course” in English.
Pentad
The pentad’s symbolism can be directly related to the Divine Proportion. And the regeneration of the pentad is related to the value of phi (Ф). The image of the pentad is found in nature in leaves and flowers. The Greeks believed each point of the pentad to represent an element: water, earth, air, fire, and idea. Early Christians point star. The pentad arises in the existence of our five fingers, five toes, the symbol that wards off evil, and a symbol for power and immunity. Because of the importance of the pentad, the construction of the symbol was first kept secret from society. The pentad was used as a secret sign among the Pythagoreans for them to distinguish themselves and recognize other members.
used the pentad to represent the five wounds of Christ. The symbol, when the point is directed downwards, was later used as a sign for Satan and the Devil.
The decade represents the number ten. Instead of simple numeric and geometric interpretations, the decad further extends to the idea of a new beginning of limitlessness. Symbolizing both world and heaven, the decade helps us to understand the creation of the universe. The monad times the dyad times the pentad (one times two times five) results in the decade. Since any number times ten is similar to any number times one, it is similar to the monad; however, the number is brought to a higher level.
Decad
“Ten is the very nature of number. All Greeks and all barbarians alike count up to ten, and having reached ten revert again to the unity. And again, Pythagoras maintains, the power of the number 10 lies in the number 4, the tetrad. This is the reason: If one starts at the unit (1) and adds the successive number up to 4, one will make up the number 10 (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10). And if one exceeds the tetrad, one will exceed 10 too…. So that the number by the unit resides in the number 10, but potentially in the number 4.” (Aetius 1.3.8
Conclusion
Early philosophers found harmony in numbers. The symbolism and beauty behind each number can be further extended to the essence of all following numbers. The mysteriousness behind the theories founded by Pythagoras and his followers is certainly deeply inspiring and symbolic.
For further reading:
Hemenway, P. (2005). “Divine Proportion: Ф (Phi) In Art, Nature, and Science.” New York: Sterling Publishing Co.
THE TABLE OF THE TEN NUMBERS
The following outline of the Pythagorean numbers is a paraphrase of the writings of Nicomachus, Theon of Smyrna, Proclus, Porphyry, Plutarch, Clement of Alexandria, Aristotle, and other early authorities, with elaborations from myself in red.
Monad--1-- is so called because it remains always in the same condition--that is, separate from multitude. Meg in Armenian is a compound word which defines the first position of Magnitude,
Its attributes are as follows: It is called mind, because the mind has preeminence; androgene, hermaphrodite, because it is both male and female; both odd and even, for being added to the even it makes odd, and to the odd, even; God, because it is the beginning and end of all, but itself has neither beginning nor end; good, for such is the nature of God.
Monad is thepoint star. The pentad arises in the existence of our five fingers, five toes, the symbol that wards off evil, and a symbol for power and immunity. Because of the importance of the pentad, the construction of the symbol was first kept secret from society. The pentad was used as a secret sign among the Pythagoreans for them to distinguish themselves and recognize other members.
By the Pythagoreans monad was called chaos, obscurity, chasm, Tartarus, Styx, abyss, Lethe, Atlas, Axis, Morpho (a name for Venus), and Tower or Throne of Jupiter, because of the great power which abides in the center of the universe and controls the circular motion of the planets about itself.
Monad is also called germinal reason, because like Meg, it is conceived as the origin of all the thoughts in the universe. Other names given to it were: Apollo, because of its relation to the sun; Prometheus, because he brought man light; Pyralios, one who exists in fire; geniture, because without it no number can exist; substance, because substance is primary; cause of truth; and constitution of symphony: all these because it is the primordial one.
Between greater and lesser the monad is equal; between intention and remission it is middle; in multitude it is mean; and in time it is now, because eternity knows neither past nor future. It is called Jupiter, because he is Father and head of the gods; Vesta, the fire of the home, because it is located in the midst of the universe and remains there inclining to no side as a dot in a circle; form, because it circumscribes, comprehends, and terminates; love, concord, and piety, because it is indivisible. Other symbolic names for the monad are ship, chariot, Proteus (a god capable of changing his form), Mnemosyne, and Polyonymous (having many names).receptacle of matter, because it produces the duad, which is essentially material.
The duad--2- The following symbolic names were given to the duad--2--because it has been divided, and is two rather than one; and when there are two, each is opposed to the other: genius, evil, darkness, inequality, instability, movability, boldness, fortitude, contention, matter, dissimilarity, partition between multitude and monad, defect, shapelessness, indefiniteness, indeterminate ness,opinion, fallacy, alterity, diffidence, impulse, death, division, misfortune, imposition, inherent dualism.
On the other hand complementary rather than contradictory symbolic names were given to the duad--2--because it was seen as a pair, as a number of unio n, completion and as two rather than one; harmony, tolerance, root, feet of fountain-abounding idea, top, Phanes,In these myths, Phanes is often equated with Eros and Mithras and has been depicted as a deity emerging from a cosmic egg, entwined with a serpent. He had a helmet and had broad, golden wings. The Orphic cosmogony is said to be bizarre, and quite unlike the creation sagas offered by the Greeks, Homer and Hesiod. Scholars have suggested that Orphism is "un-Greek" even "Asiatic" possibly Armenian or PIE, in conception, because of its motion, generation, mutation,longitude, augmentation, composition, communion, sustentation, marriage, soul, and science.
While the monad is the symbol of wisdom, the duad is the symbol of ignorance, for in it exists the sense of separateness--which sense is the beginning of ignorance. The duad, however, is also the mother of wisdom, for ignorance--out of the nature of itself--invariably gives birth to wisdom.
The triad--3--is the first number actually odd (monad not always being considered a number). It is the first equilibrium of unities; therefore, Pythagoras said that Apollo gave oracles from a tripod, and advised to offer libation three times. The keywords to the qualities of the triad are friendship, peace, justice, prudence, piety, temperance, and virtue. The following deities partake of the principles of the triad: Khepri, of which there were three aspects to the Egyptian sun god: Khepri (rising), Re (midday), and Atum (setting). Saturn (ruler of time), Latona, Cornucopiæ, Ophion (the great serpent), Thetis, Hecate, Polyhymnia (a Muse), Pluto, Triton, President of the Sea, Tritogeneia, Achelous, and the Faces, Furies, and Graces. This number is called wisdom, because men organize the present, foresee the future, and benefit from the experiences of the fast. It is the cause of wisdom and understanding. The triad is the number of knowledge--music, geometry, and astronomy, and the science of the celestials and terrestrials. Pythagoras taught that the cube of this number had the power of the lunar circle.
The sacredness of the triad and its symbol--the triangle--is derived from the fact that it is made up of the monad and the duad. The monad is the symbol of the Divine Father and the duad of the Great Mother. The triad being made of these two is therefore androgynous and is symbolic of the fact that God gave birth to His worlds out of Himself, who in His creative aspect is always symbolized by the triangle. The monad passing into the duad was thus capable of becoming the parent of progeny, for the duad was the womb of Meru, within which the world was incubated and within which it still exists in embryo.
The tetrad--4--very weak, no space direction no cross no square no cube etc. was esteemed by the Pythagoreans as the primogenial number, the root of all things, the fountain of Nature and the most perfect number. All tetrads are intellectual; they have an emergent order and encircle the world as the Empyreum passes through it. Why the Pythagoreans expressed God as a tetrad is explained in a sacred discourse ascribed to Pythagoras, wherein God is called the Number of Numbers. This is because the decade, or 10, is composed of 1, 2, 3, and 4. The number 4 is symbolic of God because it is symbolic of the first four numbers. Moreover, the tetrad is the center of the week, being halfway between 1 and 7. The tetrad is also the first geometric solid.
Pythagoras maintained that the soul of man consists of a tetrad, the four powers of the soul being mind, science, opinion, and sense. The tetrad connects all beings, elements, numbers, and seasons; nor can anything be named which does not depend upon the tetractys. It is the Cause and Maker of all things, the intelligible God, Author of celestial and sensible good, Plutarch interprets this tetractys, which he said was also called the world, to be 36, consisting of the first four odd numbers added to the first four even numbers.
Keywords given to the tetrad are impetuosity, strength, virility, two-mothered, and the key keeper of Nature, because the universal constitution cannot be without it. It is also called harmony and the first profundity. The following deities partook of the nature of the tetrad: Hercules, Mercury, Vulcan, Bacchus, and Urania (one of the Muses).
The triad represents the primary colors and the major planets, while the tetrad represents the secondary colors and the minor planets. From the first triangle come forth the seven spirits, symbolized by a triangle and a square. These together form the Masonic apron.
The pentad--5--is the union of an odd and an even number (3 and 2). Among the Greeks, the pentagram was a sacred symbol of light, health, and vitality. It also symbolized the fifth element--ether--because it is . It is called equilibrium free from the disturbances of the four lower elementsum, because it divides the perfect number 10 into two equal parts.
The pentad is symbolic of Nature, for, when multiplied by itself it returns into itself, just as grains of wheat, starting in the form of seed, pass through Nature's processes and reproduce the seed of the wheat as the ultimate form of their own growth. Other numbers multiplied by themselves produce other numbers, but only 5 and 6 multiplied by themselves represent and retain their original number as the last figure in their products.
The pentad represents all the superior and inferior beings. It is sometimes referred to as the hierophant, or the priest of the Mysteries, because of its connection with the spiritual ethers, by means of which mystic development is attained. Keywords of the pentad are reconciliation, alternation, marriage, immortality, cordiality, Providence, and sound. Among the deities who partook of the nature of the pentad were Pallas, Nemesis, Bubastis (Bast), Venus, Androgynia, Cytherea, and the messengers of Jupiter.
he tetrad (the elements) plus the monad equals the pentad. The Pythagoreans taught that the elements of earth, fire, air, and water were permeated by a substance called ether--the basis of vitality and life. Therefore, they chose the five-pointed star, or pentagram, as the symbol of vitality, health, and interpenetration.
It was customary for the philosophers to conceal the element of earth under the symbol of a dragon, and many of the heroes of antiquity were told to go forth and slay the dragon. Hence, they drove their sword (the monad) into the body of the dragon (the tetrad). This resulted in the formation of the pentad, a symbol of the victory of the spiritual nature over the material nature. The four elements are symbolized in the early Biblical writings as the four rivers that poured out of Garden of Eden. The elements themselves are under the control of the composite Cherubim of Ezekiel.
The hexad--6--The Pythagoreans held the hexad--6--to represent, as Clement of Alexandria conceived, the creation of the world according to both the prophets and the ancient Mysteries. It was called by the Pythagoreans the perfection of all the parts. This number was particularly sacred to Orpheus, and also to the Fate, Lachesis, and the Muse, Thalia. It was called the form of forms, the articulation of the universe, and the maker of the soul.
"It turns out in two dimensions you're about equally likely to get either a rectangle or a hexagon in nature," Jerolmack says. "They're not true hexagons, but they're the statistical equivalent in a geometric sense. You can think of it like paint cracking; a force is acting to pull the paint apart equally from different sides, creating a hexagonal shape when it cracks."We live on and among the by-products of fragmentation, from nanoparticles to rock falls to glaciers to continents. Understanding and taming fragmentation is central to assessing natural hazards and extracting resources, and even for landing probes safely on other planetary bodies. In this study, we draw inspiration from an unlikely and ancient source: Plato, who proposed that the element Earth is made of cubes because they may be tightly packed together. We demonstrate that this idea is essentially correct: Appropriately averaged properties of most natural 3D fragments reproduce the topological cube.“Platonic” “Platonic” quadrangles and “Voronoi” hexagons. In three dimensions (3D), the Platonic attractor is dominant: Remarkably, the average shape of natural rock fragments is cuboid. When viewed through the lens of convex mosaics, natural fragments are indeed geometric shadows of Plato’s forms. the Platonic attractor is dominant: Remarkably, the average shape of natural rock fragments is cuboid. When viewed through the lens of convex mosaics, natural fragments are indeed geometric shadows of Plato’s forms.
Among the Greeks, harmony and the soul were considered to be similar in nature, because all souls are harmonic. The hexad is also the symbol of marriage, because it is formed by the union of two triangles, one masculine and the other feminine. Among the keywords given to the hexad are: time, for it is the measure of duration; panacea, because health is equilibrium, and the hexad is a balance number; the world, because the world, like the hexad, is often seen to consist of contraries by harmony; omni sufficient, because its parts are sufficient for totality (3 +2 + 1 = 6); unwearied, because it contains the elements of immortality.
The heptad--7--By the Pythagoreans the heptad--7--was called "worthy of veneration." It was held to be the number of religion, because man is controlled by seven celestial spirits to whom it is proper for him to make offerings. It was called the number of life, because it was believed that human creatures born in the seventh month of embryonic life usually lived, but those born in the eighth month often died. One author called it the Motherless Virgin, Minerva, because it was nor born of a mother but out of the crown, or the head of the Father, the monad. Keywords of the heptad are fortune, occasion, custody, control, government, judgment, dreams, voices, sounds, and that which leads all things to their end. Deities whose attributes were expressed by the heptad were Ægis, Osiris, Mars, and Cleo (one of the Muses).
Among many ancient nations the heptad is a sacred number. The Elohim of the Jews were supposedly seven in number. They were the Spirits of the Dawn, more commonly known as the Archangels controlling the planets. The seven Archangels, with the three spirits controlling the sun in its threefold aspect, constitute the 10, the sacred Pythagorean decad. The mysterious Pythagorean tetractys, or four rows of dots, increasing from 1 to 4, was symbolic of the stages of creation. The great Pythagorean truth that all things in Nature are regenerated through the decade, or 10, is subtly preserved in Freemasonry through these grips being affected by the uniting of 10 fingers, five on the hand of each person.
The 3 (spirit, mind, and soul) descend into the 4 (the world), the sum being the 7, or the mystic nature of man, consisting of a threefold spiritual body and a fourfold material form. These are symbolized by the cube, which has six surfaces and a mysterious seventh point within. The six surfaces are the directions: north, east, south, west, up, and down; or, front, back, right, left, above, and below; or again, earth, fire, air, water, spirit, and matter. In the midst of these stands the 1, which is the upright figure of man, from whose center in the cube radiate six pyramids. From this comes the great occult axiom: "The center is the father of the directions, the dimensions, and the distances."
The heptad is the number of the law, because it is the number of the Makers of Cosmic law, the Seven Spirits before the Throne.
The ogdoad--8--was sacred because it was the number of the first cube, which has eight corners, and was the only evenly-even number under 10 (1-2-4-8-4-2-1). Thus, the 8 is divided into two 4's, each 4 is divided into two 2's, and each 2 is divided into two 1's, thereby reestablishing the monad. Among the keywords of the ogdoad are love, counsel, prudence, law, and convenience. Among the divinities partaking of its nature were Panarmonia, Rhea, Cybele, Cadmæa, Dindymene, Orcia, Neptune, Themis, and Euterpe (a Muse).
The ogdoad was a mysterious number associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece and the Cabiri. It was called the little holy number. It derived its form partly from the twisted snakes on the Caduceus of Hermes and partly from the serpentine motion of the celestial bodies; possibly also from the moon's nodes.
The ennead--9--was the first square of an odd number (3x3). It was associated with failure and shortcoming because it fell short of the perfect number 10 by one. It was called the called the number of man, because of the nine months of his embryonic life. Among its keywords are ocean and horizon, because to the ancients these were boundless. The ennead is the limitless number because there is nothing beyond it but the infinite 10. It was called boundary and limitation, because it gathered all numbers within itself. It was called the sphere of the air, because it surrounded the numbers as air surrounds the earth, Among the gods and goddesses who partook in greater or less degree of its nature were Prometheus, Vulcan, Juno, the sister and wife of Jupiter, Pæan, and Aglaia, Tritogenia, Curetes, Proserpine, Hyperion, and Terpsichore (a Muse).
The 9 was looked upon as evil, because it was an inverted 6. According to the Eleusinian Mysteries, it was the number of the spheres through which the consciousness passed on its way to birth. Because of its close resemblance to the spermatozoon, the 9 has been associated with germinal life.
VOCH is simply NO in Armenian and VOCHINCH is NOUGHT, NO-THING, NOTHING, like VOID (n.) is an "unfilled space, gap," from void (adj.). Meaning "absolute empty space, vacuum" is from 1727
Numbers can function as a landscape of the mind.
Classical Armenian mi erk'u erekh chorkh hing vech evthn uth inn t'asn
Armenian modern mek yerku yerekh chor ^ s hing vec yoth uth inn tas
միջոց noun Space, room, place, interval, means, way; measure, pecuniary, medium.
Sumerian words for Fixed Stars =
The Sphere of the Sun = UTU.
The Sphere of the Moon = NANNA,
Sphere of Venus = INANNA .
ARATTA = A domain granted to Inanna, part of the Third Region.
ANU = the Heavenly One = Nibiru's ruler when the Anunnaki came to earth= Uranus ANUNITU = Endearment name for the goddess Inanna
ANUNNAKI = Those Who From Heaven Came To Earth.
From = INA anu ennia anna N
xii. Geometrical figures
6. A pyramid (pyramidis) is a figure that rises up from a wide base to a point, like a tongue of fire, for ‘fire’ is called !N among the Greeks (fig.).
1. Just as every number is within 10, so the perimeter of every figure is enclosed within the circle (fig.).
2. THE POINT The first figure of this art is the point (punctus), which has no parts. The second figure is the line (linea), a length without breadth. A straight (rectus) line is one that lies evenly along its points.
xiv. Exposition of figures illustrated below (Expositio figurarum infra scriptarum)13 1. Likewise, one account concerning the motion of stars is gathered together in eight figures. These are the diametric (diametrus), or quadratic (quadratus, i.e. tetragonal), or triangular (trigonus), or hexagonal (hexagonus), or asyndetic (asyndetus),14 or coincident (simul), or circumferent (circumferre), that is, they are either ‘carry to a higher degree’ (superferre) or ‘are carried.’
Diagonals occur when five constellations intervene. Tetragonals (tetragonus) occur when two constellations intervene.
Hexagonals occur when there is one.
Asyndetic figures occur when no constellations intervene.
Coincident figures occur when they are in the same small area. Figures ‘carry to a higher degree’ when they overtake another figure, or cause an action. Figures are ‘carried to a higher degree’ when they precede others. 2. Triangular figures occur when there are three intervening (constellations). Again, according to another account, there are eight differentiae, namely, the constellation (signum), its parts (pars), its boundaries (finis), by the way it is assembled (conventus), by its retrograde or straight paths, its latitude, and its longitude. 3. The calculation of interior shapes.
15 This kind of inquiry concerning this point may arise. Although in the sequence of numbers 8 is prior, here one puts 9 first, since in the logic of arithmetic or geometry 8 is morethan 9, for 8 is a cube (cubus) or a solid, that is, it is a body of which one can find no more, but 9 is a plane (superficies), that is, it is a thing that is not filled out; rather, it lacks perfection. 4. Here two cubes, that is, two solidities, are found in this manner.
The number six is the first perfect number (see v.11 above); for it is divisible into equal numbers, so: divide by one, six parts; into three parts by two – three twos are six; in half, that is three two times, is six. You will find another perfect number that you may divide by equal numbers in this way, which accords with the preceding instance.
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