Exactly where geometry came from we are not sure, but the source has moved a
little East of where people used to think it came from. From Classical Greece,
where it received its most philosophic and poetic applications (and from where
Western cultures inherited it), geometry's origins moved first to Egypt and
Mesopotamia, and then to the Armenian
plateau, where the earliest known cities are located. For without geometry,
you cannot build anything, and its knowledge was key to survival, and believed
to be a key to unlocking the secrets of the universe.
Almost literally, geometry meant contact with the gods. It was considered a
way of imitating the structure where the sun (probably the first god) and the
moon (probably the second god) governed the natural order-- early man believed
if he could "map" the universe, he would be able to predict the
whims of gods, who sent punishing droughts, floods and pestilence on the land
around him.
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| 1 | This number represents unity. Since it is part of all numbers it represents the ideal symbol of deity. It is the origin, the elementary. | ||
| 2 | Polarity and rupture. It is the coming apart of unity--yin yang, good and evil, man and woman, the realm of opposites. | ||
| 3 | The holiest of all numbers, it is still a part of our unconscious thinking. The triangle, the habitual use of threes in listing things, even the classic comic technique of repeating something 3 times, with the 3rd repetition altered slightly to make the punch line. In religion, the highest deities are in threes: Babylon had Anu, Bel and Ena;; India had Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; Greco-Roman Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, and the Christian Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. | ||
| 4 | The number four was associated with basic divisions of matter and space:; the four cardinal points, the four humors of the body, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the four rivers of paradise, the four cardinal virtues, the four winds, the four seasons, the four main prophets and the four evangelists. |
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| 5 | The number five consists of two unequal parts, 2 and 3. The diversity brings evil and misfortune. The five symbolizes the individual (one who defies the natural order and is punished), the five fingers on the hand, the pentagram. | ||
| 6 | God created the world in six days. Six is the sum of 3+3 or 1+2+3. Therefore it is perfect. Christ was crucified on the sixth day of the week, and he died in the sixth hour of the day. | ||
| 7 | From earliest times this number was associated with celestial beings and spiritual forces; seven days in a week, the seven known planets (including the sun and the moon); the 7 evil spirits, the seven levels of a ziggurat (astral tower built by the Babylonians--the most famous being the Tower of Babel); according to St. Augustine, seven symbolized the perfection of God--he created the world and rested on the seventh day; Christian life is ordered by seven: seven capital sins, seven virtues, seven sacraments. | ||
| 8 | The first number after seven, the symbol of life, the new life after baptism (both in pagan and Christian times). In Christian belief, the resurrection of Christ happens on the eighth day. The octagon is the favoured form for the baptismal font. | ||
| 9 | The result of 3x3, nine represents an even greater holiness found in three. | ||
| 10 | According to St. Augustine, this number signifies perfection, because it is the sum of 3+7. It is found in the ten commandments, consisting of 3 laws pertaining to the love of God, and seven to the love of one's neighbour. In Hebraic liturgy it can be found in the ten shores of Egypt, the ten ropes of the tent of the tabernacle, the height of the cherubs in the temple and the ten horns of the apocalyptic beast. Ten is the round and perfect number that forms the basis of the decimal system and is the universal number for the Pythagoreans. | ||
| 12 | This number formed the basis of the Sumerian and Babylonian numerical system. It holds the twelve signs of the zodiac, the twelve months of the year, the twelve hours of the day. It was significant in Jewish religion:; the twelve gates of paradise, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve bronze calves. In Christianity:; the twelve apostles, the twelve stars around the head the apocalyptic woman, etc. |
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