#boethius — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #boethius, aggregated by home.social.
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So much going on in these two pages, it’s hard to summarize.
via @adapalmer
#history #Neoplatonism #Christianity #Stoicism #Boethius #Manichaeism #Plotinus #Augustine #Renaissance #Catholic #ThomasAquinas
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The Quadrivium: Musica, Arithmetica, Geometria, Astrologia #Boethius Staatsbibliothek Bamberg Msc.Class.5; Boethius, De institutione arithmetica; circa 845 CE; Tours; f.9v digitale-sammlungen.de/en/view/bsb0...
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Symmachus and Boethius #Boethius Staatsbibliothek Bamberg Msc.Class.5; Boethius, De institutione arithmetica; circa 845 CE; Tours; f.2v
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In later antiquity and the middle ages, a ‘circular number’ was one that reappeared in its own powers: 5 and 6 were circular number since their powers (25, 125, 625, ...; 36, 216, 1296, ...) always end in 5 or 6.
Nicomachus (fl. c.100 CE), Proclus (410/12–485 CE), and Boethius (c.480–c.524 CE) discussed them. In an educational textbook, Cassiodorus (c.485–c.585 CE) gave this definition:
‘A circular number is one that when it is multiplied by itself, beginning from itself turns back to itself, for example 5 times 5 is 25 *as the diagram indicates*’. (emphasis added; see 1st+2nd attached images)
So circular numbers seem to have been a connection between number symbolism and a geometrical aesthetic admiration of circles and spheres (more on this in a later post).
5 being a circular number crops up in the in the late mediaeval poem ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’ (c. late 13th century). 5 was used as symbol of perfection and eternity: Gawain's virtues were five and many times five, and they were linked to the pentagram, the five-pointed star, which was his emblem. At line $625 = 5 \times 5 \times 5 \times 5$, the poet says that the pentagram was a symbol set up by Solomon; it was known as ‘þe endeles knot’. This name presumably refers to how the pentagram can be drawn in a single unbroken stroke (see 3rd attached image)
Very subtly, the circularity is hinted at by the first line of the poem (‘Siþen þe sege and þe assaut watz sesed at Troye’) being echoed at line 2525 — or 25-25 — (‘After þe segge and þe asaute watz sesed at Troye’).
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#NumberSymbolism #arithmology #Nicomachus #Proclus #Boethius #Cassiodorus #poetry
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... gibt es da in #Tricontium noch eine Szene, die mir beim Schreiben viel Spaß gemacht hat, in der zwei Leute sich über ein (reales) Buch, das sie beide leider nicht gelesen haben (wie einem das mit Klassikern ja erschreckend oft so geht 😉 ), und dessen Autor austauschen, siehe hier:
https://ardeija.de/lesestoff-schwierige-zeiten/
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True #conspiracytheory of how Arianism was plotted against and now we’re all the worse off for it.
Make #Arius Great Again
@histodons #history #Arianism #heresy #imperial #bigotry #Justinian #Theodoric #Rome #Roman #philosophy #Neoplatonism #Boethius #pagan #paganism #Consolation #IsaacAsimov #DarkAges
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Another noteworthy #podcast episode today was a #NewBooksNetwork joint production with #WritLarge: Zachary Davis in conversation with John Marenbon about #Boethius' "The Consolation of #Philosophy.”
Link to podcast: https://newbooksnetwork.com/on-boethius-the-consolation-of-philosophy #bookstodon #ancienthistory -
New review published (open access):
➡️ Thomas A. Corbin, "Foundations for a Humanitarian Economy: Re-thinking Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy , written by William D. Bishop"