1 Ιουλίου 2011

Neoplatonic arithmology: the Ennead




"Ennead" in ancient Greek means a collection of nine things.

Under the name Enneads Porphyrius published the work of his teacher Plotinus, 

= Εννεάδες, in ancient Greek.  

It is a corpus of six books of nine treatises each, that is:  

1+2+3+4+5+6=21,

2+1=3.

The number three is also symbolic. The neoplatonic hypostases are three: One - Intelligence - Soul. The nine is a multiple of three. 

Finally, the six Enneads x nine treatises each = 54 = 5+4=9, nine = Ennead (Εννεάς).

As Iamblichus in the Theology of Arithmetic says: that number admits nothing beyond the ennead, but everything circles around within it, is clear from the so-called recurrences: there is natural progression up to it, but after it there is repetition.