Pentad (Greek philosophy)
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For 72 pentads (七十二候) in East Asia calendars, see solar term.
For Kenneth Burke's method of analyzing motivation, see Dramatistic Pentad.
For the number five, see 5 (number).
The pentad was a Pythagorean term for the number five. A pentagram, symbol of the pentad, was used by the Pythagoreans as a secret sign to recognize each other.[2] It represents the number five, life, power and invulnerability.[3] Nicomachus explored the mathematical characteristics of the pentad as related to the Pythagorean saying "Justice is five".[4]
The Nicomachean extracts reads:
"The pentad is change of quality, because it changes that which is triply extended or which has length, breadth and depth into the sameness of a sphere"[5]
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[edit] See also
[edit] Pythagoreans symbols
- Monad (Greek philosophy)
- Dyad (Greek philosophy)
- Triad (Greek philosophy)
- Tetrad (Greek philosophy)
- Decad (Greek philosophy)
[edit] Related
[edit] References
- ^ Hemenway, p. 56.
- ^ Ghyka, Matila C. (1977). The geometry of art and life. New York: Dover Publications. p. 113. ISBN 0-486-23542-4.
In a passage from Lucian, he refers to the pentagram as the secret sign of brotherhood between the Pythagoreans. - ^ Hemenway, p. 56.
- ^ O'Meara, p. 21. Thus the Pythagorean saying that 'Justice is five' entailed for Nicomachus a long exploration of the mathematical characteristics of the pentad in which the basis of the identification would emerge.
- ^ Taylor, Thomas Mayne Cunninghame. Theoretic Arithmetic of the Pythagoreans. Kessinger Publishing. p. 188. ISBN 0-7661-2832-6.
[edit] Sources
- Hemenway, Priya. Divine Proportion: Phi In Art, Nature, and Science. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2005. ISBN 1-4027-3522-7
- O'Meara, Dominic J. Pythagoras Revived: Mathematics and Philosophy in Late Antiquity. Clarendon Press, 1990. ISBN 0-198-23913-0
