Numerical Symbolism of the Middle Ages. Secret Meaning and Form of Expression

Numerical symbolism was widely spread and deeply rooted in world culture. Thinkers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance poet Dante invested deep meaning into numbers. The author of this book, Vincent Foster Hopper, a professor of English literature at... New York University, shows that in the medieval consciousness, numerical symbolism was not just a mathematical tool akin to game tokens, but the foundation of understanding the world, clear in form of expression. The author explores the main sources of numerical symbolism: elementary symbols (for example, fingers), Babylonian astrology, the Pythagorean system of number relationships, and the skillful combination of all these elements by the Gnostics in the development of the numerical philosophy of the Church Fathers, expressed, in particular, in the beauty of order in Dante's «Divine Comedy».