HekatosKleidouchos
08-20-2006, 05:41 AM
Ok, this is what I've found about the Pythagorean Pentacle, it's pretty informative.
Pythagorean Pentacle
By Apollonios Sophistes
Historical Background
The pentagram and hexagram were both used for protection in ancient Greece (V cent. BCE). In Babylon, five-, six- and seven-rayed stars were all used. The pentagram appears in the earliest writing of Mesopotamia (precuneiform pictographic writing), c. 3000 BCE, as the Sumerian sign UB. Its meaning in the cuneiform period (by 2600 BCE) seems to be a Heavenly Quarter and also the four directions (forward, backward, left, right); the fifth direction was "above." The four directions corresponded to the planets Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, with Venus the Queen of Heaven (Schekina) above. These are the "Smaller Planets" (omitting Sun and Moon). Ishtar (Venus) was represented by the Eight-rayed Star (Elam).
Pythagoras may have become acquainted with the Pentagram during his sojourns in Egypt and Babylon (perhaps 554-533 BCE); in any case the Pythagoreans used it as a sign of recognition (Iambl., Vita Pyth. XXXIII). They called the Pentagram (Hugieia), which is usually translated "Health," but has more the sense of Soundness or Wholeness, and, more generally, any Divine Blessing (LSJ s.v. hugieia, Suppl. s.v. hugieia). (Hugieia comes from the same Indo-European root as gives us "quick" , "viva," "vital," "bios" [life], "zôê" [life] and "azoth." It has been traditionally associated with "vigor", "vigil" and the Latin words "vegetus" [lively, vigorous] and "vegeo" [to quicken], which come from the same Indo-European root as "Wicca" and "Witch.") The Pentagram was still used to mean "Hugieia" in Paracelsus' time (c.1493-1541). The Pythagoreans also used "Be sound / whole / blessed!" (, Hugiaine!) as their greeting or password ([I]Scholia in Aristoph., Nubes 609; Lucian, Pro lapsu 5). In fact Bonner (p. 177) notes that "Hugieia" is a fairly common inscription on amulets, and that Perdrizet thinks it and similar inscriptions are Oriental in origin (although the word is Greek). Hugieia (Hygeia) is also, of course, the Goddess of Health, called Salus by the Romans; She is the daughter of the God Aesculapius.
Labeling the Pentagram
The Pythagoreans apparently labeled the points or angles of the Pentagram with the Greek letters (UGIEIA). Allman (p. 26) shows them on the points arranged counterclockwise from the top thus: (U-G-I-EI-A). The fact that (UGIEIA) has six letters is an inconvenience, and Allman observes that the Pythagoreans wrote upsilon, gamma, iota, theta, alpha at the points, perhaps because an adjacent epsilon and iota look something like a theta . Chasles likewise lists these five letters, quoting Alstedius (Encyc. univ., 1620) and Kircher (Arithmologia, 1665).
Looking at the figure in Agrippa's De occulta philosophia (Lib. III, cap. xxi) we see an upright pentagram surrounded by two rings; between the rings and aligned with the angles between the pentagram's points are Greek letters reading clockwise: (UGI?A). The mysterious fourth letter is not entirely clear in my edition of Agrippa (Brill, 1992), but its appearance is consistent with a common medieval abbreviation for EI or ei (which looks vaguely like a theta, but more like a dollar sign made without lifting the pen).
Vincenzo Cartari's Le Imagini degli Dei degli Antichi (Venezia 1609, Padova 1626) shows a Pythagorean signet ring bearing an upright pentagram labeled with both Hugieia and Salus. The Greek letters (UGEIA) are clockwise in the points, beginning with the upper-left arm. The Roman letters SALUS are clockwise in the angles, beginning with the lower-left angle (Latin Salus has the same meaning as Hugieia).
So, although we can conclude that the Pythagoreans labeled the Pentagram with the letters (U-G-I-EI-A), sometimes we find them clockwise, sometimes counterclockwise, and either placed on the points starting at the top (Alstedius, Kircher), or in the angles starting at the top right (Agrippa). Since the historical evidence for the placement is late and inconsistent, I have developed a Pythagorean Pentacle that embodies many important alchemical, magical and astrological relationships; indeed, it functions as a sort of alchemical computer. The pentagram is inscribed in a pentagon with the letters U, G, I, EI (or Th), A written clockwise on the points beginning in the lower left point:
I
G EI
U A
The Elements
The letters labeling the corners of the Pentacle are the first letters of Greek words for the Elements:
U---Hudor--Water
G---Gaia----Earth
I----Idea----Form/Idea or---->Hireon-- A divine, Holy thing
EI--Heile----Sun's Warmth or----> (Th) Therma --Heat
A---Aer------Air
Though the Theta may be explained as a joined Epsilon and Iota, we see here an alternative explanation, for either is an abbreviation for the Fiery Element. Notice how the pattern of the letters, (UG/I/EIA) or UG/I/ThA), matches the arch structure of the Pentacle; interestingly the Greek word Hugieia has a high-tone (acute) accent on the Iota (corresponding to Spirit), which seems appropriate.
This seems to be the only arrangement of the Elements on the Pentagram that generates (UGIEIA) or (UGIThA) - let alone both - from plausible Element names. Also I should note that the above Element names are the usual ones that appear, for example, in Aristotle, except Fire, where Pur is used; however Empedocles (who discovered the Four Elements) uses Eelios = Sun, which is described as Thermos, for Fire (DK 31B 21; see also Kirk, Raven & Schofield 292-3). Also, although Aristotle uses Aither for the Fifth Element (Quintessence), Plato clearly associates it with the World of Forms (Ideai). I think Hieron (a holy, divine thing) is also appropriate for the Quintessence (which resides in the Celestial Sphere).
To see what's going on more clearly, you might want to draw a Pentagram with a circumscribed Pentagon. It will be helpful later if you draw the Pentagram and Pentagon in contrasting colors. The lower trapezoid of the figure is then a (distorted) Square of Opposition representing the Four Mundane Elements Earth-Water-Air-Fire. Spirit stands above these, forming a pyramid over them.
First observe that the Pentacle embodies the Physical Order of the Elements; if we stay on the Mundane level we have Earth-Water-Air-Fire, and we can make it a cycle counterclockwise (as in the Alchemical Circulation) by returning from Fire to Earth across the horizontal beam of the Pentagram. Likewise, the Pentacle includes the Extended Physical Order (the Metaphysical Order), which includes the ascent to Spirit: Earth-Water-Air-Fire-Spirit by a counterclockwise circuit. Of course we get the descent Spirit-Fire-Air-Water-Earth by going clockwise.
http://www.cs.utk.edu/%7Emclennan/BA/PT/images/PythPent-col.gif
Continue---->
Pythagorean Pentacle
By Apollonios Sophistes
Historical Background
The pentagram and hexagram were both used for protection in ancient Greece (V cent. BCE). In Babylon, five-, six- and seven-rayed stars were all used. The pentagram appears in the earliest writing of Mesopotamia (precuneiform pictographic writing), c. 3000 BCE, as the Sumerian sign UB. Its meaning in the cuneiform period (by 2600 BCE) seems to be a Heavenly Quarter and also the four directions (forward, backward, left, right); the fifth direction was "above." The four directions corresponded to the planets Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, with Venus the Queen of Heaven (Schekina) above. These are the "Smaller Planets" (omitting Sun and Moon). Ishtar (Venus) was represented by the Eight-rayed Star (Elam).
Pythagoras may have become acquainted with the Pentagram during his sojourns in Egypt and Babylon (perhaps 554-533 BCE); in any case the Pythagoreans used it as a sign of recognition (Iambl., Vita Pyth. XXXIII). They called the Pentagram (Hugieia), which is usually translated "Health," but has more the sense of Soundness or Wholeness, and, more generally, any Divine Blessing (LSJ s.v. hugieia, Suppl. s.v. hugieia). (Hugieia comes from the same Indo-European root as gives us "quick" , "viva," "vital," "bios" [life], "zôê" [life] and "azoth." It has been traditionally associated with "vigor", "vigil" and the Latin words "vegetus" [lively, vigorous] and "vegeo" [to quicken], which come from the same Indo-European root as "Wicca" and "Witch.") The Pentagram was still used to mean "Hugieia" in Paracelsus' time (c.1493-1541). The Pythagoreans also used "Be sound / whole / blessed!" (, Hugiaine!) as their greeting or password ([I]Scholia in Aristoph., Nubes 609; Lucian, Pro lapsu 5). In fact Bonner (p. 177) notes that "Hugieia" is a fairly common inscription on amulets, and that Perdrizet thinks it and similar inscriptions are Oriental in origin (although the word is Greek). Hugieia (Hygeia) is also, of course, the Goddess of Health, called Salus by the Romans; She is the daughter of the God Aesculapius.
Labeling the Pentagram
The Pythagoreans apparently labeled the points or angles of the Pentagram with the Greek letters (UGIEIA). Allman (p. 26) shows them on the points arranged counterclockwise from the top thus: (U-G-I-EI-A). The fact that (UGIEIA) has six letters is an inconvenience, and Allman observes that the Pythagoreans wrote upsilon, gamma, iota, theta, alpha at the points, perhaps because an adjacent epsilon and iota look something like a theta . Chasles likewise lists these five letters, quoting Alstedius (Encyc. univ., 1620) and Kircher (Arithmologia, 1665).
Looking at the figure in Agrippa's De occulta philosophia (Lib. III, cap. xxi) we see an upright pentagram surrounded by two rings; between the rings and aligned with the angles between the pentagram's points are Greek letters reading clockwise: (UGI?A). The mysterious fourth letter is not entirely clear in my edition of Agrippa (Brill, 1992), but its appearance is consistent with a common medieval abbreviation for EI or ei (which looks vaguely like a theta, but more like a dollar sign made without lifting the pen).
Vincenzo Cartari's Le Imagini degli Dei degli Antichi (Venezia 1609, Padova 1626) shows a Pythagorean signet ring bearing an upright pentagram labeled with both Hugieia and Salus. The Greek letters (UGEIA) are clockwise in the points, beginning with the upper-left arm. The Roman letters SALUS are clockwise in the angles, beginning with the lower-left angle (Latin Salus has the same meaning as Hugieia).
So, although we can conclude that the Pythagoreans labeled the Pentagram with the letters (U-G-I-EI-A), sometimes we find them clockwise, sometimes counterclockwise, and either placed on the points starting at the top (Alstedius, Kircher), or in the angles starting at the top right (Agrippa). Since the historical evidence for the placement is late and inconsistent, I have developed a Pythagorean Pentacle that embodies many important alchemical, magical and astrological relationships; indeed, it functions as a sort of alchemical computer. The pentagram is inscribed in a pentagon with the letters U, G, I, EI (or Th), A written clockwise on the points beginning in the lower left point:
I
G EI
U A
The Elements
The letters labeling the corners of the Pentacle are the first letters of Greek words for the Elements:
U---Hudor--Water
G---Gaia----Earth
I----Idea----Form/Idea or---->Hireon-- A divine, Holy thing
EI--Heile----Sun's Warmth or----> (Th) Therma --Heat
A---Aer------Air
Though the Theta may be explained as a joined Epsilon and Iota, we see here an alternative explanation, for either is an abbreviation for the Fiery Element. Notice how the pattern of the letters, (UG/I/EIA) or UG/I/ThA), matches the arch structure of the Pentacle; interestingly the Greek word Hugieia has a high-tone (acute) accent on the Iota (corresponding to Spirit), which seems appropriate.
This seems to be the only arrangement of the Elements on the Pentagram that generates (UGIEIA) or (UGIThA) - let alone both - from plausible Element names. Also I should note that the above Element names are the usual ones that appear, for example, in Aristotle, except Fire, where Pur is used; however Empedocles (who discovered the Four Elements) uses Eelios = Sun, which is described as Thermos, for Fire (DK 31B 21; see also Kirk, Raven & Schofield 292-3). Also, although Aristotle uses Aither for the Fifth Element (Quintessence), Plato clearly associates it with the World of Forms (Ideai). I think Hieron (a holy, divine thing) is also appropriate for the Quintessence (which resides in the Celestial Sphere).
To see what's going on more clearly, you might want to draw a Pentagram with a circumscribed Pentagon. It will be helpful later if you draw the Pentagram and Pentagon in contrasting colors. The lower trapezoid of the figure is then a (distorted) Square of Opposition representing the Four Mundane Elements Earth-Water-Air-Fire. Spirit stands above these, forming a pyramid over them.
First observe that the Pentacle embodies the Physical Order of the Elements; if we stay on the Mundane level we have Earth-Water-Air-Fire, and we can make it a cycle counterclockwise (as in the Alchemical Circulation) by returning from Fire to Earth across the horizontal beam of the Pentagram. Likewise, the Pentacle includes the Extended Physical Order (the Metaphysical Order), which includes the ascent to Spirit: Earth-Water-Air-Fire-Spirit by a counterclockwise circuit. Of course we get the descent Spirit-Fire-Air-Water-Earth by going clockwise.
http://www.cs.utk.edu/%7Emclennan/BA/PT/images/PythPent-col.gif
Continue---->