RosicrucianDigestNo. 12009
Page xl
I
t is not always easy to fully grasp the wonder and the depth of Pythagoras’s insights and accomplishments with the scarce information that we actually have about his school in the south of Italy and his esoteric teachings. We can, however, explore the inspirations of one of his most famous theorems which still bears his name today, concerning the triangle and its many ramifications.
Most Western mathematical develop-ment and architecture derived romPythagoras’s capacity or a deep under-standing o the wisdom o even more ancientcultures. Pythagoras, who traveled extensively and dedicated his lie to learning the arts andsciences o ancient traditions, was able tosynthesize all o this learning into practicalaspects o harmony, mathematics, and the arto living. According to his disciple and ollower,Plato, the circle and the interaction o twocircles, where the center o each circle lies onthe circumerence o the other (the so-called
Vesica Piscis
), became the core o all solids.Following this train o thought, Geometry becomes Music, and Music becomes CosmicHarmony and the Music o the Spheres. As part o this esoteric teaching, theancient Egyptian right triangle, having aprimarily mystical meaning, became theoundation o mathematical calculationsand construction.Here we will consider the history andtransormation o the amous Pythagoreanriangle and the mathematical and symbolicimportance o the relationships between thenumbers 3, 4, and 5, rom the viewpoint o modern scholarship, which is deeply imbued with the primordial tradition.
Egyptian Numerology
he Egyptians believed in theimportance o numbers.
1
Perhaps the ore-most proponent o this reality was theleading student o symbolist Egypt, RénéSchwaller de Lubicz (1887-1961) rom Alsace-Lorraine, France:“Schwaller de Lubicz’s second thesis ismathematical. Both the deliberate use o harmonic proportions in art and architectureand the numerical basis underlyingEgyptian myth compelled him to a detailedreconsideration o Pythagoreanism, andto the construction o a system o thoughtconsonant with the masterpieces o Egypt— with the act o an empire that lasted ourthousand years.“‘Number is All’, declared the Pythag-oreans. What is today called Pythagorean
Egyptian Numerology:the Pythagorean Triangleand Its Esoteric Meaning
Some Historic Notes and Brief Comments on Sacred Geometry Antonietta Francini, S.R.C., M.D., with
Benefactor Taciturnus
, F.R.C.
Vesica Piscis, which literally means“the bladder o a ish” in Latin.
Page xli
number mysticism is Egyptian in origin(i not older still) and corresponds to theunderlying philosophy behind all the arts andsciences o Egypt. In eect, what Pythagorasdid was to un-dramatize myth—a strategy that had the advantage o talking directly tothose capable o thinking along these lines.“he work o Schwaller de Lubicz andthe independent but complementary work o a ew other contemporary thinkers (J.G.Bennett, or example) has made it possibleto re-express Pythagorean theory in a way acceptable to our thinking. When we reapply this to Egyptian myth it becomes clearthat these curious tales are based upon anunderstanding o number and the interplay o number, not upon animism, tribalsuperstitions, priestly euds, the raw materialo history or dreams.”
2
he divine signiicance o numbers ispersoniied by the goddess Seshat, as the“Enumerator” or “he Lady o Builders.”
3
he Hymn ound in the
Leiden Papyrus
I350 (Old Kingdom 2686-2134 BCE)demonstrates that number symbolism hasbeen practiced since ancient times:“he Leiden Papyrus consists o anextended composition describing theprincipal aspects o the ancient creationnarratives. he system o numeration inthe Papyrus identiies the principle/aspecto creation and matches each one with itssymbolic number.”
4
Ancient Egyptians understood thateverything in the universe is animated by lieorces. hereore, each particle is in constantmovement and has interactions due to theeect o these lie orces. hese principles were called
neteru
(gods/goddesses).Numbers designated these energetic aspectso nature. Consequently, the entire universeis animated and vibrant, and each acet isconsidered either “male” or “emale.” We can deduce the sense o livinginteractions by the expressions used in the
Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
(ca. 1650 BCE):“I go three times into the hekat (a bushel,unit o volume), a seventh o me is added tome and I return ully satisied.”
5
he samePapyrus also recommends that there are “Rulesor enquiring into nature and or knowingall that exists, every mystery, every secret.”
6
he concept o the relationships between3, 4, and 5 is as ancient as Egypt, and as oldas the Great Pyramid o Giza. his powerul,magniicent structure conceals deeply mysticaltraditions that only recently have begunto be recognized by archeological research. We know today exactly why therelationships between the number 3, 4, and5 are so important, but it was a well-keptsecret in ancient times.“Since the Pythagoreans considered theirst ten numbers to be seed patterns or allthe principles o the cosmos, a geometerneeds only create their shapes to modelall the universal rhythms. he irst threeshapes to emerge rom the
vesica piscis
, thetriangle, square and pentagon (3, 4, 5) ormthe only relationship, or ratios, required togenerate all the rest (except or sevenness).hese relationships called the square roots… are expressible not as whole numbers but
Vesica Piscis with igures within
Ancient Egyptians understoodthat everything in the universeis animated by lie orces.Tereore, each particle is inconstant movement and hasinteractions due to the eect o these lie orces.
RosicrucianDigestNo. 12009
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as never-ending decimals...these ongoingrelationships hold the structural pattern orall numbers and shapes that ollow.”
7
he classical numbers 3, 4, 5 arerepresented in the very structure o thepyramid. he Great Pyramid o Giza wasbuilt in approximately 2560 BCE, at thetime o the Old Kingdom:
•“ThenumberOneisthewhole
structure itsel.
•Thetriangularfacesrepresent
the number 3.
•Thesquarebaseisthenumber4
and inally
•Thefourcornersplusitsapex
complete the number 5.”
8
The Egyptian Triangle
From this image the constantrelationships between the One, as the whole structure and 3-4-5 as its indivisiblecomponents are clearly shown. hesenumbers had a proound mystical symbolismthat becomes explicit in the explanationsrelated to the Pythagorean triangle.he Egyptian 3-4-5 triangle is irstdescribed by Plutarch in
Vol. V :“he upright, thereore, may be likenedto the male, the base to the emale, and thehypotenuse to the child o both, and so
Ausar
[Osiris] may be regarded as the origin,
Auset
[Isis] as the recipient, and
Heru
[Horus] asperected result.”
9
he short side o the right angle triangleis named “Ausar,” which corresponds toOsiris, the Father. he longer side is named“Auset,” corresponding to Isis, the Mother. And inally, the hypotenuse is called “Heru,”or Horus, the Son.
10
hese names were assigned accordingto speciic criteria: the upright side (3) islikened to the “male,” the Father Osiris. hehorizontal base (4) is related to the “emale,”the Mother Isis, and the hypotenuse (5)corresponds to the Son, Horus. he irst isthe “origin,” the second is the “recipient,”and the Son is the “result.”
11
As Plutarch describes: “hree is the irstperect odd number: our is a square whoseside is the even number two; but ive is insome ways like to its ather, and in some ways like to its mother, being made up o three and two. And
panta
, (all), is a derivativeo
pente
(ive), and they speak o counting as‘numbering by ives.’ Five makes a squareo itsel.”
12
Pythagoras’s Contribution
Pythagoras’s contribution (sixth century BCE) consisted in translating this concept
H. Spencer Lewis and the AMORC Egyptian Expeditionon the Giza Plateau, 1929. Photo rom the Rosicrucian Archives ©1929.Pythagorean riangle with Egyptian Attributions.Figures ©2007 by Je Dahl/Wikimedia Commons.
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