2024-03-03 21:30 The Pythagorean Acoustic: Geometry & Music of Sirens 2

LABYRINTHDESIGNERS & THE ART OF FIRE

Introduction Classical Alchemy The Sound Sacrifice Overall Navigation

The Pythagorean Acoustic:

Geometry & Music of
Sirens
The dodecahedron is inscribed in the sphere as in Pythagorean cosmology
cosmos is surrounded by a band, the periékon, and how the universe has
in itself and consists of the four elements fire, air, earth, water, so the four
regular polyhedra, which are the symbol, can be inscribed within the
dodecahedron. In fact, it can be shown how the hexahedron or cube can
be incorporated into the sphere as well as in the dodecahedron, one can
easily show how the icosahedron, having as vertexes the centers of the
twelve faces of the dodecahedron, is a regular inscribed icosahedron; and
similarly for the octahedron with vertexes in the centers of the six faces of
a cube, and finally how to get from the cube a regular tetrahedron taking
as vertexes a vertex of the cube and the vertexes of the cube opposite to it
in the three faces of the cube there congruent. The tetrad of the four
elements is contained within the cosmos and in the band, as the four
regular polyhedra are contained in the fifth and in this circumscribed
sphere.
Let’s now have a break and look at the taken path. First of all, we have
come to Tetractys (1, 2, 3, 4), Tetractys is equal to the Decade, and
represented by the Delta existing in the sanctuary of Delphi, the navel of
the world. This Tetractys contains in itself the other Tetractys, that of
Philolaus (1, 3: 4, 2 : 3, 1: 2), in which appear the same elements that
appear in the first, and, extending the tetrachord of Philolaus, we have
found the law of fifth and we reached to the numbers 5, 7, 12. The eighth,
or harmony as the Greeks said, it is so the one potentially contained in
Tetractys of Philolaus and therefore also in the Tetractys depicted in Delta.
https://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-musicology-acoustic/the-pythagorean-acoustic-geometry-music-of-sirens/2/ 1/9
2024-03-03 21:30 The Pythagorean Acoustic: Geometry & Music of Sirens 2

Furthermore, we have geometrically arrived at the number five in two

ways: by means of the Egyptian right triangle with five as hypotenuse and
by the right triangle, with catheti one and two, with five as squares of the
hypotenuse (3).
This second path led us to the consideration of the golden part, the
division of the circumference into ten and five equal parts, to pentalpha, to
the dodecahedron, and the harmonic median of the extreme segments of
the two Tetractys formed with the elements of these two figures. We have
seen that the catechism of Acousmatics places in the sanctuary of Delphi
“the Tetractys wherein is the harmony in which Sirens are.” To understand the
meaning of this answer of the Pythagorean Acousmatics Catechism, and
why they showed so much interest in the subject, what Sirens represent
remains to be seen, since they are connected in this way with harmony.
This symbolism, observes Delatte (4), is completely foreign to the ordinary
conception of the Sirens and must be explained by their identification with
the harmony of the spheres and the important role accorded to sacred
music in the Pythagorean school. According to Pythagoras (5) are the
Sirens who personify this harmony. The same thing happens to Plato (6).
Imitating this sacred music the celestial music, the Pythagoreans (7)
hoped to assimilate their souls with divine wisdom and get back among
the blessed after death (8).
So Plutarch sees in Ulysses the philosopher hearing this harmony in order
to take the wisdom. Plato (9), dealing with the myth of Ero says that the
revolving movement generates the harmony of the spheres. Plato
allegorically explains this harmony assuming that a siren, placed on each
of these spheres, makes her voice to be heard and that the whole of these
voices, which accord with each other, produces the harmony of the world.
According to Iamblichus (10), the greatest revelation that Apollo-
Pythagoras gave to the world is the harmony of the spheres and sapient
music, that in its turn gets inspired. Iamblichus follows an ancient
Pythagorean belief, according to which Pythagoras was Apollo’s
incarnation, who was sacred the sanctuary of Delphi. The Tetractys writes
Delatte (11), seems due to the veneration subject by the Pythagoreans to
two causes, from the scientific point of view it explained the laws of
celestial and human music, and since the harmony was the great law of
the universe (12), the Tetractys can be regarded as the source and root of
nature, as the oath for the Tetractys. However, it allowed the Pythagoreans
to imitate the harmony of the spheres through sapient music and so
approaches divine perfection. The cathartic function of music made the
https://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-musicology-acoustic/the-pythagorean-acoustic-geometry-music-of-sirens/2/ 2/9
2024-03-03 21:30 The Pythagorean Acoustic: Geometry & Music of Sirens 2

Tetractys a doctrine particularly valuable for its contribution to moral and

religious perfection. According to Delatte, this explains that Tetractys was
one of the fundamental theories of the Pythagorean’s arrhythmological
philosophy and religion.
The arithmetic and geometric development of sacred numbers that we
have exposed go to the consideration of Delta, or sacred triangle, to that of
the dodecahedron. The elements of Euclid, in Euclid’s text, start without a
preamble with the consideration of the equilateral triangle and, according
to Proclus statement (13), Euclid poses for the final goal of its elements the
construction of Platonic figures (regular polyhedra). Perhaps from the
time of Pythagoras to that of Euclid, the beginning and the end of
geometry remained traditionally unchanged, and the function of Euclid
was to introduce his unceremonious postulate, thereby rehashing the
demonstrations and substituting such as his test of the theorem of
Pythagoras to that of Pythagoras himself, that was certainly another.
According to what remains of Pythagorean geometry and according to the
return that we have made about ten years ago, Pythagorean geometry was
a more general geometry of Euclidean and Archimedean geometry,
because that was independent of the postulate of Euclid on parallels and
postulate of Eudoxus-Archimedes. The point of departure and arrival were
probably the same in the two geometries. But in Euclid the intent is purely
geometric; while in Pythagoras, even if the performance was purely
geometrical, it was certainly not the intention, since the characteristic of
the Pythagorean philosophy was the connection of various sciences always
present among them, and in particular of geometry with arithmetic,
music, and astronomy. For Pythagoreans and Plato geometry was a sacred,
esoteric, and secret science, according to Freemasons geometry is the
master art of building and the science of “sacred numbers” known only to
them, while Euclidean geometry, breaking all contacts and becoming an
end in itself, degenerated into a magnificent profane science. The
wonderful synthesis of all the sciences and arts divined by the genius of
Pythagoras disappeared and began to specialize.

https://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-musicology-acoustic/the-pythagorean-acoustic-geometry-music-of-sirens/2/ 3/9
2024-03-03 21:30 The Pythagorean Acoustic: Geometry & Music of Sirens 2

We have highlighted some traces of the deep bond

that united music with cosmology and arithmetic.
Still, we believe that the scarcity and rarity of the
tracks can be attributed to the importance of the
doctrine that was to be one of the secret teachings
of the Pythagorean school. A clue and an
explanation at the same time are provided by the
sudden reserve of Timaeus in Plato’s dialogue of
the same name as it comes to talk of the
dodecahedron. To reveal this secret would be
blasphemy, and the Pythagorean legend had that
such impiety would sometimes be avenged by
Daimonion, as happened in the case of the
Pythagorean Ippasos that, according to the
legend, had died in a shipwreck just to get
published the inscription of the dodecahedron in
the sphere.
Plato had said enough, to say more would have been, if not reckless,
outrageous, and Plato remembers μή είναι πρός πάντας πάντα ῥητά, or but
is unto all always explicitly.
As for the number seven, we can reach it only with the extension of the
tetrachord to the range and by considering the pyramidal numbers on a
decagonal basis. There is neither a right triangle that has hypotenuse
seven nor which has seven as the square of the hypotenuse, and the same
thing happens to the number eleven.
Seven is the only number of the decade virgin and without a mother,
άμήτωρ, and παρΦένοϛ: and for this reason, as we have already said, it was
compared and consecrated to Athena-Minerva, daughter of Zeus-Jupiter
but not of Juno, because she is being born springing fully armed from the
brain of Zeus-Jupiter. Both Pallas Athena and the number seven have the
prerogative of virginity and immaculate conception.

https://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-musicology-acoustic/the-pythagorean-acoustic-geometry-music-of-sirens/2/ 4/9
2024-03-03 21:30 The Pythagorean Acoustic: Geometry & Music of Sirens 2

two-tailed fish mermaid mosaic XIII, Chiesa di

San Giovanni Evangelista, Ravenna

If we think that Athena-Minerva was known to be the goddess of Wisdom,

the meaning of this symbol is outlined quite clearly: divine wisdom does
not belong to the world of generation, it is transcendent, Olympic, and
humanly inconceivable. We add, moreover, that the magical tradition
often ties the gift of clairvoyance and clairvoyance to virginity: the Greek
language, as the Italian, gives the same meaning to the words κόρη, virgin
(daughter) and eye pupil, and Cagliostro, who used the “pupils “as
clairvoyants, called them eyes for this reason and called them doves for
their candor.
Even Clement of Alexandria (14) notes that seven is a virgin without a
mother, and Christian writer Aristobulus identifies the sevenfold with
spiritual light. Notes in this respect Delatte that this theory is not, as one
might expect, a Jewish innovation because it is already included in
Philolaus, as is testified by a verse of theologoumenon: and was retaken in
the hymn to the number (Pythagorean-Orphic) according to Aristobulus.
Aristobulus, therefore, had done nothing that suited his needs to Jewish
apologetics, as usual, which adapted this concept. On the other hand,
seven was the number of the wise men before Pythagoras Greece, and
seven was the number of Pythagorean sciences and liberal arts, spread,
perhaps by Boethius, in the sciences of the trivium and the quadrivium.

https://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-musicology-acoustic/the-pythagorean-acoustic-geometry-music-of-sirens/2/ 5/9
2024-03-03 21:30 The Pythagorean Acoustic: Geometry & Music of Sirens 2

Catholicism, unlike the other Christian sects

derived from Judaism, has recently added
the dogma of the Immaculate Conception to
that of the virginity of Mary and ties so
much importance to these dogmas to
sustain them in the difficulties inherent in
the well-known fact that the Gospel
repeatedly speaks of brothers and sisters of
Jesus. The difficulty is overcome by stating
that in the Gospel, and only in the Gospel,
the word άδελφόϛ does not mean brothers
but cousins. Very simple and convenient.
The Pythagoreans and the classics, talking
about the immaculate conception and
virginity of the number seven and Pallas
Athena, did not need to support themselves
with the acrobatics of hermeneutics, and
even to us, these fables of paganism do not
seem so absurd as the paladins of
hagiography would take.
It seems to us to manifest the derivation, or at
least the reference, of this Catholic dogma to the
ancient Pythagorean symbolism, as it is certain
that Aristobulus and San Clemente drew on the
Pythagorean source. And we do not want to
examine to what extent the figure of Mary,
rather than remembering that of Minerva,
remembers the figure of Isis, as shown by
iconographic considerations. Instead, we want
to mention the feats performed by some
Christian writers at the expense of arithmetic
Pythagorean mysticism. For example, Louis
Claude de Saint-Martin, a Christian writer of the
French Revolution time, is said in the
“philosophe inconnu” (unknown philosopher)
and also “théosophe d’Amboise”, to run wild in
his writings, and in particular in the
posthumous Des Nombres (on Numbers), in his
https://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-musicology-acoustic/the-pythagorean-acoustic-geometry-music-of-sirens/2/ 6/9
2024-03-03 21:30 The Pythagorean Acoustic: Geometry & Music of Sirens 2

system of the Christian mysticism of numbers,

and devoutly ranting he does not hesitate to tie
to Pythagoreans supposed errors, to be able to
reproach them for the exaltation of his faith
“beautiful, immortal, beneficial, accustomed to
triumph.”
Saint-Martin says, for example (15) that “Phythagore et ses disciples se
sont trompés quand ils ont dit que 7 était sans sans père et mère”, or the
Pythagoreans are wrong when stating that seven was without father and
mother, and justifies his sentence with the good reason that” le nombre 4
est le père et la mère de l’homme qui, en effet selon la Genèse, fut créé
mâle et femelle par cette puissance septénaire contenant 4 et 3″, or the
number 4 is the father and mother of the man, who according to Genesis,
was created male and female because of the sevenfold power containing 4
and 3. Now Pythagoras and his disciples have never said anything like this,
and the unknown philosopher makes all confusion between what the
Gospel talks about Melchizedek, who was without father or mother, and
the fact that seven was for Pythagoreans a number sacred to Minerva
because, like Minerva, she was a virgin and was not generated. And after
such confusion and ignorance even of the Gospel, Saint-Martin does not
hesitate to correct the supposed madness of the Pythagoreans!
The number five, or pentalpha, symbolizes harmony; therefore, the
Pythagorean brotherhood, like the Flaming Star, symbolizes the Masonic
brotherhood cemented by brotherly love. The Pythagoreans wrote in
correspondence of the vertexes of the letters forming the word pentalpha,
the word ύγίεια, which means health, because the harmony of all elements
and functions of the body, which manifests as health and harmony of all
the spiritual elements, makes possible the health or safety, seen both in
the eschatological sense of Orphism and in the Pythagorean sense of
palingenesis. The number seven is the symbol of wisdom.
This article is considered a continuation of The Pythagorean Acoustics
Based on Tetraktys.
The Arturo Reghini’s book from which this article was taken has been
translated on this site, starting at Arturo Reghini Sacred Pythagorean
Numbers 1 .
1. Alcinoo, De doctrina Platonis, Parigi, 1567, cap. II; cfr. anche
l’opera di H. Martin, Etudes sur le Timée de Platon, Paris, 1841, II,
246;
https://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-musicology-acoustic/the-pythagorean-acoustic-geometry-music-of-sirens/2/ 7/9
2024-03-03 21:30 The Pythagorean Acoustic: Geometry & Music of Sirens 2

2. Plutarch, Questioni platoniche, V, l;

3. Even the consideration of the cosmic figures or regular polyhedra
leads to the number five;
4. Delatte, Etudes…, 134;
5. See Delatte, Etudes…, 133;
6. Plato, Rep. X, 617;
7. See Delatte, Etudes…, 113;
8. See Iamblichus, Vita Pythagorae, 86; Cicero, Rep., V, 2; Favor., In
somnium Scipionis; Plutarch, Quaestiones Conv., 9, 14, 6, 2;
9. Plato, Rep. X, 617 e Delatte, Etudes…, 260;
10. See Delatte, Etudes… 65;
11. Delatte, Etudes…, 264;
12. See Aristotle, Metaf. I;
13. Proclus ap. Loria, Le scienze esatte…, 189;
14. See Delatte, Etudes…, 231 e seg;
15. Louis-Claude de Saint Martin Des Nombres, Paris, 1801, pag. 48;
16. See Pericle Maruzzi, Opere per una biblioteca massonica, Roma,
1921;
Pages: 1 2

Posted in Alchemy & Acoustic-Musicology

by Iulia Millesima

Tags:
Ars Musicae, Pythagorean Acoustics, Pythagorean Tetraktys, Reghini Arturo,
Sound

LABYRINTHDESIGNERS & THE ART OF FIRE

Introduction
Classical Alchemy

https://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-musicology-acoustic/the-pythagorean-acoustic-geometry-music-of-sirens/2/ 8/9
2024-03-03 21:30 The Pythagorean Acoustic: Geometry & Music of Sirens 2

The Sound Sacrifice

Overall Navigation

Contact
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Iulia Millesima · Hermolaos Parus

https://www.labyrinthdesigners.org/alchemy-musicology-acoustic/the-pythagorean-acoustic-geometry-music-of-sirens/2/ 9/9