SYMBOLS AND SIGNS OF DIFFERENT CULTURES

Аннотация

This article delves into the ancient and medieval understanding of numbers not just as tools for counting, but as powerful symbols of cosmic and spiritual meaning. Rooted in early civilizations such as Babylon, Egypt, and Canaan, the mystical interpretation of numbers found its most complete expression in the philosophy of the Pythagoreans. For them, numbers reflected the very structure of the universe — a bridge between the finite and the infinite, the material and the divine. The article traces how specific numbers like 1, 3, 7, 10, 12, and 15 held deep symbolic weight across different traditions, from Greek philosophy to early Christian theology and Byzantine teachings. It also reflects on how the symbolic view of numbers gradually gave way to a more abstract and infinite mathematical vision in the modern era, beginning with Descartes. In doing so, the article invites readers to see how the concept of number has shaped not only mathematics, but the way people have understood the world and their place in it throughout history. Key words: Pythagoreanism, sacred numbers, mystical numerology, number symbolism, ancient philosophy, Christian theology, medieval worldview, Descartes, harmony, cosmic order, metaphysical mathematics. Introduction. In Babylon, Egypt, Canaan, and the Roman Empire, entire systems of sacred numbers were developed and used in various ways. Perhaps, in its most complete form, numerology as a mystical and philosophical teaching was developed in Greece by the Pythagoreans. In their cosmological constructions, number is the central concept; it was interpreted as a synthesis, a unification of the limit and the infinite, as the divine beginning in the world, the principle of all things and the soul itself. For Pythagoras, number is the eternal essence and the beginning of everything - heaven, earth, nature. Pythagoras said that everything occurs not from number, but in accordance with it. He considered the universal beginning to be "one" and "two", and he also called "two" chaos. As Porphyry writes, "of the two opposing forces, he [Pythagoras] depicted the better as one, light, truthfulness, equality, strength and fortitude; and the worst - duality, darkness, leftism, inequality, instability and changeability"1. The Pythagoreans believed in the mysterious, mystical meaning of numbers and numerical relationships. The numbers 1 and 10 were revered by them as symbols of perfection; 5 – as a symbolic designation of the marriage union; 7 – as a sign of the universal world-ruling principle (Pythagoras) or as a symbol of virginity, personified in the image of Athena the Virgin (Philolaus). According to Aristotle, the Pythagoreans supposed that the elements of numbers are the elements of everything that exists and that the whole heaven is harmony and number. And everything that they could show in numbers and harmonies to be consistent with the states and parts of heaven and with the whole structure of the world, they brought together and brought into harmony with each other ... the elements of number they consider to be even and odd, of which 1 Лосев А.Ф. История античной эстетики. – М.: Искусство, 1980. – 766 с. 388 ResearchBib IF - 11.01, ISSN: 3030-3753, Volume 2 Issue 7 the latter is the limit, and the first is the infinite; the one for them consists of both (namely: it is even and odd), number comes from the one, and the whole heaven, as has been said, is numbers2. The one, or unit for the Pythagoreans, is the beginning of numbers, the first even number for them is two, and the first odd number is three. But why is the even related to the infinite, and the odd to the limit? For the Pythagoreans, number is a visual image, it is not just a quantity, it also has a qualitative characteristic. Probably, this is connected with the fact that ancient mathematicians depicted numbers geometrically. The Pythagoreans distinguished between linear, flat and solid numbers. Thus, one for them is a point, two is a line, three is a plane (triangle), four is a body (the "first" body is a pyramid)3. The first odd - three - has a beginning, an end and a middle. It, from the point of view of the Pythagoreans, is complete, it is a closed whole. Three is an elementary triangle, a perfect figure. Two has no middle, no center, and it is characteristic of spreading into infinity. Two is the definition of a line, and a line extends indefinitely in both directions. For the Pythagoreans, the world is a harmonious cosmos, and the law of cosmic harmony is the main subject of knowledge. For them, the scale of numbers is the scale of the strings of the cosmos, with the help of which the knower extracts musical sounds from the world. The Pythagoreans said: "Everything is number." For the Pythagoreans, number is a symbolic tool for knowing the universe, number is the path to truth. The famous Pythagorean Philolaus claimed that a lie never penetrates into a number, because it is disgusting and hateful to its nature, while truth is