Theologumena arithmeticae
An ancient handbook of the religious meaning of the numbers one through ten, wrongly attributed to Iamblichus. It is the number theory Eustratius of Nicaea drew on — and it treats four and ten, not three, as the numbers where things are complete.
A late-antique handbook running through the numbers one to ten and setting out the divine associations of each. It circulated under the name of Iamblichus and is now generally taken not to be his, at least not in the form we have.
It is on Debby for one reason. It is the number theory Eustratius of Nicaea's argument depends on, and it does not contain the closure claim that argument needs. Its four is not a repeated pair; it is a principle in its own right, called All-God and key-holder of Nature. Its ten is *Kosmos*, *Aiōn*, *Anankē*. A book organised as ten distinct principles cannot be used to prove that things stop being distinct after three.
Where this comes up
Sources
- Pseudo-Iamblichus, Theologumena arithmeticae; B. Lourie, Scrinium 16 (2020)