Tetraktys of the Decad, 4-as-10.

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billd89
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Tetraktys of the Decad, 4-as-10.

Post by billd89 »

This looks to be a very important philosophical and organizing principle, evident in '4-Step programs' which crop up in several odd places (Paul, the Hermetica, Philo). It's not coincidental nor imaginary. Nor is it novel to Marcion (150 AD) or the Valentinians (c.125 AD). Irenaeus (180 AD) knew it all too well, and precisely. In 'Gnosticism', this shop-worn material is at least 60 years older (before 120 AD), and probably dates back to Saturnilus (c.80 AD) if not further.

It's Pythagorean, I think, but 'Ogdoadic conceptualizations' would suggest Egypt. At the latest, a wave of Jewish radicals fleeing Alexandria c.38 AD brought weird new ideas into places like Antioch in the generation of Simon Magus (c.60 AD). Sethianianism of Syria received an infusion of Judeo-Egyptian intellectualism which begets Classical Gnosticism c.75 AD? At the earliest, Pythagorean cultic practices were widely dispersed across the Doaspora of the Eastern Med.

The Four Step programs wane in the 2nd C. AD - the (old Egyptian?) Pythagoreanism faded fast; there were more dynamic options.

I know these are old posts, and from the Xian Forum, but this warrants it's own thread and on 'Classical History' branch.
Secret Alias wrote: Fri Dec 23, 2016 12:59 pmMore clues on how the Marcosians grounded their tetrad in the account from Genesis:
And while they affirm such things as these concerning the creation, every one of them generates something new, day by day, according to his ability; for no one is deemed "perfect," who does not develop among them some mighty fictions. It is thus necessary, first, to indicate what things they metamorphose [to their own use] out of the prophetical writings, and next, to refute them. Moses, then, they declare, by his mode of beginning the account of the creation, has at the commencement pointed out the mother of all things when he says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;"(1) for, as they maintain, by naming these four,--God, beginning, heaven, and earth,--he set forth their Tetrad. Indicating also its invisible and hidden nature, he said, "Now the earth was invisible and unformed."(2) They will have it, moreover, that he spoke of the second Tetrad, the offspring of the first, in this way--by naming an abyss and darkness, in which were also water, and the Spirit moving upon the water. Then, proceeding to mention the Decad, he names light, day, night, the firmament, the evening, the morning, dry land, sea, plants, and, in the tenth place, trees. Thus, by means of these ten names, he indicated the ten AEons. The power of the Duodecad, again, was shadowed forth by him thus:--He names the sun, moon, stars, seasons, years, whales, fishes, reptiles, birds, quadrupeds, wild beasts, and after all these, in the twelfth place, man. Thus they teach that the Triacontad was spoken of through Moses by the Spirit. Moreover, man also, being formed after the image of the power above, had in himself that ability which flows from the one source. This ability was seated in the region of the brain, from which four faculties proceed, after the image of the Tetrad above, and these are called: the first, sight, the second, hearing, the third, smell, and the fourth,(3) taste. And they say that the Ogdoad is indicated by man in this way: that he possesses two ears, the like number of eyes, also two nostrils, and a twofold taste, namely, of bitter and sweet. Moreover, they teach that the whole man contains the entire image of the Triacontad as follows: In his hands, by means of his fingers, he bears the Decad; and in his whole body the Duodecad, inasmuch as his body is divided into twelve members; for they portion that out, as the body of Truth is divided by them--a point of which we have already spoken.(4) But the Ogdoad, as being unspeakable and invisible, is understood as hidden in the viscera.

2. Again, they assert that the sun, the great light-giver, was formed on the fourth day, with a reference to the number of the Tetrad. So also, according to them, the courts(5) of the tabernacle constructed by Moses, being composed of fine linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, pointed to the same image. Moreover, they maintain that the long robe of the priest failing over his feet, as being adorned with four rows of precious stones,(6) indicates the Tetrad; and if there are any other things in the Scriptures which can possibly be dragged into the number four, they declare that these had their being with a view to the Tetrad
It would seem the ogdoad was understood to be two tetrads.
Secret Alias wrote: Fri Dec 23, 2016 1:14 pmPhilo's statement that the fourth day is symbolic of the tetrad also should remind us that the tetrad is related to the decad in Pythagorean thought

Image

The Marcosians and Philo connect the Tetragrammaton to the tetrad which Jewish tradition connects to the {square} of 12
Last edited by billd89 on Wed Sep 07, 2022 7:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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