The great year (ὁ μέγας ἐνιαυτὸς) = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/te ... 0526,001:16.16.140.2 - 6.16.141.7 τήν τε ὀγδοάδα κύβον καλοῦσι, μετὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ πλανωμένων τὴν ἀπλανῆ συγκαταριθμοῦντες σφαῖραν, δι' ὧν ὁ μέγας ἐνιαυτὸς γίνεται οἷον περίοδός τις τῆς τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀνταποδόσεως. ταύτῃ τοι ὁ κύριος τέταρτος ἀναβὰς εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἕκτος γίνεται καὶ φωτὶ περιλάμπεται πνευματικῷ, τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ παραγυμνώσας εἰς ὅσον οἷόν τε ἦν ἰδεῖν τοῖς ὁρᾶν ἐκλεγεῖσι, δι' ἑβδόμης ἀνακηρυσσόμενος τῆς φωνῆς υἱὸς εἶναι θεοῦ, ἵνα δὴ οἳ μὲν ἀναπαύσωνται πεισθέντες περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὃ δέ, διὰ γενέσεως, ἣν ἐδήλωσεν ἡ ἑξάς, ἐπίσημος, ὀγδοὰς ὑπάρχων φανῇ, θεὸς ἐν σαρκίῳ τὴν δύναμιν ἐνδεικνύμενος, ἀριθμούμενος μὲν ὡς ἄνθρωπος, κρυπτόμενος δὲ ὃς ἦν· τῇ μὲν γὰρ τάξει τῶν ἀριθμῶν συγκαταλέγεται καὶ ὁ ἕξ, ἡ δὲ τῶν στοιχείων ἀκο6.16.141.1 λουθία ἐπίσημον γνωρίζει τὸ μὴ γραφόμενον. ἐνταῦθα κατὰ μὲν τοὺς ἀριθμοὺς αὐτοὺς σῴζεται τῇ τάξει ἑκάστη μονὰς εἰς ἑβδομάδα τε καὶ ὀγδοάδα, κατὰ δὲ τὸν τῶν στοιχείων ἀριθμὸν ἕκτον γίνεται τὸ ζῆτα, καὶ ἕβδομον τὸ ˉη. εἰσκλαπέντος δ' οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως τοῦ ἐπισήμου εἰς τὴν γραφήν, ἐὰν οὕτως ἑπώμεθα, ἕκτη μὲν γίνεται ἡ ἑβδομάς, ἑβδόμη δὲ ἡ ὀγδοάς· διὸ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος λέγεται πεποιῆσθαι ὁ τῷ ἐπισήμῳ πιστὸς γενόμενος ὡς εὐθέως κυριακῆς κληρονομίας ἀνάπαυσιν ἀπολαβεῖν. τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ἡ ἕκτη ὥρα τῆς σωτηρίου οἰκονομίας ἐμφαίνει, καθ' ἣν ἐτελειώθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος. ναὶ μὴν τῶν μὲν ὀκτὼ αἱ μεσότητες γίνονται ἑπτά, τῶν δὲ ἑπτὰ φαί νονται εἶναι τὰ διαστήματα ἕξ. ἄλλος γὰρ ἐκεῖνος λόγος, ἐπὰν ἑβδομὰς δοξάζῃ τὴν ὀγδοάδα καὶ οἱ οὐρανοὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς διηγοῦνται δόξαν θεοῦ. οἱ τούτων αἰσθητοὶ τύποι τὰ παρ' ἡμῖν φωνήεντα στοιχεῖα. οὕτως καὶ αὐτὸς εἴρηται ὁ κύριος ἄλφα καὶ ὦ, ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. οὐ τοίνυν, ὥσπερ τινὲς ὑπολαμβάνουσι τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν τοῦ θεοῦ, πέπαυται ποιῶν ὁ θεός
And they called eight a cube, counting the fixed sphere along with the seven revolving ones, by which is produced "the great year," as a kind of period of recompense of what has been promised. Thus the Lord, who ascended the mountain, the fourth, becomes the sixth, and is illuminated all round with spiritual light, by laying bare the power proceeding from Him, as far as those selected to see were able to behold it, by the Seventh, the Voice, proclaimed to be the Son of God; in order that they, persuaded respecting Him, might have rest; while He by His birth, which was indicated by the sixth conspicuously marked, becoming the eighth, might appear to be God in a body of flesh, by displaying His power, being numbered indeed as a man, but being concealed as to who He was. For six is reckoned in the order of numbers, but the succession of the letters acknowledges the character which is not written. In this case, in the numbers themselves, each unit is preserved in its order up to seven and eight. But in the number of the characters, Zeta becomes six and Eta seven. And the character having somehow slipped into writing, should we follow it out thus, the seven became six, and the eight seven. Wherefore also man is said to have been made on the sixth day, who became faithful to Him who is the sign (tp epishmw ), so as straightway to receive the rest of the Lord's inheritance. Some such thing also is indicated by the sixth hour in the scheme of salvation, in which man was perfected. Further, of the eight, the intermediates are seven; and of the seven, the intervals are shown to be six. For that is another ground, in which seven glorifies eight, and "the heavens declare to the heavens the glory of God." The sensible types of these, then, are the sounds we pronounce. Thus the Lord Himself is called "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end," " by whom all things were made, and without whom not even one thing was made."
On the eight as the first cube cf Philo https://books.google.com/books?id=jmZMA ... 22&f=false
Mark, in his exegesis of the scene of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor (Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36), referred to Christ all three numbers: "6", "7" and "8". Klemens also proved that in the letter meanings of digits there is some confusion between these numbers, which allows them to be given similar symbolic meanings and even to identify a given number with the one that precedes it. Well, among the letters denoting numbers, "zeta" ranks seventh and "eta" ranks eighth. However, in the list of letters of the alphabet, because "digamma" has been removed, the letter "zeta" meaning the number "7" takes sixth place, and "eta" meaning eight takes seventh place.1 Using this assumption to interpret the scene of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the author of Stromata, following the example the gnostic Mark, attributed all three mentioned numbers to the Person of Christ: - By the seventh, that is, by a voice, He was proclaimed as the Son of God, so that these eyewitnesses could become convinced of His true existence and so that they could experience peace. He himself, through his birth, which was marked by the number six, the distinguished one actually appeared as the number eight: as God revealing His Power in the body, and at the same time as a man classified as human, although he hid who he was.48 - According to Clement, six, as a number proper to the creation of the world, was an image of the earthly birth of the Son of God, and also indicated that Christ on Mount Tabor was the sixth figure next to the three disciples who witnessed the event and Moses and Elijah, who appeared next to Him. The number "7" was assigned by Clement to Christ as the one who brings rest (άváлavσis). This interpretation is related not only to the biblical idea of 46 Clemens Alex. , Strom . VI, XVI, 138, 5, SCh 446, p. 336: "[...] kai òydoάdog ó λóyog παρεισῆλθε · κινδυνεύει γὰρ ἡ μὲν ὀγδοὰς .
Marek w swojej egzegezie sceny Przemienienia na górze Tabor ( Mt 17 , 1-8 ; Mk 9 , 2-8 ; Lk 9 , 28- 36 ) odnosił do Chrystusa wszystkie trzy liczby : „ 6 ” , „ 7 ” i „ 8 ” . Również Klemens udowadniał , że w literowych cznaczeniach cyfr istnieje pewne pomieszanie między tymi liczbami , co pozwala na nadawanie im podobnych znaczeń symbolicznych , a nawet na identyfikację danej liczby z tą , która ją poprzedza . Otóż wśród liter oznaczających cyfry „ dzeta " zajmuje siódme , a ,, eta " ósme miejsce . Na liście liter alfabetu natomiast , ponieważ została usunięta ,, digamma ” , litera „ dzeta " oznaczająca liczbę „ 7 " zajmuje szóste miejsce , a ,, eta " oznaczająca ósemkę siódme1 . Wykorzystując to założenie do interpretacji sceny Przemienienia Pańskiego autor Stromatów , idąc za wzorem gnostyka Marka , przypisał wszystkie trzy wspomniane liczby Osobie Chrystusa : - Przez siódmego , to jest przez głos , został obwieszczony jako Syn Boży , aby owi naoczni świadkowie nabrali przekonania do prawdziwego Jego istnienia i żeby doznali spokoju . On zaś sam poprzez narodzenie , które oznaczyła liczba sześć , wyróżniony ukazał się właściwie jako liczba osiem : jako Bóg objawiający swą Moc w ciele , a jednocześnie jako człowiek zaliczany do ludzi , choć ukrywał , kim był48 . - Zdaniem Klemensa szóstka jako liczba właściwa stworzeniu świata była tu obrazem ziemskiego narodzenia Syna Bożego , a także wskazywała , że Chrystus na górze Tabor był szóstą postacią obok trzech uczniów świadków zdarzenia oraz Mojżesza i Eliasza , którzy ukazali się przy Nim . Liczba „ 7 ” została natomiast przypisana przez Klemensa Chrystusowi jako temu , który przynosi odpoczynek ( άváлavσis ) . Interpretacja ta ma związek nie tylko z biblijną ideą 46 Clemens Alex . , Strom . VI , XVI , 138 , 5 , SCh 446 , s . 336 : „ [ ... ] kai òydoάdog ó λóyog παρεισῆλθε · κινδυνεύει γὰρ ἡ μὲν ὀγδοὰς ... Irenaeus , dz . cyt . , I , 16 , 2. Por . A. Delatte , dz . cyt . , s . 238-240 . 48 Clemens Alex . , Strom . VI , XVI , 140 , 3 , SCh 446 , s . 340 : „ Taútḥ TOL Ó KÚPLOG TÉTOPTOS ἀναβὰς εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἕκτος γίνεται καὶ φωτὶ περιλάμπεται https://books.google.com/books?id=1UwQA ... AF6BAgHEAI
Kalvesmaki, Joel. 2013. The Theology of Arithmetic: Number Symbolism in Platonism and Early Christianity. Hellenic Studies Series 59. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook: ... metic.2013.
Clement Transfigures Marcus’ Transfiguration
In the second half of On the Decalogue, Clement interprets the significance of eight of the Ten Commandments (Stromateis 6, 137.2–148.4). He had planned to treat his subject “in a cursory manner” (133.1: κατὰ παραδρομήν), that is, to discuss briefly only several of the Ten Commandments. But, absorbed by the topic, he wound up writing more than he anticipated, resulting in lengthy asides and confusion over the numbering of the Commandments. [50] When he reaches the Commandment pertaining to the observation of the Sabbath (137.4), Clement begins a lengthy excursus. He argues that God needs no rest, so the Sabbath rest, really intended for us, indicates cessation from sin, our enlightenment by wisdom and knowledge, and our establishment in dispassion (137.4–138.2). He then says that his discussion (138.5: λόγος) has slipped into the theme of the hebdomad and ogdoad, and here he begins a self-acknowledged tangent (ἐν παρέργῳ), a treatment of the number symbolism of six, seven, and eight. He says, “The ogdoad is likely to be chiefly a hebdomad, and the hebdomad, a hexad, at least apparently. The first is likely to be chiefly the Sabbath, but the hebdomad, a woman worker.” [51] This initiates an arithmological excursus in which Clement explains the paradox of how an eight can be considered Sabbath-like, and seven worker-like.
So Clement moves from Sabbath to seven to a larger discussion of the symbolism of six, seven, and eight. The second shift may seem unintuitive, but it fits his overall approach to numbers. Seven symbolizes for Clement a place of rest and completion, and eight a higher state wherein the divine presence resides. Many times, when Clement invokes a symbolic seven, he then notes the need to transcend it to reach the number eight. The hebdomad symbolizes rest, but it is surpassed by the ogdoad, wherein is the promise of gnostic perfection. For example, in Book 6 (108.1), Clement says that those who reach the highest levels of perfection have not remained in the hebdomad of rest, but have advanced into the inheritance of the benefit of the ogdoad (ὀγδοαδικῆς εὐεργεσιάς). Elsewhere Clement says the ark of the covenant symbolizes the ogdoad, and the cherubim symbolize the rest that remains with the glorifying spirits. “Rest,” of course, points to the number seven. [52] And in a third example, Clement applies this theme to Ezekiel 44.26–27, where Ezekiel’s requisite purification of seven days is said to represent the completion of creation and the ritual observance of rest. The propitiation (ἱλασμόν), which makes acquiring the promise possible, is brought on the eighth day (not specified in the Septuagint). According to Clement, Ezekiel’s references to seven and eight days point to the doctrine of the hebdomad and ogdoad. [53]
Clement does not think this is a private conceit. Quoting from Clement of Rome, he discusses his namesake’s treatment of Psalm 33.13 (34.12): “Who is the man desiring life / yearning to see good days?” [54] Breaking into the quotation, Clement comments, “He”—referring to either Clement of Rome or the psalmist—“then adds the gnostic mystery of the hebdomad and the ogdoad.” Then the citation of Clement of Rome and the next two verses of Psalm 33 resumes: “Stop (παῦσον) your tongue from evil / and your lips from uttering deceit. / Turn away from evil and do good, / seek peace and pursue it.” [55] So to Clement, either David or Clement of Rome knew of and invoked the symbolism of seven and eight. The mystery of the hebdomad is in the verb παῦσον, translatable as ‘rest!’ and thereby invoking the seventh day, the Sabbath. The number eight is referred to perhaps in the last verse, in commands to turn away (ἔκκλινον), seek (ζήτησον), and pursue (δίωξον), presumably the realm of the ogdoad.
For Clement, not only the Bible and his predecessors were attuned to the doctrine of the hebdomad and ogdoad. Even Plato knew it. Clement cites the Republic: “Now when seven days had reached the [spirits] that were in the meadow, on the eighth they were obliged to proceed on their journey and arrive on the fourth day.” [56] He claims that Plato prophesies the Lord’s Day. His phrase “seven days” refers to the motions of the seven planets, hastening to their goal of rest; the meadow constitutes the eighth, fixed sphere (τὴν ἀπλανῆ σφαῖραν), and the journey represents the passage beyond the planets to the eighth motion and day. This eighth level, the fixed sphere, Clement elsewhere calls Atlas, the dispassionate pole, and the unmoved aeon. [57] For Clement, the gnostic Christian should be sensitive enough to the doctrine to detect it in certain keywords that would elude the careless or less disciplined reader of Plato, the Scriptures, or the luminaries of the Church. [58]
Variations of Clement’s doctrine of the hebdomad and ogdoad were taught by a number of Valentinians. In Irenaeus’ extended group of Valentinians, seven is the symbol of the Demiurge, and eight of Akhamoth or Wisdom. Heracleon makes six, seven, and eight the symbols of material evil, the aeonic realm, and spiritual perfection respectively. [59] Theodotus, a second-century Valentinian whose doctrines fascinated Clement, held to a similar doctrine. [60]
So in his On the Decalogue, after introducing the Sabbath, Clement itemizes the various properties of each of the numbers six, seven, and eight (138.6–140.2). [61] Much of this discussion, and later parts of On the Decalogue (141.7–142.1), build upon a Jewish tradition of arithmology, a tradition evident in the writings of Philo and Aristobulus, who argued that Jewish law and custom harmonize with Hellenic philosophy. [62] Clement spends the most time on the number six, pointing out its role in the cosmogony, in the course of the sun, and in the cycles of plant life. He appeals to the importance of six in embryology and to the arithmetical properties that led the Pythagoreans to make it a symbol of mediation and marriage. Six is a function of generation and motion. Seven is depicted as motherless and childless, like its arithmetical properties, since seven neither is the product of, nor produces, any of the numbers in the Decad. [63] Seven was traditionally assigned to Athena, the virgin born without a mother. Clement, however, takes the Pythagorean epithet to refer allegorically to the Sabbath and the form of rest in which “there is neither marrying nor being married” (Matthew 22.30). The ogdoad is briefly described as the cube, the fixed sphere, and a participant in the Great Year. [64]
This passage owes much to Marcus’ explanation of the Transfiguration (see chapter 4). As Niclas Förster has suggested, Clement’s knowledge of Marcus relied exclusively upon Irenaeus. [65] Clement does not employ Marcus’ doctrine anywhere else, and his departures from Irenaeus’ account are in line with his other adaptations of Against Heresies. [66] Sometimes he quotes Irenaeus verbatim; other times he adds to the account, so as to make Marcus’ interpretation his own (underlining indicates textual parallels):
Armand Delatte claims that the two passages complement and explain each other. Clement’s description of Jesus as ἐπίσημος is intelligible only when we consider that Marcus calls Jesus this because his name consists of six letters. [70] Likewise, Marcus’ peculiar phrase, that Christ was held in the hebdomad, is rendered intelligible by Clement’s version, where the seventh is identified with the voice that possesses Jesus at his baptism and declares him to be the Son of God. [71] According to Delatte, both Clement and Marcus represent Christ as six, seven, and eight inclusively, numbers that symbolize the Incarnation. Thus Clement’s version of Marcus’ Transfiguration account synthesizes the previous sections discussing the properties of six, seven, and eight (138.5–140.2), and help demonstrate Clement’s claim, since Christ himself is six, seven, and eight.ταύτῃ τοι ὁ κύριος τέταρτος ἀναβὰς εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἕκτος γίνεται καὶ φωτὶ περιλάμπεται πνευματικῷ, τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἀπ ᾽ αὐτοῦ παραγυμνώσας εἰς ὅσον οἶόν τε ἦν ἰδεῖν τοῖς ὁρᾶν ἐκλεγεῖσι, δι᾽ ἑβδόμης ἀνακηρυσ-σόμενος (15) τῆς φωνῆς υἱὸς εἶναι θεοῦ, ἵνα δὴ οἳ μὲν ἀναπαύσωνται πεισθέντες περὶ αὐτοῦ, ὁ [67] δέ, διὰ γενέσεως, ἣν ἐδήλωσεν ἡ ἑξάς, ἐπίσημος [68] ὀγδοὰς ὑπάρχων φανῇ, θεὸς ἐν σαρκίῳ τὴν δύναμιν ἐνδεικ-νύμενος, ἀριθμούμενος μὲν ὡς ἄνθρωπος, κρυπτόμενος δὲ ὃς ἦν·
So on this [eighth day] [69] the Lord, as the fourth, after ascending the mountain becomes a sixth and is radiated by a spiritual light, laying bare his power—as far as it is possible for those chosen to see to perceive—and heralded by the seventh, the voice, to be the Son of God, so that those who are persuaded about him might rest, while he, being an episēmos ogdoad, might be manifest through his generation (which the hexad makes clear) as God, demonstrating his power in a bit of flesh: numbered as man, but keeping hidden who he was.
(Clement of Alexandria Stromateis 6.140.3.10)
Τούτου τοῦ λόγου καὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας ταύτης καρπόν φησιν ἐν ὁμοι-ώματι εἰκόνος πεφηνέναι ἐκεῖ(νον) τὸν μετὰ τὰς ἓξ ἡμέρας τέταρτον ἀναβάντα εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ γενόμενον ἕκτον, τὸν καταβάντα καὶ κρατη-θέντα ἐν τῇ Ἐβδομάδι, ἐπίσημον Ὀγδοάδα ὑπάρχοντα καὶ ἔχοντα ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν ἅπαντα τῶν στοιχείων ἀριθμόν.
[Marcus] says that the fruit of this account and this plan is that he was manifest in the likeness of an image [Romans 1.23], he who, after six days, ascended the mountain as the fourth and became a sixth, he who descended and was held in the Hebdomad, being an episēmos ogdoad and possessing within himself every number of the oral letters.
(Irenaeus Against Heresies 1.14.6.272–277)
The problem with Delatte’s overall interpretation is that strictly speaking, Marcus and Clement identify Christ not with seven but only with six and eight. Seven is reserved in Clement for the voice of God, not Jesus. Marcus regards the hebdomad as the seven vowels, which receive an eighth letter so as to equal the size of the other two levels of the aeonic alphabet. Thus six, seven, and eight are not indiscriminately all symbols of Jesus. And what started Clement on this tangent in the first place was the proposal that the ogdoad is a hebdomad, and the hebdomad a hexad (138.5). This requires a transitive relationship, of 6 → 7 → 8, or 8 → 7 → 6. But neither Clement’s nor Marcus’ account of the Transfiguration suggests that Jesus went from being the sixth to becoming the eighth, via the seventh. Clement may have originally (138.5) proposed to demonstrate a transformation of six into eight, but that does not occur here (at 140.3). The only numerical transformation in this passage is from four to six, when Jesus becomes the sixth after the appearance of Moses and Elisha. Clement states (as does Marcus) that Jesus is simultaneously six and eight—the ‘episēmos ogdoad’—without implying any transition between the two (at least, not in 140.3). Both passages emphasize the differences, not the transformations, among six, seven, and eight. Clement’s version constitutes a Christian counterpart to the “secular” arithmology of 138.6–140.2, which lists common ideas in the Greco-Roman world about six, seven, and eight. Clement uses a single event, the Transfiguration, to depict the Christian understanding of the symbolic significance of six (generation), seven (the voice), and eight (divinity), arraying the symbolism for all three numbers in a single, static image.
A closer look at the vocabulary of 140.3 bears this out. I have mentioned above the care Clement shows when he reads other authors and “discovers” in them the doctrine of the hebdomad and ogdoad. Sometimes this is made explicit by keywords, such as those in Plato’s Republic. Other times, the association emerges through ideas, not terms, as in Clement of Rome and Psalm 33 (34). Clement considers Scripture to have been written with extreme care. There are no superfluous words, and each word is chosen for its symbolic overtones, no matter how subtle. He composes his explanation of the Transfiguration with the same care. His words are tinged with overtones of number symbolism, and thereby present a complex Christian arithmology of six, seven, and eight.
Clement gives to Christ the epithet ‘episēmos ogdoad.’ This epithet, which features prominently in Marcus’ theology, conjoins six and eight, a mathematical and theological paradox. Six represents the created, material world; and eight, spiritual perfection, the divine realm. Notice how the paradox is reflected at the end of 140.3, where Jesus is “numbered as man,” but hidden as “he was.” Six corresponds to “man,” and eight, to his constant state of being, i.e. God. Between these two phrases, however, is θεὸς ἐν σαρκίῳ τὴν δύναμιν ἐνδεικνύμενος, a phrase that can also be interpreted as a cipher for ‘six-eight’: σαρκίῳ is six; θεός and δύναμις eight. The entire clause, from ὁ δέ to the end, reiterates in three compact phrases the mystery of the Incarnation as a combination of six and eight.
Likewise, the first instance of δύναμις (line 13), just as the second (line 18), should also suggest the number eight. This is consistent with Clement’s exposition, since this first instance describes how Christ revealed his divinity, as much as his companions could manage. Divinity is often represented as the number eight in Clement. The spiritual light in which Jesus is cloaked is the radiance of this “eightness.” This entire phrase alludes to the eightness of the Transfiguration, and complements the next phrase, which explicitly identifies seven with the voice that permits his disciples to find rest: ἑβδόμης, φωνῆς, and ἀναπαύσωνται all cross-resonate. By finding rest, the disciples, who are products of generation and therefore symbolized by six, move from the realm of six into seven.
Read this way, most of the text in 140.3 that is not emphasized (from καὶ φωτὶ to περὶ αὐτοῦ), which has no parallel in Marcus or Irenaeus, constitutes a miniature Christian arithmology on eight, then seven. It moves on to six—the generative aspect of Jesus—where Clement picks up again from Irenaeus’ text, and then ends in a terse meditation on the Incarnation as a combination of six and eight (from Θεὸς ἐν σαρκίῳ to ὃς ἦν). Thus the material not in Marcus/Irenaeus is Clement’s careful augmentation.
From here, Clement’s account of the Transfiguration moves not to the baptism of Jesus, as Marcus’ does, but to the order of the alphabet and numerical notation. This too is a theme for Marcus, but Clement pursues the matter further. He begins by explaining that six is included in the order of the numbers, but that the sequence of the alphabet shows that the ἐπίσημον is not written with a letter. That is, numerals, using the alphabetic system of numeration, follow the sequence α´, β´, γ´, δ´, ε´, Ϛ´, ζ´, η ´, and so on. The number six is represented by the ἐπίσημον. But when the alphabet is written out—α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, and so on—the ἐπίσημον is not written. He explains that the difference between the two sequences is created by the intrusion of the ἐπίσημον, which disrupts the alphabet, a disruption that he takes as a cipher for his doctrine of the six and seven, and subsequently of the seven and eight. Here is the relevant text:
To unravel this cryptic passage, preliminary comments on two aspects of Greek grammar are in order. First, as already discussed, the grammarians distinguished στοιχεῖον, the oral letter, from γράμμα, the written. [75] Clement also holds to this distinction. The phrases τὸ μὴ γραφόμενον and εἰς τὴν γραφήν show that he sees the ἐπίσημον as dwelling in the written sphere, not the oral. That is, the ἐπίσημον is seen, not heard.τῇ μὲν γὰρ τάξει τῶν ἀριθμῶν συγκαταλέγεται καὶ ὁ ἕξ, ἡ δὲ τῶν στοιχείων ἀκολουθία ἐπίσημον γνωρίζει τὸ μὴ γραφόμενον. ἐνταῦθα κατὰ μὲν τοὺς ἀριθμοὺς αὐτοὺς σῴζεται τῇ τάξει ἑκάστη μονὰς εἰς ἑβδομάδα τε καὶ ὀγδοάδα, κατὰ δὲ τὸν τῶν στοιχείων ἀριθμὸν ἕκτον γίνεται τὸ ζῆτα, καὶ ἕβδομον τὸ ηˉ. [2] Ἐκκλαπέντος [72] δ ᾽ οὐκ οἶδ ᾽ ὅπως τοῦ ἐπισήμου εἰς τὴν γραφήν, ἐὰν οὕτως ἑπώμεθα, ἕκτη μὲν γίνεται ἡ ἑβδομάς, ἑβδόμη δὲ ἡ ὀγδοάς·.
For the [number] six is included in the order of the numbers, but the sequence of the oral letters makes known that the ἐπίσημον is unwritten. Thus, according to the numbers themselves, each monad is preserved in sequence, up to the hebdomad and the ogdoad. But according to the number of oral letters, the zeta becomes sixth, and the eta seventh. But when the ἐπίσημον—I don’t know how—slips into [73] writing (should we pursue it in this manner) the hebdomad becomes the sixth [letter], and the ogdoad the seventh. [74]
(Clement of Alexandria Stromateis 6.140.4–6.141.1)
Second, Clement is not discussing the digamma, the archaic Greek letter derived from the Phoenician waw. His comments here are frequently misread because modern readers conflate the ἐπίσημον and the digamma. It is common knowledge today that the earliest Greek alphabets included in the sixth place the Phoenician letter waw, first written like a Y, but later as ϝ. [76] The digamma dropped out of use in the Greek language, but its written representation was preserved in the Milesian system of numeration. The ἐπίσημον is seen as the direct descendant of the obsolete waw. But late antique and medieval treatments of the digamma show no awareness that it was the ancestor of the numeral six. Greek grammarians in late antiquity did not even assign the digamma a place in the sequence of the alphabet. Further, no ancient discussions of the παράσημα—the nonalphabetic numerals—mention the letter digamma. [77] An ancient scholium on Dionysius Thrax precludes such an association. This scholiast entertains the theoretical objection that, because the digamma is a letter, Dionysius Thrax’s claim that there are twenty-four written letters must be faulty. The objection runs: both a character (χαρακτήρ) and a name (ὄνομα) are concomitant with every oral letter; the digamma has both, so it too should be reckoned with the oral letters. The scholiast lays out several responses to this argument, one of which runs: “Again, every character (χαρακτήρ) of the oral letters designates a number. For the α indicates the number one, and the β, two, and so forth. So therefore, if the character of ϝ doesn’t indicate a number, it is clear that it is not an oral letter.” [78] So this scholiast regarded the digamma as having no corresponding numeral and therefore no place in the order of the alphabet. The other parallel scholia discussing the digamma also do not associate it with the number six or any ordinal place in the alphabet. [79]
This explains why Ptolemy, in his Harmonics, uses both the digamma and the ἐπίσημον in the same sentence to refer to two different things: the digamma to a musical tone and the ἐπίσημον to a numeral. [80] In a sixth-century Greek text, The Mystery of the Letters, the godless Greeks are accused of moving the waw from its proper place and placing it after the nu. God is said to have providentially used the disruption to make the waw a symbol of Christ. [81] To this author, the Phoenician waw became not the digamma but the omicron!
All these late antique texts show that any original association there may have been between the numeral six and the digamma had been lost by the second century. This helps clear up a vexing textual problem at 140.4–141.2, one that is critical to understanding the entire passage. It is unclear whether Clement thought the letter slipped into writing, or fell out of it, since the prepositions in ἐκλαπέντος and εἰς τὴν γραφήν are contradictory. Some scholars have argued that the text should read εἰσκλαπέντος (which would have Clement regard the ἐπίσημον as entering the alphabet), others as ἐκ τῆς γραφῆς (to have him see the character fall into disuse). [82] The former are correct, but they are seemingly unaware of the grammatical background, just discussed. [83] Delatte’s proposal, which depends upon the latter group, has Clement, in agreement with modern scholarship, meditating on the development of the Greek alphabet from its Phoenician roots. But this is not Clement’s point. He was interested primarily in the difference between the alphabet and Greek numeration. Like others in his day, Clement saw no connection between the waw and the numeral six, since he considered the latter as a purely written symbol, not a spoken one. Thus the text should read Εἰσκλαπέντος δ ᾽ οὐκ οἶδ ᾽ ὅπως τοῦ ἐπισήμου εἰς τὴν γραφήν. [84] The numeral six, the ἐπίσημον, somehow entered into the writing system—Clement admits his ignorance on the historical specifics—and thus disrupted the order of the alphabet.
This makes Clement’s allegory clearer: the ἐπίσημον symbolizes Christ, who enters the writing of the world and alters the constitution of its oral letters/elements (στοιχεῖα). Clement plays on the ambiguity of στοιχεῖον, treating it primarily as a letter of the alphabet, but also alluding to its alternate meaning as an element of the universe. He regards the inconcinnity between the alphabet and the numbering system to be the key to interpreting the effect of the Incarnation on creation. This same inconcinnity explains the numbers latent in the Transfiguration. There on the mountain, Jesus is revealed as the ‘episēmos ogdoad,’ the number eight in the guise of the numeral Ϛ. The number eight is the unknowable God, the Ϛ is his entry into the writing system. Only here do we encounter the transition 6 → 7 → 8, and it pertains to the movement of believers who transcend their humanity. The intrusion of the Ϛ causes the sixth element (στοιχεῖον) to access the seventh, and the seventh element (στοιχεῖον) to access the eighth. Thus the apostles, by trusting in him on the mount of Transfiguration, entered into the rest of the seventh. We shall see below that Clement, by analogy, has the faithful move from the seventh to the eighth, but his interpretation of the Transfiguration (140.3) stops short of this. Instead, Clement now turns to Marcus’ teaching on the number six (141.3–7). He draws from parts of Scripture that speak to the doctrine of the ἐπίσημον, and then selects examples from geometry to establish the point he set out to make initially, that the ogdoad is likely to be a hebdomad, and the hebdomad a hexad. His argument runs:
διὸ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος λέγεται πεποιῆσθαι ὁ τῷ ἐπισήμῳ πιστὸς γενόμενος ὡς εὐθέως κυριακῆς κληρονομίας ἀνάπαυσιν ἀπολαβεῖν. τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ἡ ἕκτη ὥρα τῆς σωτηρίου οἰκονομίας ἐμφαίνει, καθ ᾽ ἣν ἐτελειώθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος. ναὶ μὴν τῶν μὲν ὀκτὼ αἱ μεσότητες γίνονται ἑπτά, τῶν δὲ ἑπτὰ φαίνονται εἶναι τὰ διαστήματα ἕξ. ἄλλος γὰρ ἐκεῖνος λόγος, ἐπὰν ἑβδομὰς δοξάζῃ τὴν ὀγδοάδα καὶ “οἱ οὐρανοὶ τοῖς οὐρανοῖς διηγοῦνται δόξαν θεοῦ.” οἱ τούτων αἰσθητοὶ τύποι τὰ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν φωνήεντα στοιχεῖα. οὕτως καὶ αὐτὸς εἴρηται ὁ κύριος “ἄλφα καὶ ὦ, ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος,” “δι᾽ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν.”
So also, it is said that in the sixth [day] the human was made, becoming faithful to the ἐπίσημον, so as to receive straightaway the rest of the Lord’s inheritance. Even the sixth hour of the divine plan of salvation indicates this sort of thing; in it the human was perfected. Indeed, there are seven intermediates of eight things, and there seem to be six intervals of seven things. For there is that other saying, when the hebdomad glorifies the ogdoad and “the heavens declare to the heavens the glory of God.” [Psalms 18.2] The oral letters that are our vowels are perceptible types of these things. So also the Lord himself is said to be “alpha and o[mega], beginning and end” [Revelation 21.6], “through whom everything came into being, and without him not even one thing came into being” [John 1.3].
(Clement of Alexandria Stromateis 6.141.3–7)
The parallel from Marcus runs:
Clement’s version is an orthodox, ecclesiastical revision of Marcus’ teaching. He notes, in Marcus’ words, that the human was created on the sixth day. He omits any mention of Moses, and thereby identifies the sixth day of creation with the day of Christ’s crucifixion. Clement parses the phrase “in the sixth [day] the human.” Using the same order of cases—dative, then nominative—Clement explains what ‘sixth day’ and ‘human’ mean. The sixth day of creation/redemption is the ἐπίσημον, and in that day man becomes faithful to Christ. Clement, again departing from Marcus, says that the purpose of the Creation and Redemption was to have humanity straightaway enjoy the rest of the Lord’s inheritance. His wording is precise. In a single phrase he uses ciphers of both seven (ἀνάπαυσιν) and eight (κυριακῆς κληρονομίας). [85] Thus Clement restates that the goal of humanity is to move from the sixth day of Creation, through the Sabbath rest, into the eighth day. He considers the connection between these days of creation as tight as the geometric relationship between points and the intervals between them (141.5).Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο Μωϋσέα ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ ἡμέρᾳ εἰρηκέναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον γεγονέναι· καὶ τὴν οἰκονομίαν δὲ ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ τῶν ἡμερῶν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ παρασκευή, <ἐν> ᾗ τὸν ἔσχατον ἄνθρωπον εἰς ἀναγέννησιν τοῦ πρώτου ἀνθρώπου πεφηνέναι, ἧς οἰκονομίας ἀρχὴν καὶ τέλος τὴν ἕκτην ὥραν εἶναι, ἐν ᾗ προσηλώθη τῷ ξύλῳ.
And because of this, Moses said that the human being came into existence on the sixth day, and the divine dispensation, on the sixth day [of the week], i.e. the Day of Preparation, in which the last human being is manifest for the rebirth of the first man. The beginning and end of this divine dispensation was the sixth hour, when he was nailed to the wood.
(Irenaeus Against Heresies 1.14.6.280–285)
Καθὼς οὖν αἱ ἐπτά, φησίν, δυνάμεις δοξάζουσι τὸν Λόγον, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ ἐν τοῖς βρέφεσι κλαίουσα καὶ θρηνοῦσα Μάρκον δοξάζει αὐτόν. διὰ τοῦτο δέ καὶ τὸν Δαυὶδ εἰρηκέναι· “ Ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον,” καὶ πάλιν· “οἱ οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν θεοῦ.”
He [Marcus] says: Therefore, just as the seven powers glorify the Logos, so also the soul in infants, crying and wailing, glorifies Marcus himself. Because of this, David also said, “From the mouth of infants and sucklings, you have perfected praise” [Psalms 8.3 (8.2)], and also, “The heavens declare the glory of God” [Psalms 18.2 (19.1)].
(Irenaeus Against Heresies 1.14.8.320–325)
As a further illustration, Clement appeals to Psalm 18 (19), which he emends so that the heavens declare the glory of God to the heavens (not in the Septua-gint), just as the hebdomad glorifies the ogdoad. The image evoked here is that of the seven planets glorifying the fixed sphere, the same image he uses to interpret Plato’s Republic, discussed above. In ancient number symbolism the seven planets were closely associated with the seven vowels. So the Lord, who is called alpha and ōmega, is symbolized in the Psalms by the heavens. The Lord, the creator of all things, is the beginning and the end of all seven vowels. The thrust of 141.6–7 is that Christ constitutes the harmony of the spheres, the one who communicates to all the glory of God.
In this passage Marcus’ numbers are more static than Clement’s. In the first paragraph, Marcus is concerned with the number six and with showing the relationships among the sixth day of Creation, the crucifixion on the sixth day of the week, and the nailing of Jesus at the sixth hour. He claims the sixth hour was the beginning and the end of redemption, a notion that harmonizes well with the Pythagorean idea of the perfection of the number six. [86] Six does not become anything. The second paragraph, which concerns itself with the number seven, is static. Clement adds the motif of numbers changing and turning into each other, in imitation of the divine dispensation and the Incarnation. He spins these two unrelated passages by Marcus into a new narrative, an orthodox vision of God’s becoming man so that man might attain divine unity. [87] The numbers in Clement’s new allegory symbolize the vertical transition of the faithful, as they ascend from the material world to the spiritual.
Having read Against Heresies, Clement would have known Irenaeus’ saucy rhetoric and his favored argument, the reductio ad absurdum. Yet Clement seems to take Marcus’ exegesis seriously. There is no express sarcasm or criticism, no attempt to show the arbitrariness of his opponent’s methods or conclusions. Throughout the Stromateis Clement uses the term γνῶσις ‘knowledge’, to reclaim it from the heretics, the self-declared spiritual, on behalf of his own “ecclesiastics.” In like manner he robs Marcus of the symbol ‘episēmos ogdoad,’ to make of it a sign of Jesus’ Incarnation, not of his emanation from and return to the Ogdoad. Both Marcus and Clement consider Jesus to be “noteworthy” because of his association with six. But for Marcus, the sixness is found most immediately in the number of letters in Jesus’ name, the number required to generate, with the Tetrad, the 24 letters of the alphabet needed to achieve the aeonic Triacontad. For Clement, the sixness lies not in letter counts but in its symbolism of the human nature of Christ, of the rupture in human discourse that brought about salvation. He ignores any sense of 30, 24, 801, or other numbers that appeal to Marcus. Marcus focuses on the connection between the aeons and the alphabet; Clement, on that between the Incarnation and redemption.
Clement shares with the Valentinians, Monoïmus, and deutero-Simon a fascination with arranging Scripture into arithmetically harmonious structures. Just as they do, he brings to the text a well developed sense of number symbolism. He massages the Scriptures, peers behind individual words, and chases down their overtones, to show how the Bible reveals those structures. The technique works outside the Bible, too. Clement reads ecclesiastical and philosophical literature with an eye to hidden number symbolism. The finest example is his investigation of Stoic anthropology, which he transforms into a Christian one by supplementing the missing parts and molding the structure into a pattern that better fits Scripture. The tactic resembles those of his theological opponents. For Clement, this is no inconsistency, since their error comes from their conclusions, not their tactics.
He does not adhere to all of Irenaeus’ four principles for the correct theological use of numbers. Like the Valentinians, Clement draws from human conventions in grammar and numeration to illustrate his theology (contra Irenaeus’ second principle). He also quite openly takes preconceived number symbols into the Scriptures and the ecclesiastical tradition, rearranging a bit of the furniture along the way (contra Irenaeus’ fourth principle). But other aspects of Clement’s number symbolism match Irenaeus’. He has no mathematical arrangement of the godhead, and the symbolism he draws from numbers found in the natural world is based safely on the science of his day (Irenaeus’ first and third principles). If Irenaeus were to have any problem with Clement’s number symbolism, it would probably revolve around exegesis. But we have already noted how Irenaeus bent his own second and third principles. So if Irenaeus held that Clement professed the apostolic rule of faith—and we have no reason to doubt this—then it is quite probable that Irenaeus would have shown him the same leniency he shows himself. For his part, Clement does not directly criticize Irenaeus. Whatever criticism can be detected is tacit. He faces the same opponents, but does not demand of them standards he fails to attain.
The two different models furnished by Clement and Irenaeus show that in practice, the orthodox theology of arithmetic consisted primarily of a few simple principles. God, in his simplicity, transcends the realm of numbers, which he created. Father, Son, and Spirit are three, not because three is perfect. Rather, three is perfect because Father, Son, and Spirit are the one God. In the rule of truth there reside many numerical symbols that reveal God’s ways. To indulge in these and to draw upon number symbolism from culture, science, and mathematics is quite permissible, provided it does not undermine the apostolic faith shared by the churches throughout the world. Such principles were less strictures than signposts, warning the faithful away from the precipices of private fantasy—in a word, heresy.
Footnotes
50. In my view, this confusion also results from a scribal intrusion. For the full argument see Kalvesmaki 2006:404–411.
51. κινδυνεύει γὰρ ἡ μὲν ὀγδοὰς ἐβδομὰς εἶναι κυρίως, ἑξὰς δὲ ἡ ἑβδομὰς κατά γε τὸ ἐμφανές, καὶ ἡ μὲν κυρίως εἶναι σάββατον, ἐργάτις δὲ ἡ ἑβδομάς· On ἐργάτις see Proverbs 6.8a LXX.
52. Stromateis 5.6.36.3.
53. Stromateis 4.25.158–159.
54. Stromateis 4.17.109.1–2, citing Clement of Rome Letter to the Corinthians 22.
55. Stromateis 4.17.109.2: εἶτα ἑβδομάδος καὶ ὀγδοάδος μυστήριον γνωστικὸν ἐπιφέρει· “παῦσον τὴν γλῶσσάν σου ἀπὸ κακοῦ καὶ χείλη σου τοῦ μὴ λαλῆσαι δόλον· ἔκκλινον ἀπὸ κακοῦ καὶ ποίησον ἀγαθόν, ζήτησον εἰρήνην καὶ δίωξον αὐτήν.”
56. Stromateis 5.14.106.2–4, citing Plato Republic 10.616b: ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῖς ἐν τῷ λειμῶνι ἑκάστοις ἑπτὰ ἡμέραι γένοιντο, ἀναστάντας ἐντεῦθεν δεῖ τῇ ὀγδόῃ πορεύεσθαι καὶ ἀφικνεῖσθαι τεταρταίους.
57. Stromateis 5.6.36.2.
58. For more examples (such as Stromateis 7.10.57.4–5) and analysis of the seven and eight in Clement of Alexandria, see Itter 2009:39–51.
59. Heracleon, frags. 15, 18, 40 (= Origen Commentary on John 10.248–250, 13.69–72, 13.416–426). Wucherpfennig denies that fragment 40 refers to the doctrine of the six, seven, and eight, and suggests rather that it refers to the seventh day of Creation and God’s restoring human nature to its original good standing (2002:320–321). But Heracleon (at Origen Commentary on John 13.424) discusses a nature that is “depicted” (χαρακτηρίζεται), not “restored.” In this passage natures are not transformed (as Wucherpfennig’s reading would require), they are revealed.
60. Clement of Alexandria Epitomes 3.63. On Theodotus, see DECL 571, Thomassen 2006:28, and Kalvesmaki 2008.
61. Clement’s excursus (§§138.5–145.7) has been studied most thoroughly and skillfully by Delatte (1915:229–245), who was also the first to recognize that Clement’s exegesis of the Transfiguration depends upon the teachings of Marcus. Delatte identifies Clement’s sources for his arithmology (1915:234–235). See also parallels in the Theology of Arithmetic at sections devoted to 6, 7, and 8.
[ back ] 62. See Delatte 1915:233, for the scope and evidence of Clement’s direct or (more likely) indirect use of Aristobulus. Although Clement uses Aristobulus, this is probably mediated through someone like Hermippus of Berytus, a grammarian (possibly Jewish or Christian) of the early second century, whose lost treatise On the Hebdomad is mentioned by Clement at §145.2. Compare also Stromateis 5.14.107.1–108.1, Clement’s catena of quotations from classical authors who praise the number seven.
[ back ] 63. There are many ancient parallels. See e.g. Aristotle, fragment 203 (= Alexander of Aphrodisias Commentary on Aristotle’s “Metaphysics” 38), Philo On the Creation of the World 100, Theology of Arithmetic 41.30, Theon of Smyrna Mathematics Useful for Reading Plato 103.14–16, Nicomachus of Gerasa in Photius Biblioteca 144b.
[ back ] 64. Fixed sphere: τὴν ἀπλανῆ … σφαῖραν: see Stromateis 5.106, cited above. Because of precession, the drifting of the earth’s axis across the stars, the zodiac appears over the centuries to rotate slowly around the earth. The time it takes for one house of the zodiac to return to its starting point, calculated by modern astronomers at 26,000 years, is called the Great Year, the length of which was a topic in classical antiquity. See e.g. Plato Republic 8.546.
65. Förster 1999:252n207.
66. See Behr 2000, le Boulluec 1982:707–713, and Patterson 1997. For a well-known parallel see Stromateis 7.18.109.2–110.1, adapting Irenaeus Against Heresies 5.8.3.53–84, and analysis in Hort and Mayor 1902 and Patterson 1997.
67. Substituting Delatte’s ὁ for the ὃ in SC and the οἱ (dittography from the previous line) in the manuscript.
68. I delete the comma here, following Sagnard 1947:378 and Dupont-Sommer 1946:47. On the coined phrase ‘episēmos ogdoad,’ see p. 72 above.
69. The precise referent of ταύτῃ is missing from the ANF and SC translations. It must refer to the ogdoad because that was the topic of the previous section and because ταύτῃ corresponds to Marcus’ μετὰ τὰς ἓξ ἡμέρας. It may possibly refer to the last word of §140.2, ἀνταποδόσεως, but even this term Clement gives the nuance of eightness. My reconstruction makes sense in light of Luke 9.28, which places the Transfiguration on the eighth day, unlike Matthew 17.1 and Mark 9.2, both of which place it “after six days.” Clement follows Luke; Marcus opts for Matthew and Mark.
70. Delatte 1915:238. Irenaeus Against Heresies 1.14.4.
71. Delatte 1915:238–239.
72. Ms reading. Stählin 1909: Εἰσκλαπέντος.
73. Or “slips out of.” See discussion below.
74. That is, the number seven comes to be represented by the sixth oral letter.
75. See p. 63 and n4 above.
76. The term digamma, attested in the postclassical period, comes from the character’s looking like one uncial gamma superimposed on another. See LSJ 752a s.v. “ϝ,” and Larfeld 1898:294.
77. All ancient references known to me concerning the ἐπίσημον are discussed above, pp. 66–88. Scholia on Dionysius Thrax 1.3:496.6–7 appears at first glance to identify the digamma with the Greek numeral for six. The scholiast entertains the question, Why are there twenty-four letters (γράμματα) when there are other characters and inscribed figures, and other nations have their own letters, and there are certain other figures: “the digamma, the koppa, the so-called παρακύϊσμα, the insignia, and things written alongside letters, and the crown?” (Διὰ τί δὲ κδ´ ἔφη εἶναι τὰ γράμματὰ εἰ γὰρ γράμματά εἰσιν οἱ χαρακτῆρες καὶ οἱ ξυσμοί, γράμματα δὲ καὶ τὰ παρὰ Χαλδαίοις καὶ Αἰγυπτίοις, καί τινα ἕτερα, τὸ δίγαμμα καὶ τὸ κόππα καὶ τὸ καλούμενον παρακύϊσμα, καὶ τὰ σημεῖα, καὶ τὰ παρεγγραφόμενα τοῖς στοιχείοις, καὶ ἡ κορωνίς, καὶ εἴ τι τοιοῦτον, ἀτόπως φησὶν ὅτι κδ´ ἐστίν.) This passage has guided scholars, including LSJ 1562a, s.v. “M,” and LSJ, Supplement 114, s.v. “xπαρακύϊσμα,” to define παρακύϊσμα—a hapax legomenon—as the term for the numeral ϡ. But this presumes that the author identified the digamma with the numeral Ϛ and intended to list all three nonalphabetic numerals. This should be shown, not assumed. In this passage παρακύϊσμα can be read with δίγαμμα and κόππα as a threesome, but it might be better grouped with τὰ σημεῖα to form a second pair of terms. Given the root meaning of παρακύϊσμα—a κύημα is a fetus—it is very difficult to see how the character ϡ could be inferred. Jannaris 1907:39, suggests that the ϡ “is a παρακλῖνον γέννημα,” “a slanting letter,” but offers no explanation of how it resembles “offspring.” In reality, we have no clue what παρακύϊσμα means. This scholium on Dionysius Thrax is the only ancient text that might possibly be interpreted to connect the digamma with the numeral six, a shaky foundation given other arguments below.
78. Scholia on Dionysius Thrax 1.3:187.22–25. Ἔτι πᾶς χαρακτὴρ στοιχείων σημαίνει ἀριθμόν· καὶ γὰρ τὸ α σημαίνει τὸν ἕνα ἀριθμόν, καὶ τὸ β τὸν δύο, καὶ ἑξῆς· εἰ ἄρα οὖν ὁ χαρακτὴρ τοῦ ϝ οὐ σημαίνει ἀριθμόν, δῆλον ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι στοιχεῖον.
79. Scholia on Dionysius Thrax 1.3:34.15–23; 2.1:76.32–77.12. At first glance, the Georgian alphabet seems to provide evidence that late antique grammarians knew about the connection between ϝ and Ϛ. The fifth, sixth, and seventh letters are ე [e], ვ [v], and ზ [z], and the alphabet was used for numerals in the fashion of Greek. But Mouraviev has demonstrated that the placement of extra Georgian letters, such as ვ in the alphabet had nothing to do with the Semitic alphabets, but was the careful, deliberate work of a phonologist (1984). The phonetic equivalent of waw is the 22nd letter, უ [ü/w], assigned the value of 400 in Georgian alphabetic numeration.
80. Ptolemy Harmonics 2.1.
81. The Mystery of the Letters 31–33 (Bandt 2007:170–174; cf. 227).
82. Delatte 1915:241.
83. Delatte (agreeing with Serruys) rejected Stählin’s argument (agreeing with Lowth) for the first option, since it rested on the view that the last sentence in Clement’s paragraph purports to say that the number seven then took the sixth place, and the number eight the seventh. Stählin argued for the first option by suggesting that the numbers themselves move. Of course, they do not. By affirming the second option, that the ἐπίσημον fell out of writing, Delatte influenced the SC edition (Descourtieux 1999:342–343), which departs from Stählin’s text—otherwise the preferred edition—in favor of the manuscript Laur. V 3.
84. There are other reasons for accepting the emendation. First, the alternate proposal, Ἐκκλαπέντος δ ᾽ οὐκ οἶδ ᾽ ὅπως τοῦ ἐπισήμου ἐκ τῆς γραφῆς, requires an alteration of three words, rather than just one. Second, the last sentence in Clement’s paragraph does not suggest what Stählin said and what Delatte discounted (see n. 83 above); my translation and explanation clarify Clement’s meaning. Third, the alternate proposal suggests that the ἐπίσημον was originally in the alphabet, then disappeared, contradicting Clement’s previous sentence, which states that before whatever happened to the ἐπίσημον, zeta was sixth and eta seventh in the order of the alphabet.
85. For parallels see Stromateis 5.14.106.2, 6.14.108.1, 7.12.76.4 and Epitomes 3.63.
86. See p. 54n78.
87. See p. 127 above.