Isopsephy (Greek letter-values)
Isopsephy is the Greek practice that gematria is named after and the older of the two: the Milesian system was in use by the sixth century BCE, and the practice is Pythagorean in the ancient accounts.
The practice was contested from inside the tradition: Proclus reports that Iamblichus rejected it on three grounds — that letters of equal value can carry opposite meanings, that letter-shapes change over time, and that with addition, subtraction and multiplication any number can be produced to fit any purpose. Those three objections have not been improved on.
Practice
- Script
- Greek
- Derivation
The Ionian or Milesian numerals give each letter a place in three bands: alpha–theta 1–9, iota–koppa 10–90 by tens, rho–omega 100–800 by hundreds, with the obsolete digamma (6), koppa (90) and sampi (900) filling the gaps. θεός = 9+5+70+200 = 284; Ἰησοῦς = 10+8+200+70+400+200 = 888; Ἀβρασάξ = 1+2+100+1+200+1+60 = 365.
Nature and meaning
- Kind
- Cipher
- Meaning
Isopsephy is the Greek practice that gematria is named after and the older of the two: the Milesian system was in use by the sixth century BCE, and the practice is Pythagorean in the ancient accounts. The magical papyri use it constantly, both to compose names of power whose number matches a desired outcome and to test whether two names are equal and therefore linked. Basilides' 365 heavens, the 365 of Abrasax and the 888 of Jesus in the Sibylline Oracles are the surviving showpieces.
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Referenced by 7
Every entry that names Isopsephy (Greek letter-values), grouped by the system it comes from.
ℵ Gematria 7
- Theos (θεός) System
- Iesous (Ἰησοῦς) System
- Abraxas / Abrasax (Ἀβρασάξ) System
- Meithras (ΜΕΙΘΡΑΣ) System
- Kosmos (κόσμος) System
- Logos (λόγος) System
- Sophia (σοφία) System
More in Gematria
The entries either side of this one in the same catalogue.
- Sofei Tevot (final letters)
- Pythmen (Greek reduction)
- Roshei Tevot (initial letters)
- Aleph
- Notarikon (abbreviation and expansion)
- Beth
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