ABSTRACT
Many ancient nations seem to have held the view which Pythagoras (born B.c. about 580) enunciated to the effect that “ all things are numbers ” and that the elements of numbers are the elements of all things. The Pythagoreans thought the numbers which were only divisible by themselves, or by unity, to be of more importance than the others, and among these may be mentioned 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97. The mathematical tables found at Niffar in Babylonia prove that the Sumerians and their kinsfolk were skilled reckoners, and there seems to be no good reason for doubting that the Greeks and many later peoples have borrowed many of their beliefs as to the mystic and sacred character of certain numbers from them. They were in fact the founders of the science of mathematics. In Babylonia the numbers from 60 to 1 were reserved for gods, e.g. 60 (the soss) = Anu, 50 = Bel, 40 = Ea, 30 = Sin (Moon-god), 25 Marduk, 20 = Shamash, 15 == Ishtar, Io = Rammân (Jastrow, Religion, p. 465). The greatest sacred number in Babylonia was 12,960,000 (= 604 or 3,6002, i.e. the sat squared). It has been shown to be the “ number of Plato” (Adam, Republic of Plato,p. 264f.). When related to time 12,960,000 days = 36,000 years, each containing 360 days, and is fundamental in astronomy and in astrology. It governs the universe and also man's life, especially the period of gestation, for 216 days(?), the period of the seven months' child, and 270 days the period for the nine months' child, inaugurate a lucky birth, for both are divisors of 12,960,000. Every number which is a divisor of 12,960,000 is a lucky number, and therefore 7, n, and 13 are unlucky (W. Cruickshank in Hastings' Encyclopaedia, vol. ix.p. 417), according to some authorities. The numbers 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 40, 70, and 100 were sacred among many ancient peoples, and of these 3 seems to be the most popular mystic number. It represents the perfect number 2 plus 1. In Vedic literature 3, 7, 21, 55, 77 and 99 are magical numbers. In the Story of the Buddha 7 occurs very frequently, and in Iranian (Pehlevi) texts 3 and 7 play very prominent parts. The Greeks and Romans regarded 3, 9, and 12 as magical numbers, and it is clear that they borrowed 12 from the Babylonians and Sumerians, who had a duodecimal-sexagesimal system. The fundamental cyphers of it were 5 and 7 ; 5 + 7 = 12 and 5 × 12 = 60 ; the Sumerian soss = 60, the ner = 600, and the sar 3,600. The numbers 3 and 9 were favourites with the Celts, and 3, 9, and 7 with the Slavs.
