Quadrivium

The quadrivium ( Latin "four ways") comprised the four advanced septem artes liberales - the " seven liberal arts " (in antiquity and the Middle Ages ) - as a continuation of the linguistic subjects of the trivium and consisted of the mathematical, Numbers-oriented subjects:

• Arithmetic ( number theory )
• Geometry (including geography and natural history )
• Music ( music theory )
• Astronomy (then also astrology )

Together with the subjects of the Trivium , they formed the subject matter of the " artist faculties " (in today's terminology: philosophical faculties) of the medieval university. You can get an impression of the specific contents of these subjects e.g. B. from the Encyclopedia of Isidore of Seville (completed around 630 AD) .

literature

• Brigitte English: The Artes liberales in the early Middle Ages (5th – 9th centuries): The quadrivium and the computus as indicators for continuity and renewal of the exact sciences between antiquity and the Middle Ages (= Sudhoffs archive. Supplements ). Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-515-06431-1 .
• Ernst Hellgardt : On the problem of symbolic and formal aesthetic number composition in medieval literature. With studies on the quadrivium and the prehistory of medieval number thinking. Munich 1973 (= Munich texts and studies on German literature of the Middle Ages. Volume 45), at the same time philosophical dissertation Munich 1970.
• John North : The Quadrivium . In: Walter Rüegg (Hrsg.): History of the University in Europe . Volume I: Middle Ages. Beck, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-406-36952-9 , pp. 303-320 .
• The encyclopedia of Isidore of Seville . Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2008 (translated by Lenelotte Möller), in it "Book III" (pp. 123-154), ISBN 978-3-86539-177-3 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Quadrivium  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations