Quincunx
Quincunx is the name given to the arrangement of five dots that are usually found on dice , playing cards or dominoes . The name is derived from a Roman coin .
The quincunx had five points of value, so the word also stands for two terms:
- Five points
- Five twelfths - in astrology one calls such an aspect of 150 ° (5/12 of a full circle of 360 °)
The coin
The word comes from the Latin quinque (Eng. Five) and uncia (Eng. Ounce), a coin unit of one twelfth of an ace . The rather rare coin thus had a value of 5/12 As and served as a counterbalance to the currency of eastern Italian tribes, whose coin system was divided into decimal places. It was minted as a bronze coin in the second half of the 3rd century in Apulia , for example in Luceria and Venusia .
The Uncia had one point, the Quincunx five.
The pattern
The quincunx pattern is an intuitively simple arrangement of five points found in many cultures.
It finds its way into various philosophical considerations:
- In the number symbolism of the Pythagoreans , it expressed the special meaning of the number five .
- It can also be found in the Chinese 河 圖 洛 書 , Pinyin hétúlòshū - "Ho-river picture and Lo-river recording", a central diagram of the Chinese five-element teaching , which is already in the 洪範 , Hóng fàn - " The Great Plan ”, a philosophical treatise in the Book of Documents dating back to the first century BC , and symbolizes a center and four cardinal points.
- It is understood as a reference to the Passion of Christ (see Greek letter Χ)
The pattern was and is used in various areas:
- Quincunx was the standard formation in the Roman legions . These legion quincunces were staggered in terms of their tactics and resulted in freedom of movement in the field that was unmatched at the time
- In garden art , especially in formal gardens ( baroque gardens ), trees are also planted over a floor plan in a quincunx arrangement.
- A type of floor plan, e.g. B. in Byzantine cross- domed churches (e.g. San Marco in Venice, Hosios Lucás in Greece) and in sacred baroque architecture (e.g. S. Carlo ai Catinari in Rome, Konviktskirche in Ehingen, Kollegienkirche in Salzburg), especially in university churches , with the rooms for the faculties of the universities.
- A basic design type of inlay work of Cosmati .
- As a cross shape, connected to arms, it is called a piston cross (also apple cross , with a central medallion), and it is a common form of Romanesque or Gothic altar and votive crosses, and was later used in Christian forms
- In computer graphics , quincunx is a possible pattern for distributing sample positions during antialiasing .
- The pattern is on the flag of the Solomon Islands to find (Engl. Solomon Islands).
Use in architecture
In architecture , the so-called Milan scheme refers to a floor plan that takes up the geometric principle of the quincunx . The floor plan of a Greek cross with a central dome is inscribed in a basic square in such a way that the floor plan in the diagonal axes, between the cross arms, is expanded by four secondary dome rooms.
The trees on the Place des Quinconces in Bordeaux are arranged according to the quincunx principle .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Quincunx. (No longer available online.) In: Anumis Münzen Lexikons. Sommer & Co. GmbH, archived from the original on August 25, 2009 ; Retrieved April 15, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Peter Lichtenberger: The As. In: imperium-romanum.com, version XLIX. March 3, 2008, accessed April 15, 2008 .
- ^ I. Schwarz-Winklhofer, H. Biedermann: The book of signs and symbols. Verlag für Collectors , Graz 1972, ISBN 3-85365-011-2
- ↑ Marcel Granet: The Chinese Thinking , Frankfurt 1993, ISBN 3-518-28119-4 , p. 127ff.
- ↑ Schwarz-Winklhofer / Biedermann No. 386
- ↑ cf. Jochen Schröder: The structural design and the spatial program of the Berlin Cathedral as a mirror of the demands and functions of the client Kaiser Wilhelm II. (Diss. Marburg 2002), p. 76f.
