For Dante and other people in the Middle Ages, numbers had a different set of connotations than they do for moderns. The symbolism of numbers was both widespread and profoundly ingrained in the culture. In this classic study, a noted scholar reveals how deeply rooted in medieval thought was the consciousness of numbers, not as mathematical tools, nor yet as the counters in a game, but as fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning.
For example, the numberthree linked to the Trinity was of special significance, and endowed every repetition of the numberthree with a...