Emerald Table of Hermes Trismegistus and the Phaistos Disk

THE EMERALD TABLE?
CONTAINMENT OF GEOMETRICAL ARRANGEMENTS

Geometry is like a spiritual component of the physical world because it exists in potentia and is "invoked" like spirit when we begin connecting points with lines. Knowing these religious sciences as well as s/he did, the creator of the Phaistos Disk (Daedalus?) might have conceived of this clever way to invoke images, by connecting pictographs (dots) with lines, that was both astounding to those who saw it and instructive as well. Most likely, the creator of the disk was highly educated in the study of containment of geometrical arrangements, their relationship to numbers (below), and the development of "method of exhaustion."

Method of exhaustion shows how to 'exhaust' the area of a circle by means of an inscribed polygon; if we successively double the number of sides in the polygon, we will eventually reduce the difference between the area of the polygon (known) and the area of the circle (unknown) to the point where it is smaller than any magnitude we choose. This method made it possible to calculate the area of a circle to any desired degree of accuracy; with a little further development, it could be used to calculate the area within (or under) other curves as well and to calculate the area bounded by certain spirals, and the surface area and volume of a sphere. (David C. Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science, pp.88, 89)

The method of exhaustion was probably borrowed by Euclid from his predecessor Eudoxus, (Ibid) (400-355 BCE), a Greek astronomer and mathematician credited with this inventive method of calculating proportion. The Phaistos Disk, containing the geometry of a pentagram inside a heptagon (the big star Sirius), seems to show exhaustion in use 1200 years before Eudoxus.

The number philosophy, shown in the table below, makes of a circle, in the mystical sense and in terms of mysticism of a much later period, an alchemical vessel, a Mixing Bowl, in which can be seen and analyzed the alchemical stages in the action of the Absolute in differentiating Self into a phenomenal universe through geometry. Each alchemical stage is introduced with 1-13 of the 13 precepts of the Emerald Table of Hermes Trismegistus, a legendary alchemical enigma and text puzzle from a much later period in history. Various cultures claim to have discovered the Emerald Table-Tabula Smaragdina. In one account of discovery, Alexander the Great found the table in the tomb of Hermes (Thoth). In another account, Sarah the wife of the biblical Abraham, found the entombed Hermes holding in his hands his table. Alternately, the precepts may have been written in Syriac.

These precepts of Hermes were cherished with a kind of religious fervour by the adepts (of alchemy), who looked upon them as summarising in a concealed form the fundamental secrets of alchemy and of the Philosopher's Stone. (John Read, F.R.S., From Alchemy to Chemistry)

In this geometry theology, ultimate reality is numerical, number is the key to the universe, and triangles are the fundamental building blocks of the cosmos; therefore, geometry is sacred. Included in the table are the precepts of Hermes.

The number One The Point within the Circle " I speak not fictitious things, but that which is certain and true."	The number Two Diameter The Cross within the Circle " What is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of one thing."	The number Three Triangle The Hearth of the Universe " And as all things are produced by the one word of one Being, so all things were produced from this one thing by adaptation."
The number Four The Square within the Circle " Its father is the Sun, its mother the Moon; the wind carries it in its belly, its nurse is the earth."	The number Five Pentagon, pentagram " It is the father of perfection throughout the world."	The number Six Hexagon, hexagram " The power is vigorous if it be changed into earth."
The number Seven Heptagon, heptagram " Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, acting prudently and with judgment."	The number Eight Octagon, octagrams " Ascend with the greatest sagacity from the earth to heaven, and then again descend to the earth, and unite together the powers of things superior and things inferior. Thus you will obtain the glory of the whole world, and obscurity will fly far away from you."	The number Nine Enneagon, enneagrams " This has more fortitude than fortitude itself, because it conquers every subtle thing and can penetrate every solid.
The number Ten Dekagon, dekagrams " Thus was the world formed."	The number Eleven Endekagon, endekagrams " Hence proceed wonders, which are here established."	The number Twelve Dodekagon, the dodekagrams " Therefore, I am called Hermes Trismegistus, having three parts of the philosophy of the whole world."