SACRED NUMBERS. - For the primitive mentality the number assumes a sacral meaning insofar as it is bound up with the image of objects that offer a frequent occasion for counting. Among groups of lower culture the numbers distinguished by a name do not go beyond ten.
Not all peoples venerate the same numbers as sacred, because the sacredness of these does not depend on psychological motives, which would be the same for all, but on special circumstances that have led the various peoples to fix the religious value of some numbers rather than others. It can nevertheless be affirmed that above all the observation of the sky and of the great divisions of the universe have determined among many peoples the sacred character of certain numbers. The principal ones are:
ONE
The basis of numeration, of predominantly philosophical-mystical value, from the monad of Pythagoras to the One of Plato and the Neoplatonists.
THREE
It is par excellence the sacred number in religions and in folklore. In Babylon there is the divine triad Amu, Bel, Ea, corresponding to the three great divisions of the world: heaven, earth and water. Among the Hebrews, David must choose among three plagues: three years of famine, three months of flight, three days of feasting. In India, the trimurti: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva represents the threefold principle of creator, preserver and destroyer. In Greece and in Rome the 3 governs the norms of ritual: a threefold libation, a threefold pronunciation of sacred words, 3 the animals of the suovetaurilian sacrifice, a threefold purificatory circumambulation, 3 and multiples of 3 (6 and 9) are the offerings that the Arval Brethren offer in the great rite of May, 27 (3 x 3 x 3) are the boys and girls who sing before the temple of Juno Regina on the Aventine in 207 B.C. (Livy, XXVII, 37) and in the Secular Games of 17 B.C. and of A.D. 204. In Christianity, apart from the Most Holy Trinity and the mystical value of its exemplarism in the universe, the 3 dominates in the liturgy: 3 Agnus Dei, 3 Sanctus, 3 Mea culpa, 3 Domine non sum dignus.
FOUR
Among the Redskins of North America the 4 has a sacred value determined by the four cardinal points to which colors, gods, animals, and fixed qualities correspond. Among the Babylonians too the 4 symbolizes the 4 regions of the earth. Among the Hebrews 4 are the rivers of Paradise, 4 the days of mourning that the maidens of Israel consecrate to the memory of Jephthah's daughter.
SEVEN
It is par excellence the astrological number, sacred to the Babylonians on account of the 7 planets, the 7 evil spirits, the 7 divisions of hell, the 7 levels of the siigurat (temple towers); the 7 repetitions for every rite of incantation or magic or lustration, etc. In short, 7 is the number that indicates completeness and means "all"; seven times seven is equivalent to "always." It is also sacred to the Hebrews, who adopted it especially in apocalyptic literature: the 7 heavens, the 7 rivers of the 7 mountains; and in the liturgy: the 7 altars, the 7 sacred springs, the 7 branches of the candelabrum, the 7 anointings with oil, the 7 pairs of clean animals that enter the ark, etc.
In Hindu mythology there are the 7 oceans, the 7 rsis, the 7 Aditya, the 7 horses of the sun, the 7 wells into which one must look in order to be cured of hydrophobia, etc. In Christianity too, 7 is a highly symbolic number: the 7 Sacraments, the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. The belief in the sacredness of 7 gave rise in the classical era, and was prolonged into the Christian era, to the belief in the climacteric year, that is, in that year of life which is a multiple of 7, especially 49 (7 x 7) and 63 (7 x 9).
TEN
It is the sum of two sacred numbers, 3 and 7; 10 are the plagues of Egypt, 10 the Virgins of the parable; in Hebrew liturgy, 10 are the curtains of the tabernacle, 10 cubits high are the cherubim of the Temple, 10 are the bronze basins; 10 are the horns of the apocalyptic beast.
TWELVE
This number forms the basis of the numeral system of the Sumerians, later passed on by them to the Babylonians; 12 are the signs of the Zodiac, 12 the months of the year, 12 the hours of the day, 12 the parts of paradise, 12 the tribes of Israel, 12 the bronze bulls that support the great basin of the Israelite sanctuary, 12 the loaves of proposition, 12 the stars around the head of the woman clothed with the sun in the Apocalypse.
FORTY
It is the number adopted for periods of expectation and penance. 40 are the days of the Flood, 40 the years that the Hebrews spend in the desert, 40 the days spent by Moses on Sinai, 40 the days announced by Jonah for the destruction of Nineveh, 40 the days from the Resurrection to the Ascension, 40 (instead of 30) are in the Eastern Church the days that must pass for the third commemoration of the dead.
SEVENTY
It is sacred as a multiple (7 x 10) of 7. 70 were the nations of the ethnological table of Genesis, 70 the elders of Israel, 70 the years or weeks of years of apocalyptic literature, 70 (or 72) the disciples of Jesus.
Bibliography5 works
324-64; L. Lévy-Bruhl, Les fonctions mentales dans les sociétés inférieures, Paris 1910, pp. 204-60; F. Cumont, La triple commémoration des morts, in Acad. Inscript. et Belles Lettres, 1918, p. 278 ff.