Showing posts with label Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. Show all posts

Friday, February 17, 2017

Equal to the Ears and to One-Third of the Face | Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man

A palm is four fingers, a foot is four palms, a cubit is six palms, four cubits make a man,
a pace is four cubits, a man is 24 palms.
The length of the outspread arms is equal to the height of a man.
From the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of the height of a man.
From below the chin to the top of the head is one-eighth of the height of a man.
From above the chest to the top of the head is one-sixth of the height of a man.
From above the chest to the hairline is one-seventh of the height of a man.
The maximum width of the shoulders is a quarter of the height of a man.
From the breasts to the top of the head is a quarter of the height of a man.
The distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is a quarter of the height of a man.
The distance from the elbow to the armpit is one-eighth of the height of a man.
The length of the hand is one-tenth of the height of a man.
The root of the penis is at half the height of a man.
The foot is one-seventh of the height of a man.
From below the foot to below the knee is a quarter of the height of a man.
From below the knee to the root of the penis is a quarter of the height of a man.
The distances from below the chin to the nose and the eyebrows and the hairline are equal
to the ears and to one-third of the face
(HERE).

The Harmony of Being | Geometry in Man, Nature, and Cosmos


Proportional roots: (a) the √2 proportion, (b) the √3 proportion,
and (c) the golden mean (Phi) proportion.

Loai M. Dabbour (2012) - Geometry describes the assertions of a mathematical order of the intrinsic nature of the universe. Geometry is the very basis of our reality, and we live in a coherent world governed by underlying laws. Johannes Kepler stated that geometry is underpinning the cosmos, which was based on Plato’s ideas that God created the universe according to a geometric plan. The structure of the universe is determined by and revealed as certain mathematical and geometric constants which represent a confirmation that proportions are the underlying fabric of nature. This can be seen in man, nature, and cosmos.

Root proportions based on the square.

By contemplating geometric proportions, an understanding towards the sacred truth can be obtained since geometric proportions are one of the definitive geometric qualities of life itself. The Holy Quran tells us that man has within himself all what is reflected in the universe - the best proportions. Man is the core of God’s creatures; he possesses the most harmonious proportions, reflecting of the Divine harmony of being. "We have indeed created man in best of forms" – proportions (Surah At-Tin, 95:4). Leonardo da Vinci illustrated the mathematical proportions of the human body, showing that human being exhibits clearly golden mean proportions in his body based on ratios of 1.618.The Vitruvian Man drawn by Leonardo Da Vinci is based on Vitruvius, who believed that if human proportions could be incorporated into buildings, they would become perfect in their geometry. According to Vitruvius, the distance from fingertip to fingertip should be the same as that from head to toe. The sacred mean rules can be seen in the ratios of body parts throughout the human body. The human body contains in its proportions all the important geometric geodesic measures and functions. The proportions of ideal man are at the center of a circle of invariant cosmic relationships.

Proportions of Venus’ and Earth’s mean orbits.
The mathematical harmony of the universe can be seen from the proportions of the planets in our solar system. For example, the ratio of the sacred mean can be seen in the rotations of Venus and Earth around the Sun in that for each five years that the Earth rotates around the Sun, Venus rotates around it eight times. The connection between 5 and 8, both of which are Fibonacci numbers, is the golden mean proportion (8/5 = 1.6). The result of this motion is that Venus draws a pentagon around the Sun every eight years (Figure A). Figure B shows that a circle is drawn, which represents Venus’ mean orbit. A pentagon is constructed inside it and a small circle placed through the arm-crossing points. The radius of this small circle divides the radius of the large one into golden sections and can be used to space Venus’ orbit from Earth’s orbit. It can be seen from the agreement between eightfold and fivefold geometries that eight touching circles are drawn from Venus’ mean orbit. In turn, the circumference circle is enclosing these eight circles, defining Earth’s mean orbit. The ratio of the mean orbits of Venus’s to Earth is the √2 proportion. The geometric representation of these orbits creates the golden mean proportion.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

On Harmony And Beauty


The Pythagoreans averred that mathematics demonstrated the exact method by which the good established and maintained its universe. Number
therefore preceded harmony, since it was the immutable law that governs all harmonic proportions. Summarizing the relationship between the
human body and the theory of architecture, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (80–15 BC) wrote in his De Architectura: "Since nature has designed the
human body so that its members are duly proportioned to the frame as a whole, it appears that the ancients had good reason for their rule,
that in perfect building the different members must be in exact symmetrical relations to the whole general scheme. Hence, while transmitting
to us the proper arrangements for buildings of all kinds, they were particularly careful to do so in the case of temples of the gods, buildings
in which merits and faults usually last forever. Therefore, if it is agreed that number was found out from the human fingers, and that there is
a symmetrical correspondent between the members separately and the entire form of the body, in accordance with a certain part selected as
standard, we can have nothing but respect for those who, in constructing temples of the immortal gods, have so arranged the members of the
works that both the separate parts and the whole design may harmonize in their proportions and symmetry." 

"Harmony is a state recognized by great philosophers as the immediate prerequisite of beauty. A compound is termed beautiful only when its parts are in harmonious combination. The world is called beautiful and its Creator is designated the Good because good perforce must act in conformity with its own nature; and good acting according to its own nature is harmony, because the good which it accomplishes is harmonious with the good which it is. Beauty, therefore, is harmony manifesting its own intrinsic nature in the world of form. The universe is made up of successive gradations of good, these gradations ascending from matter (which is the least degree of good) to spirit (which is the greatest degree of good). In man, his superior nature is the summum bonum. It therefore follows that his highest nature most readily cognizes good because the good external to him in the world is in harmonic ratio with the good present in his soul. What man terms evil is therefore, in common with matter, merely the least degree of its own opposite. The least degree of good presupposes likewise the least degree of harmony and beauty. Thus deformity (evil) is really the least harmonious combination of elements naturally harmonic as individual units. Deformity is unnatural, for, the sum of all things being the Good, it is natural that all things should partake of the Good and be arranged in combinations that are harmonious. Harmony is the manifesting expression of the Will of the eternal Good." Secret Teachings of All Ages - Manly P. Hall (1928)

Credits: Samuel Colman (1912): Nature's Harmonic Unity - A Treatise on Its Relation to Proportional Form