From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPyramis names a pyramid.
- In StobaeusThe report associates the pyramid with fire, while assigning cube to earth, octahedron to air, and the remaining figures to water and the whole.
- In this editionRetain “pyramid” in the translation and explain its tetrahedral sense in this scheme.
- A place to beginThe pyramid is the solid associated with fire.
- English renderings
- pyramid; tetrahedron in the elemental scheme
Meaning
Pyramis names a pyramid. In the list of five regular solids, it refers specifically to the tetrahedron.
Use in the book
The report associates the pyramid with fire, while assigning cube to earth, octahedron to air, and the remaining figures to water and the whole. The figure is part of a geometrical explanation of elemental constitution. Its sense is not the unrestricted class of pyramids with any polygonal base.
Places to read
- I.21.6c.2The pyramid is the solid associated with fire.
Translation in this edition
Retain “pyramid” in the translation and explain its tetrahedral sense in this scheme.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 186. The scheme resembles the Timaeus but is transmitted here under Pythagoras’s name. Part of the list is editorially restored.