L'étude des diagrammes d'harmonique de Calcidius au Moyen Âge

Abstract

The diagram of « harmony, the soul of the world », elaborated by Adrastos after the Timaios of Plato, first appeared in the West in Calcidius's commentary to his Latin translation of the.Timaeus. Thereafter, the diagram was added to manuscripts transmitting Macrobius's Commentary to Cicero's Dream of Scipio and the Scolica enchiriadis. The same diagram was also elaborated by Porphyrios in his Commentary of the Timaios. In the eighth century, it was interpolated in Visigothic manuscripts with the third book of the Isidore's Etymologies, between Geometry and Music, but was never exported out of Spain. This article traces the history of this famous diagram through the thirteenth century.