A Translation of Arthur Ahlvers' "Zahl Und Klang Bei Platon" : Number and Sound (Illustrated ed)

This facing-page translation provides the English-speaking world of classical scholarship with access to a key text in the understanding of Plato's views about the role of mathematics in the cosmos.

The text deals with interpretive issues surrounding Plato's mathematically-based accounts, derived from Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, of reproduction among the ruling class of the "Republic", of terrestrial and celestial music, and of atomic stereometry.

It indicates surprising ways in which these accounts are connected.

Ahlvers offers a re-analysis of Plato's derivation of the nuptial number in "Republic", and devotes much attention to the broader issues raised by "Timaeus".