The floor has ornate geometric art and the patterned borders around the frescoes containing both geometric art and ornate patterns based upon idealized forms of the flowing pattern of nature. My guess is that for every commentary that discusses the basis of these patterns, there are a thousand that ignore them and focus exclusively on the figurative art.

Number symbolism

Anyone who has read the Church Fathers’ commentaries on scripture will be aware of the importance they attached to the symbolism of the numbers. A number not only describes quantity, but also by association can communicate a relationship with something else closely associated with that number and so has a qualitative, that is symbolic, aspect to it. We could say that it not only tells us ‘how much’, but also ‘how’.

A word of warning here. This is not meant to be a secret code that only the cognoscenti can read. This is supposed to speak naturally of underlying truths. So, we should remember that when something is indicated has happened three times, it doesn’t automatically mean that it is connected to the Trinity, for example. The author might simply be giving us a historical detail that has no further symbolism. The symbolism works when the threesome seems naturally connected to the Trinity in other ways. So the three angels who appeared to Abraham and Sarah in the book of Genesis are often seen as representing the Trinity not simply because there were three of them, but because their words and conduct and the nature of their interaction with Abraham also indicated that this connection.

Neither is the numerical pattern a cause of such a connection. Again we can’t make something trinitarian simply by doing it three times or having three of them. Rather, the numerical pattern is symbolic when it is a reflection, an outward sign, of what is already there.

In thinking about the interpretation of scripture and how it might usefully translate into art consider first the genealogy of Jesus described in the opening section of St Matthew’s gospel. He begins with Abraham, and tells us that there are 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David until the Babylonian exile and 14 from the Babylonian exile to Christ. The significance of the numbers here has been disputed, but the fact that they are important generates less controversy. Given that Matthew specifically mentions the numbers and he seems to stretch and squeeze the lineage a bit so as to create these three even divisions in his presentation, one can assume that he thought it was important, at least.

The interpretation of this account that seems most convincing to me is that 14 is important because it is the number of David. According to the Fathers of the Church, the Gospel according to Matthew was written in Palestine, almost certainly in Aramaic, and was addressed mainly to Jews living in that region. In this language, the characters of the alphabet are also used for numbers. This allows for every name to characterized both in letters and numbers. When the letters that comprise the name David are treated as numbers and added together it creates the number 14. This speaks additionally to the point that Christ is in the line of David from whom, according to prophecy, the Messiah would emerge. But why three bundles of 14? The common explanation does connect this to the Trinity as the number of perfection.

How do we represent this artistically? There would be many reasons why one might wish to represent this geometrically and associate it with Christ, but if we try to do so, we can see quickly that the number 14 does not lend itself to geometric representation. If you were to see a design with a 14-sided geometric shape (a ‘tetradecagon’) most of us would have to stop and carefully count the sides in order to know which number it represented. It isn’t immediately obvious in the way that we can instantly see that a triangle speaks of three. Also, they are difficult to construct geometrically and difficult to incorporate into repeat designs that would enable tiles to be created and pieced together. Nevertheless, I did find this pattern from a gothic church in the Italian town of Civita Cosmedin, which has 14-pointed start at its center.