Ten, Eleven and Twelve

Ten

As the first double-digit number in our modern mathematical system, ten caries a sense of wholeness and completeness, drawn originally from our bodies. Ten fingers/thumbs makes it an intuitively ‘full’ number, and has led to it being a standard marker in most cultures. Tellingly, the only other real contender is twenty, for all fingers and toes, and that usually only crops up in cultures where footwear is uncommon. The Ten Commandements of Mosaic law were God’s complete pronouncement. We describe ten as a ‘round’ number, meaning that it is satisfying. It also has implications of maximum quality, of being as good as it is possible to be – ten out of ten, a ‘perfect’ ten. By implication ten contains all the digits of 0 through to 9, which emphasises its completion, and can extend to representing the whole of creation. Note that in the distant past, the number 12 more commonly served this role, and ancient symbolic uses of the number ten may not carry quite the same implications.

Number 10 by Saraffo

Eleven

As 1 and 1 next to each other, eleven is something of an analogue to 2 – a higher octave, according to numerologists – but as it represents two individuals rather than a pair, it is necessarily somewhat more isolated. It is considered neutral in many ways – a middle ground between oppositions. It has connotations of being almost, but not quite too late – as in the “eleventh hour”.

Eleven by Pink Sherbet

Twelve

Historically, twelve is number of natural measurement, a position which ten has usurped to a certain extent. This is thought to be because twelve is so easy to divide – into halves (by six), thirds (by four), quarters (by three), sixths (by two), and even eighths (by one and a half). This made it very useful for any system which required frequent division by the uneducated masses, such as time, distance and currency.

Because of its clear associations with circular notions of time – twelve months in a year, twice twelve hours in a day, five times twelve minutes in an hour, twelve signs of the zodiac, and also twelve inches to a foot – twelve is associated with cycles and closed systems. It is also seen as a good number for a complete set of objects, one that covers all the bases, so there are twelve tribes of Israel, twelve labours of Hercules, twelve gates to New Jerusalem, twelve days of Christmas, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve sons for Jacob and for Ali, and twelve disciples or companions for Jesus, the Dalai Lama, King Arthur, Charlemagne and Mithras.

Twelve by jcarwil

Further numbers

Many other numbers have significant symbolic value, of course. In western culture, thirteen is famously unlucky, sixteen, eighteen and twenty-one all involve coming of age, twenty-three is associated with creative chaos, twenty-five with silver anniversaries, forty-two with life, the universe and everything, fifty with golden anniversaries, sixty-nine with sexual activity, and so on – and that is just whole numbers. The most important symbolic associations though lie within the numbers from 0 to 9.