paradeigma (παραδειγμα)

(Language: Greek)

Short Description: exemplar, paradigm, archetype, pattern, model

Long Description: exemplar, paradigm, archetype, pattern, model; according to Plato, a paradigm of his perfect state is laid up in Heaven ( Rep.592b); the noetic Paradigm is regarded as the model for the creation: the visible world is a living creature made after the likeness of an eternal original, i.e. the ideal Living Animal in the world of Forms; thus the world is an image of the eternal paradigms ( paradeigmata); therefore the Demiurge makes cosmos as an agalma (hieratic statue, cultic image, ornament) and sets up within it the agalmata of the individual gods.

Sources: The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys