Augustine on symmetry

Symmetry is an important item of our cultural heritage. In antiquity it meant harmonious relations between the dimensions of visual objects, or between some parts or patterns. From the Renaissance, it came to signify a relation of balance in their spatial distribution.1 Since the end of the eighteenth century symmetry has acquired the additional status of a scientific concept, the theory and formalism of which provided new insight into equivalence relations between objects of various sorts.2 The present paper claims that Augustine deserves a place in a historical record of the most significant contributions to the concept of symmetry.