Greek Isopsephy
The Greek equivalent of gematria, documented in graffiti, riddles and scripture, and running on almost exactly the same ladder as the Hebrew system.
What Isopsephy Means
The word means roughly "equal in pebbles", from the counting stones used for arithmetic. Two words are isopsephic when their letters total the same number. Because Greek used its alphabet as its numerals, this was an obvious property of the language rather than a doctrine anyone had to argue for.
The Milesian Numerals
Twenty seven values in three ranks of nine: alpha to theta are 1 to 9, iota to qoppa are 10 to 90, and rho to sampi are 100 to 900. The classical alphabet has only 24 letters, so three archaic ones were retained purely as numbers.
| Letter | Name | Isopsephy | Reduced |
|---|---|---|---|
| α | Alpha | 1 | 1 |
| β | Beta | 2 | 2 |
| γ | Gamma | 3 | 3 |
| δ | Delta | 4 | 4 |
| ε | Epsilon | 5 | 5 |
| ϝ | Digamma | 6 | 6 |
| ζ | Zeta | 7 | 7 |
| η | Eta | 8 | 8 |
| θ | Theta | 9 | 9 |
| ι | Iota | 10 | 1 |
| κ | Kappa | 20 | 2 |
| λ | Lambda | 30 | 3 |
| μ | Mu | 40 | 4 |
| ν | Nu | 50 | 5 |
| ξ | Xi | 60 | 6 |
| ο | Omicron | 70 | 7 |
| π | Pi | 80 | 8 |
| ϙ | Qoppa | 90 | 9 |
| ρ | Rho | 100 | 1 |
| σ / ς | Sigma | 200 | 2 |
| τ | Tau | 300 | 3 |
| υ | Upsilon | 400 | 4 |
| φ | Phi | 500 | 5 |
| χ | Chi | 600 | 6 |
| ψ | Psi | 700 | 7 |
| ω | Omega | 800 | 8 |
| ϡ | Sampi | 900 | 9 |
The Three Ghost Letters
Digamma holds 6, qoppa holds 90 and sampi holds 900. All three had fallen out of speech well before the classical period, yet the numeral system needed 27 symbols and the alphabet supplied only 24. In manuscripts digamma often appears as the stigma ligature, which is why the same value sometimes shows up under a different name in older tables.
Documented Use
Unlike much modern gematria, Greek isopsephy is directly attested. Graffiti preserved at Pompeii records a writer stating that he loves the woman whose number is a particular figure, leaving the name itself as a puzzle for the reader. Hellenistic epigrams play the same game. This is wordplay in public, not esoteric doctrine.
888 and 666
Ἰησοῦς totals 888: iota 10, eta 8, sigma 200, omicron 70, upsilon 400, sigma 200. Early Christian writers pointed to the figure deliberately, and its relationship to 666 was part of the argument they were making.
Revelation 13:18 tells the reader to calculate the number of the beast, giving 666. The most widely accepted reconstruction resolves it not through Greek but through the Hebrew spelling of Nero Caesar, which totals 666. A variant reading of 616 in some manuscripts matches the Latin spelling of the same name, which is strong corroboration: two different spellings, two different totals, one person. It is the clearest surviving case of the technique being used deliberately by an author who expected the audience to decode it.
Accents and Final Sigma
Polytonic Greek carries acutes, graves, circumflexes, breathings, the iota subscript and the diaeresis. None of them is worth anything numerically, so accented and bare text always give the same total. Final sigma and medial sigma are one letter in two shapes and are both 200, which is the opposite of the Hebrew situation, where the final forms genuinely diverge under Mispar Gadol.
Calculate Greek
The isopsephy calculator strips the diacritics automatically, so you can paste polytonic text straight from an edition. The full mapping is on the Greek chart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is isopsephy the same as gematria?
It is the same technique in a different alphabet. Both descend from the Phoenician letter order, which is why the two value ladders line up rank for rank.
Why is 666 usually explained through Hebrew?
Because the Greek text is describing a name that resolves in Hebrew letters. The variant reading of 616, matching the Latin spelling of the same name, supports that reconstruction.
Do I need to type accents?
No. Accents, breathings and the iota subscript are stripped before calculating, so bare and polytonic text give identical results.
Continue Reading
What Is Gematria?
Where the practice came from, what it actually does, and what it was never meant to do.
How to Calculate by Hand
The three steps every system shares, worked slowly on a short word.
The Hebrew Alphabet
Twenty two letters, three ranks of value, and the five that change shape at the end.
See all lessons or go straight to the gematria calculator.