Pentalogy

A pentalogy (from Greek πεντα- penta-, "five" and -λογία -logia, "discourse") is a compound literary or narrative work that is explicitly divided into five parts. Although modern use of the word implies both that the parts are reasonably self-contained and that the structure was intended by the author, historically, neither was necessarily true: in fact, a pentalogia could be assembled by a later editor,^[1] just as Plotinus's Enneads were arranged in nines by Porphyry in order to create an overarching structure of six which would express the idea of perfection.

^ In the 18th and 19th centuries, English students of Ancient Greek would often use John Burton's Pentalogia (1779), William Trollope's Pentalogia Græca, an edited collection of five plays by different authors, or Thomas Mitchell's Pentalogia Aristophanica.

[1] In the 18th and 19th centuries, English students of Ancient Greek would often use John Burton's Pentalogia (1779), William Trollope's Pentalogia Græca, an edited collection of five plays by different authors, or Thomas Mitchell's Pentalogia Aristophanica.

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