Figurae

Figurae is the plural form of figura in Latin, generally translated as "figures," "shapes," or "forms." In scholarly usage, the term has been applied to a variety of representational instances—from visual images to diagrams—throughout classical and medieval literature and art.

In art history and iconography, figurae refers to personifications and symbolic figures found in sculpture, relief, mosaics, and illuminated manuscripts. These figures convey mythological narratives, moral virtues, astronomical or seasonal cycles, and other conceptual content through stylized form rather than narrative representation.

In rhetoric and philology, figurae denotes figures of speech or rhetorical devices. Classical rhetoricians described figurae as schemes and tropes used to ornament language, such as metaphor, metonymy, and antithesis, often cataloged in grammars and treatises.

In science and mathematics, figurae is used for diagrams or geometric figures that illustrate concepts, problems, or datasets. Latin mathematical and scientific works frequently refer to the "figurae" of a figure (shape) or the depiction accompanying a proposition.

Today, Figurae appears mainly in Latin phrasing within academic titles, catalogs, or translations, rather than as an active technical term in English. It is typically encountered in discussions of historical imagery, rhetoric, or mathematical documentation.

See also: figura, figure, figure of speech, allegory, trope.