quadrivium

noun

Etymology: From Medieval Latin quadrivium (“the four mathematical studies”), from Latin quattuor (“four”) + via (“road”).

1. The higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music.

   “As to the nature of his studies, there can be no doubt that he [Dante] went through the trivium (grammar, dialectic, rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy) of the then ordinary university course.”

   “The riddle of existence is the college curriculum that was laid before the Pharaohs, that was taught in the groves by Plato, that formed the trivium and quadrivium, and is to-day laid before the freedmen’s sons by Atlanta University.”