A
pentalogy (from
Greek πεντα- , "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, 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.