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Pythagoras

Written and compiled by George Knowles

Pythagoras was an early Greek mystic, healer, musician, mathematician and philosopher, whose work was mainly concerned with the theory of numbers to which he assigned mystical properties.  Later he founded his own school of philosophy out of which a movement with religious and political overtones evolved.  The Pythagoreans as his students became known, believed in the ultimate mathematical nature of the world, the mystical significance of numbers, and the possibility of the soul achieving union with the divine. 

Very little about the life of Pythagoras now exists as none of his work or writings have survived.  What is known about him is mainly that which has been passed down through his students and deciples, the work of his successors, and other early writers who proceeded him.  As such, many of the accomplishments acredited to him have been greatly exaggerated, and may even have been the work of his own students or contempoaries???

Pythagoras was born around 569 BC on the Greek island of Samos off the West coast of Turkey.  His mother Pythais was a native of Samos and his father Mnesarchus was a Phoenician merchant from Tyre.  A story about Mnesarchus claims that he brought corn to the island of Samos during a time of famine, and was granted citizenship as a mark of respect and gratitude.  During his early life Pythagoras is thought to have spent much of his time travelling with his father, during which they often returned Tyre where he gained an education taught by the priests and other learned men of Syria.

As a young man Pythagoras grew disenchanted with Samos and so he left to continue his education in Croton, Southern Italy.  Among his early teachers three in particular were to influence his future.  One of the most important was Pherecydes, with who he first studied mathematics and numbers; the other two were Thales and his student Anaximander who lived in Miletus.  Pythagoras often visited with Thales, and though he was an old man by that time, he influenced his interest in numbers and astronomy, and advised him to travel to Egypt to learn more about these subjects.  Likewise his student Anaximander lectured in Miletus on Geometry and Cosmology, and many of his ideas influenced Pythagoras.

In about 535 BC Pythagoras travelled to Egypt where he is said to have visited many of the ancient temples and took part in many discussions with their priests.  However according to Porphyry (234-305 AD, who wrote one of his earliest biographies “The Life of Pythagoras”), he was refused admission to all the temples except for the one at Diospolis, there after completing the rites necessary for admission he was accepted into the priesthood.  It was from the Egyptians that he picked up many of the beliefs and customs he would later impose on his own school back in Italy.

In 525 BC Cambyses II the King of Persia invaded Egypt, and during the ensuing conflicts Pythagoras was taken prisoner and transported to Babylon.  According to Iamblichus (250-330 AD) a Syrian philosopher who later wrote a treatise “On the Pythagorean Life”, he was transported as a prisoner of war to Babylon.  While there he was noticed by the Babylonian priests and was instructed in their sacred rites and mystical worship of the Gods.  He was also taught about music and excelled in other mathematical sciences taught by them.

By 520 BC Pythagoras had left Babylon and returned to Samos, but how he obtained his freedom cannot be explained.  Shortly after his return he set up a school, which according to Iamblichus was called the “Semicircle”.  In it he endeavoured to entice the local Samians to hold political meetings, and there discuss questions about goodness, justice and expediency.  Outside of the city he found a cave, a private place where he could dwell on his own philosophical learning’s, and where he spent most of his time doing research into the theories and uses of mathematics.

However the Samians took a dislike to his teaching methods and soon Pythagoras became embroiled in local politics.  In order to free himself from their politics, he left Samos in 518 BC and went back to Croton in Southern Italy.  There he founded the school from which evolved the movement he would forever be remembered “Pythagoreanism”.  Unusually for that time, he opened the school to male and female students alike.  Based on philosophy and the religious principles he had experienced in Egypt and Babylon, the school quickly attracted many followers.

In it he formed an inner circle of elite students known as the Mathematikoi, who were taught by Pythagoras himself and on whom he imposed strict rules and regulations of observance.  They were required to live permanently at the school in a monastic community, allowed no personal possessions and had to adopt a vegetarian diet.  They were also sworn to observe strict loyalty and secrecy regarding his teaching.  The outer school students were known as the Akousmatics.  They lived in the local neighbourhood and only attended during the day, as such they were allowed to own possessions and were not required to be vegetarians.  They were taught by the elite inner circle students and rarely had contact with Pythagoras himself.

Pythagoras passed down his philosophy, beliefs and teachings through the work of his secretive disciples.  His beliefs appear to have been similar to those of Orphism, in that he instilled on his students:  obedience, silence, fasting, simplicity in dress and possessions, and the habit of frequent self-examination.  They also had a strong belief in the immortality and transmigration of souls, indeed Pythagoras himself claimed he had once been Euphorbus, a warrior in the Trojan War, and that he had a memory of all his previous existences.

In 513 BC Pythagoras travelled to the Greek island of Delos where his old teacher Pherecydes was dying.  He remained there as his nurse until his death a few months later, before returning to Croton.  In 510 BC Croton was attacked and defeated by its neighbour Sybaris, and despite his desire to stay out of politics, it is thought that he was drawn into the political side of the dispute.  A few years later in 508 BC he was involved in another dispute, this time with a powerful nobleman of Croton called Cylon.  As a result of this dispute Pythagoras was forced to leave Croton.

According to Iamblichus:  “Cylon was a leading citizen of Croton with all the advantages of a noble birth, fame and riches, but otherwise he was a difficult, violent and tyrannical man who eagerly desired to participate in the Pythagorean way of life.  He approached Pythagoras but was rejected because of his character defects.  Unaccustomed to rejection, Cylon vowed to seek revenge and destroy Pythagoras and his followers.  In this way he activated a powerful political campaign of aggressive zeal against the Pythagoreans.  It was because of this that Pythagoras left for Metapontium and there is said to have ended his days”.

That Pythagoras moved to Metapontium to escape the wrath of Cylon is undisputed by most authorities, but what he did there and when and how he died, is still today the subject of much speculation.  Many believe he died around 500 BC??  What is known for certain is that the school he founded expanded rapidly after 500 BC, and thrived for a number of years even spreading from Croton to many other Italian cities.  They also became more politically active, which eventually led to their total suppression.

As a mathematical and philosophical community the Pythagoreans did much to advance the known sciences of their day.  Through their studies they established a scientific foundation for mathematics.  Using geometrical principles, they were able to prove that the sum of the angles of any regular-sided triangle was equal to that of two right angles (using the theory of parallels), and to solve any algebraic quadratic equations having real roots.  It is known today as the “Pythagorean theorem”.

They also formulated the theory of proportion (ratio), which enhanced their knowledge of fractions, and used it in their study of harmonics upon stringed instruments:  the harmonic of the octave was made by touching the string at ½ its length, of a fifth at ⅔ its length and so on.  Pythagoras himself is said to have made this the basis of a complete system of musical scales and chords.

In Astronomy they were the first to consider the Earth as a globe revolving with the other planets around a central fire.  They explained the harmonious arrangement of things as that of bodies in a single, all-inclusive sphere of reality, moving according to a numerical scheme.  Because they thought that heavenly bodies are separated from one another by intervals corresponding to the harmonic lengths of strings, they held that the movement of the spheres gives rise to a musical sound, called the “harmony of the spheres”.

Among the many mathematical investigations carried on by the Pythagoreans, was their study of odd and even numbers, and of prime and square numbers, to which they attributed mystical significances.  Their mystical concept of numbers became for many the ultimate principle of all proportion, order and harmony in the universe, and from that belief the occult science of Numerology evolved.  Today Numerology is associated alongside Astrology as a popular form of divination.

End.

Sources:

The New Encyclopedia of the Occult  -  by John Micheal Greer

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Encyclopædia Britannica Library from Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. Copyright © 1994-2003 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Penguin Hutchinson Reference Library Copyright (c) 1996 Helicon Publishing and Penguin Books Ltd

http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Pythagoras.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras

Plus many other online sources, to many to mention.

Written and compiled on the 02^nd February 2008 © George Knowles

Best wishes and Blessed Be