Pythagoras

Pythagoras (sixth c. B.C.E.) Greek philosopher and mathematician, best known for major contributions to astronomy, geometry, and music theory. His teachings influenced Socrates, Plato, Euclid, Aristotle, and thinkers in many disciplines down to the present day. Iamblichus listed 218 men and 17 women among the most famous of Pythagorean philosophers of ancient times. Pythagoras achieved such stature during and after his life that he was virtually deified, and numerous legends sprang up around him: He was said to be the son of God and had a gold shin bone. It is said that he was the first person to call himself a philosopher. Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos. According to lore, he was named after the Pythia, the ORACLE at DELPHI, who prophesied his birth and said that he would be a great contributor to the wisdom of humankind. Little is known about his early life. Pythagoras left Samos about 530 B.C.E. to escape Polycrates’ tyrannical rule. It is said that he traveled widely throughout the ancient world and was initiated into the mysteries of Isis in Thebes and as well to the mysteries of Babylonia, Chaldea, Adonis, and probably Eleusis. He may even have gone to India and studied with the Brahmins. He settled in the Dorian city of Croton, southern Italy, where he attracted a community of men and women followers, some of whom became organized as an order. He initiated followers with a sacred formula based on the letters of his name. Disciples were ranked by degrees, and only those of the higher degrees were allowed into the inner court of his temple, where Pythagoras revealed the most secret teachings. He was fond of lecturing at night. At age 60, Pythagoras married one of his disciples, a young girl named Theano, and fathered either three or seven children; accounts vary. He wielded great influence over local politics. He believed in a scientific government similar to the priesthood of Egypt. Croton had an aristocratic constitution and was governed by a Council of One Thousand, comprised of representatives of the wealthy families. Over this body, Pythagoras organized the Council of Three Hundred, recruited from initiates who recognized Pythagoras as their leader. It was the goal of the Pythagorean Order to become the head of state throughout southern Italy. But in about 450 B.C.E. an antiaristocracy, anti-Pythagorean revolt forced out most of the Pythagoreans, including Pythagoras himself. He went to Metapontium, where he died, allegedly at the age of nearly 100. The Pythagorean Order lasted for about another 250 years, with the founding of centers on the Greek mainland, and the influence of Pythagorean teachings has lasted to the present. Since individual Pythagoreans contributed to the order’s philosophy and because contemporary records were not reliable, it is not possible to identify which of the order’s concepts are specifically those of Pythagoras himself. Neo-Pythagoreanism, a Hellenistic school of philosophy, was founded in the first century B.C.E. by Publius Nigidius Figulus and espoused by Apollonius of Tyana. Neopythagoreanism professed unbroken lineage from the Pythagorean Order and was absorbed into Neoplatonism in the third century C.E. Major Teachings Pythagoras is best known for fundamental geometric theorem named for him that states the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the sides containing the right angle. The theorem’s corollary states that the diagonal of a square is incommensurable with its side. Pythagoras conceived of the universe as a living being, animated by a great Soul and permeated by Intelligence. He called God the Monad, the Supreme Mind, the living and absolute truth clothed in light. Man is separate, save for his soul, which is a spark of the Monad that is imprisoned in a mortal body. Humanity’s task is to purify itself in preparation for return to the Monad. 264 Pythagoras Puffers, in Das Kloster, vol. I, by J. Scheible, 1845. (Author’s collection) Pythagoras said all sidereal bodies are alive and have souls and that the planets are deities. According to Aristotle, Pythagoras also believed that the Earth had a dual rotation and circled the Sun, but this potentially sacrilegious teaching was saved for only the most trusted disciples. The cosmos is a mathematically ordered whole. Everything in the universe and in nature is divided into threes. The universe has three worlds: • The Supreme World, a subtle essence that was the true plane of the Monad • The Superior World, the home of the immortals • The Inferior World, the home of mortal gods, DaimonES, man, animals, and all material things. Living beings have a triune nature: body, soul (which Pythagoras related to mind), and spirit. He also said that all arts and sciences are based on three elements: MUSIC, mathematics, and astronomy. Pythagoras described Numbers as an intrinsic and living virtue of the Monad. The Word is numbers manifested by form. He ascribed to each a principle, law, and active force of the universe. The first four numbers contain the basic principles of the universe, since adding or multiplying by them produces all other numbers. Besides three, Pythagoras gave special meaning to the numbers seven and 10. Seven, comprised of the numbers three and four, represents the union of humanity and divinity. It is the number of adepts and great initiates. Ten is a perfect number (1+2+3+4) and represents all the principles of the Monad. Pythagorean number theories survive in modernday NUMEROLOGY. In music, Pythagoras is credited with discovery of the diatonic scale and the reduction of all music to mathematical ratios. These ratios can be applied to the universe, he said, which gave rise to his theory of the Harmony (or Music) of the Spheres. The theory is based on harmonic relationships drawn among all heavenly bodies, which produces music as the bodies rush through space. This divine music cannot be heard by man, however (except perhaps by the enlightened such as Pythagoras), as long as man was in his fallen, material state. Pythagoras believed in the healing power of music and composed “musical medicine.” He favoured stringed instruments, especially the lute; he said that songs sung to the lute purified the soul. He advocated avoidance of flutes and cymbals. Pythagoras also taught herbal and medicinal plant lore. He opposed surgery. In other teachings, he said that friendship was the truest and nearest to perfection of all relationships. Anarchy was the greatest crime. He told his disciples that once they were initiated, they had to allow the truth to descend into their beings and apply it on a daily life. To accomplish this, they had to bring together three perfections: truth in intellect; virtue in the soul; purity in the body. To achieve purity in the body, Pythagoras advocated avoidance of beans and meat. Meat especially clouded the reason. He himself ate meat occasionally but said that judges in particular should not eat meat before sitting at trial. The Pythagoreans believed in the immortality of the soul, the soul’s ability to separate from the body, and in Reincarnation.

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