pythagorean teachings across the centuries

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The school of Pythagoras has been definedby Vincenzo Capparelli and by severalother authors, as the Greatest school

of Wisdom of the West. It has had profoundinfluence across time and has contributed to

providing the coordination needed to combinethe search for mystical truth with a clear

methodology of wisdom.Even i the inheritance o the

Pythagorean tradition cannot be ullygrasped, due to its initiatory character,

which required a severe selection process andinvolved the obligation o absolute silencerom its Neophyte members, it is still possibleto relive the outlines o the sacred knowledgein the teachings. Several sources need to be

consulted in order to retrace the spread othis inspired wisdom whose light reachedar rom its original source. According tothe inormation transmitted by Porphyry,Iamblichus, and in part by Diogenes Laertius,

when the school at Crotona1 was destroyed,many essential concepts were lost orever.

The School of Crotona

he type o initiation given at the schoolincluded a long period o training that wasaccomplished through various degrees. hesetrials were diicult to overcome or themajority o the aspirants. heir progress washampered by severe tests that became harderto master as the applicant advanced arther,requiring special personal characteristics,qualities diicult to ind among the students.

It can be understood that the most

important and essential concepts oPythagorean philosophy were not the subject

o teachings until the very last degrees. heew initiates able to enter the last doorwayobeyed the sacred promise o absolute silence.his norm o silence was the secret o the

school and is mentioned in several sources.It also implies that all especially prooundinormation and teachings were hidden,not only rom outsiders, but also rom theparticipants o the lower degrees.

As is well known, the school had itscenter in Crotona. Shortly ater beingestablished, Pythagorean political, ethical,and religious concepts spread like wildire

across all o southern Italy, aecting liethroughout the entire area known asMagnaGraecia. his Pythagorean wisdom extendedamong the people o neighboring areas, suchas Lucca, Pisa, and other Latin towns. Many

were attracted to the Pythagoreans in orderto learn about the marvelous teachings thatresounded with unusual expressions amongthe people. Even the Roman institutions eltits inluence, and Cicero himsel remarked

on this: Many rom our institutions areattracted by them.

Pythagorean Teachings

across the Centuries

Angela Tripodi, adapted and expanded by theRosicrucian Research Library Staff and Friends

he last-remaining column o the temple dedicated to Hera

Lacinia in Crotona, Italy. Photo by Sandro Baldi.


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Given these beginnings, though thisschool had been ounded by Greeks, it wasintended to attract the interest o ItalianPeninsular peoples more than all the other

ancient schools; however, the contraryhappened in many ways. Capparelli notesthat in Italy the school o Pythagoras has had anegative reputation, at least in modern times.2

Several o the Pythagorean teachings havebeen attributed to other ancient philosopherssuch as Plato and Aristotle. Some literarycritics, and among them, Burnet, give theollowing explanation.

Pythagorean Influence onSocrates and Plato

he Pythagoreans, ater being dispersed,went to Greece and regrouped aroundSocrates, who became their leader andincorporated the original teachings with theollowing modiication: the Pythagoreansassumed the universal to be separated romthe sensible objects. Socrates denied suchseparation and established the harmony o

the universe and all the individual objects.Next, Plato, in his Dialogues, Theaetetus,Parmenides, etc., demonstrates the inluenceo the Pythagorean school, so much so, asBurnet states, that Plato established his ownacademy with the intention o continuing theline o teachings o the Pythagorean school.3

Moved by the desire or learning thesecrets o this initiatic knowledge, Plato wasnot satisied to listen to the last representativeso Pythagoreanism, who had taken reuge inGreece (some o these, as noted beore, werepart o the group surrounding Socrates).Rather, he tried to get in touch with thosemore advanced on the initiatic path. Fromthis desire arose his need, according to some

authors, to investigate more deeply and morepersonally in those places that had been thetheater o the Pythagorean drama.

In such places the environment hadpreserved traces o the events and still kept

Portrait of Socrates. Roman marble, irst century CE,perhaps a copy o a lost bronze statue made by Lysippos.Louvre, Paris. Photo 2005 Eric Gaba/WikimediaCommons.

Alexander Visits the Sage Plato. Page rom a dispersedmanuscript o the Khamsa (Quintet) o Amir Khusrau

Dihlavi. Mughal miniature attributed to Basawan, Lahore,1597/87. New York, Metropolitan Museum o Art.
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alive the voice o the Master. In addition,it was possible to listen to the many storiesin which the pain o the destruction othe school was still resh. Also in suchsurroundings, memories were preserved

with great care in certain amilies and couldsuggest to the sensitive mind o Plato thecorrect materials or a reconstruction o atrue and most genuine Pythagoreanism.

According to Gomperz, Plato madeuse o this inormation to construct a linkbetween the Socratic and the Pythagoreanteachings. Nevertheless, Plato, ollowing thetradition o silence, at the beginning rarelymentions the Pythagoreans. Ater his irsttrip to Italy, unavoidably and progressively

he is more and more attracted to the voiceo the Pythagorean Siren, so much so that,beginning withMeno, in his later dialoguesand in the teachings o his immediatesuccessors, we can witness the inclusion oPlatonism into the greater Pythagoreanism.

his change is also notable in Phaedo.In this work, Plato introduces Cebes andSimmias, Pythagoreans rom hebes, as

those who listen to the last words o thedying Socrates, and talk with him aboutimmortality. his choice is relevant, as Platodid not place some Sophists or ollowers oHeraclitus or Anaxagoras at the scene; ratherhe chooses Pythagoreans.4

Pythagorean Elements in Aristotles Work

Aristotle himsel elt the inluence o

the Pythagorean doctrine, not only becausehe attended the Academy or twenty years,but also because he took part in the interest-ing meetings o Pythagorean savants. Hisearly work, On Philosophy, discusses theteachings o the Pythagoreans and Plato; andsimilarly, he does so in Eudemus(or On theSoul), and Protrepticus, o which we onlyhave short passages.

According to Vincenzo Capparelli,Aristotle was one o the greatest students o

Pythagorean doctrine, Not only becauseo the many years spent at the Academy,

where he had the opportunity o learningall that was known there. his inormation

was the result o the long researches made byPlato himsel, and because o the systematichistoric research that he himsel did (or wasdone by his students), Aristotle was able tohave a rich and vast library.

In his Metaphysics, Aristotle wrote,With respect to the activity o thesephilosophers called Pythagorean, theybegan the study o mathematics and were

the irst to make progress in it. hey grewaccustomed to it to the point o believingthat its principles were the principles o allentities. Given that numbers are the irstelements o mathematics, they perceived innumbers much similarity with what existsand becomes.

hereore, they assumed that someaspect o numbers relates to justice, someother to soul and intellect, another is theright moment. Besides, they ound that the

Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy ater a Greek bronzeoriginal by Lysippos rom 330 BCE. he alabaster mantleis a modern addition. Palazzo Altaemps, Roma. Photo2006 by Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons.
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relationships o harmony consist o numbers,and that all reality would be similar tonumbers.... So they arrived at the conclusionthat the elements o number were the elementso all things, o all that exists on earth andthat heaven was harmony and numbers.

In another part o the same work,he added: he Pythagoreans say thatthe principles are ten, expressed in pairso opposites: limit-unlimited; even-odd;one-many; right-let; male-emale; stillness-movement; straight-bent; light-darkness;good-bad; square-rectangle.5

The Tradition Returns to Egypt

he Crotona School itsel never rose

rom the ashes o destruction; however itsinluence spread with time more and morein the orm o mysteries, o mysticism,almost o divination. So much so thatPythagorean thought ound more ertileground in Alexandria than in Athens. here,the Western world had come more closelyin contact with the Eastern world and

was better able to understand the various

elements o Pythagorass wisdom. hisunderstanding primarily lay in the realizationthat the essential teachings did not reer onlyto science, but involved a new concept ohuman destiny: the strong aspiration or anatural renewal.

Pythagorean mysticism spreadin two directions in the vast cultural

environment o Alexandria: the Jewish-Alexandrian Pythagoreans and the RomanPythagoreans. he latter is better known inour philosophical tradition then the ormer.However, much o the content o thePythagoreanism o the Jewish community in

Alexandria ound a strong resonance in thereligious and moral continuity that gave riseto Christianity in Egypt.

It is not easy to ix the date when therevived Pythagorean movement establisheditsel in Rome. Nevertheless, we mustconsider that those with austere ways whoestablished the greatness o the RomanRepublic would eel kinship with thePythagorean elevated morality and severediscipline. Probably rom this circumstancearose the legend o Numa as being a discipleo Pythagoras, the elaboration o the Sibylline

books and during the Samnite wars, andthe erection o the statue o Pythagoras atthe side o the Curia where the Senate met,considering him to be the wisest o the Greekphilosophers.

Neopythagoreanism in the Classical World

here is no space to describe in detailthe great inluence o the teachings o the

Sage o Samos on many Latin authors ando the dierent opinions that were discussed,

Sphinx, Ptolemaic Period, made rom pink granite,

Alexandria. Photo 2005 by Chmouel Boudjnah/Wikimedia Commons

Given that numbers are the

frst elements o mathemat-

ics, they perceived in numbers

much similarity with what

exists and becomes.


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both positive and negative. As an examplewe can consider, Publius Nigidius Figulus(105-45 BCE). He was a contemporary anda riend o Cicero, and in the introduction ohis translation oTimaeus, stated that there

was no one better than himsel to renew thatancient Pythagorean discipline that appearedto be extinct during his time.

Nigidius, as all Pythagoreans, possessedan encyclopedic knowledge. Cicero declaredthat he possessed all the arts, and was a cleverand diligent investigator o those mysteriesthat nature conceals within hersel. In therame o his philosophical and scientiicresearch, he did not miss considering theesoteric tradition.

Some modern writers assume that

Nigidius desired to rebuild the Pythagoreanpractice o social equality and goods heldin common as a dream or new humanhappiness. We know that he adhered to asimple diet, but we know little about histeachings. It can be assumed that Nigidiusused an analysis o Pythagorean morals andethics as the rules o lie or perecting theindividual and or maniesting latent virtues.

Another Latin author interested inPythagorean knowledge was Cicero himsel.

In his analyses, he paused to take intoaccount all aspects o the philosophy. hismethodology helped him to understandand re-create Pythagoreanism in its essentialaspects, its history and its teachings.Perhaps his best known work inluenced byPythagoreanism was the Dream o Scipioin hisDe Republica.

We can ind Pythagorean inluencein the writings o Virgil. According to theresearcher Carcopino, several Pythagoreanelements can be ound in his ourth Eclogue.6

At last the Final Time announced bythe Sibyl will arrive:The procession of ages turns to its origin.The Virgin returns and Saturn reigns

as before;A new race from heaven on high descends.Goddess of Birth, smile on the new-born baby,In whose time the Iron Prison will fallto ruin

And a golden race arises everywhere.Apollo, the rightful king, is restored!7

hese elements include:

The theory of the Great Year.his is a key element or the expectedhuman regeneration. The Virgin, a sign of justice

whose appearance predicts the endo the Iron Age and the beginning othe Golden Age. The invocation to Apollo.Pythagoras was considered to be anincarnation o this Deity.

Apollo is supposed to rule thelast century (during which theMany return to the One beore re-maniesting again into the universe),and this painul transormation

will generate the rebirth o theGolden Age. Thefilia (riendship) that willrule in the Age o Gold, in the spirit

o which all species will live togetherwithout harming each other.

Mosaic of Virgil, ca. 300 CE. Roman Villa in unisia.
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Similarly to the ourthEclogue, the sixthbook o the Aeneid reveals deep mysticalPythagorean inluence.

Plutarch, a Greek writer and philosopher(46-120 CE), was another leading proponento the Pythagorean wisdom to which he gave

ample testimony in his many literary works.wo short dialogues in the Greek and RomanQuestions in theMoralia show how, duringthe irst century o our era, Pythagoreangroups were active and their teachings weretransmitted under the seal o secrecy.

In others o his works, such as On theDaimon o Socrates, On the Face in theMoon, and On Isis and Osiris, otherundamental concepts o the Pythagorean

school are proposed, such as the descriptiono the human soul. he soul is conceivedo as being entangled in the vortex o itslower and gross instincts, limited by itscontinuing material needs. As such it willbe driven toward reincarnation until suchtime as it can to lead a pure lie, overcomingdeinitively its lower nature. he attractiono material objects will cease, and all that is

perishable will be set aside. hen the soul canreach illumination and will become abenigndaimon. It will then rise to superior heights,enter into direct contact with the Divine,and assist other souls that share the samedesire and that have made great eorts withirmness and virtue.

Diogenes Laertius and his Life of Pythagoras

he inluence o Pythagorean thoughtwas elt also in ancient Christianity, andsome early writers deined Pythagoras asa ollower o Moses teachings. DiogenesLaertius (third century CE), in his workLivesand Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, was theirst author to describe the lie o Pythagorasin its entirety.8 He described the school andits Master as ollows:

He is said to have been a man o the

most digniied appearance, and his disciples

adopted an opinion respecting him, thathe was Apollo who had come rom theHyperboreans; and it is said, that once whenhe was stripped naked, he was seen to havea golden thigh. And there were many people

who airmed, that when he was crossing theriver Nessus it addressed him by his name.

He was the irst person, as imaeus says,

who asserted that the property o riends iscommon, and that riendship is equality. Andhis disciples used to put all their possessionstogether into one store, and use them incommon; and or ive years they kept silence,doing nothing but listen to discourses, andnever once seeing Pythagoras, until they wereapproved; ater that time they were admittedinto his house, and allowed to see him.9

In another section o his work hedescribed the secrecy o the teachings:

but until the time o Philolaus,there were no doctrines o Pythagoras everdivulged; and he was the irst person whopublished the three celebrated books whichPlato wrote to have purchased or him or ahundred minae. Nor were the number o hisscholars who used to come to him by nightewer than six hundred. And i any o them

had ever been permitted to see him, they

Diogenes Laertius (third century CE)
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wrote o it to their riends, as i they hadgained some great advantage.

he people o Metapontum used tocall his house the temple o Ceres; and thestreet leading to it they called the street othe Muses, as we are told by Favorinus in

his Universal History. And the rest o thePythagoreans used to say, according to theaccount given by Aristoxenus, in the tenthbook o his Laws on Education, that hisprecepts ought not to be divulged to allthe world....10

Porphyry Followed the Pythagorean Life

In this brie summary about theevolution o the Pythagorean thinking,

two important sources cannot be omitted:the writings o Porphyry and Iamblichus.Porphyry (ca. 233-ca. 309 CE), a Phoeniciandisciple o Plotinus, was a true ollower othe Pythagorean teachings. Faithul to thedoctrine o the school, he believed that alllie must be dedicated to the puriication othe soul, to the control o the body, and toovercoming passions in order to merge with

the Divine. In order to attain this elevationtoward God, it is necessary to overcomethe obstacles produced by the vibrationsand impulses o matter. One must havedetermination to rid onesel o that clothingthat imprisons and obscures the soul.

In his work, On Abstaining from UsingAnimals as Food, Porphyry highlights

the advantages o a vegetarian diet. heinteresting aspect is not so much what he tellsus about the ood, but the ethical concepto this practiceo this rule o lie relatedto eatingrom the Pythagorean point oview. He explains that the Pythagorean ruleis not only healthy, but rather is a necessaryinstrument or the union with the Divine,

which must be the goal o lie or all humanbeings who are aware o their divine origin.

In this work Porphyry discussed histheory concerning sacriices, consideringthem as inerior acts o worship andonly likely to invoke evil spirits. Onlyphilosophers, understood as disciples oPythagoras, avoid these practices o low

magic in order to consecrate themselvesto God, since they are students o natureand understand her signs. Further, they areseen to be intelligent, modest, moderate,and always intent on raising themselves tothe Divine.11

Porphyrys Life of Pythagoras

His best known work is The Life of

Pythagoras, in which Porphyry described theschool o Crotona as ollows:

When he reached Italy, he stopped atCroton. His presence was that o a ree man,tall, graceul in speech and in gesture, and ineverything else. Dicaearchus relates that thearrival o this great traveler, endowed with allthe advantages o nature, and prosperouslyguided by ortune, produced on theCrotonians so great an impression, that he

won the esteem o the older magistrates byhis many and excellent discourses. heyordered him to deliver exhortations tothe young men, and then to the boys wholocked out o the school to hear him, andthen to the women, who came together orthis purpose.

hrough this he achieved greatreputation, and he drew great audiences

rom the city, not only o men, but alsoPeter Paul Rubens, Pythagoras Advocating Vegetarianism

(1618-20). Royal Collections o the United Kingdom.
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o women, among whom was a speciallyillustrious person named heano. He alsodrew audiences rom among the neighboringbarbarians, among whom were magnates andkings. What he told his audiences cannot besaid with certainty, or he enjoined silenceupon his hearers. However, the ollowing isa matter o general inormation. He taughtthat the soul is immortal, and that aterdeath it transmigrates into other animatedbodies. Ater certain speciied periods,he said, the same events occur again, ornothing is entirely new. All animated beingsare kin, he taught, and should be consideredas belonging to one great amily. Pythagoras

was the irst one to introduce these teachings

into Greece.His speech was so persuasive that,

according to Nicomachus, in one addressmade on irst landing in Italy, he mademore than two thousand adherents. Out odesire to live with him, these built a largeauditorium, to which both women and boys

were admitted. [Foreign visitors were somany that] they built whole cities, settlingthat whole region o Italy now known asMagna Graecia. His ordinances and laws

were by them received as divine precepts,and they would do nothing to transgressthem. Indeed, they ranked him among thedivinities and held all property in common;and whenever they communicated to eachother some choice bit o his philosophy,rom which physical truths could always bededuced, they would swear by the etraktys,

adjuring Pythagoras as a divine witness, inthe words,

I call to witness him who to our soulsexpressed the etraktys, Eternal Naturesountain-spring.12

Porphyry emphasized the image o

Pythagoras, perhaps even enhancing thisimage or his readers. He represented him asa divine being with extraordinary powers:

He soothed the passions o the soul andbody by rhythms, songs, and incantations.hese he adapted and applied to his riends.He himsel could hear the Harmony o theUniverse, and understood the universalmusic o the spheres, and o the stars whichmove in concert with them, and which wecannot hear because o the limitations o our

weak nature.13

With respect to Pythagorass teachings,Porphyry indicateed:

His utterances were o two kinds,plain or symbolical. His teaching wastwoold: o his disciples some were calledStudents (mathematikoi), and others Hearers(akousmatikoi). he Students learned theuller and more exactly elaborate reasons oscience, while the Hearers heard only thesummarized instructions o learning, withoutmore detailed explanations.14

Iamblichus and the Pythagorean Tradition

Another philosopher who developed thePythagorean teachings was Iamblichus. Hisapproach was dierent rom Porphyrys. While

Monredo de Monte Imperiali,Imaginary Debate between

Averroes and Porphyry, in Liberde Herbis, ourteenth century.


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Porphyry recognized the importance o thePythagorean teachings as a new interpretationo the ancient Greek culture, Iamblichustried to give new lie to Pythagorean thoughtby considering it to be the real essence o

philosophy. He deined it as an aspiration toattain wisdom and in a certain sense, love orit. hereore, the act o teaching philosophyis equivalent to introducing the student to thePythagorean doctrine.

Iamblichus (245-c. 325 CE) was anAssyrian Neoplatonist who presented thePythagorean teachings as an organized bodyo work, an integral whole in the ields

o physics, ethics, and theology, based onthe airmation that everything reducesto number. In respect to his concept oPythagoras himsel, his opinion was new andsigniicant. He ocused on the Master, usinga good part o the ancient tradition. He didthis by calling upon some special sources. Heavoided quoting Porphyry and went backurther to Nichomachus, drawing upon anunknown source. he interpretation thathe presented concerning the personality oPythagoras and o his perormance as Masterhad not been seen beore in the traditionalhistory o the Pythagoreans.

He made the point that i Pythagoreanphilosophy was the Divine philosophy, thenPythagoras was its author. In addition, heairmed that the soul o Pythagoras, Divinein heaven, did not all to earth; rather he was

sent to bring philosophy as a git to humanityrom heaven:

Pythagoras is said to have been the irstto call himsel a philosopher, a word whichheretoore had not been an appellation,but a description. He likened the entranceo men and women into the present lie to

the progression o a crowd to some publicspectacle. here assemble those o alldescriptions and views. One hastens to sell

wares or money and gain; another exhibitsbodily strength or renown; but the mostliberal assemble to observe the landscape, thebeautiul works o art, the specimens o valor,and the customary literary productions.

So also in the present lie people o

maniold pursuits are assembled. Some areinluenced by the desire o riches and luxury;others, by the love o power and dominion, orby insane ambition or glory. But the purestand most genuine character is that o those

who devote themselves to the contemplationo the most beautiul things, and they mayproperly be called philosophers.

Pythagoras adds that the survey othe whole heaven, and o the stars thatrevolve therein, is indeed beautiul, when

we consider their order, which is derivedrom participation in the irst and intelligibleessence. But that irst essence is the nature oNumber and reasons (logoi) which pervadeseverything, and according to which all those[celestial] bodies are arranged elegantly, andadorned ittingly.

Now veritable wisdom is a science

conversant with the irst beautiul objectswhich subsist in invariable sameness, being

Open cluster o the Pleiades.Photo by NASA/Caltech.


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undecaying and divine, by the participationin which other things also may well be calledbeautiul. he desire or something like thisis philosophy. Similarly beautiul is devotionto erudition, and this notion Pythagorasextended, in order to eect the improvemento the human race.15

Pythagorean Therapeutics

Iamblichus also emphasized the healingand therapeutic capacities o the greatphilosopher:

According to credible historians, hiswords possessed an admonitory quality thatprevailed even with animals, which conirmsthat in intelligent persons learning tames

even wild or irrational beasts hroughsuch and similar occurrences, Pythagorasdemonstrated that he possessed the samedominion as Orpheus over savage animals,and that he allured and detained them by thepower o his voice.16

Pythagoras used to make the very bestpossible approach to men and women byteaching them what would prepare them

to learn the truth in other matters. For bythe clearest and surest indications he wouldremind many o his intimates o the ormerlie lived by their soul beore it was boundto their body. He would demonstrateby indubitable arguments that he had once

been Euphorbus, son o Panthus, conqueroro Patroclus.17

Pythagoras conceived that the irstattention that should be given to peopleshould be addressed to the senses, as whenone perceives beautiul igures and orms,or hears beautiul rhythms and melodies.

Consequently he laid down that the irsterudition was that which subsists throughmusics melodies and rhythms, and romthese he obtained remedies o humanmanners and passions, and restored thepristine harmony o the aculties o the soul.

Moreover, he devised medicinescalculated to repress and cure the diseases oboth bodies and souls. Here is also, by Zeus,

something which deserves to be mentionedabove all: namely, that or his disciples hearranged and adjusted what might be calledpreparations and touchings, divinelycontriving mingling o certain diatonic,chromatic and enharmonic melodies, through

which he easily switched and circulated thepassions o the soul in a contrary direction,

whenever they had accumulated recently,irrationally, or clandestinelysuch as sorrow,

rage, pity, over-emulation, ear, maniolddesires, angers, appetites, pride, collapse or

Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, 1638. Fronticepiece.

While Porphyry recognized

the importance o thePythagorean teachings as

a new interpretation o

the ancient Greek culture,

Iamblichus tried to give new

lie to Pythagorean thought

by considering it to be the

real essence o philosophy.


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spasms. Each o these he corrected by therule o virtue, attempering them throughappropriate melodies, as through somesalutary medicine.

In the evening, likewise, when hisdisciples were retiring to sleep, he would thus

liberate them rom the days perturbationsand tumults, puriying their intellectivepowers rom the inluxive and eluxive

waves o corporeal nature, quieting theirsleep, and rendering their dreams pleasingand prophetic. When they arose again inthe morning, he would ree them rom thenights heaviness, coma and torpor throughcertain peculiar chords and modulations,produced by either simply striking the lyre,

or adapting the voice.Not through instruments or physical

voice-organs did Pythagoras eect this; butby the employment o a certain indescribabledivinity, diicult o apprehension,through which he ex-tended his powers ohearing, ixing his intellect on the sublimesymphonies o the world, he alone apparentlyhearing and grasping the universal harmony

and consonance o the spheres, and the starsthat are moved through them, producinga melody uller and more intense thananything eected by mortal sounds.

his melody was also the result odissimilar and varying sounds, speeds,magnitudes, and intervals arranged withreerence to each other in a certain musicalratio, producing a convoluted motion mostmusical and gentle. Irrigated thereore

with this melody, his intellect ordered andexercised thereby, he would, to the best o hisability exhibit certain symbols o these thingsto his disciples, especially through imitationsthereo through instruments or the physicalorgans o voice.

For he conceived that, o all theinhabitants o earth, by him alone were thesecelestial sounds understood and heard, as i

coming rom the central spring and root o

nature. He thereore thought himsel worthyto be taught, and to learn something aboutthe celestial orbs, and to be assimilated tothem by desire and imitation, inasmuchas his body alone had been well enoughconormed thereto by the divinity who hadgiven birth to him.

his peculiar organization o Pythagorassbody, ar iner than that o any other person,seems to be what Empedocles was obscurelydriving at in his enigmatical verses:

Among the Pythagoreans was a mantranscendent in knowledge;

Who possessed the most ample stores ofintellectual wealth,

And in the most eminent degree assistedin the works of the wise.

When he extended all the powers of hisintellect,

He easily beheld everything,

As far as ten or twenty ages of thehuman race!

hese words transcendent, he beheldevery detail o all beings, and the wealth o

intellect, and so on, describe as accuratelyas possible his peculiar and exceptionallyaccurate method o hearing, seeing andunderstanding.18

he Pythagorean use o music therapydid not end with the dissolution o the schoolo Crotona. Examples include the urco-Persian psychologist and music theoristal-Farabi (872950), known as Alpharabius

in Europe, dealt with music therapy in histreatise Meanings of the Intellect, where hediscussed the therapeutic eects o musicon the soul.19 Robert Burton wrote inhis seventeenth-century classic work, The

Anatomy of Melancholy, that music and dancewere critical in treating mental illness,20especially melancholia.21

From the Greek traditions oNeoplatonism and Neopythagoreanism, thetradition o the school o Crotona moved
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in two directions. he irst has been welldocumented by Dr. Peter Kingsley as thetradition returned to Egypt in Neoplatonicand Hermetic garb, and was thus transmittedurther east as ar, at least, as Persia.22 hishistory is intertwined with the spread oHermetic thought throughout the MiddleEast within Islam, chronicled by RobertZoller23, and the seminal work o Dr. GarthFowden, discussing the Egyptian roots andHellenistic expansion o this tradition.24

he other direction is toward the LatinWest, through late antiquity to the MiddleAges in Western Europe.

Late Antiquity

In late antiquity, the Roman philosopherSeverinus Bothius (ca. 480-24 or 525 CE)studied many subjects, and was a devotee oPythagorean mathematics, geometry, andmusic theory. He translated works by thePythagoreans Porphyry and Nichomachus.

He introduced a three-old concept o music,clearly drawing on Pythagorean ideals:

1.Musica mundana:music o thespheres/worlds

2.Musica humana:harmony ohuman body and spiritual harmony

3. Musica instrumentalis:instrumentalmusic (including the human voice)25Bothiuss work marks the transition

in the Latin West rom classical Romanphilosophy into the scholastic tradition

which would ollow. His works inluencedthe entire Western Middle Ages, and insuredthat Pythagorean thought would continue inthe educational system o Western Europe or

hundreds o years through his oundationalwork on what would become the curriculumo the quadrivium:

he quadrivium consisted o arithmetic,geometry, music, and astronomy. heseollowed the preparatory work o the triviummade up o grammar, logic (or dialectic, as it

was called at the times), and rhetoric. In turn,the quadrivium was considered preparatory

work or the serious study o philosophy

and theology.26

Numbers and Mysticism in MedievalWestern Europe and the Renaissance

Ater these ancient authors who werethoroughly dedicated to the Pythagoreanteachings, a ew major thinkers were ableto recognize, and deeply understand thatknowledge that appeared mysteriously

on the world landscape, and mysteriouslydisappeared in the vortex o a chaotic worldto which they tried to give order.

Even though Pythagorean ideas andideals permeated Medieval Western Europe,

which was ascinated by numbers andtheir signiicance,27 the reputation o thePythagorean school itsel sometimes ell intothe shadows.

Vincenzo Capparelli, analyzing thisphenomenon in Italy, comments: with

Bothius, On the Consolation of Philosophy, 1385, Italy.Miniatures o Bothius teaching and imprisoned. GlasgowUniversity Library. Manuscript by Gregorius o Genoa and

the scribe Brother Amadeus.
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respect to this, we are orced to discuss asomewhat unpleasant topic: the unluckyoutcome o Pythagoreans in Italy. o

support this conclusion, he cites Dante,who, even i inormed with discretionabout the Pythagorean teachings, which heoten quoted in his works, did not considerit wise to include Pythagoras among thephilosophical amily.

Even the early researchers o the Academyo Florence did not pay much attentionto the contribution o Pythagoras as such,since they were under the spell o Plato and

Neoplatonism.28 Nevertheless, under othernames, the tradition continued unabated.

here were outstanding exceptions tothis, in both the Medieval and Renaissanceperiods. One was Leonardo o Pisa, knownto history as Fibonnaci (ca. 1170-ca. 1250).Clearly inspired by Pythagoras, he is bestknown today or:

ThespreadingoftheHindu-

Arabic numeral system in Europe,primarily through the publication

in the early thirteenth century ohis Book o Calculation, the Liber

Abaci.29

Anumbersequencenamedater him known as the Fibonaccinumbers, which he did not discoverbut used as an example in the Liber

Abaci.30

In the Fibonacci sequence o numbers,each number is the sum o the previoustwo numbers, starting with 0 and 1. husthe sequence begins 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610 etc.he higher up in the sequence, the closertwo consecutive Fibonacci numbers o thesequence divided by each other will approach

the golden ratio (approximately 1 : 1.618 or0.618 : 1).31

he golden ratio was known to theEgyptians and other ancient mystery schools,and is oten ound in natural structures.It was widely used in Renaissance art. Itstands to reason that Pythagoras, withEgyptian, Middle Eastern, and Central Asianconnections, would have understood this as,

perhaps, part o his advanced curriculum.he brilliant work o Fibonacci, as well

as the Bothian oundations o the wholeeducational system o the Western Middle

Ages, insured that Pythagorean ideas wouldbe transmitted in many orms.

With the great philosophers o theRenaissance, there is a new evaluation o the

The Seven Liberal Arts: Music and Pythagoras, iteenthcentury, colored pen drawing. Salzburg University Library.

A Fibonacci spiral created by drawing arcs connecting theopposite corners o squares in the Fibonacci tiling, usingsquares o sizes 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and 34.32
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Pythagorean school. Marsilio Ficino recog-nized the inluence o Pythagoras on Plato.

Giordano Bruno taught that the worldo Pythagoras is better and more pure thanthat o Plato.33 ommaso Campanellalovingly studied Pythagoras and wasaccustomed to introducing himsel as aollower o the tradition.34 Furthermore,

Campanella considered Galileo as the onewho was able to resurrect the glory o thePythagoreans in the scientiic ield. EvenLeonardo da Vinci reerred to them in hisstudies and research.

One o Leonardos collaborators, Fra LucaBartolomeo de Pacioli (ca. 1446-1517) wasan Italian mathematician and Franciscan riar.He drew on the earlier work by the painter

and mathematician Piero della Francesca(ca. 1415-October 12, 1492), whose workhe incorporated into his own writings.

Pacioli instructed Leonardo inmathematics and geometry, and Leonardoillustrated Paciolis reworking o dellaFrancescas Short Book on the Five RegularSolids, which Pacioli expanded andpublished in 1509 as De Divina Proportione(On the Divine Proportion): he subject

was mathematical and artistic proportion,

especially the mathematics o the goldenratio and its application in architecture.35

here can be no doubt that thePythagorean mystical tradition was certainlyamong the major inluences on theseRenaissance geometers. heir work connects

the ancient world and more modern scholarssuch as Schwaller de Lubicz. Pacioli describesthe heritage the Renaissance had receivedrom the ancient sages and initiates:

he Ancients, having taken intoconsideration the rigorous construction othe human body, elaborated all their works,as especially their holy temples, accordingto these proportions; or they ound herethe two principal igures without which

no project is possible: the perection o thecircle, the principle o all regular bodies, andthe equilateral square.36

Later Pythagorean Influences

In the eighteenth century, someastronomers reviewed the Pythagoreanteachings, and attributed to them theconcept that the planet was round, and the

heliocentric theory. In the second hal o theprevious century, the Bothian Questionhad emerged, related to the Pythagoreanteachings in the ield o mathematics. hislast deserves to be more extensively exploredas an example o how little we know aboutthe great mystical and initiatic Pythagoreantradition.

his question arose rom a discovery

by the seventeenth century historian andbibliophile Isaac Vossius while he was readinga passage o the Geometry o Bothius in

Jacopo de Barbari (?), Ritratto di Fr Luca Pacioli, 1495,Naples, Museo e Gallerie di Capodimonte. Luca Pacioliis the central igure. he table is illed with geometricaltools: slate, chalk, compass, a dodecahedron model. Arhombicuboctahedron (an Archimedean solid, with eighttriangular and eighteen square aces) hal-illed with water,

is hanging in the air.

Comparison between ive dierent styles o writing Arabicnumerals, 2006 by Madden/Wikimedia Commons.


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Page xxxvii

which it was suggested that the Pythagoreansinvented the characters called numerals,including the zero. hese are the same as ourmodern Western numbers, and Bothiusstated that the Pythagoreans were supremelyingenious and very clever in their use.hey used them or the perormance omultiplication and division without errorsand never ailed.

he history o numbers currentlyascribes our modern Western numberingsystem to the Hindu-Arabic tradition, largelyspread through the work o Fibonnaci.37Even i Vossiuss reading comes rom alater revision o Bothiuss ragmentaryGeometry (or example, in the eleventh- or

twelth-century manuscripts o BothiussGeometry in Paris and Chartres), it stillsigniicantly demonstrates the interactiono the Pythagorean tradition with the

Arabic and other Eastern cultures, as PeterKingsley discusses elsewhere in this issue othe Rosicrucian Digest. he ancientandmodern worldsare not isolated cultureislands. Humans have interacted in this

way or untold millennia. What comes romone source lows outward and then eventuallyreturns to its origins.38

Later mathematicians and philosophers

have been inspired by the Pythagoreanvision, including possibly Hilary Putnam(1926- ) in the United States, certain aspectso whose theories resemble Pythagoreantenets. he connections o the Pythagoreans

with the Essenes and the heraputae havealso insured that the tradition rom Crotona

will not vanish.39

Conclusions

his brie survey has dealt with vastand complex topics and attempted to arriveat a synthesis which would highlight thegreatness o Pythagoras o Samos to whomthe Western world is so much in debt.

Vincenzo Caparelli, a twentieth-cen-tury Pythagorean researcher, came to thisconclusion:

Pythagoras represents a synthesis othe knowledge that existed beore him

Pythagoras within the tympanum at the right bay o theroyal portal o Chartres Cathedral, situated on top o themiddle column o the right jamb, twelth century. Photo 2001 by Jean-Louis Lascoux.

Te golden ratio was known

to the Egyptians and other

ancient mystery schools, and

is oten ound in natural

structures. It was widely used

in Renaissance art. It standsto reason that Pythagoras,

with Egyptian, Middle East-

ern, and Central Asian con-

nections, would have under-

stood this as, perhaps, part o

his advanced curriculum.


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Page xxxviii

and he missed nothing o what others haduncovered that was essential. hese indings,organized in a vast system, acquired newmeanings and new signiicance in scientiicand philosophical research.40

Nevertheless, as it has been noted inthe course o history, there has oten beenlittle interest and a corresponding lack orecognition o this divine knowledge. heschool o Crotona was never literally revivedrom the ashes o destruction, perhapsbecause, as emphasized by the Pythagoreansthemselves, they had transmitted discoveriesand doctrines that appeared to be olly totheir contemporaries, and so they may stillappear today. Perhaps they are patiently

waiting their turn to be oicially recognized.he true drama o the Pythagorean

school is that its wisdom is outside o time.

he ancient Pythagoreans were consciouso this act and this was the major reason ormaintaining secrecy and not propagatingtheir doctrines to the uninitiated. hePythagorean doctrine in ancient times wasovercome by the weight o its own magnitudein Italy; however, it lived on through thecenturies under many names and manyguises, as we have seen.

It may have been a greatness that waspainul and perhaps still is or some today.hese truths oended their contemporariesand many o the uninitiated public who hadsomehow been convinced that their modestnature could not attain such heights. hemob took revenge by killing the bodies o the

philosophers, in the hope o destroying theirideas. As we know, this can never happen, andDivine Light and ruth shall always endure.41

EndnotEs

1Around 508 BCE the Pythagorean communityat Crotona was attacked by Kylon, a neighboringgovernor who had applied to Pythagorass school andbeen reused admittance because o character laws.Members o the community were expelled, and

Pythagoras, along with his immediate amily, escapedto the city o Metapontum.2Vincenzo Capparelli, La sapienza di Pitagora (Rome:Edizioni Mediterranee, 1988); Il tenore di vita pitagoricoed il problema della omoiosis(Padua: R. Zannoni, 1958).3John Burnet,Early Greek Philosophy, 3rd ed. (London:

Adam and Charles Black, 1920).4heodor Gomperz, Laurie Magnus, GeorgeGodrey Berry, Greek Thinkers: a History of An-cient Philosophy (London: J. Murray, 1901-12).5

Aristotle, Metaphysics, bk. 1, part 5, trans. W.D. Ross,http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.l.i.html.

6Jrme Carcopino, Virgile et le mystre de la IVe glogue(Paris: LArtisan du Livre, 1930).7Virgil, Fourth Eclogue, trans. Philip K. Dick in heEye o the Sibyl, in The Eye of the Sibyl and OtherClassic Stories (New York: Citadel Books, 2000).

Available at www.rosicrucian.org/publications/digest/digest2_2008/Web%20version/WS_02_PKD/c_WS_02_PKD.pd.8Diogenes Laertius, Pythagoras in The Lives andOpinions of Eminent Philosophers, trans. Charles Duke

Yonge (London: H. G. Bohn, 1853), bk 8:1-26.Available at http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlpythagoras.htm.9Ibid., bk. 8:9, 8.10Ibid., bk. 8:15.11

Porphyry, De abstinentia ab esu animalium, editedby Jean Bouartigue, M. Patillon, and Alain-Philippe
http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B001PTG2U2http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B001PTG2U2http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B001PTG2U2http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B001HXKEJGhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B001HXKEJGhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B001HXKEJGhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B001HXKEJGhttp://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.l.i.htmlhttp://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.l.i.htmlhttp://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.l.i.htmlhttp://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.l.i.htmlhttp://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.l.i.htmlhttp://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.l.i.htmlhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B000WFPD4Qhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B000WFPD4Qhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B000WFPD4Qhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B000WFPD4Qhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/014044419Xhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/014044419Xhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/014044419Xhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0806513284http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0806513284http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0806513284http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0806513284http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0806513284http://www.rosicrucian.org/publications/digest/digest2_2008/Web%20version/WS_02_PKD/c_WS_02_PKD.pdfhttp://www.rosicrucian.org/publications/digest/digest2_2008/Web%20version/WS_02_PKD/c_WS_02_PKD.pdfhttp://www.rosicrucian.org/publications/digest/digest2_2008/Web%20version/WS_02_PKD/c_WS_02_PKD.pdfhttp://www.rosicrucian.org/publications/digest/digest2_2008/Web%20version/WS_02_PKD/c_WS_02_PKD.pdfhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0674992040http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0674992040http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0674992040http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0674992040http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0674992040http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0674992040http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlpythagoras.htmhttp://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlpythagoras.htmhttp://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlpythagoras.htmhttp://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlpythagoras.htmhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0674992040http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlpythagoras.htmhttp://www.rosicrucian.org/publications/digest/digest2_2008/Web%20version/WS_02_PKD/c_WS_02_PKD.pdfhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/0806513284http://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/014044419Xhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B000WFPD4Qhttp://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.l.i.htmlhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B001HXKEJGhttp://astore.amazon.com/wwwrosicrucia-20/detail/B001PTG2U2


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Segonds. 3 vols., (Paris: Bud, 1979-1995). Available atwww.animalrightshistory.org/library/porphyry/animal-ood-bk1.htm.12Porphyry, The Life of Pythagoras, chaps. 18-20. rans.in Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook(1920), new edition edited by David R. Fideler (GrandRapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1987), 126-127.13Ibid., chap. 30, 129.14Ibid., chap. 37, 130.15Iamblichus, The Life of Pythagoras, chap. 12. rans. inKenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook(1920), new edition edited by David R. Fideler (GrandRapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1987), 70.16Ibid., chap. 13, 70-71.17Ibid., chap. 14, 71.18Ibid., chap. 15, 72-73.19Amber Haque, Psychology rom Islamic Perspective:Contributions o Early Muslim Scholars and Challengesto Contemporary Muslim Psychologists, Journal ofReligion and Health 43 (4) (2004): 357-377 [363].20c. Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy,(London, H. Cripps, 1652), subsection 3, on andater line 3480, Music a Remedy: But to leave alldeclamatory speeches in praise o divine music, I willconine mysel to my proper subject: besides thatexcellent power it hath to expel many other diseases, itis a sovereign remedy against despair and melancholy,and will drive away the devil himsel. Canus, aRhodian iddler, in Philostratus, when Apollonius wasinquisitive to know what he could do with his pipe,told him, hat he would make a melancholy manmerry, and him that was merry much merrier thanbeore, a lover more enamoured, a religious man moredevout. Ismenias the heban, Chiron the centaur,is said to have cured this and many other diseases bymusic alone: as now they do those, saith Bodine, thatare troubled with St. Vituss Bedlam dance. Availableat www.gutenberg.org/iles/10800/10800-8.txt; JohnCrellin Humanities are the Hormones: A arantellaComes to Newoundland. What Should We Do

about It? in MUNMED, Newsletter of the Faculty ofMedicine, Memorial University o Newoundland,1996. Available at www.med.mun.ca/munmed/84/crellin.htm; Steven K.H. Aung and Mathew H.M.Lee, Music, Sounds, Medicine, and Meditation: AnIntegrative Approach to the Healing Arts,Alternative& Complementary Therapies, Oct. 2004, vol. 10, no.5: 266-270, available at www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/act.2004.10.266?journalCode=act.21Music herapy, at Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_therapy.

22Peter Kingsley, Paths o the Ancient Sages: APythagorean History Rosicrucian Digest, vol. 87, no.

1 (2009), 2-9. See also: Kingsley, From Empedoclesto the Suis: he Pythagorean Leaven, AncientPhilosophy, 359-370; and Kingsley, Empedocles andthe Ismls,Ancient Philosophy, 395-396.23Robert Zoller, Hermetic radition (New Library,1995); he Hermetica as Ancient Science (NewLibrary, 1997), available at www.new-library.com/zoller/eatures/.24Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical

Approach to the Late Pagan Mind (Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press, 1993).25Boethius in Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Boethius.26Quadrivium at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Quadrivium.27See Vincent Foster Hopper, Medieval NumberSymbolism(New York: Copper Square Publishers, 1969).28Capparelli, La sapienza di Pitagora.

29Leonardo Pisano - page 3: Contributions to numbertheory. Encyclopdia Britannica Online, 2006.30Parmanand Singh, Acharya Hemachandra and the(so called) Fibonacci Numbers inMath, ed. Siwan ,20(1):28-30, 1986.31See Fibonnaci at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonnaci.32Fibonacci Number at Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number.33Giordano Bruno, Dialoghi italiani(Florence: Sansoni,

1986).34See ommaso Campanella at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ommaso_Campanella.35Luca Pacioli atWikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Luca_Pacioli.36Luca Pacioli, De Divina Proportione(Milan: Silvana,1982).37See Arabic Numbers and Hindu-ArabicNumeral System at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_numbersandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/

wiki/Hindu-Arabic_numeral_system.38Peter Kingsley, Paths o the Ancient Sages: aPythagorean History Rosicrucian Digest87:1 (2009),2-9. See also Kingsley, From Empedocles to the Suis,he Pythagorean Leaven, Ancient Philosophy, 359-370, and Kingsley, Empedocles and the Ismls,Ancient Philosophy, 395-396.39See Rosicrucian Digest he Essenes, 85:2 (2007).40Capparelli, La sapienza di Pitagora.41A version o this essay was originally published inRosa+Croce, no. 30 (Winter 2007), 34-48. It has been

adapted and expanded by the Sta and Friends o theRosicrucian Research Library.
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