Editing Pythagoras (section)

== Life ==
No authentic writings of Pythagoras have survived,{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=11}}{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=796}} and almost nothing is known for certain about his life.{{sfnp|Gregory|2015|pages=21–23}}{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|page=29}} The earliest sources on Pythagoras's life, from [[Xenophanes]], [[Heraclitus]], [[Empedocles]], [[Ion of Chios]], and [[Herodotus]]{{sfn|Lloyd|2014|p=28}} are brief, ambiguous, and often [[satire|satirical]].{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=2}}{{sfnp|Burkert|1985|page=299}} The major sources on Pythagoras's life are three biographies from late antiquity written by [[Diogenes Laërtius]], [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]], and [[Iamblichus]], all of which are filled primarily with myths and legends{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|page=29}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=5}}{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|page=9}} and which become longer and more fantastic in their descriptions of Pythagoras's achievements the more removed they are from Pythagoras's times.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=5}}{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|page=9}} However, Porphyry and Iamblichus also used some material taken from earlier writings in the 4th century BC by [[Aristotle]]'s students [[Dicaearchus]], [[Aristoxenus]], and [[Heraclides Ponticus]],{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|page=109}} which, when it can be identified, is generally considered to be the most reliable.{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|page=109}}

=== Early life ===
{{blockquote|There is not a single detail in the life of Pythagoras that stands uncontradicted. But it is possible, from a more or less critical selection of the data, to construct a plausible account.|[[Walter Burkert]], 1972{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|page=106}}}}

[[Herodotus]]{{sfnp|Hdt. 4|loc=§95|p=297}} and [[Isocrates]] agree that Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus,{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=16}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=6}} and that he was born on the Greek island of [[Samos]] in the eastern [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]].{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=11}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=6}}{{sfnp|Kenny|2004|page=9}} Mnesarchus is said to have been a gem-engraver or a wealthy merchant{{sfnp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§1, §10}}<ref>{{harvp|Strom|loc=1.62(2)}}, cit. {{harvp|Afonasin|2012|p=15}}</ref>{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=21}} but his ancestry is disputed and unclear.{{efn|name=ancestry}} [[Apollonius of Tyana]] writes that Pythagoras's mother was Pythaïs, who was said to be a descendant of [[Ancaeus (son of Poseidon)|Ancaeus]], the mythical founder of Samos.{{sfnp|Taub|2017|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=odm7DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 122]}}<ref>[[Apollonius of Tyana]] ap. {{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§2}}</ref> [[Iamblichus]] tells the story that the Pythia prophesied to her while she was pregnant with him that she would give birth to a man supremely beautiful, wise, and beneficial to humankind.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=59}} As to the date of his birth, [[Aristoxenus]] stated that Pythagoras left Samos in the reign of [[Polycrates]], at the age of 40, which would give a date of birth around 570 BC.{{sfnp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§9}} Pythagoras's name led him to be associated with [[Pythia]]n [[Apollo]] ({{transliteration|grc|Pūthíā}}); [[Aristippus of Cyrene]] in the 4th century BC explained his name by saying, "He spoke [{{lang|grc|[[wikt:ἀγορεύω|ἀγορεύω]]}}, {{transliteration|grc|agoreúō}}] the truth no less than did the Pythian [{{lang|grc|[[wikt:Πυθία|πυθικός]]}} {{transliteration|grc|puthikós}}]".{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=59}}

During Pythagoras's formative years, Samos was a thriving cultural hub known for its feats of advanced architectural engineering, including the building of the [[Tunnel of Eupalinos]], and for its riotous festival culture.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=45–47}} It was a major center of trade in the Aegean where traders brought goods from the [[Near East]].{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=11}} According to Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier, these traders almost certainly brought with them Near Eastern ideas and traditions.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=11}} Pythagoras's early life also coincided with the flowering of early Ionian [[natural philosophy]].{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=6}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=44–45}} He was a contemporary of the philosophers [[Anaximander]], [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]], and the historian [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]], all of whom lived in [[Miletus]], across the sea from Samos.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=44–45}}

=== Reputed travels ===
{{anchor|Alleged travels}}
Modern scholarship has shown that the culture of [[Archaic Greece]] was heavily influenced by those of [[Levant]]ine and [[Mesopotamia]]n cultures, which appears to have been recognized by authors later in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, who attributed many of Pythagoras' unusual and unconventional beliefs to invented travels to far off lands, where he learned from those people himself.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=7–8}} The doctrine of [[metempsychosis]], or reincarnation of the soul after death, which Herodotus had mistakenly attributed to the Egyptians, led to an elaborate tale{{sfnp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§6}} where Pythagoras learned the [[Egyptian language]] from the [[Pharaoh]] [[Amasis II]] himself, and then traveled to study with the Egyptian priests at [[Thebes, Egypt|Diospolis]] (Thebes), where he was the only foreigner ever to be granted the privilege of taking part in their worship.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=7–8}} Other ancient writers, however, claimed that Pythagoras had learned these teachings from the [[Magi]] in [[Persia]] or even from [[Zoroaster]] himself.{{sfnp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.1, §1.3}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=7–8}} The [[Phoenicia]]ns are also reputed to have taught Pythagoras [[arithmetic]] and the [[Chaldea]]ns to have taught him astronomy.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=7–8}} By the third century BC, Pythagoras was already reported to have studied under the [[Jews]] as well.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=7–8}} By the third century AD, Pythagoras was also reported by [[Philostratus]] to have studied under sages or [[gymnosophist]]s in [[India]], and, according to [[Iamblichus]], also with the [[Celts]] and [[Iberians]].{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=7–8}}

=== Alleged Greek teachers ===
Ancient sources also record Pythagoras having studied under a variety of native Greek thinkers.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} Diogenes Laërtius asserts that Pythagoras later visited [[Crete]], where he went to the [[Mount Ida|Cave of Ida]] with [[Epimenides]].{{sfnp|Diog VIII|loc=1.1, 1.3}} Some identify Hermodamas of Samos as a possible tutor.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}}<ref>{{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§2}}; {{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.2}}</ref> Hermodamas represented the indigenous Samian [[Rhapsode|rhapsodic]] tradition and his father Creophylos was said to have been the host of his rival poet [[Homer]].{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} Others credit [[Bias of Priene]], Thales,{{sfnp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§9}} or [[Anaximander]] (a pupil of Thales).{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}}{{sfnp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§9}}{{sfnp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§2}} Other traditions claim the mythic bard [[Orpheus]] as Pythagoras's teacher, thus representing the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic Mysteries]].{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} The Neoplatonists wrote of a "sacred discourse" Pythagoras had written on the gods in the [[Doric Greek]] dialect, which they believed had been dictated to Pythagoras by the Orphic priest Aglaophamus upon his initiation to the orphic Mysteries at [[Leibethra]].{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} Iamblichus credited Orpheus with having been the model for Pythagoras's manner of speech, his spiritual attitude, and his manner of worship.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=8–9}} Iamblichus describes Pythagoreanism as a synthesis of everything Pythagoras had learned from Orpheus, from the Egyptian priests, from the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], and from other religious and philosophical traditions.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=8–9}} Contradicting all these reports, the novelist [[Antonius Diogenes]], writing in the second century BC, reports that Pythagoras discovered all his doctrines himself by [[Dream interpretation|interpreting dreams]].{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} Riedweg states that, although these stories are fanciful, Pythagoras's teachings were definitely influenced by Orphism to a noteworthy extent.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}}

Of the various Greek sages claimed to have taught Pythagoras, [[Pherecydes of Syros]] is mentioned most often.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}}<ref>{{harvp|Diog I|loc=1.13, 1.15}}; {{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.2, §1.40}}; {{harvnb|Cicero, de Div. I|loc=§49.122|p=345}}</ref> Similar miracle stories were told about both Pythagoras and Pherecydes, including one in which the hero predicts a shipwreck, one in which he predicts the conquest of [[Messina]], and one in which he drinks from a well and predicts an earthquake.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} [[Apollonius Paradoxographus]], a paradoxographer who may have lived in the second century BC, identified Pythagoras's [[Thaumaturgy|thaumaturgic]] ideas as a result of Pherecydes's influence.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} Another story, which may be traced to the Neopythagorean philosopher [[Nicomachus]], tells that, when Pherecydes was old and dying on the island of [[Delos]], Pythagoras returned to care for him and pay his respects.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} [[Duris of Samos|Duris]], the historian and [[tyrant]] of Samos, is reported to have patriotically boasted of an epitaph supposedly penned by Pherecydes which declared that Pythagoras's wisdom exceeded his own.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} On the grounds of all these references connecting Pythagoras with Pherecydes, Riedweg concludes that there may well be some historical foundation to the tradition that Pherecydes was Pythagoras's teacher.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} Pythagoras and Pherecydes also appear to have shared similar views on the soul and the teaching of metempsychosis.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}}

=== In Croton ===
{{
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{{Location map~|Italy|lat=39.0808|N|long=17.1271|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Crotone|Croton]]}}
{{Location map~|Italy|lat=40.3706|N|long=16.8137|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=below|label_size=75 |label=[[Metapontum]]}}
{{Location map~|Italy|lat=39.7500|N|long=16.4667|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=below|label_size=75 |label=[[Sybaris]]}}
{{Location map~|Italy|lat=40.4644|N|long=17.2470|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Taranto|Tarentum]]}}
{{Location map~|Italy|lat=37.3094|N|long=13.5860|E|region:IT_type:city(60157)|position=right|label_size=75 |label=[[Agrigento|Acragas]]}}
}}
Porphyry repeats an account from [[Antiphon (writer)|Antiphon]], who reported that, while he was still on Samos, Pythagoras founded a school known as the "semicircle".{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=10}}{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=64}} Here, Samians debated matters of public concern.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=10}}{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=64}} Supposedly, the school became so renowned that the brightest minds in all of Greece came to Samos to hear Pythagoras teach.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=10}} Pythagoras himself dwelled in a secret cave, where he studied in private and occasionally held discourses with a few of his close friends.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=10}}{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=64}} Christoph Riedweg, a German scholar of early Pythagoreanism, states that it is entirely possible Pythagoras may have taught on Samos,{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=10}} but cautions that Antiphon's account, which makes reference to a specific building that was still in use during his own time, appears to be motivated by Samian patriotic interest.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=10}}

Around 530 BC, when Pythagoras was about forty years old, he left Samos.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=11}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=6}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=11}}{{sfnp|Gregory|2015|page=22}} His later admirers claimed that he left because he disagreed with the [[tyrant|tyranny]] of [[Polycrates]] in Samos;{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=11}} Riedweg notes that this explanation closely aligns with Nicomachus's emphasis on Pythagoras's purported love of freedom, but that Pythagoras's enemies portrayed him as having a proclivity towards tyranny.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=11}} Other accounts claim that Pythagoras left Samos because he was so overburdened with public duties in Samos, because of the high estimation in which he was held by his fellow-citizens.<ref>{{harvp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§28}}; {{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§9}}</ref> He arrived in the Greek colony of Croton (today's [[Crotone]], in [[Calabria]]) in what was then [[Magna Graecia]].{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=6}}{{sfnp|Gregory|2015|page=22}}{{sfnp|De Vogel|1966|pp=21ff}}<ref>Cfr. {{harvnb|Cicero, De Re Publica|loc=§2.15.28–§2.15.30|pp=137–139}}</ref>{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=11–12}} All sources agree that Pythagoras was charismatic and quickly acquired great political influence in his new environment.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=6}}{{sfnp|De Vogel|1966|pp=148–150}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=12–13}} He served as an advisor to the elites in Croton and gave them frequent advice.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=12–18}} Later biographers tell fantastical stories of the effects of his eloquent speeches in leading the people of Croton to abandon their luxurious and corrupt way of life and devote themselves to the purer system which he came to introduce.<ref>{{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§18}}; {{harvp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§37}}</ref>{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=13–18}}

=== Family and friends ===
[[Suda]] writes that Pythagoras had 4 children (Telauges, Mnesarchus, Myia and Arignote).<ref>{{citation| url = https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/theta/84| title = Suda Encyclopedia, th.84}}</ref> The wrestler [[Milo of Croton]] was said to have been a close associate of Pythagoras{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=5–6, 59, 73}} and was credited with having saved the philosopher's life when a roof was about to collapse.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=5–6, 59, 73}} This association may have been the result of confusion with a different man named Pythagoras, who was an athletics trainer.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=10}}

=== Death ===
Pythagoras's emphasis on dedication and asceticism are credited with aiding in Croton's decisive victory over the neighboring colony of [[Sybaris]] in 510 BC.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|pages=6–7}} After the victory, some prominent citizens of Croton proposed a [[Greek democracy|democratic constitution]], which the Pythagoreans rejected.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|pages=6–7}} The supporters of democracy, headed by [[Cylon of Croton|Cylon]] and Ninon, the former of whom is said to have been irritated by his exclusion from Pythagoras's brotherhood, roused the populace against them.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=19}} Followers of Cylon and Ninon attacked the Pythagoreans during one of their meetings, either in the house of Milo or in some other meeting-place.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=7}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=19–20}} Accounts of the attack are often contradictory and many probably confused it with the later anti-Pythagorean rebellions, such as the one in Metapontum in 454 BC.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=19}}{{sfnp|Plutarch,&nbsp;de Gen. Socr|loc=§583a|p=419}} The building was apparently set on fire,{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=7}} and many of the assembled members perished;{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=7}} only the younger and more active members managed to escape.<ref>{{harvp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§255–§259}}; {{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§54–§57}}; {{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.39}}; comp. {{harvnb|Plutarch,&nbsp;de Gen. Socr|loc=§583a|p=419}}</ref>

Sources disagree regarding whether Pythagoras was present when the attack occurred and, if he was, whether or not he managed to escape.{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|page=106}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=19–20}} In some accounts, Pythagoras was not at the meeting when the Pythagoreans were attacked because he was on Delos tending to the dying Pherecydes.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=19–20}} According to another account from Dicaearchus, Pythagoras was at the meeting and managed to escape,{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} leading a small group of followers to the nearby city of [[Locris]], where they pleaded for sanctuary, but were denied.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} They reached the city of [[Metapontum]], where they took shelter in the temple of the [[Muses]] and died there of starvation after forty days without food.{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|page=106}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=7}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}}{{sfnp|Grant|1989|page=278}} Another tale recorded by Porphyry claims that, as Pythagoras's enemies were burning the house, his devoted students laid down on the ground to make a path for him to escape by walking over their bodies across the flames like a bridge.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} Pythagoras managed to escape, but was so despondent at the deaths of his beloved students that he committed suicide.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} A different legend reported by both Diogenes Laërtius and Iamblichus states that Pythagoras almost managed to escape, but that he came to a fava bean field and refused to run through it, since doing so would violate his teachings, so he stopped instead and was killed.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} This story seems to have originated from the writer Neanthes, who told it about later Pythagoreans, not about Pythagoras himself.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}}