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In ancient tradition, Pythagoras (c.570–c.495 bc) emerges as a wise teacher, an outstanding mathematician, an influential politician, and as a religious and ethical reformer. Arguably the most influential thinker among the Presocratics, he was thought to have possessed supernatural qualities. This combination of characteristics has led to his portrayal as a controversial and elusive figure. In contrast, his early Pythagorean followers, such as the doctors Democedes and Alcmaeon, the Olympic victors Milon and Iccus, the botanist Menestor, the natural philosopher Hippon, and the mathematicians Hippasus and Theodorus, all appear in our sources as ‘rational' as they can possibly be. This volume studies Pythagoras, Pythagoreanism, and the early Pythagoreans through an analysis of the many representations of the individual and his followers, allowing the representations to complement and critique each other. Using sources dating back to before 300 bc, the book portrays a more historical picture of Pythagoras and of the political society founded by him in Croton. With chapters devoted to the sciences, philosophy, and religion cultivated by Pythagoreans, a critical distinction is made between the theories of individual Pythagoreans. They were as ‘normal' as any other Presocratic, a ‘normality' that ensured the continued existence of Pythagoreanism as a philosophical and scientific school.
Introduction: The Pythagorean question : problems, methods, and sources -- 1. The early tradition on Pythagoras and its development -- 2. Biography : sources, facts, and legends -- 3. Who were the Pythagoreans? -- 4. The Pythagorean communities -- 5. Mathematici and Acusmatici : the Pythagorean "symbols" -- 6. Shamanism and metempsychosis -- 7. Mathematics -- 8. Harmonics and acoustics -- 9. Astronomy -- 10. Medicine and life sciences -- 11. Pythagorean philosophies -- 12. Pythagorean number doctrine in the Academy and Lyceum.
Leonid Zhmud ; translated from Russian by Kevin Windle and Rosh Ireland.
Includes bibliographical references and index.