by

Kate Hobgood

Pythagoras

         Pythagoras was the first of the great teachers of ancient Greece. Born in 580 B.C., Pythagoras became one of the most well known philosopher and mathematician in history. Creating the Pythagorean Brotherhood, his teachings greatly influenced Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Pythagoras is considered as the first pure mathematician; he also founded a community/society based on religion and science. He is most widely known as the author of the Pythagorean Theorem. Some even venture to believe that the word “philosophy” was invented by Pythagoras. He claimed to be a lover of wisdom, for which the Greek word philo means love and Sophia means wisdom.

         The Teachings of Pythagoras revolved around the idea that when considering the deepest level, reality is essentially mathematical in nature. Pytahgoreans believed there was a system of principles existed behind numbers. The principles form a foundation for many concepts of traditional Western thought. One of his most basic notions revolves around the symbolism and beauty associated with the Divine Proportion.

         Pythagoras expressed his thoughts and ideas by using words and symbols rather than numbers as we know them today. Instead, his ideas were based on many thoughts that we associate with numbers today. For instance, a point is the essence of a circle. A series of symbolic forms were constructed to mirror the concepts of the universe. Using a compass, straightedge, and writing utensil, mathematical philosophers created these symbolic representations.

The Mystery of Numbers

       

Introduction

philosophical school and religious brotherhood, believed to have been founded by Pythagoras of Samos, who settled in Croton in southern Italy about 525 BCE.

 

General features of Pythagoreanism

The character of the original Pythagoreanism is controversial, and the conglomeration of disparate features that it displayed is intrinsically confusing. Its fame rests, however, on some very influential ideas, not always correctly understood, that have been ascribed to it since antiquity. These ideas include those of (1) the metaphysic of number and the conception that reality, including music and astronomy, is, at its deepest level, mathematical in nature; (2) the use of philosophy as a means of spiritual purification; (3) the heavenly destiny of the soul and the possibility of its rising to union with the divine; (4) the appeal to certain symbols, sometimes mystical, such as the tetraktys, the golden section, and the harmony of the spheres; (5) the Pythagorean theorem; and (6) the demand that members of the order shall observe a strict loyalty and secrecy.
By laying stress on certain inner experiences and intuitive truths revealed only to the initiated, Pythagoreanism seems to have represented a soul-directed subjectivism alien to the mainstream of pre-Socratic Greek thought centring on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor, which was preoccupied with determining what the basic cosmic substance is.
In contrast with such Ionian naturalism, Pythagoreanism was akin to trends seen in mystery religions and emotional movements, such as Orphism, which often claimed to achieve through intoxication a spiritual insight into the divine origin and nature of the soul. Yet there are also aspects of it that appear to have owed much to the more sober, “Homeric” philosophy of the Ionians. The Pythagoreans, for example, displayed an interest in metaphysics, as did their naturalistic predecessors, though they claimed to find its key in mathematical form rather than in any substance. They accepted the essentially Ionian doctrines that the world is composed of opposites (wet-dry, hot-cold, and so on) and generated from something unlimited; but they added the idea of the imposition of limit upon the unlimited and the sense of a musical harmony in the universe. Again, like the Ionians, they devoted themselves to astronomical and geometrical speculation. Combining, as it does, a rationalistic theory of number with a mystic numerology and a speculative cosmology with a theory of the deeper, more enigmatic reaches of the soul, Pythagoreanism interweaves rationalism and irrationalism more inseparably than does any other movement in ancient Greek thought.

 

I came across an interesting subject and found it intriguing, so I thought I would present it to the forums to get some input and thoughts on the subject.  Its the alleged parallel between the Jesus of the New Testament (6 B.C.E.-33ad?) and Pythagoras of the 6th Century BCE. 

I will quote an excerpt from an article by Dr Joshua David Stone:

"There is an interesting story about Pythagoras that was told that demonstrates His remarkable powers. Pythagoras, in His travels, apparently one day came across some fishermen who were drawing up their nets which were filled with fish. Pythagoras told the fishermen that He could tell them the exact number of fish they had caught, which the fishermen thought to be an impossible task, given how many were caught in the nets. The fishermen said that if He was right they would do anything He said. They counted all the fish and Pythagoras was totally accurate in His estimate. He then ordered the fishermen to return the fish to the sea and for some mystical reason none of them died. Pythagoras paid the fishermen for the price of the fish and left for Crotona. Incidents like this caused Pythagoras’ fame to spread. During one of His lectures in Italy it was said that He gained 2000 disciples from that one lecture alone." http://www.iamuniversity.ch/Pythagoras-and-Biosophy

In this story, though it is not mentioned in this excerpt, Pythagoras counted 153 fish.  Take note of that number especially.  The number 153 was most significant for being the denominator in the closest fraction known, at the time.   Now we go to the story of Jesus and the fishermen in John 21:1-11.

"After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way.  Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.  Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will also come with you."  They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.  But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  So Jesus said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" They answered Him, "No." And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch." So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.  Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord."  So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.  So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread.  Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish which you have now caught."  Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn."

Derveni papyrus It dates to around 340 BC
The text is a commentary on a hexameter poem ascribed to Orpheus. Fragments of the poem are quoted. The poem begins with the words "Close the doors, you uninitiated", a famous admonition to secrecy, recounted by Plato. The theogony described in the poem has Nyx (Night) give birth to Heaven (Uranus), who becomes the first king. Cronus follows and takes the kingship from Uranus, but he is likewise succeeded by Zeus.
Zeus, having "heard oracles from his father", goes to the sanctuary of Night, who tells him "all the oracles which afterwards he was to put into effect." Upon hearing them, Zeus "swallowed the phallus [of the king Uranus] who first had ejaculated the brilliance of heaven."[4]

Orphism (more rarely Orphicism) (Ancient Greek: Ὀρφικά) is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices^[1] originating in the ancient Greek and the Hellenistic world,^[2] as well as by the Thracians,^[3] associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into Hades and returned. Orphics also revered Persephone (who annually descended into Hades for a season and then returned) and Dionysus or Bacchus (who also descended into Hades and returned). Orpheus was said to have invented the Mysteries of Dionysus.^[4] Poetry containing distinctly Orphic beliefs has been traced back to the 6th century BC^[5] or at least 5th century BC, and graffiti of the 5th century BC apparently refers to "Orphics".^[6]

Classical sources, such as Plato, refer to "Orpheus-initiators" (Ὀρφεοτελεσταί), and associated rites, although how far "Orphic" literature in general related to these rites is not certain.^[7] As in the Eleusinian mysteries, initiation into Orphic mysteries promised advantages in the afterlife.

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Orphism
Maieutics is an evolution of the technical methods of Orphism.  Maieutics consists in the belief that there is somehow a knowledge that is stored in the mind by tradition and the experience of past generations. Therefore, maieutics invites the individual to discover the truth that is latent in a person.

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Peculiarities[edit]

The main elements of Orphism differed from popular ancient Greek religion in the following ways:

• by characterizing human souls as divine and immortal but doomed to live (for a period) in a "grievous circle" of successive bodily lives through metempsychosis or the transmigration of souls.
• by prescribing an ascetic way of life which, together with secret initiation rites, was supposed to guarantee not only eventual release from the "grievous circle" but also communion with god(s).
• by warning of postmortem punishment for certain transgressions committed during life.
• by being founded upon sacred writings about the origin of gods and human beings.

Compare with Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Gnosticism.

"[He was] a brilliant scholar who discovered many secrets about the heavenly spheres and our cosmos."
―Leonardo da Vinci, on Pythagoras.[src]
Pythagoras (c. 570 - 495 BCE) was an ancient Greek scholar and mathematician, who at one point had dealings with a Piece of Eden.

Contents[show]
BiographyEdit
TetractysEdit
PL-Adagio
Pythagoras and Kyros in Samos
During the 6th century BCE, Pythagoras and his protégé, Kyros of Zarax, lived in the town of Samos, where they had a villa. During one of his strolls through the town, Pythagoras suddenly rushed into a nearby blacksmith and began to hit anvils with hammers, paying special attention to the different sounds they made.

He then had Kyros take ten hammers of different sizes back to his villa, and asked the blacksmiths to bring an anvil there as well. They spent their entire day experimenting with the hammers, and Pythagoras made many notes in the sand of his courtyard, barely even touching the food that his wife Theano brought him. After a long night of making notes and studying them, he muttered something about the tetractys before he went to sleep.

The next morning, a gathering of renowned scholars was held at the villa, where Pythagoras explained his theory of "the perfect number" to his fellow scholars. Though many were skeptical about his findings, there were also many who praised him for his discovery.[1]