Pythagoras: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:03, 21 October 2005

Revision as of 05:23, 21 October 2005

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Upon his migration from Samos to Crotona, Pythagoras established a secret religious society very similar to, and possibly influenced by, the earlier Orphic cult.

Pythagoras undertook a reform of the cultural life of CrotonaCroton, urging the citizens to follow virtue and form an [[elite]] circle of followers around himself. Very strict rules of conduct governed this cultural center. He opened his school to men and women students alike. They called themselves the ''Mathematikoi''; a secret society of sorts.

According to [[Iamblichus (philosopher)|Iamblichus]], the [[Pythagoreans]] followed a structured life of religious teaching, common meals, exercise, reading and philosophical study. We may infer from this that participants required some degree of wealth and leisure to join the inner circle. [[Music]] featured as an essential organizing factor of this life: the disciples would sing hymns to [[Apollo]] together regularly; they used the [[lyre]] to cure illness of the soul or body; [[poetry]] recitations occurred before and after sleep to aid the memory.

The [[Pythagorean theorem]] that bears his name was known much earlier in [[Mesopotamia]] and [[Egypt]], but no proofs have been discovered before the proofs offered by the [[Greek]]s. Whether Pythagoras himself proved this theorem is not known. It was common in the ancient world to credit to a famous teacher the discoveries of his students - a practice that still can be found in the modern world.(u r a piece of crap)

==Pythagoreans==