A History of Pythagoreanism [Paperback]

A comprehensive, authoritative, innovative and accessible account of Pythagoreanism, one of the most enigmatic and influential philosophies in the West.This book is for anyone interested in the history of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism. Leading scholars discuss Pythagoras' biography and way of life, and the impact of Pythagoreanism on politics, philosophy, religion, music, mathematics and magic, from Athens to Rome, from 570 BC to 1800 AD.This book is for anyone interested in the history of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism. Leading scholars discuss Pythagoras' biography and way of life, and the impact of Pythagoreanism on politics, philosophy, religion, music, mathematics and magic, from Athens to Rome, from 570 BC to 1800 AD.This is a comprehensive, authoritative and innovative account of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism, one of the most enigmatic and influential philosophies in the West. In twenty-one chapters covering a timespan from the sixth century BC to the seventeenth century AD, leading scholars construct a number of different images of Pythagoras and his community, assessing current scholarship and offering new answers to central problems. Chapters are devoted to the early Pythagoreans, and the full breadth of Pythagorean thought is explored including politics, religion, music theory, science, mathematics and magic. Separate chapters consider Pythagoreanism in Plato, Aristotle, the Peripatetics and the later Academic tradition, while others describe Pythagoreanism in the historical tradition, in Rome and in the pseudo-Pythagorean writings. The three great lives of Pythagoras by Diogenes Laertius, Porphyry and Iamblichus are also discussed in detail, as is the significance of Pythagoras for the Middle Ages and Renaissance.Introduction Carl A. Huffman; 1. Pythagoras Geoffrey Lloyd; 2. Philolaus Daniel W. Graham; 3. Archytas Malcolm Schofield; 4. Sixth-, fifth- and fourth-century Pythagoreans Leonid Zhmud; 5. The Pythagorean Society and politics Catherine Rowett; 6.lÒ