I PARCHI LETTERARI® IN CALABRIA “JOURNEYS TO THE FUTURE OF MEMORY” - I PARCHI LETTERARI IN THE MARQUISATE OF CROTONE: PYTHAGORAS

PYTHAGORAS, he who persuades the public squares

Pythagoras (in Greek “Pythagòras”, from "pithia", Apollo’s temple or from pèithō = to persuade + agora = public square, literally, he who persuades the public square).

Some historians doubt the historical truth of this figure. Ancient biographers attribute him with a semi-divine nature, which allowed him to perform miracles, including the healing of illnesses. He founded a school of philosophy that was named after him, but convinced of the superiority of the oral tradition with respect to the written word, he failed to leave behind any form of documentation. Moreover, since he prohibited his followers to write about and to speak about his own theories with strangers, it is impossible to ascertain which ideas were his own and which were those of his disciples.

Pythagoras’s life covered almost the entire 6th Century B.C.: he was born in Samo around 572 B.C., he died in Metaponto around 494. The most important sources regarding his biography date to the first few centuries A.D. Porphyry and Iamblichus, the authors of two biographies on the scientist, were both from the third century A.D.
An exposition of the Pythagorean theorem was made by Aristotle (4th Century B.C.); his mathematical theory is described by Proclus (5th Century A.D.).

Crotone’s fame owes much to the prolific Pythagorean school that is estimated to have been founded by the great teacher between 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. According to legend, it was the God Apollo who preordained him to go to Crotone and transmit his knowledge. The philosopher and mathematician chose this destination after having consulted with the Oracle at Delphi, who directed him to the city. Certainly, he was familiar with the scientific-medical, artistic and philosophic culture of the city, as well as its favourable political climate. In fact, its domination extended to the other Ionian cities. Once he reached Crotone, Pythagoras managed to immediately earn the favour of the city’s inhabitants, due to his wide-ranging knowledge, which he had learned from teachers like Anaximander and the experiences he had during his long journeys to the Middle East and Egypt. Once consensus had grown, he governed “aristocratically”. Inside the city walls, a magnificent white marble construction was built for him, surrounded by gardens and porticoes, which was destined for the teacher’s school. It was called the House of the Muses. In this school, the teacher developed his ideas, which included: metempsychosis, the theory that the soul lives on after the body dies; this was followed by the eschatological doctrine, according to which the soul transmigrates into different life forms, perfecting itself until it reaches God; dualism, which deals with the cosmos and the surrounding atmosphere; the theory according to which the number is the arché (the principle of all things); the construction of decimal-based arithmetic and his famous theorem.