Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History

by Charles H. Kahn

A fascinating portrait of the Pythagorean tradition, including a substantial account of the Neo-Pythagorean revival, and ending with Johannes Kepler on the threshold of modernism.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Esoterica, History Of Science

208 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Dawson Escott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my new addition to reading early Greek philosophy, this time focused on Pythagoras. The scholastic problem around talking about Pythagoras is a lot of fun. A lot like Homer, it's hard to get at any solid historical truth about him as a figure, especially since as time went on more and more wild mythologization develops around Pythagoras (recalling past lives? refusing to eat beans? having a golden thigh?) and it's hard to figure out what we can actually credit to the man himself. Sadly, it seems like he didn't even figure out the Pythagorean theorem. So I enjoyed, as I read various articles, seeing scholars try to figure out what scraps of information were even salvageable for talking about this 6th century BCE guy who didn't write down a word.

This book ends up being a lot more fruitful than texts which deal just with Pythagoras as an historic figure because it charts the evolution of "Pythagorean" philosophy and science all the way through antiquity, and even includes a great bookending chapter about the Late Renaissance. It was interesting to see the metamorphoses which take place, first the conflation of Plato's worldview with Pythagoras', then the later belief that Plato plagiarized off of Pythagoras, and then ultimately the symbol of Pythagoras as a last-ditch pagan effort to combat Christianity.

The format is nice, as it provides a little depiction of each historical period and helped me to get a sense of the timeline and discrete phases of antiquity overall. Seeing how ideas get jumbled around and reinterpreted from time period to time period is a treat and led to a lot of thinking outside of the book's scope for me. Kahn's writing is decently readable, however some chapters (while informative) are so dry that I could only get through handfuls of pages at a time. It definitely hails from the world of academia, and expects a decent amount of familiarity with Plato's work going in from the reader, which definitely impeded understanding for me at points. Strong points include the discussion of Philolaus' work, to my eyes a great philospher in his own right, and the last chapter was my definite favorite section. It gives a poetic and compelling portrait of Kepler as the final Pythagorean which almost got me emotional thinking all about the strands of history and passed down knowledge across milennia.

Still overall chewy and challenging to get through, and I imagine there are better books about there which deal with similar subject matter in a more accessible way. Heraclitus is up next.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some books feel less like a journey and more like an intellectual conversation—one that, while not always going where you intended, still manages to enlighten and surprise. Charles H. Kahn’s Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History is precisely this sort of text. I came to it hoping to find some clarity on the enigmatic figure of Pythagoras himself, eager to dive into what is known as "The Pythagoras Problem," but I left with a much richer, if different, understanding of his enduring philosophical legacy.

The Allure of the Pythagoras Problem

I was drawn to this book by a genuine fascination with the puzzle that is Pythagoras. The man is a figure of legend—a towering intellect who supposedly birthed modern mathematics while also insisting on bizarre dietary restrictions and, as folklore suggests, even a dark act of violence against a disciple for the "sin" of discovering irrational numbers. The academic debate surrounding him—the clash between Walter Burkert's portrayal of Pythagoras as a religious cult leader and Leonid Zhmud's counter-argument of him as a true scientific innovator—is a compelling narrative in itself. I was looking for a book that would orient me within this scholarly debate, to give me the lay of the land.

Kahn, however, only briefly touches upon this central question in the opening pages. This was, I admit, a disappointment. The book quickly pivots away from the man himself to focus on the long shadow he cast, transforming from a biography into a history of ideas. While not what I had signed up for, the shift proved to be a powerful, if unexpected, learning experience.

The Unintended Education

Where Kahn's book truly excels is in its detailed exploration of the "post-Pythagorean" world. Rather than getting bogged down in the unsolvable problem of Pythagoras’s true nature, the author masterfully charts the evolution of Pythagorean thought and its profound influence on subsequent thinkers. The sections on Plato, in particular, were revelatory. I gained a much clearer picture of the subtle and not-so-subtle distinctions between Pythagoreanism, Platonism, Neopythagoreanism, and Neoplatonism.

This rigorous philosophical cartography reveals how much of what we attribute to Pythagoras is actually an accretion of later thought, particularly from the Platonic tradition. Kahn effectively demonstrates that Pythagoras is less a single historical figure and more a philosophical current that shaped the intellectual landscape of the ancient world. The book’s finale, a brief but brilliant section on Johannes Kepler as the "last great Neo-Pythagorean," was a highlight and a powerful testament to the enduring, centuries-spanning influence of Pythagorean thought.

The Stumbles and the Style

Unfortunately, the book's narrow focus on philosophy sometimes came at the expense of other, more tangible aspects of the Pythagorean tradition. I had hoped for a deeper dive into their mathematics and numerology—the cosmic fascination with numbers that so defined their worldview. Instead, many sections felt like a dense philosophical slog, dry and overly technical for a text that bills itself as a "brief history." While the Kepler section was a notable exception, the general lack of engagement with the scientific and mathematical side of their legacy was a missed opportunity.

Kahn’s approach to time felt jarring. After spending the vast majority of the book meticulously charting the relationships between Greek and Roman philosophers in the ancient world, he abruptly jumps a millennium in the final pages to discuss Copernicus and Kepler. While I appreciated the inclusion of these figures, the transition felt jarring and left me wanting more.

Final Thoughts

I am genuinely glad I read this book. It did not solve the puzzle I set out to solve, but it provided an education I didn't know I needed. It clarified the murky relationship between Pythagoreanism and Platonism and gave me a new appreciation for how ideas evolve and influence one another over time. Kahn’s work may not be the definitive answer to the Pythagoras Problem, but it is an excellent testament to the enduring power of his ideas.

I rate Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History a solid four stars. It is an imperfect book that nonetheless delivers a powerful and insightful lesson on the history of philosophy and the complex legacy of a man who was perhaps more a legend than a historical figure.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The focus of this book is primarily on how Pythagoreanism influenced thinkers from ancient times up through Kepler in the 17th century. My main take away is that Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism really become a catch-all symbol of a sage-like, mystical philosophical/mathematical musings. It's not even really clear to me that the ideas later referred to as something called Pythagoreanism is all that connected to the historical Pythagoras--of whom we seem to know very little. Pythagoras seems to become a kind of omniscient sage symbol rather than a philosopher of distinct ideas and arguments.

Kahn argues for some influence on Plato and his Academy and through this and Neoplatonism gets picked up by others in later antiquity and in the Renaissance. The content of this influence on Plato is somewhat opaque, and seems centered on two main ideas: the cosmological role of numbers and geometry and the transmigration of souls. But it's also not entirely clear where these ideas really come from and how they find their way (and the extent that they really do) into Plato (though I think they are there in Academic Platonism and later Neoplatonism -- I'm less sure about Plato himself).

The book doesn't really get into the ideas themselves as such, it's more focus on tracing the lines of influence from thinker to thinker. It won't really be of interest to someone looking for a precis of Pythagoras or his ideas. I found it enlightening at times but not really what I was looking for.

[N · Rating 2 out of 5]

An unintentional lipogram that seeks to write about those who write about the ideas of Pythagoras but without writing about the ideas of Pythagoras.

Notes
2 tenets: 1, harmonia, the proportions found in numbers and music and celestial objects all betray the mathematical symmetry of creation, the music of the spheres. 2 - the immortality of the soul, either through transmigration of souls in rebirth, or through breaking the and liberation from rebirth

Pythagorean members rare homokooi (those who come together to listen), in the assembly hall, homakoeion, to hear an akousma (hearing) or a symbolon (password), protected by a vow of silence. INitiates have a 5yr trial period where they cannot speak, listening to the voice of Pythagoras (‘koina ta philon’ meaning friends have all things in common). Passing this test, they become esoterics, members of the inner circle and can see the master in person.

Tetractys triangle, of 4, 3, 2, 1 = 10, Monad unity, Dyad peiras/apeiron (limited/unlimited), Triad of harmony, Tetrad of Kosmos = Decad

Nous intellect does not coincide with the voice of the gods phrenes, so the setting of the logismos and the surrounding darkness is associated with ekstasis, the divine madness

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

I assumed from the title that this would be a book about Pythagoras and his immediate circle, but that was basically covered only in the first two chapters; most of the book is about the Pythagorean and neo-Pythagorean tradition after the time of Pythagoras, through Philolaus and Archytas, the Pythagorean influence on Plato and the Old Academy, the Roman/Alexandrian revival of Pythagoreanism after centuries of neglect, the neo-Pythagoreans and their influence on neo-Platonism, and the revival of Pythagorean ideas in the Renaissance -- the book ends with Kepler. It's very much a summary; the last comprehensive account of Pythagoreanism, as the author points out, was Chaignet's two volume French history published in 1873, although he bases this book largely on the twentieth century works of E.R. Dodds, Walter Burkert, Carl Huffman and Leonid Zhmud. Burkert and Huffman read the work before publication, although Kahn occasionally disagrees with their interpretations. Philosophy is emphasized; there was less about the mathematical and musical traditions than I was hoping for, but also less emphasis on the occult practices than I expected.

[Ryan Schaller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief but extremely dense academic look at the Philosophy of Pythagoras. If you're looking for a collection of the myths and stories surrounding the figure of Pythagoras, this is probably not the book you're looking for. Kahn focuses on the philosophy of Pythagoras and discusses what might have come from Pythagoras himself, and which ideas seem to originate with later writers in the Pythagorean tradition.

I didn't buy this book expecting to read so much about Plato and Neoplatonism. I hadn't realized the connections between Plato and Pythagoras. By the time I finished this book, even if it wasn't what I was looking to get out of it, I have a much better understanding of Plato's work and how Platonic philosophy evolved.

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Focuses too much on what other modern academics have said and their speculations, not what I am looking for.

Next step in the right direction would be :
Chaignet's Pythagore et la philosophie pythagoricienne (1873)
Iamblichus and Porphyry's Pythagoras' biographies.
Proclus
Hierocles
Fabre d’Olivet - Examens des Vers Dorés de Pythagore

[Ben Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent scholarly overview of the Pythagorean and Neo-Pythagorean tradition. This is the text that I have been searching for. Extremely grateful to the author of this landmark work.

[Charlie Moll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing scholarly work on Pythagoreanism. Really helps put platonism and Neoplatonism into perspective. I wish I had read this sooner.

[Maan Kawas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, I really loved it!

[Dominic Geraghty]

The shaman Pythagoras lives on! Intriguing continuum from the 5th century B.C. to the current neo-Pythagorean movement.

[Matt Ely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps would be better titled "The Pythagoreans and Pythagoras." The man himself is obscured, not to the author's discredit, by too many millennia for us to know much about him. Most of what we learn is how much has likely been fabricated about the man himself, including his unlikely authorship of the geometric theorem that famously bears his name.

Rather, this is a history of the succeeding generations who have claimed some part of his legacy. Whether it's the lifestyle, the theology, the music, or the math, people latch onto different elements of the Pythagorean tradition and make it their own. The text is primarily a history of thought, rather than a history of lived communities. The author traces philosophers who claimed the tradition, to one degree or another, and how they changed it, conflated it, or discouraged it. He goes into some detail about its inseparable conflation with Platonic philosophy in the generations after Aristotle.

I did find it frustrating that it's mostly focused on ancient sources. When projected into the modern day, his focus is mostly the tradition's scientific progeny. It doesn't pursue the communities who still trace their ideas to this community, notably the Druze, and, for the author, the legacy ends with Tycho Brahe. I think it could've been pushed further, but perhaps that's a whole separate book. This is squarely focused on ancient thought and adherence, a history of ideas and individuals, not communities or modern ramifications.

[Jim Dougherty · Rating 2 out of 5]

This reads like a doctoral thesis. It does little to discuss the theories and philosophy of the Pythagorian way... Rather it seeks to debate which ideas historically attributed to the famed thinker are legitamately Pythagorian, and which have simply fallen under that banner

[Will Shanklin]

Good and objective. Tells about the mysticism surrounding him, but separates it from the facts.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few chapters are an interesting history of the Phythagoreans, but the later chapters are more convoluted.