Pythagoras by Raphael

Contents

Part One:
The Quest for Knowledge

  • Birth of Pythagoras
  • Early Years
  • Studies in Ionia
  • Passage to Egypt
  • Temples of Egypt and Babylon
  • Travels in the Greek World
  • Departure for Italy

Part Two:
The Teachings of Pythagoras

  • The Pythagorean Community
  • Knowledge
  • The Soul
  • Friendship
  • Mathematics
  • Music
  • Astronomy and Cosmology
  • Care of the Self
  • Magic and Miracles
  • Family Life
  • Politics and Justice
  • The Gods

Part Three:
Decline of the Pythagorean School

  • The Death of Pythagoras
  • Followers of Pythagoras

Part Four:
The Golden Verses

  • Translator's Note
  • The Golden Verses

Reviewers' Comments

Most people have heard of Pythagoras, but have little idea of why his name lives on. This book fulfils a long-felt need for a first portal of access to the man and his world: to his harmonious blend of reason and mysticism, experimental science and the arts of life. The authors tell his extraordinary story as though it were the most natural thing in the world. And so it is, if we can recapture the Pythagorean vision of the cosmos: a marvel of crystalline complexity, filled with spirit and divinely ordered for the well-being of all creatures. If ever we needed to reclaim this philosophy, which is the birthright of our culture, it is now.

--Joscelyn Godwin, Colgate University,
Author of Harmonies of Heaven and Earth, The Harmony of the Spheres and Music, Mysticism and Magic

This is an excellent introduction to the life and teachings of Pythagoras taken from early sources. Succinct, clear and well-written, I found it most instructive and (more important, very) inspiring.

--Gordon Strachan,
Author of Jesus, the Master Builder: Druid Mysteries and the Dawn of Civilization

As early as 538 b.c., Pythagoras founded the earliest holistic school of thought based on the study of rational science and religious mysticism. It was one of the earliest attempts in history at reconciling reason and faith, and at utilizing the truth of science together with the truth of religion for the enlightenment of humankind. Since then the gap between the "intellect" and the "heart" has perilously widened. We have come to see that science deprived of spirituality becomes a servant of materialism and inhumanity, while religion deprived of science can only succumb to the tyranny of superstition. We are indebted to the authors of Divine Harmony, who have resurrected for our time that philosophy and that vision, so that we may once more adopt a holistic approach in exploring and understanding truth.

--Suheil Bushrui,
Bahai Chair for World Peace, University of Maryland; Co-Author of Kahlil Gibran, Man and Poet: A New Biography

A clear and delightfully engaging introduction to Pythagoras, his philosophy and its contemporary relevance.

--David Fideler,
Editor, Alexandria: The Journal of the Western Cosmological Tradition, and The Pythagorean Sourcebook.
Author of Jesus Christ Sun of God: Ancient Cosmology and Early Christian Symbolism

This is a delightful book, well, written, easy to read...full of history, legend, and nuggets of wisdom from the founding school of Western science--before science, mysticism, and religion went their separate and often opposing ways.

-- Jonathan Shear
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
Virginia Commonwealth Univ.
Managing Editor, Journal of Consciousness Studies. Author of The Inner Dimension: Philosophy and the Experience of Consciousness