9 h 2 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if philosophy asks you to change not just your mind, but your whole way of life?
In Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras, a teacher becomes the centre of a demanding way of living. Drawing on older writers and school tradition, Iamblichus traces Pythagoras from his childhood on Samos through his studies with Pherecydes, Thales and Anaximander to his teaching in southern Italy.
Writing some eight hundred years after Pythagoras, Iamblichus offers more than a life story. His portrait gathers rules for daily conduct, accounts of friendship and stories of strange powers. It shows how later ancient readers remember the sage, and how philosophy becomes, for Iamblichus, a discipline of the soul.
What you’ll discover
- A life of learning Follow Iamblichus' account of a thinker shaped by travel, study and encounters with other teachers.
- A city meets Pythagoras Discover how Iamblichus presents the teacher's arrival in Croton as an event for the whole city.
- Silence before belonging Enter an account of a community where candidates face careful examination and demanding rules.
- Number, music and harmony Explore a tradition that connects mathematics and music with the care of the soul.
- Virtue in daily practice See wisdom, courage, self-control and justice take shape in Iamblichus' stories of Pythagorean life.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers curious about ancient philosophy, early Greek religion, music and number, or how a school builds a community around one teacher. If you want sober, sourced biography, you may find its marvels and its devotion hard going.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A wise man born under divine signs
- Learning from many teachers across the world
- Croton: a teacher reshapes a whole city
- A school built on silence and testing
- Number, music and the healing of the soul
- Virtues, friendship and the wonders of the sage
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- Large print hardcover
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Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras
by Iamblichus· 300
A philosopher’s life becomes a guide to thought and conduct.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A wise man born under divine signs
Iamblichus opens with the birth of Pythagoras at Sidon in Phoenicia, during his father's travels for trade. The family's home is the island of Samos, where the boy grows up. His father is named Mnesarchus, and the book gives the family a distinguished and partly sacred background. A prophecy at Delphi is said to have foretold that the child would bring great good to humankind. Iamblichus then asks a bold question. Was this boy an ordinary soul, or one sent to the world to help it?
The author leaves no doubt about his own answer. For him, Pythagoras is closer to a gift from the gods than to a normal human being. Later in the book he even reports that some people thought him a son of Apollo. Iamblichus does not argue the point like a modern historian. He tells the tradition, and he expects the reader to take the spirit of it.
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The author
Iamblichus
245–325 · Syrian Neoplatonist philosopher
Iamblichus was a Neoplatonist philosopher who lived in Syria from about 245 to about 325. He wrote in Greek. His works include a life of Pythagoras and writings on philosophy, mathematics, and religious practices. He studied with the philosopher Porphyry and later taught students in Syria.
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What is Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras about?
It tells the life of the Greek sage Pythagoras, from his birth at Sidon, his boyhood on Samos and his travels to his school in Croton. It also sets out his teaching on silence, music, number, virtue and friendship, as the author understood them.
Is Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras a true story?
It is a mix of tradition and devotion. Iamblichus wrote long after Pythagoras, using older sources, and included marvels. Scholars treat it as valuable for ancient belief about Pythagoras but cautious as hard historical evidence.
Who was Iamblichus?
He was a Syrian Neoplatonist philosopher, a pupil of Porphyry, who taught in the later Roman world. He wrote on Pythagorean thought and on sacred rites, and he influenced later Platonist schools.
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