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  • Chapter 6 - The Pythagorean way of life and Pythagorean ethics

  • Edited by Carl A. Huffman, DePauw University, Indiana
  • Book:
    A History of Pythagoreanism
    Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014, pp 131-148

  • Summary

    The ethical-religious dimension of ancient Pythagoreanism is complex and has a conservative side linked to tradition, but also a certain "otherness" in comparison to contemporary customs. There is almost universal agreement that the precepts known as acusmata ("things heard"), or symbola ("tokens", "passwords"), short maxims which were handed down orally and put into practice in everyday life, form the original nucleus of the bios pythagorikos. The author dwells in particular on precepts and practices concerning their relationship with the gods, the daimones, the dead, the family, the group and the outside world. The earliest sources consider silence to be the hallmark of the movement. Pythagoreans thought that after gods and daimones one should pay the greatest attention to parents. Friendship (philia) is the cement that holds the group together and is based on "harmonious equality" as defined by the Pythagoreans.