4 ms·

Pythagoras was Syrian, fwiw. He was also inclusive AF. Female Pythagorean philosophers (Miya, Damo, etc), multiethnic Pythagorean philosophers (Abaris), plus,

Pythagoras was Syrian, fwiw. He was also inclusive AF. Female Pythagorean philosophers (Miya, Damo, etc), multiethnic Pythagorean philosophers (Abaris), plus, his whole thing was incorporating diverse wisdom from multiple cultural sources— Egyptians, Persians, Babylonians, Jews, Greeks, etc. He was even inclusive of animals, if you read his vegetarianism. So, the heart of western math is a pretty solid place to look for modern morality. Just saying. We can’t expect that of the ancients, but Pythagoras really delivers. In 530BC!

xupybd 4y ago
https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/how-irrational-numbers-discovered-mathematician-killed-hippasus.html#why-did-they-kill-hippasus https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/how-irrational-numb... Maybe they had some ground to cover on the morality front.
- dr_dshiv 4y ago
  Not sourced. Wikipedia has sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasus
yesenadam 4y ago
> Pythagoras was Syrian, fwiw. Pythagoras of Samos?! Source? As far as I know, he was from Samos, a Greek island. Thus his name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras
- dr_dshiv 4y ago
  His father, Mnesarchus, was a jeweler and trader from Tyre. Source: Neanthes of Cyzicus, historian, 3rd c. B.C referenced in Porphyry’s “Life of Pythagoras”
  - yesenadam 4y ago
    Thanks. All the sources I've looked at say his ancestry is disputed and a great source of controversy, not surprisingly, so I guess it says different stories in different texts. I don't think your tone of certainty is at all justified. edit: Porphyry's book begins: "Many think that Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus, but they differ as to the latter's race; some thinking him a Samian, while Neanthes, in the fifth book of his Fables states he was a Syrian, from the city of Tyre." Your source lacks your apparent certainty. https://archive.org/details/CompletePythagoras/page/n81/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/CompletePythagoras/page/n81/mode... Interestingly, in the same text, Iamblichus, who studied with Porphyry and seems to have been a devoted Pythagorean, says in his Life of Pythagoras: "From the family and alliance of this Ancaeus, founder of the colony [of Samos], were therefore descended Pythagoras's parents Mnesarchus and Pythais."
    - dr_dshiv 4y ago
      There is so little known for sure about Pythagoras — and yet so much value in his story. The guy is a legend— and due uncertainty gets in the way of a good story. The more I read about him, the better and better it gets.
  - nurettin 4y ago
    Doesn't that mean he was born Greek, but has Syrian ancestry, rather than "He was Syrian"?

xupybd 4y ago

https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/how-irrational-numbers-discovered-mathematician-killed-hippasus.html#why-did-they-kill-hippasus https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/how-irrational-numb... Maybe they had some ground to cover on the morality front.

dr_dshiv 4y ago
Not sourced. Wikipedia has sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippasus

yesenadam 4y ago

> Pythagoras was Syrian, fwiw. Pythagoras of Samos?! Source? As far as I know, he was from Samos, a Greek island. Thus his name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras

dr_dshiv 4y ago
His father, Mnesarchus, was a jeweler and trader from Tyre. Source: Neanthes of Cyzicus, historian, 3rd c. B.C referenced in Porphyry’s “Life of Pythagoras”
- yesenadam 4y ago
  Thanks. All the sources I've looked at say his ancestry is disputed and a great source of controversy, not surprisingly, so I guess it says different stories in different texts. I don't think your tone of certainty is at all justified. edit: Porphyry's book begins: "Many think that Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus, but they differ as to the latter's race; some thinking him a Samian, while Neanthes, in the fifth book of his Fables states he was a Syrian, from the city of Tyre." Your source lacks your apparent certainty. https://archive.org/details/CompletePythagoras/page/n81/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/CompletePythagoras/page/n81/mode... Interestingly, in the same text, Iamblichus, who studied with Porphyry and seems to have been a devoted Pythagorean, says in his Life of Pythagoras: "From the family and alliance of this Ancaeus, founder of the colony [of Samos], were therefore descended Pythagoras's parents Mnesarchus and Pythais."
  - dr_dshiv 4y ago
    There is so little known for sure about Pythagoras — and yet so much value in his story. The guy is a legend— and due uncertainty gets in the way of a good story. The more I read about him, the better and better it gets.
- nurettin 4y ago
  Doesn't that mean he was born Greek, but has Syrian ancestry, rather than "He was Syrian"?