Neopythagoreanism
Neopythagoreanism(orneo-Pythagoreanism) was a school ofHellenisticandRomanphilosophywhich revivedPythagorean doctrines.Neopythagoreanism was influenced bymiddle Platonismand in turn influencedNeoplatonism.It originated in the 1st century BC and flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. TheEncyclopædia BritannicaEleventh Editiondescribes Neopythagoreanism as "a link in the chain between the old and the new" withinHellenistic philosophy.Central to Neopythagorean thought was the concept of asouland its inherent desire for aunio mysticawith the divine.[1]
The wordNeopythagoreanismis a modern (19th century) term,[2]coined as a parallel of "Neoplatonism".
History
[edit]In the 1st century BCCicero's friendNigidius Figulusmade an attempt to revive Pythagorean doctrines, but the most important members of the school wereApollonius of TyanaandModeratus of Gadesin the 1st century AD. Other important Neopythagoreans include the mathematicianNicomachus of Gerasa(fl. 150 AD), who wrote about the mystical properties of numbers. In the 2nd century,Numenius of Apameasought to fuse additional elements ofPlatonisminto Neopythagoreanism, prefiguring the rise ofNeoplatonism.(Iamblichus,in particular, was especially influenced by Neopythagoreanism.)
Neopythagoreanism was an attempt to re-introduce amysticalreligious element intoHellenistic philosophyin place of what had come to be regarded as an arid formalism. The founders of the school sought to invest their doctrines with the halo of tradition by ascribing them toPythagorasandPlato.They went back to the later period of Plato's thought, the period when Plato endeavoured to combine his doctrine ofIdeaswith Pythagoreannumber theory,and identified thegoodwith themonad(which would give rise to the Neoplatonic concept of "the One"), the source of the duality of the infinite and the measured with the resultant scale of realities from the one down to the objects of the material world.
They emphasized the fundamental distinction between thesoul and the body.Godmust be worshipped spiritually byprayerand thewillto be good, not in outwardaction.The soul must be freed from its material surrounding, the "muddy vesture of decay," by anascetichabit of life. Bodily pleasures and all sensuous impulses must be abandoned as detrimental to the spiritual purity of the soul. God is the principle of good,matterthe groundwork ofevil.In this system can be distinguished not only the asceticism of Pythagoras and the latermysticismof Plato, but also the influence ofOrphismand ofOriental philosophy.Theplatonic formsare no longer self-subsistent entities but are the elements which constitute the content of spiritual activity. The non-material universe is regarded as the sphere ofmindorspirit.
ThePorta Maggiore Basilica,where Neopythagoreans held their meetings in the 1st century, is believed to have been constructed by theStatilia gens.[3]It was discovered in 1915 nearPorta MaggioreonVia PraenestinainRome.[4][5][6]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^Calvin J. Roetzel,The World That Shaped the New Testament,2002,p. 68.
- ^Definition of Neo-pythagoreanism by Merriam-Webster
- ^The Family of Statilius Taurus, Herbert W. Benario, The Classical World, Vol. 64, No. 3 (Nov., 1970), pp. 73–76
- ^Secret pagan basilica in Rome emerges from the shadows after 2,000 years, Nick Squires, The Telegraph, 19 Nov 2015
- ^The neopythagoreans at the Porta Maggiore in Rome, Lisa Spencer, Rosicrucian Digest No. 1 2009. p36-44
- ^Underground basilica of Porta Maggiore map
Bibliography
[edit]- Charles H. Kahn,Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History,Indianapolis: Hackett 2001ISBN0-87220-575-4ISBN978-0872205758
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Neopythagoreanism".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
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Media related toNeopythagoreanismat Wikimedia Commons
