Eric Omazu
Department of Philosophy
National Open University of Nigeria
Abstract
The influence of Egypt in the development of Pythagoras and his philosophy is well
documented. Ancient testimonies recorded that Pythagoras undertook his studies in Egypt.
They also referred to the influence of the Egyptian experience in his philosophy. However,
there is little attempt to aggregate the Egyptian influence and present them as a systematic
whole. This paper traces the Egyptian influence in the philosophy of Pythagoras. It
identifies three contributions of Pythagoras’ and through method of critical analysis it
demonstrates their Egyptian sources.
Introduction
There is a rising appreciation of the importance of Pythagoras to Western philosophy and
indeed Western civilization. On this account, he is reputed to have exerted great influence
in the entire Western civilization, its science and its philosophy. Recently, Afrocentric
scholars in various disciplinary fields, in response to the charge of intellectual laziness
against the Africans, have invoked the foundational role of African thoughts via Egypt in
the formation of Western philosophy. Most major Pre-Socratic and Socratic philosophers
including Thales, Pythagoras, Democritus, Socrates and Plato, among others, were
educated in the Egyptian Mystery Schools. Their philosophies were as such a conscious
and systematic acculturation of Egyptian philosophy and the spirit of that philosophy into
Greek societies.
Ancient Egypt was the model of civilization in antiquity. It was also a turbulent arena due
mainly to unending invasion of Egypt by barbarian nations who desired its wealth and
progress. For instance, after the death of Pharaoh Ahmose II and within few months of the
reign of his successor Psametik III, Cambysses II of Persia invaded Egypt with the aid of
Polycrates of Samos in 525 B.C while Pythagoras studied there. He was among the
prisoners of war taken by the Persians. “This invasion ended the Twenty-Six Dynasty – the
last native dynasty to rule Egypt- and saw Egypt annexed to Achaemenid Persian empire.”
(Lewis-Highcorrell 399).
The apparent instability of Egypt at the time forced many people out of Egypt and could
have prompted the Greek graduates of the Egyptian Mystery Schools to “move Egypt to
Greece ” leading to centuries of crystallization of Egyptian philosophic culture in Greece.
This movement started with Thales but Pythagoras is regarded as the strongest
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exemplification of Egyptian influence in Greek Philosophy. This paper seeks to
demonstrate the extent of this influence in Pythagoras’ philosophy.
Life of Pythagoras
Pythagoras (570 – 490 B.C) was born in Samos. It was a small independent Island from
which Ionia could be seen. He was a student of Thales, the founding figure of Western
philosophy and Science. Iamblichus reports that it was Thales who advised Pythagoras to
journey to Egypt to undertake a more extensive study of the wisdom of the Egyptians. (6).
He spent twenty-two years studying in the Egyptian Mystery Schools.
In Egypt, Pythagoras studied in a number of temples, including the Temple
of ON (HELIOPOLIS) which at the time had a reputation for learning
similar to that which will latter attain to Alexandria in Ptolemaic period, and
at the temple at WAST (THEBES), where he became initiated as a priest.
(Lewis-Highcorrell 399)
The initiation of Pythagoras into the Egyptian priesthood was a special privilege. He was
the only non Egyptian ever to be so initiated. Even Thales before him and Socrates and
Plato who also studied in Egypt after him received no such privilege. With the fall of Egypt
in the hands of Cambyses II of Persia, Pythagoras was taken into captivity in Persia. Once
freed by the Persians, he undertook some courses of study under the Persian Magis. Unlike
the Egyptian schools where wisdom was taught, the Persian Magi consisted mainly of
courses of study in religion and magic. The word, magic, is said to have derived from the
activities of the Magis. He returned to his native Island in and founded a school which he
named Hemicycle, and his classroom was a cave outside the city. He fled Samos again
following the death of Polycrates and its subsequent occupation by the Persians. He landed
in Croton, an Italian city governed by 1000 oligarchs, in 520 B.C. where he re-established
his school.
Studentship in Pythagoras’ school was heavily vetted by Pythagoras who emphasized
character and ability to learn as pre-qualifications for admission. Pythagoras would later
pay for his strict admission criteria. Kylon, one of the persons denied admission into the
school, organized an attack against the school, projecting it as an oligarchic instrument
following the collapse of the government of the 1000 oligarchs and the institution of
democracy. Once again, Pythagoras fled, this time to Metapontum where he finally died.
Pythagoras school was divided into two: the Akousmatikoi and Mathematikoi. The
Akousmatikoi was an outer school where students came to listen to the teachings of
Pythagoras and return to their homes. There were no special requirements imposed on this
category of students. They could eat meat, sacrifice to the gods, eat beans and do so many
other things forbidden to Pythagoras’ followers. In stricto sensu it is the Mathematikoi
School that is referred to as Pythagorean School. Members were subjected to a strict mental
and moral regimen. They were the true learners of Pythagoreanism. They lived chastely,
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abstained from meat, and offered no blood sacrifices, never urinated towards the sun,
practiced communal living, among other rules of conduct laid down for them by
Pythagoras. It was from the practice of this school that the term Mathematics originated,
in recognition of the importance they placed on the place of numbers in the universe.
Arendt holds that Pythagoras championed the “conviction that mathematical reasoning
should serve as a paradigm for all thought.” (59).
Pythagoras wrote nothing. Members of his society practiced ”autosepha (“he said it”) in
which all doctrine was attributed to Pythagoras himself.” (Anderson 48). The problem with
this is the difficulty of deciphering what is authentically Pythagoras’ contribution and that
which were works of his followers.
Metempsychosis
Metempsychosis also known as transmigration of the soul is the metaphysical idea that
grounds the morals of Pythagoras and the group he formed. Burkerts regards the idea as
the “one most certain fact in the history of early Pythagoreanism.” (Burkert ).
Metempsychosis is the name given to the belief that a soul inhabits another body of either
individual persons or animals in successive periods of time following the bodily death of
the individual in whom the soul was previously inhabited. Long lists three conditions of
metempsychosis and they include the following: “(a) the place where the soul and its new
body dwell must be, at least in part, this world; (b) the new body must be acquired for more
than a temporary period; and (c) the soul, which passes from one body to another, must be
that which creates an individual” (Long 149). The three conditions listed by Long are
faulty. His first claim that the soul united with the body must at least exist in part in this
world comes with the impression that the body possesses capacity to exist elsewhere other
than this world. As an extended entity, the body’s sole abode of existence is the physical
world. In the Platonic idea of the soul, the soul possesses the ability to exist outside the
body in the world of form. Aristotle also holds a similar view and maintains that death
entails the exit of the soul, which he regards as the form of the body, from the body leading
to the dissolution of the body. The soul on exiting the body returns to the world of forms
where it came from. The body, therefore, has no capacity to exist anywhere outside the
world. Secondly, Long’s claim that the new body must be acquired for more than a
temporary period makes no sense. The idea of a temporary period beggars understanding
and it is at best tautological. The fact of being in the world is defined by its temporaliness.
So to conceive a union of body and soul outside time is impossible. The third point is that
the soul, which passes from one body to another, must be that which creates an individual
is problematic. It imbues the soul with creative powers and does not account in any way
how the soul itself came to be.
In view of the foregoing, it is unlikely that Pythagoras, the best known proponent of
metempsychosis would approve of Long’s conditions given what they failed to incorporate.
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An important element of Pythagoras’ metempsychosis is immortality of the soul. The soul
is created but once created becomes immortal like the Greek gods. The soul is also restless,
it is involved in perpetual process of going and coming. Thus, a soul which has left a human
body may immediately inhabit the body of a donkey. This is the way to understand
Xenophanes report about Pythagoras’ demonstration of his belief on Metempsychosis.
. . . And once, they say, passing by when a puppy was being beaten, he
pitied it, and spoke as follows: ‘Stop! Cease your beating, because this is
really the soul of a man who was my friend: I recognised it as I heard it cry
aloud.’ (Xenophanes, Fragment 21B 7)
A further analysis of the above citation shows a belief that the soul is the individual. It also
shows that the soul remains unchanged irrespective of the nature of the body it is united.
This accounts for why Pythagoras recognised the voice of his dead friend. Pythagoras is
reputed to be a soul. The citation also raises a question about pains. Is pain the property of
the body or that of the soul? Pythagoras tends to think that it is the soul that feels pain. This
is because, to be recognisable, the crying being must be continuous. Having exited the
previous body which ceases to exist at birth, the soul is what is persistent. It is what
continues to exist. Thus, if Pythagoras heard the cry of his field it is obvious that it is the
soul that feels pain and cries. Metempsychosis makes moral demands on how to relate with
the individuals. Thus, Pythagoras forbade all sorts of torture. And this is not limited to
human beings. No animal should be tortured since man and animal share the same soul.
Despite the claim that the theory of transmigration of soul was authentically Pythagoras’,
the origin of the idea lies elsewhere. What is rather authentic about Pythagoras in regard to
the theory is its transmission among the Greeks. Even among the ancients, Herodotus gave
account of the true origin of the idea.
The Egyptians were also the first to advance the theory that the soul of man
is immortal, and that when the body perishes it enters into (eisduesthai)
another living creature which comes into being at that moment; and when it
has gone round all the land animals and all the sea animals and all the birds,
it enters again into the body of a man who is coming into being; and this
circumambulation goes on for three thousand years. Some of the Greeks
adopted this theory—some earlier, some later—as though it were their own;
I know their names, but I do not write them down (85: II. 123=14 A 1).
Herodotus no doubt refers to Pythagoras and others including Empedocles who promoted
the view as theirs. Barnes, however, felt that Herodotus was in error in ascribing to the
Egyptians the origin of metempsychosis. He holds that the belief was quite well spread
among the ancient Greeks of even earlier age (Barnes 81). Xenophanes, Plato, Aristotle,
among ancient philosophers who attributed the theory to Pythagoras were in more
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historically vantage position to know and they all ascribed its origin to Egypt. Indeed, the
idea of immortality of the soul was widespread across ancient African cultures including
ancient Egypt.
The Conception of Philosophy as Love of Wisdom
Pythagoras sits atop, alongside his teacher, Thales, as founders of two different traditions
of ancient Philosophy. While Thales is regarded as the founder of the Milesian School of
Philosophy, Pythagoras is reputed as the founder of the Italian School. Among the ancients,
philosophers are classified according to the extent to which their philosophy conformed to
the thoughts of the two men. However, the invention of the concept, philosophy, is another
distinct contribution of Pythagoras. The meaning, love of wisdom, which Pythagoras gave
to the term he coined has remained the traditional definition of philosophy (Rosen 183).
Besides coining the term philosophy and giving it etymological meaning as love of
wisdom, Pythagoras gave no reason why he chose the term. Philosophers have merely
guessed some answers. Hannah Arendt who presented herself as a contemporary
Neoplatonist linked the reason to the focus of philosophy on the divine. The ancient
Platonists in a similar manner defined philosophy as “assimilation to God to the extent
possible’ (Plato, Theaetetus 176B). Assimilation to God means, for humans, living at the
highest level of life possible to humans, the life of the divine in humans, the life of reason,
of which knowledge of the divine represents the highest point.” (O’Meara 3).1 Arendt holds
that the nature of Greek theology made this conception possible. According to her, the
Greeks held that:
Men and gods were like each other, both of one kind, drawing breath from
one mother; the Greek gods, as Herodotus tells us, had the same physis as
men; but, though anthrôpophysic, of the same kind, they still, of course, had
certain privileged peculiarities: unlike mortals they were deathless and
enjoyed an “easy life.” Free of mortal life’s necessities, they could devote
themselves to spectatorship, looking down from Olympus upon the affairs of
men, which for them were no more than a spectacle for their entertainment.
The Olympian gods’ feeling for the world’s spectacular quality—so different
from other peoples’ notions of divine occupations such as creating and lawgiving, founding and governing communities —was a partiality they shared
with their less fortunate brothers on earth. (Arendt 130).
Philosophy, understood as assimilation to God to the extent possible became a desire to,
like the gods, also engage in contemplative life. The vita contemplativa is the way of life
of the gods, who from their Mount Olympic abode observe the activities of man. The
philosopher by engaging in contemplation appreciates the wisdom that is the hallmark of
1 O’Meara, J. Dominic wrote the Introduction to Syrianus: On Aristotle Metaphysics 3-4.
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the gods. Thus, if immortality is the reward of the gods for their contemplative engagement,
the philosopher, the contemplative man, will also attain immortality.
The Pythagorean metaphysics with its emphasis on transmigration of soul invalidate
Arendt’s argument that immortality was the goal of the contemplation. This is because the
metempsychotic soul is immortal by virtue of its being. The essence of purification is not
immortality but elevation in the next cycle of transmigration.
Pythagoras’ education in Egypt holds the key to his entitling of his subject and way of life,
philosophy. The Egyptian Mystery School System was administered and lectured by priestscholars. One of the subjects taught in the School was simply called Wisdom. They were
taught by priest-scholars who were exempted from daily lives and who formed a close knit
group for the education of the initiates and dissemination of knowledge. Pythagoras’ desire
to replicate the Egyptian paradigm among the Italians and the Greeks was responsible for
the use which Pythagoras put the phenomena described above. For instance, if the
Egyptians taught wisdom, he didn’t claim to teach wisdom, he rather claim to be a lover of
wisdom. If the priest scholars needed a life of leisure to be able to make contribution to the
world, Pythagoras formed a society where the cooperation of members would be able to
generate excess resources and free time for contemplative activity. But the contemplative
activity for the Pythagoras would not be other-worldly. It is world-focus. Ideas generated
would be necessary for engineering, ethics and politics, among others. The Egyptian priests
whose engineering and architectural works coupled with their ethics formed the basis of
the prosperity of that land played great role in the decision made by Pythagoras to name
the discipline philosophy.
Mathematics
There is a long list of philosophers who placed great emphasis on Mathematics. This set of
thinkers consider Mathematics as the highest form of reasoning “—which deals only with
thought-things and needs neither wimesses nor the sensorily given—is based on the ageold distinction between necessity and contingency, according to which all that is necessary,
and whose opposite is impossible, possesses a higher ontological dignity than whatever is
but could also not be.” (Arendt 59). Plato was so convinced of the preeminence of
Mathematics that he made knowledge of it a pre-condition for admission into his
philosophy school.
Thales and Pythagoras account for the weight which ancient western philosophy places on
Mathematics. “It is not by accident that the beginnings of Greek mathematics are credited
to Thales and Pythagoras, both of whom were said to have lived in Egypt.” (Russo 29).
Besides direct knowledge gained from studying in Egypt, Pythagoras also learnt invaluable
lessons in Geometry from Thales whose student he was and following whose advice he
proceeded to Egypt for further studies. Thales’ concern was with Geometry which he learnt
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in Egypt and Eudemus of Rhodes credits him with introducing it in Greece. Hahn writes
that:
Thales plausibly learned or confirmed at least three insights about geometry
from his Egyptian hosts, and all of them involved diagrams: (1) formulas and
recipes for calculating the area of rectangles and triangles, volumes, and the
height of a pyramid (i.e., triangulation); (2) from the land surveyors, he came
to imagine space as flat, filled by rectilinear figures, all of which were
reducible ultimately to triangles to determine their area; (3) watching the
tomb painters and sculptors, he recognized geometrical similarity: the
cosmos could be imagined as flat surfaces and volumes articulated by
squares, and each thing can be imagined as a scaled-up smaller version (12).
Geometry has a far-reaching influence in Thales that even his metaphysics in which the
origin of reality rests on a single substance derived from Egyptian Geometry. It was the
fixedness of geometrical diagrams that emboldened Thales to famously “posit an
unchanging principle of the whole of nature” (Rioux 384). Eudemus of Rhodes holds that
Thales proved that “a diameter divides a circle into two equal parts, and that opposite angles
at a vertex are equal.”2 Thales’ contemporaries were particularly impatient of the new
knowledge which he brought. Plato reported the Thracian maid who made jest of him for
falling into a ditch while making calculations about the sky. (Plato Thaet. 174a).
The invocation of Thales above serves the purpose of emphasizing the direct influence he
had on Pythagoras. However, besides this direct influence of Thales, Pythagoras also
undertook his own education in the Egyptian Mystery Schools where he not only
encountered the priest-scholars but also experience the pyramids and all the other shapes
and diagrams the presence of which made the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians to think
in geometrical terms. Thus, on his return from Egypt and following the establishment of
his school, Pythagoras took the study of Geometry to a new level. He made the study of
Geometry a cornerstone of his entire philosophy especially for the subset of followers
regarded as the Mathematikoi. Hahn makes a case that for the ancient Pre-Socratic
philosophers, Geometry was conceived as a handmaiden of philosophy (5).
Pythagoras Mathematics was influenced by the Geometry of ancient Egypt. The
Pythagorean theorem otherwise regarded as the hypotenuse theorem which is attributed to
Pythagoras and/or his group, like Thales’ Geometry deals with calculation of areas of
triangles and rectangles, and showing the relationship between all the sides. The discovery
of Moscow Mathematical Papyrus (MRP) and Rhind Mathematical Papyrus (RMP) in the
19th Century AD which are collections of Egyptian problem texts that date back to 1850
2 These statements by Eudemus (whose work has perished) are reported in Proclus, In primum Euclidis
Elementorum librum commentarii, 157:10–11; 299:1–3, ed. Friedlein = [FV], I, 79:8–9+13–15, Thales
A20.
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B.C. and 1550 B.C respectively are at least a thousand years older to than both Thales and
Pythagoras. The papyruses systematically show that Egyptians had been preoccupied with
the relationship between angles.
RMP problems 41–46 show how to find the volume of both cylindrical and
rectangular based granaries; problems 48–55 show how to compute an
assortment of areas of land in the shapes of triangles and rectangles; problems
56–60 concern finding the height or the seked (i.e., inclination of the face) of
pyramids of a given square base. Thus the problems included formulas and
recipes that showed how to divide seven loaves of bread among ten people
(problem 4), how to calculate the volume of a circular granary that has a
diameter of 9 and a height of 10 (problem 41), how every rectangle was
connected inextricably to triangles that were its parts (problems 51 and 52),
as problems for the land surveyors (Hahn 13-14)
Essentially, Pythagoras’ occupation with Geometry and angles on his return from Egypt
was a continuation of a process which he witnessed in Egypt. Like Thales before him, he
led his students into finding his own proofs for claims regarding the angles. There is a
recent attempt to discredit Pythagoras’ connection with the theorem about the hypotenuse.
Scholars who do so hold that the formulaic expression of the theorem – a2 + b2 = c2 is
algebra traceable to Euclid who lived after Pythagoras. Their argument is that Mathematics
could still be in its infancy and possibly did not exist to develop such a complicated system.
The discovery of the RMP and MMP which showed the use of the principles in Egypt
thousand years before Pythagoras invalidates all such arguments.
Conclusion
The testimony of the ancient Greek philosophers regarding the relationship between their
philosophy and that of African (Egyptian) philosophy has come under attack. The
continuous discrediting of the ancient testimonies is intended to serve one purpose,
maintain the claim of Western hegemony in knowledge production and dissemination. This
paper inveighs against all such claims especially as they pertain to the denial of African
contribution to the development of Greek philosophy.
Pythagoras is paradigmatic. His influence is also eclectic, stretching from ancient society
to the contemporary era. Thus, such a study whose need I have emphasized above requires
that he be regarded as the starting point. Thus, I have drawn the relationship between some
of his philosophical positions or the positions of the school he formed with the philosophy
of ancient Egypt. Consequently, I undertook an examination of the life of Pythagoras. I
equally examined some of his philosophical positions in order to show their Egyptian
source. I have also offered new arguments in support of the claims of the paper.
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