The Basilidians or Basilideans / ˌ b æ s ɪ ˈ l ɪ d i ə n z , ˌ b æ z -/ were a Gnostic sect founded by Basilides of Alexandria in the 2nd century. Basilides claimed to have been taught his doctrines by Glaucus, a disciple of St. Peter , though others stated he was a disciple of the Simonian Menander .
185-456: Basilides enjoined on his followers, like Pythagoras , a silence of five years. They kept the anniversary of the day of the baptism of Jesus as a feast day and spent the eve of it in reading. Basilides also instructed his followers not to scruple eating things offered to idols. The sect had three grades – material, intellectual and spiritual – and possessed two allegorical statues, male and female. The sect's doctrines were often similar to those of
370-563: A Sonchis of Sais ). According to the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria ( c. 150 – c. 215 AD), "Pythagoras was a disciple of Sonchis, an Egyptian archprophet, as well as a Plato of Sechnuphis ." Some ancient writers claimed that Pythagoras learned geometry and the doctrine of metempsychosis from the Egyptians. Other ancient writers, however, claimed that Pythagoras had learned these teachings from
555-569: A pseudepigraphal poem. Empedocles , who lived in Magna Graecia shortly after Pythagoras and Parmenides, knew that the earth was spherical. By the end of the fifth century BC, this fact was universally accepted among Greek intellectuals. The identity of the morning star and evening star was known to the Babylonians over a thousand years earlier. Sizeable Pythagorean communities existed in Magna Graecia, Phlius , and Thebes during
740-515: A Scythian priest of Apollo by the name of Abaris the Hyperborean : Abaris stayed with Pythagoras, and was compendiously taught physiology and theology; and instead of divining by the entrails of beasts, he revealed to him the art of prognosticating by numbers, conceiving this to be a method purer, more divine, and more kindred to the celestial numbers of the Gods. This shouldn't be confused with
925-547: A close friend of Plato and he is quoted in Plato's Republic . Aristotle states that the philosophy of Plato was heavily dependent on the teachings of the Pythagoreans. Cicero repeats this statement, remarking that Platonem ferunt didicisse Pythagorea omnia ("They say Plato learned all things Pythagorean"). According to Charles H. Kahn , Plato's middle dialogues, including Meno , Phaedo , and The Republic , have
1110-563: A confusion of the Panspermia (All-seed) with the Phylokrinesis (Difference-in-kind) and the return of things thus confused to their own places." According to Hippolytus, Basilides asserted the beginning of all things to have been pure nothing. He uses every device of language to express absolute nonentity. Nothing then being in existence, "not-being God" willed to make a not-being world out of not-being things. This not-being world
1295-422: A deadly snake bit Pythagoras, he bit it back and killed it. Both Porphyry and Iamblichus report that Pythagoras once persuaded a bull not to eat fava beans and that he once convinced a notoriously destructive bear to swear that it would never harm a living thing again, and that the bear kept its word. Riedweg suggests that Pythagoras may have personally encouraged these legends, but Gregory states that there
1480-628: A different account of the Nativity, the Basilidians believed in the events of Jesus' life as they are described in the Gospels. They believed the crucifixion was necessary, because by the destruction of Jesus' body the world could be restored. According to Clement of Alexandria, the Basilidians taught faith was a natural gift of understanding bestowed upon the soul before its union with the body and which some possessed and others did not. This gift
1665-462: A divine figure, sent by the gods to benefit humankind. Iamblichus, in particular, presents the "Pythagorean Way of Life" as a pagan alternative to the Christian monastic communities of his own time. For Pythagoreans, the highest reward a human could attain was for their soul to join in the life of the gods and thus escape the cycle of reincarnation. Two groups existed within early Pythagoreanism:
1850-498: A fabrication since different eyewitnesses would have perceived and remembered differently. According to Chris Keith, a historical Jesus is "ultimately unattainable, but can be hypothesized on the basis of the interpretations of the early Christians , and as part of a larger process of accounting for how and why early Christians came to view Jesus in the ways that they did." According to Keith, "these two models are methodologically and epistemologically incompatible," calling into question
2035-433: A five-year initiation period, during which they were required to remain silent. Sources indicate that Pythagoras himself was unusually progressive in his attitudes towards women and female members of Pythagoras's school appear to have played an active role in its operations. Iamblichus provides a list of 235 famous Pythagoreans, seventeen of whom are women. In later times, many prominent female philosophers contributed to
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#17327876184872220-479: A fragment, Aristotle writes that Pythagoras had a golden thigh, which he publicly exhibited at the Olympic Games and showed to Abaris the Hyperborean as proof of his identity as the "Hyperborean Apollo". Supposedly, the priest of Apollo gave Pythagoras a magic arrow, which he used to fly over long distances and perform ritual purifications. He was supposedly once seen at both Metapontum and Croton at
2405-489: A golden wreath atop his head and to have worn trousers after the fashion of the Thracians . Diogenes Laërtius presents Pythagoras as having exercised remarkable self-control ; he was always cheerful, but "abstained wholly from laughter, and from all such indulgences as jests and idle stories". Pythagoras was said to have had extraordinary success in dealing with animals. A fragment from Aristotle records that, when
2590-544: A guarantee of his reliability, and the Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources for Christ's ministry. Assessments of the reliability of the Gospels involve not just the texts but studying the long oral and written transmission behind them using methods like memory studies and form criticism , with different scholars coming to different conclusions. James D.G. Dunn believed that the earliest tradents within
2775-459: A lady of Crete and the daughter of Pythenax and had several children with her. Porphyry writes that Pythagoras had two sons named Telauges and Arignote , and a daughter named Myia, who "took precedence among the maidens in Croton and, when a wife, among married women." Iamblichus mentions none of these children and instead only mentions a son named Mnesarchus after his grandfather. This son
2960-436: A lawgiver. The so-called Pythagoreans applied themselves to mathematics, and were the first to develop this science; and through studying it they came to believe that its principles are the principles of everything. According to Aristotle, the Pythagoreans used mathematics for solely mystical reasons, devoid of practical application. They believed that all things were made of numbers. The number one (the monad ) represented
3145-571: A long time. Epiphanius (about 375) mentions the Prosopite, Athribite, Saite, and "Alexandriopolite" (read Andropolite) nomes or cantons, and also Alexandria itself, as the places in which it still throve in his time, and which he accordingly inferred to have been visited by Basilides. All these places lie on the western side of the Delta, between Memphis and the sea. Nearer the end of the 4th century, Jerome often refers to Basilides in connexion with
3330-601: A major revival in the first century BC among Middle Platonists , coinciding with the rise of Neopythagoreanism . Pythagoras continued to be regarded as a great philosopher throughout the Middle Ages and his philosophy had a major impact on scientists such as Nicolaus Copernicus , Johannes Kepler , and Isaac Newton . Pythagorean symbolism was also used throughout early modern European esotericism , and his teachings as portrayed in Ovid 's Metamorphoses would later influence
3515-537: A new body. This teaching is referenced by Xenophanes, Ion of Chios, and Herodotus. Nothing whatsoever, however, is known about the nature or mechanism by which Pythagoras believed metempsychosis to occur. Empedocles alludes in one of his poems that Pythagoras may have claimed to possess the ability to recall his former incarnations. Diogenes Laërtius reports an account from Heraclides Ponticus that Pythagoras told people that he had lived four previous lives that he could remember in detail. The first of these lives
3700-555: A numerical image taken from Deuteronomy 32:30 (p. 354). The Basilidian Simon of Cyrene apparently appears in the Second Treatise of the Great Seth , where Jesus says: "it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. It was another upon whom they placed the crown of thorns ... And I was laughing at their ignorance." There is no evidence that the sect extended itself beyond Egypt ; but there it survived for
3885-693: A parallel in the character assigned to the God of the Jews as an angel, and partly in the reason assigned for the Saviour's mission; while the Antitactae of Clement recall the resistance to the God of the Jews inculcated by the Basilidians. Other "Basilidian" features appear in the Pistis Sophia , viz. many barbaric names of angels (with 365 Archons, p. 364), and elaborate collocations of heavens, and
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#17327876184874070-489: A person should always put the right sandal on before the left. The exact meanings of these sayings, however, are frequently obscure. Iamblichus preserves Aristotle's descriptions of the original, ritualistic intentions behind a few of these sayings, but these apparently later fell out of fashion, because Porphyry provides markedly different ethical-philosophical interpretations of them: New initiates were allegedly not permitted to meet Pythagoras until after they had completed
4255-405: A popular legend, after he discovered this theorem, Pythagoras sacrificed an ox, or possibly even a whole hecatomb , to the gods. Cicero rejected this story as spurious because of the much more widely held belief that Pythagoras forbade blood sacrifices. Porphyry attempted to explain the story by asserting that the ox was actually made of dough . The Pythagorean theorem was known and used by
4440-640: A proclivity towards tyranny. Other accounts claim that Pythagoras left Samos because he was so overburdened with public duties in Samos, because of the high estimation in which he was held by his fellow-citizens. He arrived in the Greek colony of Croton (today's Crotone , in Calabria ) in what was then Magna Graecia . All sources agree that Pythagoras was charismatic and quickly acquired great political influence in his new environment. He served as an advisor to
4625-510: A result of Pherecydes's influence. Another story, which may be traced to the Neopythagorean philosopher Nicomachus , tells that, when Pherecydes was old and dying on the island of Delos , Pythagoras returned to care for him and pay his respects. Duris , the historian and tyrant of Samos, is reported to have patriotically boasted of an epitaph supposedly penned by Pherecydes which declared that Pythagoras's wisdom exceeded his own. On
4810-428: A secure basis for philosophy, science, and morality. Plato and Pythagoras shared a "mystical approach to the soul and its place in the material world" and both were probably influenced by Orphism . The historian of philosophy Frederick Copleston states that Plato probably borrowed his tripartite theory of the soul from the Pythagoreans. Bertrand Russell , in his A History of Western Philosophy , contends that
4995-402: A short notice on the same subject being likewise inserted parenthetically by Hippolytus. The supreme power and source of being above all principalities and powers and angels (such is evidently the reference of Epiphanius's αὐτῶν: Irenaeus substitutes "heavens," which in this connexion comes to much the same thing) is Abrasax , the Greek letters of whose name added together as numerals make up 365,
5180-562: A simplified version known today as " Pythagorean numerology ", involving a variant of an isopsephic technique known – among other names – as pythmenes ' roots ' or ' base numbers ' , by means of which the base values of letters in a word were mathematically reduced by addition or division, in order to obtain a single value from one to nine for the whole name or word; these 'roots' or 'base numbers' could then be interpreted with other techniques, such as traditional Pythagorean attributions. This latter form of numerology flourished during
5365-479: A specific building that was still in use during his own time, appears to be motivated by Samian patriotic interest. Around 530 BC, when Pythagoras was about forty years old, he left Samos. His later admirers claimed that he left because he disagreed with the tyranny of Polycrates in Samos, Riedweg notes that this explanation closely aligns with Nicomachus's emphasis on Pythagoras's purported love of freedom, but that Pythagoras's enemies portrayed him as having
5550-442: A stable tradition resulting in little invention in the Gospels. Le Donne expressed himself thusly vis-a-vis more skeptical scholars, "He (Dale Allison) does not read the gospels as fiction, but even if these early stories derive from memory, memory can be frail and often misleading. While I do not share Allison's point of departure (i.e. I am more optimistic), I am compelled by the method that came from it." Dale Allison emphasizes
5735-423: A strong "Pythagorean coloring", and his last few dialogues (particularly Philebus and Timaeus ) are extremely Pythagorean in character. According to R. M. Hare , Plato's Republic may be partially based on the "tightly organised community of like-minded thinkers" established by Pythagoras at Croton. Additionally, Plato may have borrowed from Pythagoras the idea that mathematics and abstract thought are
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5920-534: A synthesis of everything Pythagoras had learned from Orpheus, from the Egyptian priests, from the Eleusinian Mysteries , and from other religious and philosophical traditions. Riedweg states that, although these stories are fanciful, Pythagoras's teachings were definitely influenced by Orphism to a noteworthy extent. Of the various Greek sages claimed to have taught Pythagoras, Pherecydes of Syros
6105-567: A variety of reasons, the majority of scholars have abandoned this view or hold it only tenuously. Most scholars believe that the Historical Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet who predicted the imminent end or transformation of the world, though others, notably the Jesus Seminar , disagree. As eyewitnesses began to die, and as the missionary needs of the church grew, there was an increasing demand and need for written versions of
6290-405: A variety of sources, followed by Matthew and Luke , which both independently used Mark for their narrative of Jesus's career, supplementing it with a collection of sayings called "the Q source ", and additional material unique to each. Alan Kirk praises Matthew in particular for his "scribal memory competence" and "his high esteem for and careful handling of both Mark and Q", which makes claims
6475-472: A vow of silence that they would not reveal these symbols to non-members. Those who did not obey the laws of the community were expelled and the remaining members would erect tombstones for them as though they had died. A number of "oral sayings" ( akoúsmata ) attributed to Pythagoras have survived, dealing with how members of the Pythagorean community should perform sacrifices, how they should honor
6660-415: Is Christ, to deliver those Who believed on Him from the power of the makers of the world. "He," the Basilidians said, "is our salvation, even He Who came and revealed to us alone this truth." He accordingly appeared on earth and performed mighty works; but His appearance was only in outward show, and He did not really take flesh. It was Simon of Cyrene that was crucified; for Jesus exchanged forms with him on
6845-421: Is a latent force which only manifests its energy through the coming of the Saviour. Sin was not the results of the abuse of free will, but merely the outcome of an inborn evil principle. All suffering is punishment for sin; even when a child suffers, this is the punishment of the inborn evil principle. The persecutions Christians underwent had therefore as sole object the punishment of their sin. All human nature
7030-478: Is at first acclaimed but then rejected, betrayed, and crucified, and when the women who have followed him come to his tomb, they find it empty. Mark never calls Jesus "God" or claims that he existed prior to his earthly life, apparently believes that he had a normal human parentage and birth, and makes no attempt to trace his ancestry back to King David or Adam ; it originally ended at Mark 16:8 and had no post-resurrection appearances , although Mark 16:7, in which
7215-413: Is mentioned most often. Similar miracle stories were told about both Pythagoras and Pherecydes, including one in which the hero predicts a shipwreck, one in which he predicts the conquest of Messina , and one in which he drinks from a well and predicts an earthquake. Apollonius Paradoxographus , a paradoxographer who may have lived in the second century BC, identified Pythagoras's thaumaturgic ideas as
7400-478: Is no direct evidence of this. Anti-Pythagorean legends were also circulated. Diogenes Laërtes retells a story told by Hermippus of Samos, which states that Pythagoras had once gone into an underground room, telling everyone that he was descending to the underworld. He stayed in this room for months, while his mother secretly recorded everything that happened during his absence. After he returned from this room, Pythagoras recounted everything that had happened while he
7585-510: Is not expressly stated, so that the writer of the supplement to Tertullian had some excuse for confusing him with "the Supreme God." On these doctrines, various precepts are said by the Basilidians' opponents to have been founded. Philaster , likely drawing on Hippolytus, writes that Basilides "violated the laws of Christian truth by making an outward show and discourse concerning the Law and
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7770-454: Is said to have been carried so far as to sanction promiscuous immorality. Among the later followers of Basilides, magic, invocations, "and all other curious arts" played a part. The names of the rulers of the several heavens were handed down as a weighty secret, which was a result of the belief that whoever knew the names of these rulers would after death pass through all the heavens to the supreme God. In accordance with this, Christ also, in
7955-464: Is sitting." Then all the heavenly or ethereal creation, as far down as the moon, was made by the Great Archon, inspired by his wiser son. Another Archon arose out of the seed-mass, inferior to the first Archon, but superior to all else below except the seed-mass; and he likewise made to himself a son wiser than himself, and became the creator and governor of the aerial world. This region is called
8140-406: Is that the authors of Matthew and Luke based their narratives on Mark's gospel, editing him to suit their own ends, and the contradictions and discrepancies among these three versions and John make it impossible to accept both traditions as equally reliable with regard to the historical Jesus. In addition, the gospels read today have been edited and corrupted over time, leading Origen to complain in
8325-1059: Is the "transmigration of souls" or metempsychosis , which holds that every soul is immortal and, upon death, enters into a new body . He may have also devised the doctrine of musica universalis , which holds that the planets move according to mathematical equations and thus resonate to produce an inaudible symphony of music. Scholars debate whether Pythagoras developed the numerological and musical teachings attributed to him, or if those teachings were developed by his later followers, particularly Philolaus of Croton . Following Croton's decisive victory over Sybaris in around 510 BC, Pythagoras's followers came into conflict with supporters of democracy , and Pythagorean meeting houses were burned. Pythagoras may have been killed during this persecution, or he may have escaped to Metapontum and died there. Pythagoras influenced Plato, whose dialogues , especially his Timaeus , exhibit Pythagorean teachings. Pythagorean ideas on mathematical perfection also impacted ancient Greek art . His teachings underwent
8510-485: Is the first to make Christological judgements outside the context of the narrative of Jesus's life. He presents a significantly different picture of Jesus's career, omitting any mention of his ancestry, birth and childhood, his baptism , temptation and transfiguration ; his chronology and arrangement of incidents is also distinctly different, clearly describing the passage of three years in Jesus's ministry in contrast to
8695-510: Is the one from Diogenes Laërtius 's Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers . The two later biographies were written by the Neoplatonist philosophers Porphyry and Iamblichus and were partially intended as polemics against the rise of Christianity . The later sources are much lengthier than the earlier ones, and even more fantastic in their descriptions of Pythagoras's achievements. Porphyry and Iamblichus used material from
8880-676: Is too one-sided, noting that memory "is nevertheless sufficiently stable to authentically bring the past to bear on the present" and that people are beholden to memory's successes in everyday life. Craig Keener , drawing on the works of previous studies by Dunn, Alan Kirk, Kenneth Bailey , and Robert McIver, among many others, utilizes memory theory and oral tradition to argue that the Gospels are in many ways historically accurate. His work has been endorsed by Markus Bockmuehl , James Charlesworth , and David Aune , among others. According to Bruce Chilton and Craig Evans , "...the Judaism of
9065-777: The Protrepticus . Aristotle's disciples Dicaearchus , Aristoxenus , and Heraclides Ponticus (who all lived in the 3rd century BC) also wrote on the same subject. Most of the major sources on Pythagoras's life are from the Roman period , by which point, according to the German classicist Walter Burkert , "the history of Pythagoreanism was already ... the laborious reconstruction of something lost and gone." Three ancient biographies of Pythagoras have survived from late antiquity, all of which are filled primarily with myths and legends. The earliest and most respectable of these
9250-511: The Apostle Paul , we "know far more about Jesus of Nazareth than about any first or second century Jewish or pagan religious teacher". EP Sanders claimed that the sources for Jesus are superior to the ones for Alexander the Great . Critical study on the Historical Jesus has largely failed to distinguish the original ideas of Jesus from those of the later Christian authors , and
9435-467: The Babylonians and Indians centuries before Pythagoras, but he may have been the first to introduce it to the Greeks. Some historians of mathematics have even suggested that he—or his students—may have constructed the first proof . Burkert rejects this suggestion as implausible, noting that Pythagoras was never credited with having proved any theorem in antiquity. Furthermore, the manner in which
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#17327876184879620-639: The Byzantine era , and was first attested among the Gnostics of the second century AD. By that time, isopsephy had developed into several different techniques that were used for a variety of purposes; including divination, doctrinal allegory, and medical prognosis and treatment. In the visits to various places in Greece— Delos , Sparta , Phlius , Crete , etc.—which are ascribed to him, he usually appears either in his religious or priestly guise, or else as
9805-492: The Celts and Iberians . Ancient sources also record Pythagoras having studied under a variety of native Greek thinkers. Some identify Hermodamas of Samos as a possible tutor. Hermodamas represented the indigenous Samian rhapsodic tradition and his father Creophylos was said to have been the host of his rival poet Homer . Others credit Bias of Priene , Thales, or Anaximander (a pupil of Thales). Other traditions claim
9990-460: The Christian message (" the gospel "), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words and deeds of Jesus , culminating in his trial and death and concluding with various reports of his post-resurrection appearances . The gospels are a kind of bios , or ancient biography , meant to convince people that Jesus
10175-720: The Diatessaron . Gospel is the Old English translation of the Hellenistic Greek term εὐαγγέλιον , meaning "good news"; this may be seen from analysis of ευαγγέλιον ( εὖ "good" + ἄγγελος "messenger" + -ιον diminutive suffix). The Greek term was Latinized as evangelium in the Vulgate , and translated into Latin as bona annuntiatio . In Old English, it was translated as gōdspel ( gōd "good" + spel "news"). The Old English term
10360-634: The Gospel of Marcion , similar to the Gospel of Luke. The Muratorian canon , the earliest surviving list of books considered (by its own author at least) to form Christian scripture, included Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Irenaeus of Lyons went further, stating that there must be four gospels and only four because there were four corners of the Earth and thus the Church should have four pillars. He referred to
10545-689: The Magi in Persia or even from Zoroaster himself. Diogenes Laërtius asserts that Pythagoras later visited Crete , where he went to the Cave of Ida with Epimenides . The Phoenicians are reputed to have taught Pythagoras arithmetic and the Chaldeans to have taught him astronomy. By the third century BC, Pythagoras was already reported to have studied under the Jews as well. Contradicting all these reports,
10730-591: The Ophites and later Jewish Kabbalah . Basilidianism survived until the end of the 4th century as Epiphanius knew of Basilidians living in the Nile Delta. It was however almost exclusively limited to Egypt , though according to Sulpicius Severus it seems to have found an entrance into Spain through a certain Mark from Memphis . Jerome was of the opinion that Priscillian , the founder of Priscillianism ,
10915-569: The Pythagorean theorem , Pythagorean tuning , the five regular solids , the Theory of Proportions , the sphericity of the Earth , and the identity of the morning and evening stars as the planet Venus . It was said that he was the first man to call himself a philosopher ("lover of wisdom") and that he was the first to divide the globe into five climatic zones . Classical historians debate whether Pythagoras made these discoveries, and many of
11100-484: The West in general. Knowledge of his life is clouded by legend; modern scholars disagree regarding Pythagoras's education and influences, but they do agree that, around 530 BC, he travelled to Croton in southern Italy, where he founded a school in which initiates were sworn to secrecy and lived a communal, ascetic lifestyle. In antiquity, Pythagoras was credited with many mathematical and scientific discoveries, including
11285-466: The mathematikoi ("learners") and the akousmatikoi ("listeners"). The akousmatikoi are traditionally identified by scholars as "old believers" in mysticism, numerology, and religious teachings; whereas the mathematikoi are traditionally identified as a more intellectual, modernist faction who were more rationalist and scientific. Gregory cautions that there was probably not a sharp distinction between them and that many Pythagoreans probably believed
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#173278761848711470-437: The 3rd century that "the differences among manuscripts have become great [...] [because copyists] either neglect to check over what they have transcribed, or, in the process of checking, they make additions or deletions as they please." Most of these are insignificant, but some are significant, an example being Matthew 1:18, altered to imply the pre-existence of Jesus. For these reasons, modern scholars are cautious of relying on
11655-590: The Annunciation and at the Baptism so that He "was enlightened, being kindled in union with the light that shone on Him". Therefore, by following Jesus, the world is purified and becomes most subtle, so that it can ascend by itself. When every part of the sonship has arrived above the Limitary Spirit, "then the creation shall find mercy, for till now it groans and is tormented and awaits the revelation of
11840-617: The Babylonians employed Pythagorean numbers implies that they knew that the principle was generally applicable, and knew some kind of proof, which has not yet been found in the (still largely unpublished) cuneiform sources. Pythagoras's biographers state that he also was the first to identify the five regular solids and that he was the first to discover the Theory of Proportions . According to legend, Pythagoras discovered that musical notes could be translated into mathematical equations when he passed blacksmiths at work one day and heard
12025-737: The Basilidian system is the question concerning the origin of evil and how to overcome it. A cosmographical feature common to many forms of Gnosticism is the idea that the Logos Spermatikos is scattered into the sensible cosmos, where it is the duty of the Gnostics, by whatever means, to recollect these scattered seed-members of the Logos and return them to their proper places (cf. the Gospel of Eve ). "Their whole system," says Clement, "is
12210-464: The Basilidians and the pagan engravers of gems alike borrowed the name from some Semitic mythology. No attempts of critics to trace correspondences between the mythological personages, and to explain them by supposed condensations or mutilations, have attained even plausibility. The most distinctive is the discouragement of martyrdom, which was made to rest on several grounds. To confess the Crucified
12395-644: The Basilidians denied that the God of the Jews was the supreme God. According to Hippolytus, the God of the Jews was the Archon of the Hebdomad, which was inferior to the Great Archon, the Holy Spirit, the seed-mass (threefold sonship), and the not-being God. According to Irenaeus, the Basilidians believed the God of the Jews was inferior to the 365 sets of Archons above him, as well as the powers, principalities, Dynamis and Sophia, Phronesis, Logos, Nûs, and finally
12580-490: The Christian churches [were] preservers more than innovators [...] seeking to transmit, retell, explain, interpret, elaborate, but not create de novo [...] Through the main body of the Synoptic tradition [...] we have in most cases direct access to the teaching and ministry of Jesus as it was remembered from the beginning of the transmission process [...] and so fairly direct access to the ministry and teaching of Jesus through
12765-444: The Egyptian priests at Diospolis (Thebes), and that he was the only foreigner ever to be granted the privilege of taking part in their worship. The Middle Platonist biographer Plutarch ( c. 46 – c. 120 AD) writes in his treatise On Isis and Osiris that, during his visit to Egypt, Pythagoras received instruction from the Egyptian priest Oenuphis of Heliopolis (meanwhile Solon received lectures from
12950-423: The Gospel had next to pass to the Archon of the Hebdomad. The son of the Great Archon delivered the Gospel to the son of the Archon of the Hebdomad. The son of the Archon of the Hebdomad became enlightened, and declared the Gospel to the Archon of the Hebdomad, and he too feared and confessed. It remained only that the world should be enlightened. The light came down from the Archon of the Hebdomad upon Jesus both at
13135-516: The Gospel-texts. According to Dunn, "What we actually have in the earliest retellings of what is now the Synoptic tradition...are the memories of the first disciples-not Jesus himself, but the remembered Jesus. The idea that we can get back to an objective historical reality, which we can wholly separate and disentangle from the disciples' memories...is simply unrealistic." These memories can contradict and are not always historically correct, as
13320-485: The Gospels display. Chris Keith argues that the Historical Jesus was the one who could create these memories, both true or not. For instance, Mark and Luke disagree on how Jesus came back to the synagogue, with the likely more accurate Mark arguing he was rejected for being an artisan, while Luke portrays Jesus as literate and his refusal to heal in Nazareth as cause of his dismissal. Keith does not view Luke's account as
13505-673: The Gospels should be trusted, though he is more skeptical on the details; if they are broadly unreliable, then our sources almost certainly cannot have preserved any of the particulars. Opposing preceding approaches where the Gospels are historically questionable and must be rigorously sifted through by competent scholars for nuggets of information, Allison argues that the Gospels are generally accurate and often 'got Jesus right'. Dale Allison finds apocalypticism to be recurrently attested, among various other themes. Reviewing his work, Rafael Rodriguez largely agrees with Allison's methodology and conclusions while arguing that Allison's discussion on memory
13690-424: The Great Archon that there were beings above him, so through the Holy Spirit the Gospel was conveyed to the Great Archon. First, the son of the Great Archon received the Gospel, and he in turn instructed the Great Archon himself, by whose side he was sitting. Then the Great Archon learned that he was not God of the universe, but had above him yet higher beings; and confessed his sin in having magnified himself. From him
13875-413: The Hebdomad. On the other hand, all these events occurred according to the plan of the not-being God. The Basilidians believed in a very different gospel than orthodox Christians . Hippolytus summed up the Basilidians' gospel by saying: "According to them the Gospel is the knowledge of things above the world, which knowledge the Great Archon understood not: when then it was shewn to him that there exists
14060-401: The Holy Spirit, and the [three parts of the seed-mass] and a God Who is the author of all these things, even the not-being One, he rejoiced at what was told him, and was exceeding glad: this is according to them the Gospel." That is, the Basilidians believed from Adam until Moses the Great Archon supposed himself to be God alone, and to have nothing above him. But it was thought to enlighten
14245-528: The Jewish scriptures, by quoting or referencing passages, interpreting texts, or alluding to or echoing biblical themes. Such use can be extensive: Mark's description of the Parousia (second coming) is made up almost entirely of quotations from scripture. Matthew is full of quotations and allusions , and although John uses scripture in a far less explicit manner, its influence is still pervasive. Their source
14430-528: The Prophets and the Apostles, but believing otherwise." The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia interprets this as indicating an antinomian sentiment among the Basilidians. The Basilidians considered themselves to be no longer Jews, and to have become more than Christians. Repudiation of martyrdom was naturally accompanied by indiscriminate use of things offered to idols. And from there the principle of indifference
14615-527: The Pythagoreans during one of their meetings, either in the house of Milo or in some other meeting-place. Accounts of the attack are often contradictory and many probably confused it with the later anti-Pythagorean rebellions, such as the one in Metapontum in 454 BC. The building was apparently set on fire, and many of the assembled members perished; only the younger and more active members managed to escape. Sources disagree regarding whether Pythagoras
14800-474: The Roman Empire (some 2,500 miles across), with thousands of participants—from different backgrounds, with different concerns, and in different contexts—some of whom have to translate the stories into different languages. While multiple quests have been undertaken to reconstruct the historical Jesus, since the late 1990s concerns have been growing about the possibility to reconstruct a historical Jesus from
14985-593: The Unbegotten Father. Basilidians expected the resurrection of the soul alone, insisting on the natural corruptibility of the body. Their discouragement of martyrdom was one of the secrets which the Basilidians diligently cultivated, following naturally on the supposed possession of a hidden knowledge. Likewise, their other mysteries were to be carefully guarded, and disclosed to "only one out of 1000 and two out of 10,000." The silence of five years which Basilides imposed on novices might easily degenerate into
15170-401: The accomplishments credited to him likely originated earlier or were made by his colleagues or successors. Some accounts mention that the philosophy associated with Pythagoras was related to mathematics and that numbers were important, but it is debated to what extent, if at all, he actually contributed to mathematics or natural philosophy . The teaching most securely identified with Pythagoras
15355-527: The age of 40, which would give a date of birth around 570 BC. Pythagoras's name led him to be associated with Pythian Apollo ( Pūthíā ); Aristippus of Cyrene in the 4th century BC explained his name by saying, "He spoke [ ἀγορεύω , agoreúō ] the truth no less than did the Pythian [ πυθικός puthikós ]". During Pythagoras's formative years, Samos was a thriving cultural hub known for its feats of advanced architectural engineering, including
15540-431: The boys' "raging willfulness" was quelled. The Pythagoreans also placed particular emphasis on the importance of physical exercise ; therapeutic dancing , daily morning walks along scenic routes , and athletics were major components of the Pythagorean lifestyle. Moments of contemplation at the beginning and end of each day were also advised. Pythagorean teachings were known as "symbols" ( symbola ) and members took
15725-566: The building of the Tunnel of Eupalinos , and for its riotous festival culture. It was a major center of trade in the Aegean where traders brought goods from the Near East . According to Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier, these traders almost certainly brought with them Near Eastern ideas and traditions. Pythagoras's early life also coincided with the flowering of early Ionian natural philosophy . He
15910-406: The church. Many non-canonical gospels were also written, all later than the four canonical gospels, and like them advocating the particular theological views of their various authors. Important examples include the gospels of Thomas , Peter , Judas , and Mary ; infancy gospels such as that of James (the first to introduce the perpetual virginity of Mary ); and gospel harmonies such as
16095-463: The city of Metapontum , where they took shelter in the temple of the Muses and died there of starvation after forty days without food. Another tale recorded by Porphyry claims that, as Pythagoras's enemies were burning the house, his devoted students laid down on the ground to make a path for him to escape by walking over their bodies across the flames like a bridge. Pythagoras managed to escape, but
16280-413: The development of Neopythagoreanism . Pythagoreanism also entailed a number of dietary prohibitions. It is more or less agreed that Pythagoras issued a prohibition against the consumption of fava beans and the meat of non-sacrificial animals such as fish and poultry. Both of these assumptions, however, have been contradicted. Pythagorean dietary restrictions may have been motivated by belief in
16465-581: The differences of detail among the gospels are irreconcilable, and any attempt to harmonize them would only disrupt their distinct theological messages. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are termed the synoptic gospels because they present very similar accounts of the life of Jesus. Mark begins with the baptism of the adult Jesus and the heavenly declaration that he is the son of God; he gathers followers and begins his ministry, and tells his disciples that he must die in Jerusalem but that he will rise; in Jerusalem, he
16650-449: The doctrine of metempsychosis . Some ancient writers present Pythagoras as enforcing a strictly vegetarian diet. Eudoxus of Cnidus , a student of Archytas, writes, "Pythagoras was distinguished by such purity and so avoided killing and killers that he not only abstained from animal foods, but even kept his distance from cooks and hunters." Other authorities contradict this statement. According to Aristoxenus , Pythagoras allowed
16835-420: The earliest texts to describe the numerological and musical theories that were later ascribed to Pythagoras. The Athenian rhetorician Isocrates ( c. 436 – c. 338 BC) was the first to describe Pythagoras as having visited Egypt. Aristotle ( c. 384 – c. 322 BC) wrote a treatise On the Pythagoreans , which no longer exists. Some of it may be preserved in
17020-399: The early fourth century BC. Around the same time, the Pythagorean philosopher Archytas was highly influential on the politics of the city of Tarentum in Magna Graecia. According to later tradition, Archytas was elected as strategos ("general") seven times, even though others were prohibited from serving more than a year. Archytas was also a renowned mathematician and musician. He was
17205-407: The early traditions were fluid and subject to alteration, sometimes transmitted by those who had known Jesus personally, but more often by wandering prophets and teachers like the Apostle Paul , who did not know him personally. Ehrman explains how the tradition developed as it was transmitted: You are probably familiar with the old birthday party game " telephone ." A group of kids sits in a circle,
17390-531: The elites in Croton and gave them frequent advice. Later biographers tell fantastical stories of the effects of his eloquent speeches in leading the people of Croton to abandon their luxurious and corrupt way of life and devote themselves to the purer system which he came to introduce. Diogenes Laërtius states that Pythagoras "did not indulge in the pleasures of love" and that he cautioned others to only have sex "whenever you are willing to be weaker than yourself". According to Porphyry, Pythagoras married Theano ,
17575-418: The exact details of Pythagoras's teachings are uncertain, it is possible to reconstruct a general outline of his main ideas. Aristotle writes at length about the teachings of the Pythagoreans, but without mentioning Pythagoras directly. One of Pythagoras's main doctrines appears to have been metempsychosis , the belief that all souls are immortal and that, after death, a soul is transferred into
17760-476: The exclusion of outsiders. Ancient sources record that the Pythagoreans ate meals in common after the manner of the Spartans . One Pythagorean maxim was " koinà tà phílōn " ("All things in common among friends"). Both Iamblichus and Porphyry provide detailed accounts of the organization of the school, although the primary interest of both writers is not historical accuracy, but rather to present Pythagoras as
17945-460: The eyes and ears of those who went about with him. Anthony Le Donne, a leading memory researcher in Jesus studies, elaborated on Dunn's thesis, basing "his historiography squarely on Dunn’s thesis that the historical Jesus is the memory of Jesus recalled by the earliest disciples." According to Le Donne as explained by his reviewer, Benjamin Simpson, memories are fractured, and not exact recalls of
18130-478: The fields of music , astronomy , and medicine . Since at least the first century BC, Pythagoras has commonly been given credit for discovering the Pythagorean theorem, a theorem in geometry that states that "in a right-angled triangle the square of the hypotenuse is equal [to the sum of] the squares of the two other sides" —that is, a 2 + b 2 = c 2 {\displaystyle a^{2}+b^{2}=c^{2}} . According to
18315-458: The firmament which he supposed to be the upward end of all things. There he "made to himself and begat out of the things below a son far better and wiser than himself". Then he became wiser and every way better than all other cosmical things except the seed-mass left below. Smitten with wonder at his son's beauty, he set him at his right hand. "This is what they call the Ogdoad, where the Great Archon
18500-410: The first heaven, and then gave birth to a second set of angels who made a second heaven, and so on till 365 heavens had been made by 365 generations of angels, each heaven being apparently ruled by an Archon to whom a name was given, and these names being used in magic arts. The angels of the lowest or visible heaven made the earth and man. They were the authors of the prophecies; and the Law in particular
18685-404: The first tells a brief story to the one sitting next to her, who tells it to the next, and to the next, and so on, until it comes back full circle to the one who started it. Invariably, the story has changed so much in the process of retelling that everyone gets a good laugh. Imagine this same activity taking place, not in a solitary living room with ten kids on one afternoon, but over the expanse of
18870-465: The first to teach that the Earth was spherical , the first to divide the globe into five climatic zones , and the first to identify the morning star and the evening star as the same celestial object (now known as Venus ). Of the two philosophers, Parmenides has a much stronger claim to having been the first and the attribution of these discoveries to Pythagoras seems to have possibly originated from
19055-546: The focus of research has shifted to Jesus as remembered by his followers, and understanding the Gospels themselves. The canonical gospels are the four which appear in the New Testament of the Bible . They were probably written between AD 66 and 110, which puts their composition likely within the lifetimes of various eyewitnesses, including Jesus's own family. Most scholars hold that all four were anonymous (with
19240-546: The founder's life and teachings. The stages of this process can be summarized as follows: Mark is generally agreed to be the first gospel; it uses a variety of sources, including conflict stories (Mark 2:1–3:6), apocalyptic discourse (4:1–35), and collections of sayings, although not the sayings gospel known as the Gospel of Thomas , and probably not the hypothesized Q source used by Matthew and Luke. The authors of Matthew and Luke, acting independently, used Mark for their narrative of Jesus' career, supplementing it with
19425-420: The four collectively as the "fourfold gospel" ( euangelion tetramorphon ). The many apocryphal gospels arose from the 1st century onward, frequently under assumed names to enhance their credibility and authority, and often from within branches of Christianity that were eventually branded heretical. They can be broadly organised into the following categories: The apocryphal gospels can also be seen in terms of
19610-461: The gods, how they should "move from here", and how they should be buried. Many of these sayings emphasize the importance of ritual purity and avoiding defilement. For instance, a saying which Leonid Zhmud concludes can probably be genuinely traced back to Pythagoras himself forbids his followers from wearing woolen garments. Other extant oral sayings forbid Pythagoreans from breaking bread, poking fires with swords, or picking up crumbs and teach that
19795-405: The gospels uncritically, and critical study can attempt to distinguish the original ideas of Jesus from those of later authors. Scholars usually agree that John is not without historical value: certain of its sayings are as old or older than their synoptic counterparts, and its representation of the topography around Jerusalem is often superior to that of the synoptics. Its testimony that Jesus
19980-490: The grounds of all these references connecting Pythagoras with Pherecydes, Riedweg concludes that there may well be some historical foundation to the tradition that Pherecydes was Pythagoras's teacher. Pythagoras and Pherecydes also appear to have shared similar views on the soul and the teaching of metempsychosis. Before 520 BC, on one of his visits to Egypt or Greece, Pythagoras might have met Thales of Miletus , who would have been around fifty-four years older than him. Thales
20165-431: The high standard set up by Basilides himself is unsuspicious evidence, and a libertine code of ethics would find an easy justification in such maxims as are imputed to the Basilidians. Two misunderstandings have been specially misleading. Abrasax, the chief or Archon of the first set of angels, has been confounded with "the Unbegotten Father," and the God of the Jews, the Archon of the lowest heaven, has been assumed to be
20350-420: The historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( c. 484 – c. 420 BC), who describes him as one of the greatest Greek teachers and states that Pythagoras taught his followers how to attain immortality . The accuracy of the works of Herodotus is controversial. The writings attributed to the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus of Croton ( c. 470 – c. 385 BC) are
20535-399: The historical Jesus continues apace, so much so that no one can any longer keep up; we are all overwhelmed." The oldest gospel text known is 𝔓 , a fragment of John dating from the first half of the 2nd century. The creation of a Christian canon was probably a response to the career of the heretic Marcion ( c. 85 –160), who established a canon of his own with just one gospel,
20720-460: The hybrid Priscillianism of Spain, and the mystic names in which its votaries delighted. According to Sulpicius Severus this heresy took its rise in "the East and Egypt"; but, he adds, it is not easy to say "what the beginnings were out of which it there grew" ( quibus ibi initiis coaluerit ). He states, however, that it was first brought to Spain by Marcus, a native of Memphis. This fact explains how
20905-612: The hypothesized collection of sayings called the Q ;source and additional material unique to each called the M ;source (Matthew) and the L ;source (Luke). Mark, Matthew, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels because of their close similarities of content, arrangement, and language. The authors and editors of John may have known the synoptics, but did not use them in the way that Matthew and Luke used Mark. All four also use
21090-475: The inferior MSS. of Irenaeus has added the further statement that they used "images"; and this single word is often cited in corroboration of the popular belief that the numerous ancient gems on which grotesque mythological combinations are accompanied by the mystic name ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ were of Basilidian origin. It has been shown that there is little tangible evidence for attributing any known gems to Basilidianism or any other form of Gnosticism, and that in all probability
21275-411: The influence of Pythagoras on Plato and others was so great that he should be considered the most influential philosopher of all time. He concludes that "I do not know of any other man who has been as influential as he was in the school of thought." A revival of Pythagorean teachings occurred in the first century BC when Middle Platonist philosophers such as Eudorus and Philo of Alexandria hailed
21460-476: The latter two works are significantly theologically or historically different dubious. There have been different views on the transmission of material that led to the Synoptic Gospels , with various scholars arguing memory or orality reliably preserved traditions that ultimately go back to the Historical Jesus . Other scholars have been more skeptical and see more changes in the traditions prior to
21645-734: The lost early treatise of Hippolytus ; both having much in common, and both being interwoven together in the report of Epiphanius . The other relics of the Hippolytean Compendium are the accounts of Philaster (32), and the supplement to Tertullian (4). At the head of this theology stood the Unbegotten, the Only Father. From Him was born or put forth Nûs, and from Nûs Logos, from Logos Phronesis, from Phronesis Sophia and Dynamis, from Sophia and Dynamis principalities, powers, and angels. This first set of angels first made
21830-439: The lost writings of Aristotle's disciples (Dicaearchus, Aristoxenus, and Heraclides) and material taken from these sources is generally considered to be the most reliable. There is not a single detail in the life of Pythagoras that stands uncontradicted. But it is possible, from a more or less critical selection of the data, to construct a plausible account. Herodotus , Isocrates , and other early writers agree that Pythagoras
22015-459: The methods and aim of the first model. Keith argues that criticism of the criteria of authenticity does not mean scholars cannot research the Historical Jesus , but rather that scholarship should seek to understand the Gospels rather than trying to sift through them for nuggets of history. Regardless of the methodological challenges historical Jesus studies have flowered in recent years; Dale Allison laments, "The publication of academic books about
22200-412: The modern names of the " Four Evangelists " added in the 2nd century), almost certainly none were by eyewitnesses to the Historical Jesus , though most scholars view the author of Luke-Acts as an eyewitness to Paul , and all are the end-products of long oral and written transmission (which did involve eyewitnesses). According to the majority of scholars, Mark was the first to be written, using
22385-480: The modern vegetarian movement. No authentic writings of Pythagoras have survived, and almost nothing is known for certain about his life. The earliest sources on Pythagoras's life are brief, ambiguous, and often satirical . The earliest source on Pythagoras's teachings is a satirical poem probably written after his death by the Greek philosopher Xenophanes of Colophon ( c. 570 – c. 478 BC), who had been one of his contemporaries. In
22570-711: The mythic bard Orpheus as Pythagoras's teacher, thus representing the Orphic Mysteries . The Neoplatonists wrote of a "sacred discourse" Pythagoras had written on the gods in the Doric Greek dialect, which they believed had been dictated to Pythagoras by the Orphic priest Aglaophamus upon his initiation to the orphic Mysteries at Leibethra . Iamblichus credited Orpheus with having been the model for Pythagoras's manner of speech, his spiritual attitude, and his manner of worship. Iamblichus describes Pythagoreanism as
22755-467: The name of Basilides and some dregs of his disciples' doctrines or practices found their way to so distant a land as Spain, and at the same time illustrates the probable hybrid origin of the secondary Basilidianism itself. Basilidian works are named for the founder of their school, Basilides (132–? AD). These works are mainly known to us through the criticisms of one of his opponents, Irenaeus in his work Adversus Haereses . The other pieces are known through
22940-401: The neighboring colony of Sybaris in 510 BC. After the victory, some prominent citizens of Croton proposed a democratic constitution , which the Pythagoreans rejected. The supporters of democracy, headed by Cylon and Ninon, the former of whom is said to have been irritated by his exclusion from Pythagoras's brotherhood, roused the populace against them. Followers of Cylon and Ninon attacked
23125-451: The novelist Antonius Diogenes , writing in the second century BC, reports that Pythagoras discovered all his doctrines himself by interpreting dreams . The third-century AD Sophist Philostratus claims that, in addition to the Egyptians, Pythagoras also studied under sages or gymnosophists in India . Iamblichus expands this list even further by claiming that Pythagoras also studied with
23310-580: The number of the heavens; whence, they apparently said, the year has 365 days, and the human body 365 members. This supreme Power they called "the Cause" and "the First Archetype," while they treated as a last or weakest product this present world as the work of the last Archon. It is evident from these particulars that Abrasax was the name of the first of the 365 Archons, and accordingly stood below Sophia and Dynamis and their progenitors; but his position
23495-499: The number philosophy attributed to him was really an innovation by Philolaus. According to Burkert, Pythagoras never dealt with numbers at all, let alone made any noteworthy contribution to mathematics. Burkert argues that the only mathematics the Pythagoreans ever actually engaged in was simple, proofless arithmetic , but that these arithmetic discoveries did contribute significantly to the beginnings of mathematics. Both Plato and Isocrates state that, above all else, Pythagoras
23680-460: The only Archon recognized by the later Basilidians, though Epiphanius distinctly implies that each of the 365 heavens had its Archon. The mere name "Archon" is common to most forms of Gnosticism. Basilidianism seems to have stood alone in appropriating Abrasax; but Caulacau plays a part in more than one system, and the functions of the angels recur in various forms of Gnosticism, and especially in that derived from Saturnilus. Saturnilus likewise affords
23865-464: The opinion of these followers of Basilides, was in the possession of a mystic name ( Caulacau ) by the power of which he had descended through all the heavens to Earth, and had then again ascended to the Father. Redemption, accordingly, could be conceived as the revelation of mystic names. Whether Basilides himself had already given this magic tendency to Gnosticism cannot be decided. A reading taken from
24050-485: The opinion that "Irenaeus described a form of Basilidianism which was not the original, but a later corruption of the system. On the other hand, Clement of Alexandria surely, and Hippolytus, in the fuller account of his Philosophumena, probably drew their knowledge of the system directly from Basilides' own work, the Exegetica, and hence represent the form of doctrine taught by Basilides himself". The fundamental theme of
24235-415: The origin of all things and the number two (the dyad ) represented matter. The number three was an "ideal number" because it had a beginning, middle, and end and was the smallest number of points that could be used to define a plane triangle, which they revered as a symbol of the god Apollo . The number four signified the four seasons and the four elements . The number seven was also sacred because it
24420-484: The past. Le Donne further argues that the remembrance of events is facilitated by relating it to a common story, or "type." This means the Jesus-tradition is not a theological invention of the early Church, but rather a tradition shaped and refracted through such memory "type." Le Donne too supports a conservative view on typology compared to some other scholars, transmissions involving eyewitnesses, and ultimately
24605-454: The perilous dissimulation of a secret sect, while their exclusiveness would be nourished by his doctrine of the Election ; and the same doctrine might further after a while receive an antinomian interpretation. Irenaeus and Epiphanius reproach Basilides with the immorality of his system, and Jerome calls Basilides a master and teacher of debaucheries. It is likely, however, that Basilides
24790-500: The period treated such traditions very carefully, and the New Testament writers in numerous passages applied to apostolic traditions the same technical terminology found elsewhere in Judaism [...] In this way they both identified their traditions as 'holy word' and showed their concern for a careful and ordered transmission of it." Other scholars are less sanguine about oral tradition, and Valantasis, Bleyle, and Hough argue that
24975-481: The permanent reality behind superficial appearances. Early Archaic sculpture represents life in simple forms, and may have been influenced by the earliest Greek natural philosophies. The Greeks generally believed that nature expressed itself in ideal forms and was represented by a type ( εἶδος ), which was mathematically calculated. When dimensions changed, architects sought to relay permanence through mathematics. Maurice Bowra believes that these ideas influenced
25160-507: The poem, Xenophanes describes Pythagoras interceding on behalf of a dog that is being beaten, professing to recognize in its cries the voice of a departed friend. Alcmaeon of Croton ( fl. c. 450 BC), a doctor who lived in Croton at around the same time Pythagoras lived there, incorporates many Pythagorean teachings into his writings and alludes to having possibly known Pythagoras personally. The poet Heraclitus of Ephesus (fl. c. 500 BC), who
25345-549: The priestess Aristoclea ( Aristokleia ). Ancient authorities furthermore note the similarities between the religious and ascetic peculiarities of Pythagoras with the Orphic or Cretan mysteries , or the Delphic oracle . Porphyry repeats an account from Antiphon , who reported that, while he was still on Samos, Pythagoras founded a school known as the "semicircle". Here, Samians debated matters of public concern. Supposedly,
25530-626: The proportion, not of the elements (materials), but of the interrelation of parts with one another and with the whole. In the Greek architectural orders, every element was calculated and constructed by mathematical relations. Rhys Carpenter states that the ratio 2:1 was "the generative ratio of the Doric order , and in Hellenistic times an ordinary Doric colonnade, beats out a rhythm of notes." Gospel Gospel ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : εὐαγγέλιον ; Latin : evangelium ) originally meant
25715-419: The rest of the New Testament , the four gospels were written in Greek. The Gospel of Mark probably dates from c. AD 66 –70, Matthew and Luke around AD 85–90, and John AD 90–110. Despite the traditional ascriptions, most scholars hold that all four are anonymous and most scholars agree that none were written by eyewitnesses. A few scholars defend the traditional ascriptions or attributions, but for
25900-666: The result of confusion with a different man named Pythagoras, who was an athletics trainer. Diogenes Laërtius records Milo's wife's name as Myia. Iamblichus mentions Theano as the wife of Brontinus of Croton. Diogenes Laërtius states that the same Theano was Pythagoras's pupil and that Pythagoras's wife Theano was her daughter. Diogenes Laërtius also records that works supposedly written by Theano were still extant during his own lifetime and quotes several opinions attributed to her. These writings are now known to be pseudepigraphical . Pythagoras's emphasis on dedication and asceticism are credited with aiding in Croton's decisive victory over
26085-731: The rise of a "new" Pythagoreanism in Alexandria . At around the same time, Neopythagoreanism became prominent. The first-century AD philosopher Apollonius of Tyana sought to emulate Pythagoras and live by Pythagorean teachings. The later first-century Neopythagorean philosopher Moderatus of Gades expanded on Pythagorean number philosophy and probably understood the soul as a "kind of mathematical harmony". The Neopythagorean mathematician and musicologist Nicomachus likewise expanded on Pythagorean numerology and music theory. Numenius of Apamea interpreted Plato's teachings in light of Pythagorean doctrines. Greek sculpture sought to represent
26270-425: The same time . When Pythagoras crossed the river Kosas (the modern-day Basento ), "several witnesses" reported that they heard it greet him by name. In Roman times, a legend claimed that Pythagoras was the son of Apollo. According to Muslim tradition , Pythagoras was said to have been initiated by Hermes (Egyptian Thoth ). Pythagoras was said to have dressed all in white. He is also said to have borne
26455-451: The school became so renowned that the brightest minds in all of Greece came to Samos to hear Pythagoras teach. Pythagoras himself dwelled in a secret cave, where he studied in private and occasionally held discourses with a few of his close friends. Christoph Riedweg, a German scholar of early Pythagoreanism, states that it is entirely possible Pythagoras may have taught on Samos, but cautions that Antiphon's account, which makes reference to
26640-523: The seed-mass and the not-being God, it could take the Holy Spirit no further, it not being consubstantial with the Holy Spirit. There the Holy Spirit remained, as a firmament dividing things above the world from the world itself below. Part needing purification . From the third part of the seed-mass burst forth into being the Great Archon , "the head of the world, a beauty and greatness and power that cannot be uttered." He too ascended until he reached
26825-729: The single year of the synoptics, placing the cleansing of the Temple at the beginning rather than at the end, and the Last Supper on the day before Passover instead of being a Passover meal. According to Delbert Burkett, the Gospel of John is the only gospel to call Jesus God, though other scholars like Larry Hurtado and Michael Barber view a possible divine Christology in the Synoptics. In contrast to Mark, where Jesus hides his identity as messiah, in John he openly proclaims it. Like
27010-599: The sons of God, that all the men of the sonship may ascend from hence". When this has come to pass, God will bring upon the whole world the Great Ignorance, that everything may like being the way it is, and that nothing may desire anything contrary to its nature. "And in this wise shall be the Restoration, all things according to nature having been founded in the seed of the universe in the beginning, and being restored at their due seasons." As for Jesus, other than
27195-493: The sound of their hammers clanging against the anvils. Thinking that the sounds of the hammers were beautiful and harmonious, except for one, he rushed into the blacksmith shop and began testing the hammers. He then realized that the tune played when the hammer struck was directly proportional to the size of the hammer and therefore concluded that music was mathematical. In ancient times, Pythagoras and his contemporary Parmenides of Elea were both credited with having been
27380-439: The theory of Pythagoras and his students, who believed that "all things are numbers". During the sixth century BC, the number philosophy of the Pythagoreans triggered a revolution in Greek sculpture. Greek sculptors and architects attempted to find the mathematical relation ( canon ) behind aesthetic perfection. Possibly drawing on the ideas of Pythagoras, the sculptor Polykleitos wrote in his Canon that beauty consists in
27565-477: The tradition linking Pythagoras to the tetractys is probably genuine. Modern scholars debate whether these numerological teachings were developed by Pythagoras himself or by the later Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus of Croton . In his landmark study Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism , Walter Burkert argues that Pythagoras was a charismatic political and religious teacher, but that
27750-421: The two approaches were compatible. The study of mathematics and music may have been connected to the worship of Apollo. The Pythagoreans believed that music was a purification for the soul, just as medicine was a purification for the body. One anecdote of Pythagoras reports that when he encountered some drunken youths trying to break into the home of a virtuous woman, he sang a solemn tune with long spondees and
27935-426: The use of all kinds of animal food except the flesh of oxen used for ploughing , and rams . According to Heraclides Ponticus, Pythagoras ate the meat from sacrifices and established a diet for athletes dependent on meat. Within his own lifetime, Pythagoras was already the subject of elaborate hagiographic legends. Aristotle described Pythagoras as a wonder-worker and somewhat of a supernatural figure. In
28120-402: The voice of the not-being God. Part subtle of substance . The first part of the seed-mass burst through and ascended to the not-being God. Part coarse of substance . The second part of the seed-mass to burst forth could not mount up of itself, but it took to itself as a wing of the Holy Spirit, each bearing up the other with mutual benefit. But when it came near the place of the first part of
28305-531: The way, and then, standing unseen opposite in Simon's form, mocked those who did the deed (this is starkly contradicted by Hippolytus' view of the Basilidians). But He Himself ascended into heaven, passing through all the powers, till He was restored to the presence of His own Father. The two fullest accounts, those of Irenaeus and Epiphanius, add by way of appendix another particular of the antecedent mythology;
28490-424: The weakness of human memory, referring to its 'many sins' and how it frequently misguides people. He expresses skepticism at other scholars' endeavors to identify authentic sayings of Jesus. Instead of isolating and authenticating individual pericopae, Allison advocates for a methodology focused on identifying patterns and finding what he calls 'recurrent attestation'. Allison argues that the general impressions left by
28675-478: The work of Clement of Alexandria: Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos ( Ancient Greek : Πυθαγόρας ; c. 570 – c. 495 BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher , polymath , and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism . His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of Plato , Aristotle , and, through them,
28860-399: The written Gospels. In modern scholarship, the Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources for reconstructing Christ's ministry while John is used less since it differs from the synoptics. However, according to the manuscript evidence and citation frequency by the early Church Fathers, Matthew and John were the most popular Gospels while Luke and Mark were less popular in the early centuries of
29045-575: The young man discovered in the tomb instructs the women to tell "the disciples and Peter" that Jesus will see them again in Galilee, hints that the author knew of the tradition. The authors of Matthew and Luke added infancy and resurrection narratives to the story they found in Mark, although the two differ markedly. Each also makes subtle theological changes to Mark: the Markan miracle stories, for example, confirm Jesus' status as an emissary of God (which
29230-532: Was Mark's understanding of the Messiah), but in Matthew they demonstrate his divinity, and the "young man" who appears at Jesus' tomb in Mark becomes a radiant angel in Matthew. Luke, while following Mark's plot more faithfully than Matthew, has expanded on the source, corrected Mark's grammar and syntax, and eliminated some passages entirely, notably most of chapters 6 and 7. John, the most overtly theological,
29415-407: Was a charismatic miracle-working holy man, providing examples for readers to emulate. As such, they present the Christian message of the second half of the first century AD, and modern biblical scholars are cautious of relying on the gospels uncritically as historical documents, though they provide a good idea of Jesus's public career; according to Graham Stanton , with the potential exception of
29600-581: Was a charismatic miracle-working holy man. As such, they present the Christian message of the second half of the first century AD, and modern biblical scholars are cautious of relying on the gospels uncritically as historical documents, though according to Sanders they provide a good idea of the public career of Jesus. According to Graham Stanton , with the potential exception of the Apostle Paul , we "know far more about Jesus of Nazareth than about any first or second century Jewish or pagan religious teacher". The majority view among critical scholars
29785-562: Was a contemporary of the philosophers Anaximander , Anaximenes , and the historian Hecataeus , all of whom lived in Miletus , across the sea from Samos. Pythagoras is traditionally thought to have received most of his education in the Near East. Modern scholarship has shown that the culture of Archaic Greece was heavily influenced by those of Levantine and Mesopotamian cultures. Like many other important Greek thinkers, Pythagoras
29970-466: Was a native of Samos , descending from a geomoroi family. Apollonius of Tyana , gives her name as Pythaïs. Iamblichus tells the story that the Pythia prophesied to her while she was pregnant with him that she would give birth to a man supremely beautiful, wise, and beneficial to humankind. As to the date of his birth, Aristoxenus stated that Pythagoras left Samos in the reign of Polycrates , at
30155-544: Was a philosopher, scientist, mathematician, and engineer, also known for a special case of the inscribed angle theorem . Pythagoras's birthplace, the island of Samos , is situated in the Northeast Aegean Sea not far from Miletus . Diogenes Laërtius cites a statement from Aristoxenus (fourth century BC) stating that Pythagoras learned most of his moral doctrines from the Delphic priestess Themistoclea . Porphyry agrees with this assertion but calls
30340-557: Was as Aethalides the son of Hermes , who granted him the ability to remember all his past incarnations. Next, he was incarnated as Euphorbus , a minor hero from the Trojan War briefly mentioned in the Iliad . He then became the philosopher Hermotimus , who recognized the shield of Euphorbus in the temple of Apollo. His final incarnation was as Pyrrhus, a fisherman from Delos . One of his past lives, as reported by Dicaearchus ,
30525-505: Was as a beautiful courtesan. Another belief attributed to Pythagoras was that of the " harmony of the spheres ", which maintained that the planets and stars move according to mathematical equations, which correspond to musical notes and thus produce an inaudible symphony. According to Porphyry, Pythagoras taught that the seven Muses were actually the seven planets singing together. In his philosophical dialogue Protrepticus , Aristotle has his literary double say: When Pythagoras
30710-492: Was asked [why humans exist], he said, "to observe the heavens", and he used to claim that he himself was an observer of nature, and it was for the sake of this that he had passed over into life. Pythagoras was said to have practiced divination and prophecy . The earliest mentions of divination by isopsephy in Greek literature associate it with Pythagoras; he was viewed as the founder of this practice. According to his biographer, Iamblichus, he taught his method of divination to
30895-667: Was born across a few miles of sea away from Samos and may have lived within Pythagoras's lifetime, mocked Pythagoras as a clever charlatan, remarking that "Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, practiced inquiry more than any other man, and selecting from these writings he manufactured a wisdom for himself—much learning, artful knavery." The Greek poets Ion of Chios ( c. 480 – c. 421 BC) and Empedocles of Acragas ( c. 493 – c. 432 BC) both express admiration for Pythagoras in their poems. The first concise description of Pythagoras comes from
31080-485: Was called a token of being still in bondage to the angels who made the body, and it was condemned especially as a vain honour paid not to Christ, who neither suffered nor was crucified, but to Simon of Cyrene. The contempt for martyrdom, which was perhaps the most notorious characteristic of the Basilidians, would find a ready excuse in their master's speculative paradox about martyrs, even if he did not discourage martyrdom himself. According to both Hippolytus and Irenaeus,
31265-427: Was credited with devising the tetractys , the triangular figure of four rows which add up to the perfect number, ten. The Pythagoreans regarded the tetractys as a symbol of utmost mystical importance. Iamblichus, in his Life of Pythagoras , states that the tetractys was "so admirable, and so divinised by those who understood [it]," that Pythagoras's students would swear oaths by it. Andrew Gregory concludes that
31450-475: Was executed before, rather than on, Passover, might well be more accurate, and its presentation of Jesus in the garden and the prior meeting held by the Jewish authorities are possibly more historically plausible than their synoptic parallels. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that the author had direct knowledge of events, or that his mentions of the Beloved Disciple as his source should be taken as
31635-419: Was given by their Archon, the God of the Jews. He being more petulant and wilful than the other angels (ἰταμώτερον καὶ αὐθαδέστερον), in his desire to secure empire for his people, provoked the rebellion of the other angels and their respective peoples. Then the Unbegotten and Innominable Father, seeing what discord prevailed among men and among angels, and how the Jews were perishing, sent His Firstborn Nûs, Who
31820-457: Was gone, convincing everyone that he had really been in the underworld and leading them to trust him with their wives. Although Pythagoras is most famous today for his alleged mathematical discoveries, classical historians dispute whether he himself ever actually made any significant contributions to the field. Many mathematical and scientific discoveries were attributed to Pythagoras, including his famous theorem , as well as discoveries in
32005-437: Was influenced by "the heresy of Basilides". The descriptions of the Basilidian system given by our chief informants, Irenaeus ( Adversus Haereses ) and Hippolytus ( Philosophumena ), are so strongly divergent that they seem to many quite irreconcilable. According to Hippolytus, Basilides was apparently a pantheistic evolutionist; and according to Irenaeus, a dualist and an emanationist. Historians such as Philip Shaff have
32190-463: Was known as the founder of a new way of life. The organization Pythagoras founded at Croton was called a "school", but, in many ways, resembled a monastery . The adherents were bound by a vow to Pythagoras and each other, for the purpose of pursuing the religious and ascetic observances, and of studying his religious and philosophical theories. The members of the sect shared all their possessions in common and were devoted to each other to
32375-423: Was only "a single seed containing within itself all the seed-mass of the world," as the mustard seed contains the branches and leaves of the tree. Within this seed-mass were three parts, or sonships , and were consubstantial with the not-being God. This was the one origin of all future growths; these future growths did not use pre-existing matter, but rather these future growths came into being out of nothing by
32560-426: Was personally free from immorality and that this accusation was true neither of the master nor of some of his followers. However, imperfect and distorted as the picture may be, such was doubtless in substance the creed of Basilidians not half a century after Basilides had written. In this and other respects our accounts may possibly contain exaggerations; but Clement's complaint of the flagrant degeneracy in his time from
32745-470: Was present when the attack occurred and, if he was, whether or not he managed to escape. In some accounts, Pythagoras was not at the meeting when the Pythagoreans were attacked because he was on Delos tending to the dying Pherecydes. According to another account from Dicaearchus, Pythagoras was at the meeting and managed to escape, leading a small group of followers to the nearby city of Locris , where they pleaded for sanctuary, but were denied. They reached
32930-445: Was raised by Pythagoras's appointed successor Aristaeus and eventually took over the school when Aristaeus was too old to continue running it. Suda writes that Pythagoras had 4 children (Telauges, Mnesarchus, Myia and Arignote). The wrestler Milo of Croton was said to have been a close associate of Pythagoras and was credited with having saved the philosopher's life when a roof was about to collapse. This association may have been
33115-737: Was retained as gospel in Middle English Bible translations and hence remains in use also in Modern English . The four canonical gospels share the same basic outline of the life of Jesus: he begins his public ministry in conjunction with that of John the Baptist , calls disciples, teaches and heals and confronts the Pharisees , dies on the cross and is raised from the dead. Each has its own distinctive understanding of him and his divine role and scholars recognize that
33300-654: Was said to have studied in Egypt . By the time of Isocrates in the fourth century BC, Pythagoras's reputed studies in Egypt were already taken as fact. The writer Antiphon , who may have lived during the Hellenistic Era, claimed in his lost work On Men of Outstanding Merit , used as a source by Porphyry, that Pythagoras learned to speak Egyptian from the Pharaoh Amasis II himself, that he studied with
33485-496: Was so despondent at the deaths of his beloved students that he committed suicide. A different legend reported by both Diogenes Laërtius and Iamblichus states that Pythagoras almost managed to escape, but that he came to a fava bean field and refused to run through it, since doing so would violate his teachings, so he stopped instead and was killed. This story seems to have originated from the writer Neanthes, who told it about later Pythagoreans, not about Pythagoras himself. Although
33670-587: Was the Greek version of the scriptures, called the Septuagint ; they do not seem familiar with the original Hebrew. The consensus among modern scholars is that the gospels are a subset of the ancient genre of bios , or ancient biography . Ancient biographies were concerned with providing examples for readers to emulate while preserving and promoting the subject's reputation and memory; the gospels were never simply biographical, they were propaganda and kerygma (preaching), meant to convince people that Jesus
33855-455: Was the number of planets and the number of strings on a lyre, and because Apollo's birthday was celebrated on the seventh day of each month. They believed that odd numbers were masculine , that even numbers were feminine , and that the number five represented marriage, because it was the sum of two and three. Ten was regarded as the "perfect number" and the Pythagoreans honored it by never gathering in groups larger than ten. Pythagoras
34040-405: Was the son of Mnesarchus, and that he was born on the Greek island of Samos in the eastern Aegean . According to these biographers, Pythagoras's father was not born on the island, although he got naturalized there, but according to Iamblichus he was a native of the island. He is said to have been a gem-engraver or a wealthy merchant but his ancestry is disputed and unclear. His mother
34225-539: Was thus vitiated by the sinful; when hard pressed Basilides would call even Christ a sinful man, for God alone was righteous. Clement accuses Basilides of a deification of the Devil , and regards as his two dogmas that of the Devil and that of the transmigration of souls. In briefly sketching this version of Basilidianism, which most likely rests on later or corrupt accounts, our authorities are fundamentally two, Irenaeus and
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