Editing Pythagoras (section)

=== On art and architecture ===
[[File:Giovanni Paolo Panini - Interior of the Pantheon, Rome - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|alt=Painting showing a massive room with a high, domed ceiling. A hole is open at the top of the dome. Columns and statues line the walls.|[[Hadrian]]'s [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] in [[Rome]], depicted in this eighteenth-century painting by [[Giovanni Paolo Panini]], was built according to Pythagorean teachings.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=166–181}}]]

The oldest known building designed according to Pythagorean teachings is the [[Porta Maggiore Basilica]],{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=154}} a subterranean basilica which was built during the reign of the Roman emperor [[Nero]] as a secret place of worship for Pythagoreans.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=154–156}} The basilica was built underground because of the Pythagorean emphasis on secrecy{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=157–158}} and also because of the legend that Pythagoras had sequestered himself in a cave on Samos.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=158}} The basilica's apse is in the east and its atrium in the west out of respect for the rising sun.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=158–159}} It has a narrow entrance leading to a small pool where the initiates could purify themselves.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=159}} The building is also designed according to Pythagorean numerology,{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=159–161}} with each table in the sanctuary providing seats for seven people.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=161}} Three aisles lead to a single altar, symbolizing the three parts of the soul approaching the unity of Apollo.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=161}} The apse depicts a scene of the poet [[Sappho]] leaping off the [[Lefkada|Leucadian cliffs]], clutching her lyre to her breast, while Apollo stands beneath her, extending his right hand in a gesture of protection,{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=162}} symbolizing Pythagorean teachings about the immortality of the soul.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=162}} The interior of the sanctuary is almost entirely white because the color white was regarded by Pythagoreans as sacred.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=162–164}}

The emperor [[Hadrian]]'s [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] in [[Rome]] was also built based on Pythagorean numerology.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=166–181}} The temple's circular plan, central axis, hemispherical [[dome]], and alignment with the four cardinal directions symbolize Pythagorean views on the order of the universe.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=167–168}} The single [[Oculus (architecture)|oculus]] at the top of the dome symbolizes the monad and the sun-god Apollo.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=168}} The twenty-eight ribs extending from the oculus symbolize the moon, because twenty-eight was the same number of months on the Pythagorean lunar calendar.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=169–170}} The five coffered rings beneath the ribs represent the marriage of the sun and moon.{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|pages=170–172}}