Editing Pythagoras (section)

== Influence after antiquity ==
=== In the Middle Ages ===
[[File:Pythagore-chartres.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Medieval carving of a man with long hair and a long beard hunched over a musical instrument he is working on|Pythagoras appears in a relief sculpture on one of the [[archivolts]] over the right door of the west portal at [[Chartres Cathedral]].{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}}]]

During the [[Middle Ages]], Pythagoras was revered as the founder of mathematics and music, two of the [[Seven Liberal Arts]].{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} He appears in numerous medieval depictions, in illuminated manuscripts and in the relief sculptures on the portal of the [[Cathedral of Chartres]].{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} The ''Timaeus'' was the only dialogue of Plato to survive in Latin translation in western Europe,{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} which led [[William of Conches]] (c. 1080–1160) to declare that Plato was Pythagorean.{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} A large-scale translation movement emerged during the Abbasid Caliphate, translating many Greek texts into Arabic. Works ascribed to Pythagoras included the "Golden Verses" and snippets of his scientific and mathematical theories.{{sfnp|Lindberg|1978}}{{Page needed|date=June 2024}} By translating and disseminating Pythagorean texts, Islamic scholars ensured their survival and wider accessibility. This preserved knowledge that might have otherwise been lost through the decline of the Roman Empire and the neglect of classical learning in Europe.{{sfnp|Lindberg|2013}}{{Page needed|date=June 2024}} In the 1430s, the Camaldolese friar [[Ambrose Traversari]] translated Diogenes Laërtius's ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' from Greek into Latin{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} and, in the 1460s, the philosopher [[Marsilio Ficino]] translated Porphyry and Iamblichus's ''Lives of Pythagoras'' into Latin as well,{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} thereby allowing them to be read and studied by western scholars.{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} In 1494, the Greek Neopythagorean scholar [[Constantine Lascaris]] published ''[[The Golden Verses of Pythagoras]]'', translated into Latin, with a printed edition of his ''Grammatica'',{{sfnp|Russo|2004|pages=5–87, especially 51–53}} thereby bringing them to a widespread audience.{{sfnp|Russo|2004|pages=5–87, especially 51–53}} In 1499, he published the first Renaissance biography of Pythagoras in his work ''Vitae illustrium philosophorum siculorum et calabrorum'', issued in [[Messina]].{{sfnp|Russo|2004|pages=5–87, especially 51–53}}

=== On modern science ===
In his preface to his book ''[[On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres]]'' (1543), [[Nicolaus Copernicus]] cites various Pythagoreans as the most important influences on the development of his [[Heliocentrism|heliocentric model]] of the universe,{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=160}} deliberately omitting mention of [[Aristarchus of Samos]], a non-Pythagorean astronomer who had developed a fully heliocentric model in the fourth century BC, in effort to portray his model as fundamentally Pythagorean.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=160}} [[Johannes Kepler]] considered himself to be a Pythagorean.{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|pages=161–171}} He believed in the Pythagorean doctrine of ''musica universalis'' and it was his search for the mathematical equations behind this doctrine that led to his discovery of the [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion|laws of planetary motion]]. Kepler titled his book on the subject ''[[Harmonices Mundi]]'' (''Harmonics of the World''), after the Pythagorean teaching that had inspired him.{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=162}} He also called Pythagoras the "grandfather" of all Copernicans.{{sfnp|James|1993|p=142}}

[[Albert Einstein]] believed that a scientist may also be "a Platonist or a Pythagorean insofar as he considers the viewpoint of logical simplicity as an indispensable and effective tool of his research."{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=172}} The English philosopher [[Alfred North Whitehead]] argued that "In a sense, Plato and Pythagoras stand nearer to modern physical science than does Aristotle. The two former were mathematicians, whereas Aristotle was the son of a doctor".{{sfnp|Whitehead|1953|pages=36–37}} By this measure, Whitehead declared that Einstein and other modern scientists like him are "following the pure Pythagorean tradition."{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=172}}{{sfnp|Whitehead|1953|page=36}}

=== On vegetarianism ===
[[File:Pythagoras advocating vegetarianism (1618-20); Peter Paul Rubens.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Painting showing Pythagoras on the far left quizzically stroking his beard as he gazes upon a massive pile of fruits and vegetables. Two followers stand behind him, fully clothed. A man with a greying beard sits at the base of a tree gesturing to the pile of produce. Next to him, a fleshy, nude woman with blonde hair plucks fruits from it. Slightly behind her, two other women, one partially clothed and the other nude but obscured by the tree branch, are also plucking fruits. At the far right end of the painting, two nude, faun-like men with beards and pointed ears hurl more fruits upon the pile.|''Pythagoras Advocating Vegetarianism'' (1618–1630) by [[Peter Paul Rubens]] was inspired by Pythagoras's speech in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''.{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|page=192}} The painting portrays the Pythagoreans with corpulent bodies, indicating a belief that vegetarianism was healthful and nutritious.{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|page=192}}]]

A fictionalized portrayal of Pythagoras appears in Book XV of [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'',{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|page=189}} in which he delivers a speech imploring his followers to adhere to a strictly vegetarian diet.{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|pages=189–190}} It was through [[Arthur Golding]]'s 1567 English translation of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' that Pythagoras was best known to English-speakers throughout the early modern period.{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|pages=189–190}} [[John Donne]]'s ''Progress of the Soul'' discusses the implications of the doctrines expounded in the speech,{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|page=190}} and [[Michel de Montaigne]] quoted the speech no less than three times in his treatise "Of Cruelty" to voice his moral objections against the mistreatment of animals.{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|page=190}} [[John Dryden]] included a translation of the scene with Pythagoras in his 1700 work ''[[Fables, Ancient and Modern]]'',{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|page=190}} and [[John Gay]]'s 1726 fable "Pythagoras and the Countryman" reiterates its major themes, linking carnivorism with tyranny.{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|page=190}} [[Lord Chesterfield]] records that his conversion to vegetarianism had been motivated by reading Pythagoras's speech in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''.{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|page=190}} Until the word ''vegetarianism'' was coined in the 1840s, vegetarians were referred to in English as "Pythagoreans".{{sfnp|Borlik|2011|page=190}}

=== On Western esotericism ===
Early modern [[Western esotericism|European esotericism]] drew heavily on the teachings of Pythagoras.{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} The German [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]] scholar [[Johannes Reuchlin]] (1455–1522) synthesized Pythagoreanism with [[Christian theology]] and Jewish [[Kabbalah]],{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=127–128}} arguing that Kabbalah and Pythagoreanism were both inspired by [[Moses|Mosaic]] tradition{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=128}} and that Pythagoras was therefore a kabbalist.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=128}} In his dialogue ''De verbo mirifico'' (1494), Reuchlin compared the Pythagorean tetractys to the [[Ineffability|ineffable]] divine name [[Tetragrammaton|YHWH]],{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=127–128}} ascribing each of the four letters of the tetragrammaton a symbolic meaning according to Pythagorean mystical teachings.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=128}}

[[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]]'s popular and influential three-volume treatise ''[[Three Books of Occult Philosophy|De Occulta Philosophia]]'' cites Pythagoras as a "religious magi"{{sfnp|French|2002|page=30}} and advances the idea that Pythagoras's mystical numerology operates on a [[Allegory in Renaissance literature#Three world theory|supercelestial]] level,{{sfnp|French|2002|page=30}} a religious term used to describe a high heavenly realm used during his time. The [[Freemasonry|freemasons]] deliberately modeled their society on the community founded by Pythagoras at Croton.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=133}} [[Rosicrucianism]] used Pythagorean symbolism,{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} as did [[Robert Fludd]] (1574–1637),{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} who believed his own musical writings to have been inspired by Pythagoras.{{sfnp|Celenza|2010|page=798}} [[John Dee]] was heavily influenced by Pythagorean ideology,{{sfnp|Sherman|1995|page=15}}{{sfnp|French|2002|page=30}} particularly the teaching that all things are made of numbers.{{sfnp|Sherman|1995|page=15}}{{sfnp|French|2002|page=30}}

=== On literature ===
The [[Transcendentalism|Transcendentalists]] read the ancient ''Lives of Pythagoras'' as guides on how to live a model life.{{sfnp|Bregman|2002|page=186}} [[Henry David Thoreau]] was impacted by [[Thomas Taylor (neoplatonist)|Thomas Taylor]]'s translations of Iamblichus's ''Life of Pythagoras'' and [[Stobaeus]]'s ''Pythagoric Sayings''{{sfnp|Bregman|2002|page=186}} and his views on nature may have been influenced by the Pythagorean idea of images corresponding to archetypes.{{sfnp|Bregman|2002|page=186}} The Pythagorean teaching of ''musica universalis'' is a recurring theme throughout Thoreau's ''[[magnum opus]]'', ''[[Walden]]''.{{sfnp|Bregman|2002|page=186}}