Editing Pythagoras (section)

=== Alleged Greek teachers ===
Ancient sources also record Pythagoras having studied under a variety of native Greek thinkers.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} Diogenes Laërtius asserts that Pythagoras later visited [[Crete]], where he went to the [[Mount Ida|Cave of Ida]] with [[Epimenides]].{{sfnp|Diog VIII|loc=1.1, 1.3}} Some identify Hermodamas of Samos as a possible tutor.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}}<ref>{{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§2}}; {{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.2}}</ref> Hermodamas represented the indigenous Samian [[Rhapsode|rhapsodic]] tradition and his father Creophylos was said to have been the host of his rival poet [[Homer]].{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} Others credit [[Bias of Priene]], Thales,{{sfnp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§9}} or [[Anaximander]] (a pupil of Thales).{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}}{{sfnp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§9}}{{sfnp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§2}} Other traditions claim the mythic bard [[Orpheus]] as Pythagoras's teacher, thus representing the [[Orphism (religion)|Orphic Mysteries]].{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} 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]].{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} Iamblichus credited Orpheus with having been the model for Pythagoras's manner of speech, his spiritual attitude, and his manner of worship.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=8–9}} Iamblichus describes Pythagoreanism as a synthesis of everything Pythagoras had learned from Orpheus, from the Egyptian priests, from the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], and from other religious and philosophical traditions.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=8–9}} Contradicting all these reports, the novelist [[Antonius Diogenes]], writing in the second century BC, reports that Pythagoras discovered all his doctrines himself by [[Dream interpretation|interpreting dreams]].{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=8}} Riedweg states that, although these stories are fanciful, Pythagoras's teachings were definitely influenced by Orphism to a noteworthy extent.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}}

Of the various Greek sages claimed to have taught Pythagoras, [[Pherecydes of Syros]] is mentioned most often.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}}<ref>{{harvp|Diog I|loc=1.13, 1.15}}; {{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.2, §1.40}}; {{harvnb|Cicero, de Div. I|loc=§49.122|p=345}}</ref> 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.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} [[Apollonius Paradoxographus]], a paradoxographer who may have lived in the second century BC, identified Pythagoras's [[Thaumaturgy|thaumaturgic]] ideas as a result of Pherecydes's influence.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} 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.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} [[Duris of Samos|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.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} On 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.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}} Pythagoras and Pherecydes also appear to have shared similar views on the soul and the teaching of metempsychosis.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=9}}