Editing Pythagoras (section)

=== Metempsychosis ===
Although the exact details of Pythagoras's teachings are uncertain,{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|pages=106–109}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|pages=5–6}} it is possible to reconstruct a general outline of his main ideas.{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|pages=106–109}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|pages=9–11}} Aristotle writes at length about the teachings of the Pythagoreans,{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|page=31}}{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|pages=29–30}} but without mentioning Pythagoras directly.{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|page=31}}{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|pages=29–30}} One of Pythagoras's main doctrines appears to have been ''[[metempsychosis]]'',{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=11}}{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|page=232}}{{sfnp|Burkert|1985|pages=300–301}}{{sfnp|Gregory|2015|pages=24–25}}{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|pages=30–31}} the belief that all [[soul]]s are immortal and that, after death, a soul is transferred into a new body.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=11}}{{sfnp|Gregory|2015|pages=24–25}} This teaching is referenced by Xenophanes, Ion of Chios, and Herodotus.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=11}}<ref>{{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.36}}, comp. {{harvp|Aristot. De Anima|loc=I. 2–3}}; {{harvp|Hdt. 2|loc=§123|p=425}}</ref> The earliest source on Pythagoras's metempsychosis is a satirical poem probably written after his death by the Greek philosopher [[Xenophanes of Colophon]] ({{circa|570|478|lk=no}}&nbsp;BC), who had been one of his contemporaries,{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=12}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=62}} in which 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.{{efn|name=Xenophanes}}{{sfnp|Burkert|1985|page=299}}{{sfnp|Joost-Gaugier|2006|page=12}}{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|page=31}} Nothing whatsoever, however, is known about the nature or mechanism by which Pythagoras believed metempsychosis to occur.{{sfnp|Gregory|2015|page=25}}

[[Empedocles]] alludes in one of his poems that Pythagoras may have claimed to possess the ability to recall his former incarnations.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=12}} 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.{{sfnp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.3–§1.5}}{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|pages=164–167}}<ref>{{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§26}}; Pausanias, ii. 17; Horace, ''Od.'' i. 28,1. 10</ref> The first of these lives was as [[Aethalides]] the son of [[Hermes]], who granted him the ability to remember all his past incarnations.{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|pages=164–165}} Next, he was incarnated as [[Euphorbus]], a minor hero from the [[Trojan War]] briefly mentioned in the ''[[Iliad]]''.{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|pages=165–166}} He then became the philosopher [[Hermotimus of Clazomenae|Hermotimus]],{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=167}} who recognized the shield of Euphorbus in the temple of Apollo.{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=167}} His final incarnation was as Pyrrhus, a fisherman from [[Delos]].{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=167}} One of his past lives, as reported by [[Dicaearchus]], was as a beautiful courtesan.{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|page=232}}<ref>Aulus Gellius, iv. 11</ref>