(Originally written September 5, 2006 in Book 10)
The Mystery Cults
A new religion began to emerge in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. that was starkly different then Homer's Olympian religion.
It is faintly echoed in Xenophanes and Heraclitus but did not touch the Milesians.
The new religion included the Dionysus Cult.
The Olympic Religion focused on the goodness of life on earth, but the new religion focused on redemption and the goodness of the afterlife.
The new religion aimed at creating a joyful union of god and man.
Each cult guarded their rituals as a precious secret.
The ceremonies were races, took place at night, and much to the dismay of men, involved women.
They became intoxicated, ripped animals from limb to limb, drank blood and danced to the point of exhaustion.
"The felt the spirit of god pass into their bodies" (Jones, 32). This is actually the literal translation of intoxication - 'to be filled of god'
They reveled in their happiness and freedom of all restraint.
Both the Olympic religion and the early cults were ritualistically, not morally driven.
The Pythagoreans were deeply impacted by the mystery cults.
Some of their rituals (the Pythagoreans) obviously come from the ritualism of the mystery cults: not eating beans, not stirring the fire with iron, not leaving an impression in bed when you wake up, etc., etc.
They substituted music for wine and thus intoxicated the soul, not the body.
They believed in a immortal soul and a punitive/reward based form of reincarnation.
Their moral goal was to be released from the reincarnation cycle; they did it by obtaining wisdom.
Men were classified into three groups, which corresponded with three types of people who attended the Olympic games:
1) The 'lovers of grain' were the lowest types of men. These were the men who set up booths and sold merchandise at the games
2) The 'lovers of honor' were the middle types of men. These were the athletes.
3) The 'lovers of knowledge' were the highest types of men because they contemplated the games without being trapped by vulgar wants
Science gave them access to the contemplation of the eternal truths and this would free them from the reincarnation cycle.
Rather than focusing on the practical applications or curiosity satisfaction aspect of science like the Milesians, the Pythagoreans cultivated science as a means to spiritual redemption.
Pythagorean Science
The Pythagoreans were more interested in mathematics then physics and even more interested in the application of mathematics to cosmological speculation.
The pythagoreans had a number of classifications of numbers:
1) Square numbers were the sequential odd numbers added together: (1, 1+3, 1+3+5...)
2) Oblong numbers were even numbers of the same pattern (2, 2+4, 2+6...)
3) "tetraktys' or triangle numbers were the most pleasing numbers to the Pythagoreans. This was the sums of natural integers (1, 1+2, 1+2+3, 1+2+3+4...)
The Pythagoreans developed the idea of the 'mean'
They applied the 'mean' to the Milesian theory of opposites.
They stated that the mean was the good. This led to the notion of sophrosyne (moderation) in Pythagorean culture.
The Pythagoreans believed in a primary substance, but not a material one. They believed numbers were the basic elements.
They believed the earth was a sphere.
They believed the earth and all other heavenly bodies revolved around a central fire which was hidden from because the earth rotates.
Aristotle's geocentric theory destroyed the Pythagoreans' cosmology view from taking hold.
The Pythagoreans were dualists. Believing in:
1) The limit
2) The unlimited
The Unlimited was a "boundless breath"
The Limit was a fire
Everything was composed of numbers and ratios. "Number is at the heart of the universe" (Jones, 38).
Estimate of Pythagoreanism
Pythagoreanism was a mixture of mysticism and brilliant insight.
Their conception of the universe as a ordered system rather than a chaos was their highest achievement.
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