Part 2 - AMORC

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Pythagoras learned much on his many travels including the doctrine ofreincarnation in which he came to firmly believe.of Persia. Once in Babylon, he was mysteriouslyfreed and this gave him the opportunity to learnthe secrets of the Magi, which in turn opened thegates of Chaldean science to him. From there, hetravelled to Asia Minor where the mysteries ofvarious temples were revealed to him. It is saidthat he travelled to Sidon in Phoenicia, as well asMesopotamia and even as far as India, where helearned the secret Vedic teachings and about thedoctrine of reincarnation, in which he came tobelieve firmly. In this way he learned that thereare many paths, but only one leads to the Truth.Finally, he possessed the key to knowledge.After half a lifetime of travels to sacred sites,he then decided to return to Samos, intendingto continue what he now considered as hismission. Samos however was ruled by the autocratOn his travels he learned the secretVedic teachings and about thedoctrine of reincarnation.Polykrates (530-538 BCE), an ally of the Persianswho had brutally suppressed the people’s rights.Pythagoras, not able to stomach the tyranny, andunable to find students to instruct, went to consultthe Pythian oracle of Delphi. He left under theprotection of Apollo, and in accordance with theresponse of the Pythia, about 530 BCE he landed inKroton (Κρότων) in Magna Graecia.Magna GraeciaMagna Graecia (or Greater Greece in Latin) was thename the Romans gave to the Greek settlementsalong the coast of southern Italy andSicily because of the dense numbersof Greeks living there. These cities lefta lasting imprint of Greek culture thatinfluenced the Etruscan and later theRoman civilisations.According to Strabo, HeraclidesPonticus, Antiochus of Syracuse, thesophist Zenobius and Diodorus Siculus,the Greek colony of Kroton was sixmiles from the Lakinian promontory(the current Capo Colonna). Like Samosit had a temple of Hera. It lies in themodern Italian province of Crotone inthe region of Calabria. This was theancient territory of the Iapyges, anIllyrian-speaking tribe whose language istentatively distantly related to Albanian.Kroton was a large city founded in 708 BCEafter the Delphic oracle instructed some Achaeancolonists led by Myskellos to settle there. The storywas told that the founders of Kroton and Sybarisboth consulted the oracle at Delphi at the sametime and were given the choice of wealth or health;Archias the founder of Sybaris chose wealth, whileMyskellos chose health.Kroton had a small harbour, but it was onlya port of call and not a centre of commerce. Behindthe city were the Sila mountains, cutting it off fromthe interior. The slopes and foothills were extensiveand fertile. The city was famous for its doctors andathletes. The school of philosophy that Pythagorasfounded there played an important role in thepolitical affairs of southern Italy for the next two orthree generations.About the time Pythagoras arrived, Krotonwas defeated by the city of Locri at the River Sagras.But its fortunes changed and in 510 BCE, Krotondefeated and destroyed its rich and luxuriousneighbour to the north, Sybaris. From then untilabout 450 BCE, Kroton seems to have been thedominant city in the region and historians creditedPythagoras and his moral training for the militaryrevival of Kroton.Pythagorean CommunityAfter his arrival, Pythagoras introduced himselfto the people of the city by delivering severaldiscourses containing some basic concepts of hisphilosophy. His presence was that of a free man;tall and graceful in speech and gesture. He madea great impression on the Krotonians and showed38The Rosicrucian Beacon -- June 2008
Map of Magna Graecia in southern Italyhimself to be not merely a moral reformer but amystical philosopher whose insights into humanrelations could bring about a society harmoniousin itself and with the gods.With Pythagoras and his communitydirecting affairs, Kroton became the mostimportant power in southern Italy. It hadbrilliant athletic successes at the OlympicGames and a flourishing medical school. Atthis period, the south Italian Greek cities wererenowned as leaders of Greek thought and culture.In material culture they rivalled other Greek citieslike Athens and Corinth. This was no provincialbackwater but a fully developed part of the ancientGreek world.Pythagoras especially stressed how the godswere to be propitiated with sacred ritual. Amongother things, he emphasised that you should wearwhite in a temple, that you should use wood andsea water rather than animals in sacrifice, and thatyou should pour libations to Zeus before eating. Inorder to create a harmonious society the philosopheralso defined what should be considered proper orethical behaviour between the sexes, and betweenchildren and their elders.He stated that the young should respecttheir parents and have a love of knowledge. Hebelieved that the Universe as a whole was a livingcreature, being a single, living, eternal and divineentity. He taught that human beings were mortal,but that the soul was not: it was a fragment orspark of the divine soul, cut off and imprisonedin a mortal body. Man’s aim in life he said was tobecome pure spirit, and thus rejoin the universalspirit to which he essentially belonged. Until thesoul could purify itself completely, it must undergoa series of transmigrations, exchanging one bodyfor another. Interestingly, these were also the viewsof the Cathars of southern France some 1500 yearslater.His religion was a kind of pantheism. Hewas also the first to coin the term Kosmos (Κοσμος)a word that combines the notions of order, fitnessand beauty, an ordered whole. Each one of us is aKosmos in miniature. The philosopher who studiesthe Kosmos becomes kosmios, orderly, in his or herown soul.The Pythagorean TraditionThe people of Kroton were inspired by Pythagoras’lofty, beautiful sentiments, and impressed by hisnoble bearing, helped him to build a school onthe outskirts of town. Pythagoras was the first touse the term “philosopher” (lover of wisdom) andgained many followers. But his school was morethan just a place of learning; it was a community,a fraternity, a way of life and a sort of scientificHe showed himself to be a mysticalphilosopher whose insights into humanrelations could incite social harmony.research establishment. It was open to both menand women at a time when women were verymuch regarded as second class citizens. He alsotaught the doctrine of rebirth or transmigration.One group of students, approximately 600in number, lived in a communal fashion in theschool. This inner circle of followers or initiateswas called mathematikoi (Students). They lived inthe community, had no possessions and werevegetarians. A second group of 2,000, the akousmatikoi(Hearers), were family members who lived in theirThe Rosicrucian Beacon -- June 200839
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Part 2 - AMORC

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