Difficult riddles of Pythagoras. Mysteries of the occult teachings of Pythagoras. Monument to Pythagoras in Samos

The unknown about the known

Today, the name of Pythagoras, the creator of the famous right triangle theorem, is known to every schoolchild. But few people know that his incredible knowledge in various sciences is associated with the fact that Pythagoras perfectly studied the secret occult knowledge of the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians.

The life of Pythagoras has always been shrouded in mysticism. It is known that his fate was predicted by the Delphic soothsayer, to whom the parents of the future famous mathematician came before the birth. “He will do a lot of good for mankind and will be glorious at all times,” said the fortuneteller. She also advised the spouses to go to Phoenicia, to the city of Sidon, in order to receive a blessing in the Jewish temple. The name Pythagoras received from the soothsayer Pythia, it means "persuasive speech."

"persuasive speech"

Historical studies date the birth of Pythagoras around 580 BC.
In the 6th century BC, Ionia, a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, located off the coast of Asia Minor, became the center of Greek science and art. It was there that a son was born in the family of a goldsmith, seal cutter and engraver Mnesarchus. Like any father, Mnesarchus dreamed that the offspring would continue his work, but fate had something else in store for him. The future great mathematician and philosopher already in childhood showed great abilities for science, in addition, there is evidence that Pythagoras was one of the best athletes in Greece and even successfully participated in the Olympic Games.
From his first teacher Hermodamas, Pythagoras received knowledge of the basics of music and painting. For memory exercises, Hermodamas forced Pythagoras to learn songs from the Odyssey and the Iliad. The first teacher instilled in the gifted boy a love for nature and its mysteries. “There is another school,” said Hermodamas, “your feelings come from nature, let it be the first and main subject of your teaching.”
Pythagoras was greedy for all kinds of knowledge, but they did little to impress him. He was looking for something more - a real connection-harmony between the three components: earth - god - man. Pythagoras believed that it was in this triple symmetry that the main key to revealing all the mysteries of the Universe, the answer to the eternal questions of mankind, lies. And then, on the advice of his teacher, Pythagoras decided to continue his studies with the Egyptian priests.
It was difficult to get to Egypt at that time, because the country was actually closed to the Greeks. And the ruler of Samos, the tyrant Polycrates, also did not encourage such trips. But Pythagoras was persistent, and with the help of his teacher, he managed to escape from the island of Samos. At first he lived on the famous island of Lesbos with his relative Zoilus. And a few years later he went to Miletus - to the famous Thales, the founder of the first philosophical school. It is from him that it is customary to trace the history of Greek philosophy.
Pythagoras listened attentively in Miletus to the lectures of Thales, then already an octogenarian, and his younger colleague and student Anaximander, who invented the first sundial and created astronomical instruments. Pythagoras acquired a lot of important knowledge during his stay in the Milesian school, but Egypt was still his goal. And Pythagoras set off.

Babylonian captivity

Before arriving in Egypt, Pythagoras stopped for some time in Phoenicia, where he also did not waste time and studied with the famous Sidonian priests. While he lived in Phoenicia, his friends ensured that Polycrates, the ruler of Samos, not only forgave the fugitive, but even sent a letter of recommendation to Amasis, the pharaoh of Egypt.
In Egypt, thanks to the patronage of Amasis, Pythagoras met the Memphis priests. According to one of the legends, it was the Egyptians who owned the main knowledge of the Earth - the revelations of the Atlanteans themselves. For a long time, Egypt was considered nothing more than a colony of Atlantis. It is still unknown how Pythagoras managed to penetrate the holy of holies - the Egyptian temples, where strangers were not allowed, nevertheless, Pythagoras was initiated into the mysteries of Osiris and Isis and participated in secret magical rituals.
Even the pharaohs did not always witness such mysteries, in which trials were an integral part of the admission. The test subject went through underground labyrinths, built in such a way that he not only physically, but also psychologically proved his chosenness. The dungeons, dimly lit by a lamp, had a strong effect on the psyche. Some subjects lost control of themselves. Then inevitable death awaited them, so that the secrets of the ritual would not be revealed. However, Pythagoras successfully passed all the tests.
Studying Pythagoras in Egypt contributed to the fact that he became one of the most educated people of his time. It was to this period that the event that changed his future life belongs. Pharaoh Amasis died, and his successor did not pay the annual tribute to Cambyses, the Persian king - this
was a casus belli. The Persians did not even spare the sacred temples. The priests were also persecuted - they were killed or taken prisoner. So was Pythagoras captured.
One of the legends says that the future mathematician managed to deceive the guards and, together with other prisoners, escaped to Greece, where they subsequently organized a secret occult society. However, according to another version, Pythagoras was nevertheless taken to Mesopotamia, where he met with Persian magicians, joined Eastern astrology and mysticism, and became acquainted with the teachings of the Chaldean sages. The sciences of the Chaldeans were largely based on ideas about magical and supernatural forces - it was they who gave a certain mystical sound to the philosophy and mathematics of Pythagoras ...
Pythagoras spent twelve years in Babylonian captivity until he was released by the Persian king Darius Hystaspes, who heard about the famous Greek. Pythagoras was already sixty at that time, and he decided to return to his homeland in order to introduce his people to the accumulated knowledge.
Since Pythagoras left Greece, there have been great changes. The best minds, fleeing the Persian yoke, moved to Southern Italy, which was then called Great Greece, and founded the colony cities of Syracuse, Agrigent, Croton there. Here Pythagoras decided to create his own philosophical school.
It quickly gained great popularity among the locals. The enthusiasm of the population was so great that even girls and women broke the law forbidding them to attend meetings. One of these violators, a young maiden named Theano, soon became the wife of the 60-year-old Pythagoras.

Censor of manners

At this time, social inequality was growing in Croton and other cities of Greece, the luxury of the Sybarites (residents of the city of Sybaris), which became legendary, was adjacent to poverty, social oppression intensified and morality noticeably fell. It was in such an environment that Pythagoras delivered a detailed sermon on moral perfection and knowledge. The inhabitants of Croton unanimously elected the wise old man as a censor of morals and a kind of spiritual father of the city. And here Pythagoras was very useful knowledge gained in wandering around the world. He combined the best of different religions and beliefs and created his own system, the defining thesis of which was the belief in
indissoluble interconnection of all things (nature, man, space) and in the equality of all people in the face of eternity and nature.
Perfectly mastering the methods of the Egyptian priests, Pythagoras "purified the souls of his listeners, expelled vices from the heart and filled the minds with bright truth." In the Golden Verses, Pythagoras expressed those moral rules, the strict observance of which leads the souls of the lost to perfection. Here are some of them: never do what you do not know, but learn everything you need to know, and then you will lead a quiet life; bear meekly your lot as it is, and grumble not against it; learn to live without luxury."
Over time, Pythagoras stopped performing in temples and on the streets, and taught already in his home. The education system was complex. Those wishing to join the knowledge had to pass a probationary period of three to five years. All this time, the students were required to remain silent and only listen to the teacher, without asking any questions. During this period, their patience and modesty were tested.
Pythagoras taught medicine, the principles of political activity, astronomy, mathematics, music, ethics, and much more. Outstanding political and statesmen, historians, mathematicians and astronomers came out of his school. In the school of Pythagoras, for the first time, a conjecture was made that the Earth is round. Yes, and the idea that the movement of celestial bodies is subject to certain mathematical relationships, the ideas of "harmony of the world" and "music of the spheres", which subsequently led to a revolution in astronomy, first appeared precisely in the school of the famous philosopher-mathematician.

"All things are numbers"

The scientist also did a lot in geometry. The famous theorem proved by Pythagoras still bears his name. Pythagoras paid special attention to numbers and their properties, seeking to know the meaning and nature of things. Through numbers, he even tried to comprehend such categories of being as justice, death, constancy, man and woman.
The Pythagoreans believed that all bodies are composed of the smallest particles - "units of being", which in various combinations correspond to various geometric shapes. The number for Pythagoras was both the matter and the form of the universe. The main thesis of the Pythagoreans followed from this idea: "All things are the essence of numbers." But since the numbers expressed the "essence" of everything, it was necessary to explain the phenomena of nature only with their help. Pythagoras and his followers with their work laid the foundation for a very important area of ​​mathematics - number theory.
The Pythagoreans divided all numbers into two categories - even and odd. Later it turned out that the Pythagorean "even - odd", "right - left" have deep and interesting consequences in quartz crystals, in the structure of viruses and DNA.
The Pythagoreans were not alien to the geometric interpretation of numbers. They believed that a point has one dimension, a line has two, a plane has three, and a volume has four dimensions. Ten can be expressed as the sum of the first four numbers (1+2+3+4=10), where one is the expression of a point, two is a line and a one-dimensional image, three is a plane and a two-dimensional image, four is a pyramid, that is, a three-dimensional image. Why not the four-dimensional universe of Einstein? When summing up all flat geometric figures - points, lines and planes - the Pythagoreans received a perfect, divine six.
The Pythagoreans saw justice and equality in the square of the number. Their symbol of constancy was the number nine, since all multiples of nine numbers have the sum of the digits, again nine. But the number eight among the Pythagoreans symbolized death, since multiples of eight have a decreasing sum of digits.
The Pythagoreans considered even numbers to be feminine and odd numbers to be masculine. An odd number is fertile, and if combined with an even number, it will prevail. The symbol of marriage among the Pythagoreans consisted of the sum of the male - the odd number 3 and the female - the even number 2. Marriage is a five equal to three plus two. For the same reason, a right-angled triangle with sides three, four, five was called by them "the figure of the bride."
The four numbers that make up the tetrad - one, two, three, four - are directly related to music: they set all known consonant intervals - an octave (1:2), a fifth (2:3) and a fourth (3:4). In other words, a decade, according to the teachings of the Pythagoreans, embodies not only the geometric-spatial, but also the musical-harmonic fullness of the cosmos. The sum of the numbers included in the tetrad is equal to ten, which is why the Pythagoreans considered ten to be an ideal number and symbolized the Universe. Since ten is the ideal number, they reasoned, there should be exactly ten planets in the sky. It should be noted that at that time only the Sun, Earth and five planets were known.
The Pythagoreans also knew perfect and friendly numbers. A perfect number was a number equal to the sum of its divisors. Friendly - numbers, each of which is the sum of its own divisors of another number. In ancient times, numbers of this kind symbolized friendship, hence the name.
In addition to the numbers that caused admiration and admiration, the Pythagoreans also had the so-called bad numbers. These are numbers that did not have any merit, and even worse if such a number was surrounded by "good" numbers. An example of this is the number thirteen - the damn dozen, or the number seventeen, which caused particular disgust among the Pythagoreans.
The attempt of Pythagoras and his school to connect the real world with numerical relations cannot be considered unsuccessful, since in the process of studying nature, the Pythagoreans, along with timid, naive and sometimes fantastic ideas, also put forward rational ways of knowing the secrets of the Universe. The reduction of astronomy and music to numbers enabled later generations of scientists to understand the world more deeply.
After the death of the scientist, his followers settled in different cities of Ancient Greece and organized Pythagorean societies there. However, after 150 years, the school founded by Pythagoras fell apart, and the occult secrets passed from teacher to student were lost. Perhaps forever.

How many years should training last before a person acquires the right to teach himself? For thirty-four years Pythagoras absorbed the wisdom of the Egyptian priests and Persian white magicians. And yet this was still not enough: he spent another year in the most holy place in Hellas - in the Delphic temple, where he opened a second sight: the ability to see both the subtle and physical worlds. Only after that he was ready to fulfill his mission, the one for which he was born.

From Greece, the initiate went to southern Italy, to the city of Croton, which was governed by the Council of a Thousand Chosen. Pythagoras convinced these people that it was necessary to create an institution where the inhabitants would be taught all the wisdom that he had learned in Egypt and Babylon. The project was enthusiastically accepted, and a few years later a building appeared in the vicinity of the city, surrounded by beautiful gardens. This is how the Order of the Pythagoreans arose - an ethical institute, an academy of sciences and at the same time a religious brotherhood, where after the test they accepted everyone, boys and girls. The first screening of candidates took place right at the entrance, where a sign was fixed next to the statue of Hermes with a warning inscription: "Get out, uninitiated!" Some, after reading it, turned and left. The more courageous went inside and from that moment received the title of "children of a woman", which they were. At first, newcomers were given complete freedom: they could walk almost everywhere, participate in the life of the Pythagoreans. They looked at them: how they walk, how they stay among strangers, how they laugh. Only then came the turn of the first exam - a test of courage. The aspirant to initiation was left alone all night in a cave about which there were rumors that evil spirits and ghosts appeared there. Others took to flight. Those who were able to overcome fear were subjected to the following test: suddenly, without warning, they were locked in an empty cell, given a difficult task to solve, and only bread and water from food. Then, at the appointed time, the subject was brought into the hall of general meetings, where they were subjected to ridicule. Everyone tried as hard as possible to hurt the vanity of the newcomer, shouting: “Look, a new philosopher has appeared! Come on, tell me, how did you solve the task assigned to you?

It was important not to find a solution, but to honestly admit that she was beyond her strength. Those who responded calmly and with dignity to all attacks and ridicule were considered worthy of the title of Pythagorean novice. From now on, they were called listeners, that is, silently absorbing the wisdom of teachers. They were instilled with tolerance for all religious cults, the concept of the unity of all peoples in a common evolution, the idea of ​​a single God. However, the training did not imply an ascetic life. Each new day, as it were, symbolized the birth and began with a silent walk around the temple. Having cleansed the soul, the disciples proceeded to cleanse the body by swimming in the sea. After a modest breakfast, we started the lessons, which took place under the trees. At noon, classes ended, and the time came for prayers to the heroes and good spirits. After lunch - gymnastic exercises, then - again lessons and meditation - internal preparation for tomorrow. After sunset, a common prayer took place: they sang a hymn to the cosmic gods ... The day ended with a common meal, during which the youngest student read aloud, and the oldest explained what was read.

The second stage of learning, catharsis or purification, came when Pythagoras received the student in his home. From here came the name - esoteric - that is, those who were admitted to the courtyard. Exoterics differed from them - those that remained outside. Actually, from that moment began the study of numerology - the mathematics of the universe. The student had to perceive the Number not as a figure or an abstract value, but as an expression of a spiritual essence. One is the beginning of all beginnings, God is the source of world harmony. Dyad (two) is the division of the world, the emergence of its duality: male and female principles, spiritual and physical worlds.

The manifested world is threefold. As a person consists of a body, soul and spirit, so the universe is divided into three concentric spheres: the natural world, the human world and the divine world. The triad is the law of things, the true key of life. Pythagoras also attached great importance to the numbers "seven" and "ten". The seven, consisting of three and four, meant the unity of a person with a deity. Ten, the sum of the first four numbers, expresses all the beginnings of the Deity, first separated, and then formed a new unity.

After mastering esoteric mathematics, the third stage of initiation came - perfection, when cosmogony, psychology and evolution of the soul were known. The esoteric doctrine of Pythagoras included knowledge of the alternating subsidence and the emergence of new continents, the oscillation of the earth's poles and the six floods that mankind must survive. Each period between the floods is marked by the dominance of one of the races, but the general enlightenment of all mankind never stops. “Know thyself,” said Pythagoras, “and you will know the universe.”

According to ancient teachings, modern people began their existence on other planets, where matter is thinner, spiritual reincarnations occur much easier, but, for all the beauty of these translucent worlds, they are deprived of the possibility of manifestation of will, reason and intellect. In order to find them, mankind plunged deeper and deeper into the material world of the Earth. Moses called this descent "the expulsion from paradise", and Orpheus - "the fall into the sublunar world." And only on Earth, having survived physical death, the soul will awaken in the totality of its qualities. But its evolution will not end there: besides the Sun, there are other stars with their own worlds...

The fourth stage of enlightenment was called Epiphany, which is translated from Greek as "a view from above." An adept, having learned esoteric truths, should not have gone into contemplation or ecstasy: he had to, figuratively speaking, descend from heaven to earth in order to put the knowledge gained into practice, enlighten people, provide them with help and support, and lead them to the Divine Light. Truth. For this to become possible, according to the teachings of Pythagoras, it was necessary to achieve three perfections: to realize truth in the mind, righteousness in the soul and purity in the body. At this stage, the person who is henceforth called an adept receives new abilities and powers. He can heal the sick by the laying on of hands, or by his presence alone. Or be transported over long distances, leaving the physical body. These and other "miracles" are only the result of spiritual development and love for all living beings.

There were only four such adepts who reached full power in Greece: Hermes Trismegistus and Orpheus at the very beginning of the history of Hellas, Pythagoras at the zenith of the glory of this country, and Apollonius of Tyana at the time of its final decline.

Pythagoras - a student of white magicians

In the VI century. BC. a powerful spiritual impulse was sent down to Earth, perceived by the great teachers and reformers of mankind. In China, it manifested itself in Taoism, whose positions were formulated by Lao Tzu.

In India, spirituality was realized in a new religion - Buddhism, the founder of which was the enlightened prince Shakya Muni, the Buddha. In Italy, the Light of Heaven was reflected in the prophecies of the Etruscan Sibyls. In imperial Rome, the ruler Numa Pompilius curbed the autocracy of the senate by wise state decrees. The Greek Pythagoras, a native of the island of Samos, having been trained by Egyptian priests, Chaldean magicians and Zoroastrians, gave the world an amazing esoteric teaching. The philosopher Iamblichus wrote about Pythagoras, noting his “... ability to accurately predict earthquakes, epidemics, hurricanes; the ability to instantly stop hail, to calm the waves on the seas and rivers so that his students can swim across them. However, the magical abilities of the great self, perceived by many as miraculous, were only an external manifestation of his deepest understanding of the essence of the world order.

The island of Samos is now part of Greece, although it is located on the very coast of Turkey. Once upon a time, trade routes from three continents passed through that independent state in the Aegean Sea: Europe, Asia and Africa. The autocratic ruler, the tyrant Polycrates, who patronized the arts and sciences, literally bathed in luxury, and there were legends about his luck.

At this fertile time in a beautiful corner of the Earth, the first-born was born to a wealthy jeweler and his wife. The Delphic soothsayer said of the baby that he "will bring good to all people for all time." And the hierophant of the god Adonai added, turning to Parthenis, the mother of the child: “Oh, Ionian woman! Your son will be great in wisdom, but remember that if the Greeks know many gods, then one God is remembered only in Egypt!

The jeweler understood from what was said only that his son would grow up smart, and he should complete his education in Egypt. Well, the Samian rich man saw no problem in sending his son to study abroad. In the meantime, the boy was surrounded by care and his curiosity was encouraged in every possible way.

The grown-up Pythagoras had the opportunity to attend lectures by the most prominent philosophers of his time - Thales and Anaximander. He often asked the wise men about the general harmony connecting the three known worlds: the natural world of nature, people, and the heavenly world - the gods. But their answers left only the bitterness of disappointment. Tasks of such a global scale were within the power of not philosophers, but spiritual teachers, such as Hermes Trismegistus and Orpheus, but those were no longer among the living. Yes, and it is impossible to penetrate into the very essence of the world order in an ordinary conversation - this requires insight from above. And it was given to a young man.

…One day a young philosopher was sitting alone in the garden in front of the temple. Mother nature herself whispered to him with the rustle of leaves that she had no will of her own, and blind fate was leading her. The world of people, now hidden behind the dark crowns of trees, seemed to cry out about itself: “Suffering! Madness! Slavery!"

And the twinkling of the stars above his head… By chance, his gaze fell on the facade of the building, whose strict lines seemed to come to life in the unsteady light of the moon. It was as if a flash of invisible lightning had scorched his soul! Even before understanding came insight, and someone's voice cried out: "Here it is!"

In the blink of an eye, the young man realized what he had seen many times, without delving into the essence of what he saw. The base of the building, its colonnade and triangular portico constituted the trinity of the world, where each part is unthinkable without the others. Try to take away its roof from the temple, the "heaven of the gods" - only miserable ruins will remain. Take away the columns, the "world of people" - a terrible thing will happen: the sky will collapse to the ground!

Well, if for some tragic reason the foundation, “the earth itself”, disappears, then the whole building will fall apart!

It would seem that this idea is obvious and does not contain any revelation: the temple was conceived and built as a symbol of the cosmos. And yet, it was not a conclusion, but a sensual experience, the acquisition of a secret as a personal experience and the beginning of the path of spiritual ascent. In his vision, Pythagoras found the answer to the question that tormented him: finally, chaos turned into harmony, beautiful in its harmony. Three worlds: natural, human and divine - mutually defining and supporting each other, revealed the scheme of the entire world order. It was then that the words of the priest of the god Adonai were remembered that the ONE God is remembered and known only in Egypt. The young philosopher firmly decided to go to the banks of the Nile to learn the wisdom of the ancient people.

The priests met the foreign young man from a wealthy family unfriendly: they considered the Greeks fickle and frivolous, unable to comprehend the full depth of truth. The fact that the pharaoh asked for Pythagoras only worsened the situation: people came for knowledge at the behest of the soul, and not by patronage. But the priests had no idea how tenacious they would face. The Greek youth was persecuted - he left to return. He was not noticed - he did not lose his presence of mind. Finally, they agreed to accept him for training in the secret hope that Pythagoras, having satisfied his vanity, would leave for his place in Hellas. The hopes of the Egyptian initiates were not destined to come true: the stranger did not retreat from his intended goal. At every step of his ascent, the tests became more dangerous and more difficult. Hundreds of times I had to risk my life, especially when gaining power over occult forces and during experiments to curb the spirits of nature. Nothing could make Pythagoras turn on the way. He walked for twenty-two years to his initiation! He survived, like Hermes and Orpheus, an imaginary death and resurrected in the radiance of Osiris. From the lips of the greatest priest himself, Sophis learned about the creative Word, which not only created the visible and invisible worlds, but also supported life in them.

Pythagoras, having undergone a great initiation, was already preparing to leave for his homeland, when something happened that no one expected: the Babylonian troops, led by King Cambyses, invaded the holy lands of Egypt, like countless hordes of locusts. The temples of Memphis and Thebes were destroyed, the sanctuaries of Ammon were plundered, and the priests were beheaded. Only a part of the initiates, including Pythagoras, were captured and taken to Babylon.

In a foreign land, the Greek got acquainted with the teachings of the Chaldean magicians, the Persian followers of Zarathustra and the wisdom of the captive Jews. Pythagoras enriched the theoretical knowledge of the Egyptians with the practice of fire worshipers, the founders of white magic. Twelve years lasted his compulsory education. Only after that did he obtain permission from the king to leave Babylon ...

... The return to Samos, however, did not bring joy - the island-state was captured and destroyed by the Persians. Schools and churches were closed. Poets and scientists fled from their homeland. A new initiate followed them. Pythagoras was leaving for Greece to arrive at the Delphic temple. Once a local prophetess promised him wisdom and a glorious future - what will she say now?

The unknown about the known

Today, the name of Pythagoras, the creator of the famous right triangle theorem, is known to every schoolchild. But few people know that his incredible knowledge in various sciences is associated with the fact that Pythagoras perfectly studied the secret occult knowledge of the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians.

The life of Pythagoras has always been shrouded in mysticism. It is known that his fate was predicted by the Delphic soothsayer, to whom the parents of the future famous mathematician came before the birth. “He will do a lot of good for mankind and will be glorious at all times,” said the fortuneteller. She also advised the spouses to go to Phoenicia, to the city of Sidon, in order to receive a blessing in the Jewish temple. The name Pythagoras received from the soothsayer Pythia, it means "persuasive speech."

"persuasive speech"

Historical studies date the birth of Pythagoras around 580 BC.

In the 6th century BC, Ionia, a group of islands in the Aegean Sea, located off the coast of Asia Minor, became the center of Greek science and art. It was there that a son was born in the family of a goldsmith, seal cutter and engraver Mnesarchus. Like any father, Mnesarchus dreamed that the offspring would continue his work, but fate had something else in store for him. The future great mathematician and philosopher already in childhood showed great abilities for science, in addition, there is evidence that Pythagoras was one of the best athletes in Greece and even successfully participated in the Olympic Games.

From his first teacher Hermodamas, Pythagoras received knowledge of the basics of music and painting. For memory exercises, Hermodamas forced Pythagoras to learn songs from the Odyssey and the Iliad. The first teacher instilled in the gifted boy a love for nature and its mysteries. “There is another school,” said Hermodamas, “your feelings come from nature, let it be the first and main subject of your teaching.”

Pythagoras was greedy for all kinds of knowledge, but they did little to impress him. He was looking for something more - a real connection-harmony between the three components: earth - god - man. Pythagoras believed that it was in this triple symmetry that the main key to revealing all the mysteries of the Universe, the answer to the eternal questions of mankind, lies. And then, on the advice of his teacher, Pythagoras decided to continue his studies with the Egyptian priests.

It was difficult to get to Egypt at that time, because the country was actually closed to the Greeks. And the ruler of Samos, the tyrant Polycrates, also did not encourage such trips. But Pythagoras was persistent, and with the help of his teacher, he managed to escape from the island of Samos. At first he lived on the famous island of Lesbos with his relative Zoilus. A few years later he went to Miletus - to the famous Thales, the founder of the first philosophical school. It is from him that it is customary to trace the history of Greek philosophy.

Pythagoras listened attentively in Miletus to the lectures of Thales, then already an octogenarian, and his younger colleague and student Anaximander, who invented the first sundial and created astronomical instruments. Pythagoras acquired a lot of important knowledge during his stay in the Milesian school, but Egypt was still his goal. And Pythagoras set off.

Babylonian captivity

Before arriving in Egypt, Pythagoras stopped for some time in Phoenicia, where he also did not waste time and studied with the famous Sidonian priests. While he lived in Phoenicia, his friends ensured that Polycrates, the ruler of Samos, not only forgave the fugitive, but even sent a letter of recommendation to Amasis, the pharaoh of Egypt.

In Egypt, thanks to the patronage of Amasis, Pythagoras met the Memphis priests. According to one of the legends, it was the Egyptians who owned the main knowledge of the Earth - the revelations of the Atlanteans themselves. For a long time, Egypt was considered nothing more than a colony of Atlantis. It is still unknown how Pythagoras managed to penetrate the holy of holies - Egyptian temples, where strangers were not allowed, nevertheless, Pythagoras was initiated into the mysteries of Osiris and Isis and participated in secret magical rituals.

Even the pharaohs did not always witness such mysteries, in which trials were an integral part of the admission. The test subject went through underground labyrinths, built in such a way that he not only physically, but also psychologically proved his chosenness. The dungeons, dimly lit by a lamp, had a strong effect on the psyche. Some subjects lost control of themselves. Then inevitable death awaited them, so that the secrets of the ritual would not be revealed. However, Pythagoras successfully passed all the tests.

Studying Pythagoras in Egypt contributed to the fact that he became one of the most educated people of his time. It was to this period that the event that changed his future life belongs. The pharaoh Amasis died, and his successor did not pay the annual tribute to Cambyses, the Persian king, is

was a casus belli. The Persians did not even spare the sacred temples. The priests were also persecuted - they were killed or taken prisoner. So was Pythagoras captured.

One of the legends says that the future mathematician managed to deceive the guards and, together with other prisoners, escaped to Greece, where they subsequently organized a secret occult society. However, according to another version, Pythagoras was nevertheless taken to Mesopotamia, where he met with Persian magicians, joined Eastern astrology and mysticism, and became acquainted with the teachings of the Chaldean sages. The sciences of the Chaldeans largely relied on ideas about magical and supernatural forces - it was they who gave a certain mystical sound to the philosophy and mathematics of Pythagoras ...

Pythagoras spent twelve years in Babylonian captivity until he was released by the Persian king Darius Hystaspes, who heard about the famous Greek. Pythagoras was already sixty at that time, and he decided to return to his homeland in order to introduce his people to the accumulated knowledge.

Since Pythagoras left Greece, there have been great changes. The best minds, fleeing the Persian yoke, moved to Southern Italy, which was then called Great Greece, and founded the colony cities of Syracuse, Agrigent, Croton there. Here Pythagoras decided to create his own philosophical school.

It quickly gained great popularity among the locals. The enthusiasm of the population was so great that even girls and women broke the law forbidding them to attend meetings. One of these violators, a young maiden named Theano, soon became the wife of the 60-year-old Pythagoras.

Censor of manners

At this time, social inequality was growing in Croton and other cities of Greece, the luxury of the Sybarites (residents of the city of Sybaris), which became legendary, was adjacent to poverty, social oppression intensified and morality noticeably fell. It was in such an environment that Pythagoras delivered a detailed sermon on moral perfection and knowledge. The inhabitants of Croton unanimously elected the wise old man as a censor of morals and a kind of spiritual father of the city. And here Pythagoras was very useful knowledge gained in wandering around the world. He combined the best of different religions and beliefs and created his own system, the defining thesis of which was the belief in

indissoluble interconnection of all things (nature, man, space) and in the equality of all people in the face of eternity and nature.

Perfectly mastering the methods of the Egyptian priests, Pythagoras "purified the souls of his listeners, expelled vices from the heart and filled the minds with bright truth." In the Golden Verses, Pythagoras expressed those moral rules, the strict observance of which leads the souls of the lost to perfection. Here are some of them: never do what you do not know, but learn everything you need to know, and then you will lead a quiet life; bear meekly your lot as it is, and grumble not against it; learn to live without luxury."

Over time, Pythagoras stopped performing in temples and on the streets, and taught already in his home. The education system was complex. Those wishing to join the knowledge had to pass a probationary period of three to five years. All this time, the students were required to remain silent and only listen to the teacher, without asking any questions. During this period, their patience and modesty were tested.

Pythagoras taught medicine, the principles of political activity, astronomy, mathematics, music, ethics, and much more. Outstanding political and statesmen, historians, mathematicians and astronomers came out of his school. In the school of Pythagoras, for the first time, a conjecture was made that the Earth is round. Yes, and the idea that the movement of celestial bodies is subject to certain mathematical relationships, the ideas of "harmony of the world" and "music of the spheres", which subsequently led to a revolution in astronomy, first appeared precisely in the school of the famous philosopher-mathematician.

"All things are the essence of numbers"

The scientist also did a lot in geometry. The famous theorem proved by Pythagoras still bears his name. Pythagoras paid special attention to numbers and their properties, seeking to know the meaning and nature of things. Through numbers, he even tried to comprehend such categories of being as justice, death, constancy, man and woman.

The Pythagoreans believed that all bodies consist of the smallest particles - "units of being", which in various combinations correspond to various geometric shapes. The number for Pythagoras was both the matter and the form of the universe. The main thesis of the Pythagoreans followed from this idea: "All things are the essence of numbers." But since the numbers expressed the "essence" of everything, it was necessary to explain the phenomena of nature only with their help. Pythagoras and his followers with their work laid the foundation for a very important area of ​​mathematics - number theory.

The Pythagoreans divided all numbers into two categories - even and odd. Later it turned out that the Pythagorean "even - odd", "right - left" have deep and interesting consequences in quartz crystals, in the structure of viruses and DNA.

The Pythagoreans were not alien to the geometric interpretation of numbers. They believed that a point has one dimension, a line has two, a plane has three, and a volume has four dimensions. Ten can be expressed as the sum of the first four numbers (1+2+3+4=10), where one is the expression of a point, two is a line and a one-dimensional image, three is a plane and a two-dimensional image, four is a pyramid, that is, a three-dimensional image. Why not the four-dimensional universe of Einstein? When summing up all flat geometric figures - points, lines and planes - the Pythagoreans received a perfect, divine six.

The Pythagoreans saw justice and equality in the square of the number. Their symbol of constancy was the number nine, since all multiples of nine numbers have the sum of the digits, again nine. But the number eight among the Pythagoreans symbolized death, since multiples of eight have a decreasing sum of digits.

The Pythagoreans considered even numbers to be feminine and odd numbers to be masculine. An odd number is fertilizing, and if combined with an even number, it will prevail. The symbol of marriage among the Pythagoreans consisted of the sum of the male - the odd number 3 and the female - the even number 2. Marriage is a five equal to three plus two. For the same reason, a right-angled triangle with sides three, four, five was called by them "the figure of the bride."

The four numbers that make up the tetrad - one, two, three, four - are directly related to music: they set all known consonant intervals - an octave (1:2), a fifth (2:3) and a fourth (3:4). In other words, a decade, according to the teachings of the Pythagoreans, embodies not only the geometric-spatial, but also the musical-harmonic fullness of the cosmos. The sum of the numbers included in the tetrad is equal to ten, which is why the Pythagoreans considered ten to be an ideal number and symbolized the Universe. Since the number ten is ideal, they reasoned, there should be exactly ten planets in the sky. It should be noted that at that time only the Sun, Earth and five planets were known.

The Pythagoreans also knew perfect and friendly numbers. A perfect number was a number equal to the sum of its divisors. Friendly - numbers, each of which is the sum of its own divisors of another number. In ancient times, numbers of this kind symbolized friendship, hence the name.

In addition to the numbers that caused admiration and admiration, the Pythagoreans also had the so-called bad numbers. These are numbers that did not have any merit, and even worse if such a number was surrounded by "good" numbers. An example of this is the number thirteen - the devil's dozen or the number seventeen, which caused particular disgust among the Pythagoreans.

The attempt of Pythagoras and his school to connect the real world with numerical relations cannot be considered unsuccessful, since in the process of studying nature, the Pythagoreans, along with timid, naive and sometimes fantastic ideas, also put forward rational ways of knowing the secrets of the Universe. The reduction of astronomy and music to numbers enabled later generations of scientists to understand the world more deeply.

After the death of the scientist, his followers settled in different cities of Ancient Greece and organized Pythagorean societies there. However, after 150 years, the school founded by Pythagoras fell apart, and the occult secrets passed from teacher to student were lost. Perhaps forever.

Today, the name of Pythagoras, the creator of the famous right triangle theorem, is known to every schoolchild. But, as it turns out, his incredible knowledge of various sciences is due to the fact that he perfectly studied the secret occult knowledge of the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians.

The life of Pythagoras has always been shrouded in mysticism. It is known that his fate was predicted by the Delphic soothsayer, to whom the parents of the future famous mathematician came before the birth. “He will do a lot of good for mankind and will be glorious at all times,” said the fortuneteller. She also advised the spouses to go to Phoenicia, to the city of Sidon, in order to receive a blessing in the Jewish temple. The baby got his name from the soothsayer Pythia, it means "persuasive speech."

Little is known about Pythagoras' childhood years. However, there is evidence that he was one of the best athletes in Greece and even successfully participated in the Olympic Games. Soon Pythagoras settled in Miletus, where he became a faithful student of Anaximander, the ancient Greek philosopher who invented the first sundial and created astronomical instruments.

But the knowledge gained from the greatest minds of Greece did not impress the young man. He was looking for something more, a real connection-harmony between the three components: Earth - God - Man. Pythagoras believed that it was in this triple symmetry that the main key to revealing all the mysteries of the Universe, the answer to the eternal questions of mankind, lies.

It is authentically known that the great mathematician visited many African and Asian countries, but how was he initiated into the greatest secrets of civilizations? It is said that Pythagoras studied not only with such famous ancient Greek scientists as Hermod, Pherekides and Thales.

He arrived in Egypt, where the priests of Memphis revealed to him the secrets of many magical ritual ceremonies. According to one of the legends, it was the Egyptians who owned the main knowledge of the Earth - the revelations of the Atlanteans themselves. After all, for a long time Egypt was considered nothing more than a colony of Atlantis. Pythagoras was initiated into the mysteries of Osiris and Isis, participated in secret magical rituals.

It is surprising that a stranger-foreigner was admitted to such carefully guarded knowledge. After all, even the pharaohs were not always even witnesses of the mysterious mysteries.

The test was also an integral part of the access to the sacred secrets of the priests. Subsequently, it was used by Pythagoras himself when accepting students into his philosophical school. The subjects passed in the underground labyrinths, built in such a way that they not only physically, but also psychologically proved their chosenness. The dungeons dimly lit by the lamp had a strong effect on the human brain. At times, some lost control of themselves. Then inevitable death awaited them, so that the secrets of the great ritual would not be revealed.

But the country of the majestic pyramids was captured by the Persians, and Pythagoras, along with other priests and magicians, was sent to Babylon. One of the versions says that the future mathematician succeeded deceive the guards and, together with other prisoners, flee to Greece, where they subsequently organized a secret occult society. According to another, Pythagoras was nevertheless taken to Mesopotamia, where, after some time, he was already received with honors in many aristocratic courts of Babylon. Here he lived for 12 years and then went to India to continue studying the laws of the universe and the higher mind.

Around 530 B.C. Pythagoras returns to his native island of Samos. And then, together with his mother, he goes to Delphi.

After some time, he was interested in the young priestess Theoclia. He considered some kind of higher gift in her, or the girl simply liked the sixty-year-old Pythagoras, it is not known for sure. But under the cover of night, they escape together to Croton, a small Greek colony in southern Italy, where they found a school called the Pythagorean.

It was more like a religious community where Pythagoras initiated his students into the greatest occult secrets he received from the priests of Egypt and Babylon. The community is located on a high hill in a white building, in the shade of capers and olives. For initiation, it was necessary to pass numerous tests, and then annually confirm their right to stay at the school.

The "Pythagorean Union" became not only the basis of the philosophical school of the ancient Greeks, but also a political party and even a religious brotherhood. Many of its members subsequently formed the so-called "Council of Three Hundred", which became a real elite of state power - a scientific, political and religious ruling union.

However, 150 years after the death of the great mathematician, the school he founded collapsed, and the occult secrets passed from teacher to student were lost. Perhaps forever.