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  • Chapter 14 - Pythagoras in the historical tradition: from Herodotus to Diodorus Siculus

  • Edited by Carl A. Huffman, DePauw University, Indiana
  • Book:
    A History of Pythagoreanism
    Published online:
    05 May 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014, pp 296-314

  • Summary

    Taking a look at the preserved works of classical historiography, which for the most part focus on political and military history, one gets the impression that Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism were of rather marginal interest to historians. The earliest historian who mentions Pythagoras is Herodotus, who refers to him and Pythagorean doctrine in two problematic passages. Neanthes of Cyzicus' crucial role as an intermediary can also be seen in the fragments in Diogenes Laertius that relate to the Pythagorean Empedocles. One can able to see that he systematically quoted, corrected and added to the reports of Timaeus of Tauromenium. Book 10 of Diodorus Siculus' Library contains a long section on the life of Pythagoras and the history of Pythagoreanism as a part of the history of the western Greeks. In addition to the fragments of Book 10, Pythagoras is mentioned occasionally in the preserved books of Diodorus.