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was of great account.
But he who ate my food made insurrection;
He to whom I gave my hand aroused fear in my
heart. 126
The Chimæra: But the institutions survived, and on the
whole Egyptians were able to boast of a far more
stable, prosperous, and inspiring society than
those of the other Mediterranean countries. That is
your point?
The Sphinx: Yes. By contrast the Greece of Plato’s time
was in pretty sorry shape. The various city-states
couldn’t even maintain stable governments of their
own, much less get along with each other. Elitist
systems such as that of Sparta were vulnerable to
tyranny by strongmen; democratic Athens suffered
from demagoguery and dictatorships. The much-
vaunted philosophers were tolerated only as long
as they were not thought to be actual threats.
When they were inconvenient, as Plato and
Aristotle had occasion to observe, hemlock or
banishment awaited. Great principles of religion
and/or philosophy were ridiculed in favor of
Sophistic opportunism. Yet -and I think this is an
important point - the Greeks had demonstrated
that they were quite capable of high intellectual
achievement. They had produced a number of
noteworthy philosophers, artists, statesmen,
126 Fairservis, Walter A., The Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile, pages
98-99.
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architects, and military leaders. What they had
not produced was a stable cultural environment in
which such talent could be nurtured. In his
politically-oriented dialogues, therefore, Plato
sought a system of government that could achieve
this stability without being as dictatorial as, say,
the Persian or Assyrian monarchies. In Egypt, if in
fact he realized it, he had a near-exact functioning
model of his Republic - and one which was
working quite well.
The Chimæra: ... If he realized it! So the problem is
now to discover what connections, if any, Plato
had with Egypt. Are the Dialogues of any help?
The Sphinx: No, they aren’t. There are a very few
passing references to Egypt, but nothing of any
substance. It would be discouraging if it were not
for the fact that the Pythagoreans are similarly
ignored. That makes the situation a bit suspect. If
Plato’s links with Egypt are tenuous, his links with
the Pythagoreans are beyond doubt. The geometric
passages in the Timæus are virtually pure
Pythagorean doctrine. And, from a political point
of view, the Pythagoreans represented the extreme
of initiated elitism that Plato juxtaposed to
Sophistry. To the Sophists, human values were
purely relative to custom, convention, and
practical necessity; to the Pythagoreans, values
were eternal, unchanging, and universal - the
“Platonic” Forms. How is it that the Pythagoreans
came to hold this point of view? Let us look to
Pythagoras himself for the answer.
The Chimæra: Back to the Stanley text. I see that most
of its biographical entries concerning Pythagoras
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are footnoted to Iamblicus, a fourth-century CE
Neoplatonist, and from Diogenes Laertius, writing
about a century earlier. Specific passages dealing
with Pythagoras’ stay in Egypt are footnoted to
Porphyrus and Clemens Alexandrinus as well. In
Chapter III “How he travelled to Phœnicia” we
read:
He made a voyage to Sidon, as well out of a
natural desire to the place itself, esteeming it his
country, as conceiving that he might more easily
pass from thence into Egypt.
Here he conferred with the Prophets, successors
of Mocus the Physiologist, and with others, and
with the Phoenician Priests, and was initiated
into all the mysteries of Byblus, and Tyre, and
sundry of the principal sacred institutions in
divers other parts of Syria, not undergoing these
things out of Superstition, as may be imagined;
but out of love to knowledg, and a fear, lest any
thing worthy to be known, which was preserved
amongst them, in the miracles or mysteries of
the gods, might escape him. Withal, not being
ignorant, that the rites of those places were
deduced from the Egyptian ceremonies, by
means whereof he hoped to participate of the
more sublime and divine mysteries in Egypt,
which he pursued with admiration, as his
Master Thales had advised him. 127
The Sphinx: Two rather intriguing points - first that
Mesopotamian initiatory priesthoods were thought
to be corruptions or derivations of their Egyptian
counterparts, and secondly that Pythagoras
undertook this quest on the advice of Thales.
Thales was reputed to have been born of a
127 Stanley, Thomas, The History of Philosophy, page 494.
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Phœnician mother, and it is more-or-less reliably
established that he studied the science of geometry
in Egypt. 128 But please continue.
The Chimæra: Here are some extracts from Chapter IV
“How he travell’d to Egypt”:
Antiphon, in his Book concerning such as were
eminent for virtue, extolleth his perceverance
when he was in Egypt, saying, Pythagoras
designing to become acquainted with the
institution of the Egyptian Priests, and
diligently endeavoring to participate thereof,
desired Polycrates the Tyrant to write to Amasis
King of Egypt, with whom he had friendship (as
appears also by Herodotus) and hospitality,
(formerly) that he might be admitted to the
aforesaid Doctrine. Coming to Amasis, Amasis
gave him Letters to the Priests, and going first
to those of Heliopolis, they sent him to the
Priest of Memphis, as the more ancient, which
was indeed but a pretence of the Heliopolitans:
[For the Egyptians imparted not their mysteries
to every one, nor committed the knowledg of
Divine things to profane persons, but to those
only who were to inherit the Kingdom; and, of
Priests, to those who were adjudged to excel the
rest in education, learning, and descent.] From
Memphis, upon the same pretence, he was sent
to Thebes. They not daring, for fear of the King,
to pretend excuses; but thinking, that by reason
of the greatness and difficulty thereof, he would
desist from the design, enjoyned him very hard
precepts, wholly different from the institution of
the Grecians, which he readily performed, to
their so great admiration, that they gave him
power to sacrifice to the gods, and to acquaint
himself with all their studies, which was never
128 Asimov, Isaac, Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopædia of Science
and Technology, page 2.
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known to have been granted to any forraigner
besides. Clemens Alexandri
nus relates
particularly, that he was disciple to Sonchedes,
an Egyptian Arch-prophet. 129
The Sphinx: Again something catches my eye - that
comment about Egyptian initiation normally being
reserved for the pharaoh and the priesthood alone.
In the Statesman Plato writes:
For the priest and the diviner have great social
standing and a keen sense of their own
importance. They win veneration and respect
because of the high tasks they undertake. This is
shown in the fact that in Egypt none can be king
unless he belongs to the priestly caste, and if a
man of some other caste succeeds in forcing his
way to the throne, he must then be made a
priest by special ordination. 130
The Chimæra: Now how would Plato come to know that
bit of information, unless he were party to policies
within the Egyptian priesthoods?
The Sphinx: It is always possible that he heard it from
the Pythagoreans, although it seems only
incidental to the sort of doctrines that
Pythagoreans would be inclined to discuss. So here
we may have a link directly between Plato and the
Egyptian initiatory orders. Continue with the
material from Stanley.
129 Stanley, op. cit. , page 94.
130 Plato, Collected Dialogues, page 1059.
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The Chimæra:
Diogenes saith, that whilst he lived with these
Priests, he was instructed in the Learning and
Language (as Antiphon also affirms) of the
Egyptians, and in their three kinds of writing,
Epistolick, Hieroglyphick, and Symbolick;
whereof one imitates the common way of
speaking; the rest allegorical, by Ænigms. They
who are taught by the Egyptians, learn first the
method of all the Egyptian Letters, which is
called Epistilographick; the second, Hieratick,
used by those who write of sacred things; the
last and most perfect Hieroglyphick, whereof
one is Curiologick, the other, Symbolick. Of the
Symbolick, one is properly spoken by imitation,
another is written as it were Tropically; another
on the contrary doth allegorize by Ænigms. For
instance, in the Kyriologick way, to express the
Sun, they make a Circle; the Moon a Crescent.
Tropically they do properly traduce, and
transfer, and express by exchanging some
things, and variously transfiguring others. Thus
when they deliver the praises of Kings, in
Theological Fables, they write by Anaglyphicks.
Of the third kind, by Ænigms, let this be an
example: All other Stars, by reason of their
oblique course, they likened to the bodies of
serpents, but the Sun to that of a Beetle, because
having formed a ball of Cow-dung, and lying
upon its back, it rolls it about (from claw to
claw.)131
The Sphinx: Once again there is more here than meets
the eye. It is possible that lamblicus or one of the
other sources could have made up the other details
of a trip by Pythagoras to Egypt, but here we seem
to have conclusive proof - both of the trip itself and
131 Stanley, op. cit., pages 494-495.
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of Pythagoras’ initiation. For the description given
of the Egyptian linguistic system is in complete
agreement with what has come to light with the
discoveries of Champollion and Young. 132 Stanley
could not have known this, and it is highly
improbable that Iamblicus or any of the other
biographers could have known it either.
Hieroglyphic writing was a closely-guarded skill in
Egypt, and, as we noted earlier, its teaching
required many years of study. Pythagoras’
initiation seems all the more probable.
The Chimæra: Here is the concluding passage from the
chapter:
Thus being acquainted with the learning of that
Nation, and enquiring into the Commentaries of
the priests of former times, he knew the
observations of innumerable Ages, as Valerius
Maximus saith. And living admir’d and belov’d
of all the priests and prophets with whom he
conversed, he informed himself by their means
accurately, concerning every thing; not omitting
any person, eminent at that time for learning, or
any kind of religious rites; nor leaving any place
unseen, by going into which he conceived, that
he might find something extraordinary. [For he
went into the Adyta of the Egyptians, (and, as
Clemens saith, permitted himself to that end to
be circumcised) and learned things not to be
communicated concerning the gods, mystick
Philosophy.] He travelled to all the Priests, and
was instructed by every one, in that wherein
they were particularly learned. In Egypt he lived
twenty two years, in their private sacred places,
studying Astronomy and Geometry, and was
initiated (not cursorily or casually) into all the
132 Budge, Sir E.A. Wallis, Egyptian Language, pages 13-42.
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religious mysteries of the gods. Lærtius saith,
He made three Cups of silver, and presented
them to each [Society] of the Egyptian Priests;
which, as we said, were three, of Heliopolis,
Memphis, and Thebes. 133
The Sphinx: It is perhaps worthy of note that the
sources cited by Stanley lived at points of time
when the bulk of the material from the library at
Alexandria still existed. It is not unreasonable to
assume that they would have either taken or
verified their accounts from such records as they
could read [in Greek if not in hieroglyphic] from
that institution. At the time its prominence was
unparalleled by any other literary repository in the
Mediterranean, and it is hard to imagine scholars -
particularly ones dealing with such a subject as
this - bypassing it.
The Chimæra: The highly-selective “clubs” or schools
which Pythagoras established in Sicily and
southern Italy seem to align more closely to the
fashion of the Egyptian priesthoods than to
schools of the Greek tradition. Stanley, quoting
lamblicus, makes this point and hints that
Pythagoras’ exacting methods were not well-
received:
His country summoned him to some publick
employment, that he might benefit the
generality, and communicate his knowledge:
which he not refusing, endeavored to instruct
them in the symbolical way of learning,
altogether resembling that of the Egyptians, in
which he himself had been instituted. But the
133 Stanley, op. cit. , page 495.
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Samians not affecting this way, did not apply
themselves to him. 134
The Sphinx: I think we have satisfactorily established
the links between Pythagoras and the Egyptian
priesthoods. Now we must determine to what
extent the Egyptian doctrines reached Plato
, either
directly or through the Pythagoreans.
The Chimæra: Stanley quotes the following passage
from Porphyrus:
Moderatus saith, That this (Pythagorick
Philosophy) came at last to be extinguished,
first, because it was aenigmatical; next, because
their Writings were in the Dorick Dialect, which
is obscure, by which means, the Doctrines
delivered in it were not understood, being
spurious and misapprehended, because
(moreover) they who publish’d them were not
Pythagoreans. Besides, Plato, Aristotle,
Speusippus, Aristoxenus, and Xenocrates, as the
Pythagoreans affirm, vented the best of them, as
their own, changing only some few things in
them; but the more vulgar and trivial, and
whatsoever was afterwards invented by envious
and calumnious persons, to cast a contempt
upon the Pythagorean School, they collected
and delivered as proper to that sect. 135
The Sphinx: That certainly doesn’t appear to be too
complimentary to Plato. Yet the fact remains that
the cosmological philosophy in the Timæus is
indisputably Pythagorean, yet is nowhere credited
by Plato to the Pythagoreans or to Pythagoras
134 Ibid., page 496.
135 Ibid., page 508.
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himself. What of the Pythagoreans’ political
doctrines?
The Chimæra: In The Genesis of Plato’s Thought, Alban
D. Winspear summarizes them succinctly, if less
exhaustively than Stanley:
It is true that Pythagoras himself seems to have
held no elective office in any Greek state. His
function was rather to organize political clubs
which busied themselves with practical political
affairs and developed a general intellectual
apologia for aristocratic rule.
[Quoting Iamblicus] The Pythagoreans met in
caucuses and gave counsel about political
affairs. With the passage of time, it came about
that the young men not only took the lead in
domestic matters but in public too; they came to
govern the city, forming a great political club.
For they were more than three hundred in
number.
It is in this connection not without significance
that Pythagoras himself held (according to one
authority) [Stobæus] that all income should
come from agriculture. Here we have a hint of
that same prejudice against the merchants and
the democracy, that defense of the position of
the landed proprietor which so constantly
recurs in Greek idealistic thinkers.