
Academic study · Essential works
On the Pythagorean Life (Iamblichus)
Περὶ τοῦ Πυθαγορικοῦ βίου

The first book of a ten-book work on Pythagoreanism. It narrates the birth, the journeys, the arrival in Croton and the speeches to youths, elders and women, describes life in the community—the five-year silence, the testing of candidates, friendship, diet, music as medicine for the soul—, lists the miracles, recounts Cylon's conspiracy and closes with a catalogue of Pythagoreans: 218 men and 17 women. It is the longest surviving source on Pythagoras.
No edition of this work is currently on sale in a store we have been able to verify.
Authorship note
A work by the Neoplatonist Iamblichus of Chalcis (c. 245–325 CE), written some eight centuries after Pythagoras' death. It combines valuable old sources (Aristoxenus, Timaeus of Tauromenium, Nicomachus, Apollonius) with religious idealisation: its Pythagoras is a soul sent by the gods to save mankind. Low reliability for facts, high as evidence of late Pythagoreanism.
Editions and translations
Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.
English

On the Pythagorean Way of Life (Texts and Translations 29)
Scholars Press, 1991
Translation: John Dillon y Jackson Hershbell
ISBN 9781555405236
Edición bilingüe griego-inglés; registro de Open Library de 1992.

The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library
Phanes Press, 1987
Translation: Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, Thomas Taylor y Arthur Fairbanks
ISBN 9780933999510
Ed. David R. Fideler; incluye las vidas de Porfirio y Jámblico, los Versos de oro y fragmentos pitagóricos.
Pythagoras
Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras, or Pythagoric Life
The Conscious LibraryIamblichus' Life of Pythagoras, or Pythagoric Life
A. J. Valpy, Londres (Project Gutenberg n.º 63300), 1818
Translation: Thomas Taylor
Dominio público.
Español
Pythagoras
Vida pitagórica. Protréptico
The Conscious LibraryVida pitagórica. Protréptico
Gredos (Biblioteca Clásica Gredos), 2003
Translation: Miguel Periago Lorente
ISBN 9788424923976

Vidas de Pitágoras
Atalanta, 2011
Translation: David Hernández de la Fuente
ISBN 9788493846664
Reúne las vidas de Diógenes Laercio, Porfirio y Jámblico y otros testimonios.
Other works by Pythagoras
- Golden Verses · 300
- Akousmata and symbola · 500
- Life of Pythagoras (Porphyry) · 280
- Life of Pythagoras (Diogenes Laertius, Lives VIII 1–50) · 230
- Testimonies of his contemporaries (Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Ion of Chios, Herodotus) · 450
- Aristotle's testimonies on the Pythagoreans · 340
- Sacred Discourse (Hieros logos) · 300
- Books on Education, Politics and Nature · 300
- Letters of Pythagoras · 100
- Pseudo-Pythagorean writings · 200
- Fragments of Philolaus of Croton · 420
Sources
- Jámblico. Sobre la vida pitagórica (De vita Pythagorica), c. 300 d. C.; ed. L. Deubner, Teubner, Leipzig, 1937. Trad. inglesa de Thomas Taylor, Londres, 1818 (Project Gutenberg n.º 63300), y de John Dillon y Jackson Hershbell, Scholars Press, Atlanta, 1991.
Affiliate link: if you buy through it, the library may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. When an edition's real cover is not available, we show an illustrative library cover.