PYTHΑGORAS BYZANTINUS

PYTHΑGORAS BYZANTINUS

PYTHAGORAS AND PYTHAGOREANISM IN BYZANTINE THOUGHT AND CULTURE

Research project coordinators:

Eudoxia Delli, Senior Researcher, Research Centre for Greek Philosophy (RCGP) at the Academy of Athens: edelli@academyofathens.gr

Constantinos Macris, Researcher (Chargé de recherche hors classe) at the CNRS – Paris, Laboratoire d’études sur les monothéismes (LEM, UMR 8584): constantinos.macris@cnrs.fr

Scientific advisor:

Dominic J. O’Meara, Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy, University of Fribourg.

 

The Pythagoras Byzantinus (hereafter PB) research project was launched in December 2022 with the aim to fill an important gap in our knowledge and understanding of the history and forms of reception of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism in Middle and Late Byzantium, highlighting the diversity of reception and the multiple fields in which influences, creative assimilations, selective transformations or even falsifications of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism can be detected, covering a wide range of topics from philosophy and sciences to theology, education and political ideas.

As has been highlighted in the international academic bibliography, the reception of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism in Byzantium – in contrast to other Medieval traditions (Latin, Arabic, Syriac and Jewish) – has not yet been studied in a systematic and synthetic way. In the relevant bibliography, there are only sporadic or fragmentary references to Pythagorean resonances in Middle and Late Byzantine texts, while the number of articles dealing with it is still extremely limited. At the same time, eminent contemporary historians of philosophy have repeatedly stressed the need to explore this rather understudied thematic field.

In order to fill this actual research gap, our research project has been structured and developed mainly around five thematic axes:

 

1. Pythagoras and the science(s) in Byzantine sources:

     (a) mathematical sciences (quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music / harmonics)

     (b) philosophy of numbers, arithmology and number mysticism (applications in physiology/physics, medicine, ethics and magic)

     (c) Pythagoras in occultism and the ‘protosciences’ (alchemy and astrology).

2. The Pythagorean way of life: moral and political echoes and revivals in Byzantine literature.

3. Preservation, eclectic ‘appropriations’ and transformations of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism in Middle and Late Byzantium:

     (a) Antiquarian and ‘encyclopedic’ knowledge

     (b) Circulation of manuscripts in literati circles

     (c) Neoplatonism as a vehicle for the transmission of (Neo)Pythagoreanism

4. Pythagorean echoes in Christian forms of asceticism, religious ‘piety’, theological discourse, hagiography and (post-)Byzantine iconography.

5. Ambivalence toward, polemics against and criticism of Pythagoras and (Neo)Pythagoreanism in Byzantium, especially in relation to major theological debates in the Middle and Late Byzantine period (Iconoclasm, Hesychastic controversy).

 

The PB research project is implemented by conducting bi-monthly hybrid seminars in which both renowned specialists (historians of philosophy, ideas, religions and sciences, philologists, palaeographers and Byzantinologists) and young researchers (PhD students and postdoctoral researchers) with scientific interests related to Pythagoras, Pythagoreanism and Byzantine literature and philosophical thought present and discuss their work.

The PB project comprises a research part and a diffusion part. Its main deliverable will be a special thematic issue, planned to be published in the scientific journal Φιλοσοφία - Yearbook of the Research Centre for Greek Philosophy at the Academy of Athens. This publication and the creation of an international network of researchers will be a valuable contribution to the scholarly community, making visible an important but neglected research period in the history of the reception and transformations of the legendary figure of Pythagoras and of the philosophical teaching associated with his name.

From December 2022 to June 2024, nine hybrid seminars were held at the Philosophical Library ‘Elli Lambrides’, in Athens, and occasionally at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris, in French and in English, with the participation of 18 speakers from Greece and abroad, thanks to the technical support of the Informatics Office of the Academy of Athens and the corresponding service of the Laboratoire d'études sur les monothéismes (Paris, CNRS):

 

Seminar I: 16/12/2022

Eudoxia Delli (RSGP - Academy of Athens) – Constantinos Macris (CNRS – LEM): “Introduction to the Pythagoras Byzantinus research project.”

Gerasimos Merianos (ΙHS - NHRF): “The Mathematization of Byzantine Alchemy (Late 6^th – 9^th c.).”

Dominic O’Meara (University of Fribourg): “Pythagoras apud Psellum: A Preliminary Discussion of the Dossier.”

 

Seminar II : 13/2/2023

Carole Hofstetter (Labοratoire Saprat – École Pratique des Ηautes Études – PSL Université): « Quelques aspects de la réception de l’Introduction arithmétique de Nicomaque à Byzance. »

Constantinos Macris (CNRS – LΕΜ): « Pythagorica à Byzance au IXe siècle: les notes de lecture du patriarche Photius conservées dans sa Myriobiblos. »

 

Seminar III: 24/4/2023

Katarzyna Prochenko (University of Zurich): “The Byzantine Reception of Two ‘Pythagorean’ Collections of Sayings: From the Established Pagan Wisdom to the ipsissima verba of Christian Martyrs and Saints.”

Sophia Zoumboulaki (École Française d’Athènes): « Pythagore au monastère: ses représentations dans la peinture murale byzantine et post-byzantine.»

 

Seminar IV: 22/6/2023

Sophia Xenophontos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): “Pythagoras as Moral Authority in Theodore Metochites.”

Joel Kalvesmaki (Catholic University of America): “Challenges in Classifying Byzantine Number Symbolism.”

 

Seminar V: 9/10/2023

Marco Carrozza (Universidad Complutense de Madrid): “The Reception of Neo-Pythagorean Theories in Michael Choniates’ Theano.”

Pantelis Golitsis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): “The Reception of Pythagoras among Intellectuals of the Palaiologan Era.”

 

Seminar VI : 18/12/23

Francesco Monticini (Università di Roma Tre): « Synésios, Pythagore et le mythe de l’ « hellénisme » à Byzance à l’époque des Paléologues. »

Tiziano Dorandi (CNRS – Centre Jean Pépin): « Vers une nouvelle édition de l’Anthologie de Jean de Stobi. Quelques considérations et résultats. »

 

Seminar VII : 11/3/24

Anne Weddigen (Post-doctorante CNRS / lab. « Orient et Méditerranée » - projet VHS): « Science harmonique classique à Byzance : jusqu’où Manuel Bryennios est-il pythagoricien ? »

Ciro Giacomelli (Università di Padova): “Byzantine Readers of Iamblichus’ De Pythagorica secta. Notes on the Manuscript Transmission of the Text.”

 

Seminar VIII: 20/5/24

Ken Perry (Macquarie University, Sydney): “The Pythagorean Harmony of the Spheres in Late Antique and Early Medieval Thought.”

Joel Kalvesmaki (Catholic University of America): “Pythagoras the Byzantine Numerologist.”

 

Seminar IX : 3/6/2024

Athanasia Megremi (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens): “Evolutions in Studying the Pythagorean Tradition: The Four Sciences as Viewed by Georgios Pachymeres.”