"wow, Pythagoras discovered reincarnation and so did the Brahmans, totally independently!" rather than "Pythagoras/Apollonius found the teachings about reincarnation from the Brhamans consistent with his own experience and began teaching it."
Actually the first claim is more likely to be correct. I may not have phrased things very well in my original post, which was written in a hurry as usual; if so I apologize. But Pythagoras lived sometime around the year 500 B.C., and Apollonius lived in the first century A.D., so there were 5 or 6 centuries between them. As far as I can remember, the extent lives of Pythagoras don't have him visiting India (I'll double-check), and (according to the account we have) Apollonius didn't visit them until after he had learned reincarnation and the rest of his ideas on his own.
I actually think that what we are looking at are the descendants of what was once a unified tradition common to the ancestors of the Indo-European peoples. There are hints of this in some of the literature. For example, a later Greek writer on the lives of the philosophers begins by saying "There are those who believe that philosophy began among the barbarians," and then mentions, as the equivalents to "philosophers" among barbarians, the Druids, the Chaldaeans, the Brahmins, the Egyptian sages, and the Persian magi. Origen says something very similar in Contra Celsum-- and this is fairly credible, as he is saying it in the context of attacking the doctrines of "the nations" and contrasting it with the doctrine of the Hebrews.
I've been reading Maria Kvilhaug's interpretations on Norse Myth lately
Interesting! What's the name of her book?
So, glad you're posting in a way that works for you!
Thank you for the feedback! My guess is that my inner Watcher at the Threshold was at work; he's good at coming up with ways for me to not do stuff.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2023-11-22 04:01 pm (UTC)Actually the first claim is more likely to be correct. I may not have phrased things very well in my original post, which was written in a hurry as usual; if so I apologize. But Pythagoras lived sometime around the year 500 B.C., and Apollonius lived in the first century A.D., so there were 5 or 6 centuries between them. As far as I can remember, the extent lives of Pythagoras don't have him visiting India (I'll double-check), and (according to the account we have) Apollonius didn't visit them until after he had learned reincarnation and the rest of his ideas on his own.
I actually think that what we are looking at are the descendants of what was once a unified tradition common to the ancestors of the Indo-European peoples. There are hints of this in some of the literature. For example, a later Greek writer on the lives of the philosophers begins by saying "There are those who believe that philosophy began among the barbarians," and then mentions, as the equivalents to "philosophers" among barbarians, the Druids, the Chaldaeans, the Brahmins, the Egyptian sages, and the Persian magi. Origen says something very similar in Contra Celsum-- and this is fairly credible, as he is saying it in the context of attacking the doctrines of "the nations" and contrasting it with the doctrine of the Hebrews.
Interesting! What's the name of her book?
Thank you for the feedback! My guess is that my inner Watcher at the Threshold was at work; he's good at coming up with ways for me to not do stuff.