Pythagorean traditions · c. 570–495 BCE

Pythagoras

Seek an ordered, shared life.

Samos · Croton · southern Italy

Portraits: artistic interpretations

Bibliography

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Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.

Bibliographic scope

No authentic writing by Pythagoras survives. These pages cover a dossier of testimonies, lives by Diogenes, Porphyry and Iamblichus, and the anonymous traditional Golden Verses. They do not claim to reconstruct a personal library or index every fragment or letter attributed to the school.

01

Testimony / transmission6th–4th century BCE / modern editions

Ancient testimonies

Collected evidence about Pythagoras; no authenticated writing by his hand survives.

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02

Testimony / transmission3rd century CE

Diogenes Laertius — Life of Pythagoras

A late ancient biography combining anecdotes, doctrines and disputed attributions.

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03

Testimony / transmission3rd–4th century CE

Porphyry — Life of Pythagoras

A late Neoplatonic biography by Porphyry, not a work by Pythagoras.

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04

Testimony / transmissionearly 4th century CE

Iamblichus — On the Pythagorean Life

Iamblichus’ late work constructs a philosophical image of Pythagoreanism.

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05

Testimony / transmissionLate antiquity; uncertain composition

Golden Verses

A moral poem in Pythagorean tradition; direct authorship by Pythagoras is not established.

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Sources & reference points

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Pythagoras Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy