The Complete Pythagoras: A Compilation of Pythagorean Texts

CHAPTER IV

STUDIES IN EGYPT AND BABYLONIA

Here in Egypt, he frequented all the temples with the greatest diligence and most studious research, during which time he won the esteem and admiration of all the priests and prophets with whom he associated. Having most solicitously familiarized himself with every detail, he did not, nevertheless, neglect any contemporary celebrity, whether a sage renowned for wisdom or a peculiarly performed mystery; he did not fail to visit any place where he thought he might discover something worthwhile. That is how he visited all the Egyptian priests, acquiring all the wisdom each possessed. He thus passed twenty-two years in the sanctuaries of temples, studying astronomy and geometry, and being initiated in no casual or superficial manner in all the mysteries of the Gods. At length, however, he was taken captive by the soldiers of Cambyses and carried off to Babylon. Here he was overjoyed to associate with the Magi, who instructed him in their venerable knowledge and in the most perfect worship of the Gods. Through their assistance, likewise, he studied and completed arithmetic, music, and all the other sciences. After twelve years, about the fifty-sixth year of his age, he returned to Samos.