Pythagoras

Pythagoras was born in Greece and lived between the 6th and 5th centuries BC.

Driven by a thirst for knowledge, he spent over twenty years in Egypt, where-alongside masters, magi, and priests-he developed skills that would lead him to become one of humanity's greatest icons.

When Persian armies invaded Egypt, he was taken prisoner and sent by King Cambyses to Babylon. In Mesopotamia, he deepened the studies that resulted in remarkable discoveries in mathematics, astronomy, metaphysics, and philosophy.

In the realm of politics, he experienced a significant historical transition. The aristocracy garnered support from intellectuals, artists, and the most enlightened segments of the population, as monarchy invariably devolved into tyranny, and democracy into veiled demagoguery. Although an unbalanced aristocracy could devolve into oligarchy, this did not prevent illustrious figures like Pythagoras from advocating for this political system.

On the island of Samos, his birthplace, he established the *Semicircle*, a teaching center dedicated to disseminating his doctrine. Members were required to relinquish their personal assets and adhere to strict principles, such as the law of silence and the rule of absolute secrecy. The former compelled the initiate to remain silent-forbidden from speaking for up to nine years-listening only so as to better assimilate the masters' teachings; the latter prohibited the disclosure of scientific discoveries to non-members or the general public.

Political troubles forced him into exile in Croton. In this city-now part of Italy-he founded his School of Philosophy. The Pythagoreans' fields of interest encompassed vegetarianism; research into magic, spiritualism, and metaphysics; a commitment to simplicity and critical reflection; numerology and mathematics; and astronomy, music, and philosophy. The Pythagorean Theorem, the discoveries of perfect and figurate numbers, the golden ratio, musical intervals and their arithmetic proportions-these are examples that demonstrate creativity and genius.

Theoretical formulation and the practice of memory-expansion exercises were priority activities. The goal was not simply to better manage concentration and awareness of one's current life, but, above all, to recover memories of past lives.

Deep meditation, the examination of conscience, logical reasoning, and critical reflection served as the foundations for achieving liberation from matter and the sublimation of the spirit. The doctrine emphasized the cycle of the soul's transmigration and a view of the universe as an expression of numerology and the spirit-matter dualism.

It was by immersing himself in this historical context that the author developed the plotlines and conflicts underpinning *Pythagoras: Torture, Magic, and Mathematics in the School of Philosophy That Changed the World*-an original play that leads the reader into the mysteries of the ancient world. Greece, Egypt, and Babylon provide the backdrop for political disputes between proponents of the harmony found in rational numbers and the discoverers of an innovation that would trigger cosmic imbalance: irrational numbers-a conflict that drove Pythagoras to a failed suicide attempt.

The murder of Hippasus of Metapontum; numerology and its connection to cosmic harmony; the links between mathematics, magic, and spirituality; and the issues of dyscalculia and outdated teaching methods that hinder mathematics education are all explored amidst a landscape of debates, feuds, crimes, and betrayals.

The plot also dissects a serious contemporary political affliction that dates back to the time of Pythagoras: demagoguery as a chronic disease of democracy.

A truly compelling work. Historical inquiry, literary creativity, and provocations-sometimes subtle, sometimes overt, yet always ingenious-make this, without a doubt, a gift for the reader in pursuit of intelligent entertainment.