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Chapter I
so he sent it to Bias of Priene, who felt the same way, and sent it on again. And so it continued until it passed through the hands of seven sages when it came back to Thales. Therefore these seven sages decided together that the tripod should be offered to Apollo at Delphi, for he is the source of all wisdom. They also erected three tablets containing 147 wise sayings, known as “the Precepts of the Seven Sages” or “the Delphic Maxims.” (You can read more about the Precepts of the Seven Sages and learn how to cast the Oracle of the Seven Sages in my book The Oracles of Apollo.)
The Eight Philosophers The final part of Plethon’s Golden Chain comprises eight important philosophers of the Pythagorean-Platonic tradition, who established the foundations of Plethon’s religion.51 The first of these is Pythagoras himself, who lived from approximately 570 to 495 BCE.52 He was born to an amulet maker and his wife on Samos, a large island off the coast of Asia Minor, and lived there until he was about forty. Many people remember Pythagoras only for the Pythagorean theorem (about the sides of a right triangle), which they learned in school, but he was much more influential as the founder of a spiritual tradition that pervades science as well as Western religion and esotericism. Pythagoras is supposed to have learned the wisdom of many lands around the Mediterranean, including the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Persians (i.e., the Magi), and, according to some, the Hindu sages.53 Some authors list Thales of Miletus and Bias of Priene (two of the Seven Sages) among his teachers. Eventually (c. 530 BCE), Pythagoras came to Croton in Italy, where he founded an initiatory secret society in which his wisdom was taught and preserved. Pythagoras was not only a philosopher and mage; he was also a lawgiver. He provided moral instruction to the Greek colonists in Italy and helped them organize their states more effectively. In later years suspicion and political opposition to the Pythagoreans grew, and they were ultimately driven out (c. 510 BCE). It is unclear whether Pythagoras was killed in this uprising or escaped. 51. Plethon, Laws I.2.5. 52. Plethon, Laws I.2.5. 53. See for example Diogenes Laertius, Lives 8, and Iamblichus, On the Pythagorean Way of Life, chs. 2–5.
