Vegetarians, or Pythagoreans, and the Ancient Greece Mathematician

The philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras of ancient Greece avoided consumption of meat. He adhered to what became known as the Pythagorean diet. Pythagoras was, in fact, the first prominent vegetarian on record.

Pythagoras of Samos, the inventor of the famous Pythagorean theorem still taught in schools to this day, had his name adopted not only by mathematicians but also vegetarians. A recent online exhibit put on by the Vegan Museum in Illinois, US conveys that, before they were called vegetarians, people who abstained from eating meat were called “Pythagoreans.”

Pythagorean Ethics, Pythagoras, and Vegetarianism

Pythagorean ethics first came into prominence as a collection of ideas between 490 and 430 BC, with a central theme being the belief in an absolute law which included injunctions such as not killing “living creatures,” abstaining from “harsh-sounding bloodshed,” as in animal sacrifice, and “never eating meat.”

None of the great mathematician’s writing is still in existence today, but we have come to know his work and thoughts on vegeterianism through other ancient writers, such as Philolaus, Iamblichus, Ovid, and Plutarch.

It is evident from various sections of each of these mens’ writing that the mathematician Pythagoras of ancient Greece believed animals had a soul. “Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul,” is a quote from Ovid’s works, attributed to Pythagoras, who was a vegetarian.

According to some verses in various doxographies, Pythagoras believed “The souls of animals called unreasoning are reasonable, not however with active reasoning powers, because of an imperfect mixture of the bodies and because they do not have the power of speech, as in the case of apes and dogs; for these have intelligence but not the power of speech.”

According to Iamblichus, Pythagoras believed vegetarianism was a prerequisite to peace and thought if people could abstain from the slaughter of animals, then they may abstain from the killing of man.

“Amongst other reasons, Pythagoras enjoined abstinence from the flesh of animals, because it is conducive to peace; for those who are accustomed to abominate the slaughter of other animals as iniquitous and unnatural, will think it still more unjust and unlawful to kill a man or to engage in war,” wrote Iamblichus.

For this reason, continues Iamblichus, the mathematician Pythagoras of ancient Greece who was also a vegetarian thought it particularly important for politicians to follow a diet devoid of meat.

In relation to this, Iamblichus wrote:

“Specially, he exhorted those politicians who are legislators to abstain. For if they were willing to act justly in the highest degree, it was indubitably incumbent upon them not to injure any of the lower animals. Since how could they persuade others to act justly, if they themselves were proved to be indulging an insatiable avidity by devouring these animals that are allied to us. For through the communion of life and the same elements, and the sympathy thus existing, they are, as it were, conjoined to us by a fraternal alliance.”

After Pythagoras’ death in 495 BC, the movement known by his name continued on. Noteworthy vegetarian activists propelled the movement forward in 17th and 18th-century England, with concepts based on animal suffering. The movement then made its way to the colonies in the Americas, according to the Vegan Museum.