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A Portrait of Pythagoras
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2013
Extract
The fairly numerous ideal portraits of Homer and the Sages which have come down to us, and the yet more numerous headless herms whose inscriptions bear witness to the frequency of such works in antiquity, naturally suggest that others may exist in our museums representing the more famous rulers and philosophers of the sixtli century, among whom the most interesting and important is Pythagoras. From the Renaissance onwards, archæologists have been on the alert to discover a portrait with some claim to represent him, and no less than seven identifications have been at various times proposed. None, however, has found anything like universal acceptance, in spite of the fact that the numismatic evidence is fuller and more trustworthy than usual. A series of Samian coins show the philosopher either seated or standing before a celestial globe set on a pillar. He is richly draped and is bearded, while a band, whose exact nature is difficult to determine, usually runs round his head. The figures are, however, merely generalized and conventional like those of other poets and sages on the coin types figured by Bernoulli. The Paris contorniate must be reserved for fuller treatment, as a discussion of the literary evidence is important for its right understanding.
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References
page 307 note 1 For list see Bernoulli, , Gr. Ikonographie, i. p. 275Google Scholar.
page 307 note 2 Bern. op. cit. Münztaf. ii. Figs. 21-2; B.M. Cat. Ionia, Pl. XXXVII. 14.
page 307 note 3 A p. Laert., Diog.Vit. Phil. i. I, 42Google Scholar.
page 307 note 4 Ibid.
page 308 note 1 Iamblichus, , de vit. Pyth. ii. 5Google Scholar.
page 308 note 2 Vit. 36.
page 308 note 3 Iambl, , op. cit. ii. 10Google Scholar.
page 308 note 4 Ael., V.H. iv. 17Google Scholar.
page 308 note 5 Isocr. Busiris, 28; Strabo, xiv. I. 16; Laert., Diog.Vit. viii. 13Google Scholar; Plut. de Is. et Os. 10; Philostr., Vit. Apoll. viii. 15, etcGoogle Scholar.
page 308 note 6 See Hdt. ii. 122, 2.
page 308 note 7 Diog. Laert. Vit. 33.
page 308 note 8 It is clear that the question of Pythagorean ood was a disputed one; Aristoxenus, (ap. Anl. Gell. iv. 11, 1Google Scholar) maintained that Pythagoras used no vegetable more frequently than beans, and the same authority declared (ap. Diog. Laert. Vit. Pyth. 20) that things which had life might be eaten by Pythagoreans, provided that they refrained from the plough-ox and the ram.
page 308 note 9 Philostr., Vit. Apoll. i. 32Google Scholar, et saepe.
page 308 note 10 ii. 81.
page 308 note 11 Vit. 19.
page 308 note 12 Diog. Laert. Vit. Emped. 73.
page 308 note 13 Athenaeus, iv. 163e; Philostr., Vit. Apoll. i. 32, 2Google Scholar.
page 308 note 14 V.H. xii. 32.
page 309 note 1 De plac. Hipp. et. Plat. 459.
page 309 note 2 De Virt. Alex. i. 4, 328.
page 309 note 3 C. Apion. i. 163.
page 309 note 4 Vit. Pyth. 6 seqq.
page 309 note 5 Cf. Plato, , Resp. x. 600 BGoogle Scholar.
page 309 note 6 Suidas, s.v. Pythagoras, mentions them also, doubtless from the same source.
page 309 note 7 xlv. (Somnium seu Gallus) 4.
page 309 note 8 xxxii. 4.
page 309 note 9 Plut., Vit. Num. viii. 12Google Scholar: not noticed by Plin., Bernoulli.N.H. xxxiv. 26Google Scholar.
page 309 note 10 Christodor. Ecphrasis, 120 seqq.
page 310 note 1 In Sabatier (Méd. Contorniates, pl. xv. I) and Visconti (Iconogr. Gr. pl. xvi. 3) this kerchief is not indicated. In the latter the engraver has mistaken for hair the projecting line across the brow. Fig. 1 is taken from a cast in the British Museum.
page 310 note 2 ‘Poet a quidam Samius’, ap. Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth. 5.
page 310 note 3 He was early identified with the Hyperborean Apollo (Aristotle, , Fragm. vol. iv. p. 60aGoogle Scholar, ed. Didot. (Cf. the later writers cited in this paper.)
page 311 note 1 I hope to deal at length with these types in a forthcoming number of the Numismatic Chronicle.
page 311 note 2 Sala dei Filosofi 80; illustrated Mus. Capit. i. 88, ‘Archytas of Tarentum’; Arndt-Bruckmann, Gr. u. röm. Porträts, 151-2. Cp. Bernoulli, , Griechische Ikonographie ii, p. 17Google Scholar I owe the photograph here reproduced to the kindness of Mr. Stuart Jones.
page 311 note 3 Text to Gr. u. röm. Porträts 152–2.
page 312 note 1 [Plaster has been used to restore the eyeballs, and it is not therefore advisable to lay too much stress on their present form.—H. S. J.]
page 312 note 2 The head has been compared with a bronze portrait-head in the Naples Museum (No. 5607) from the villa of the Pisones at Herculaneum. (Comparetti and de Petra, La Villa Ercolanese, Pl. VIII, 2; Mus. Ital. iii, Pl. V; Gr. u. röm. Porträts 153–4; but this, as I hope to shew elsewhere, represents a different individual.)
page 312 note 3 The treatment of the eyes recalls the phrase of Christodorus [Ecphr. l.c.) where he says of Pythagoras, 
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page 313 note 1 M.W. p. 93.
page 313 note 2 Of ihe sculptor it is impossible to speak with any degree of certainty. Cresilas is out of the question, from the difference between the heavy eyelids of the Pericles and those of this head, which, seen in profile, disappear under the brow. Colotes, qui (fecit) philosopkos, is possible, but we know nothing of his work. There is a strong likeness between this head and the bearded Dionysos in the Mus. Chiaramonti (No. 44), (M. W. p. 95). The spirit of the two is identical, and there are mannerisms in both which, despite the later date of the Dionysos, can hardly be assigned to different hands. I incline to think the Pythagoras an early work by the master of the Dionysos.
I owe to Mr. Stuart Jones this interesting and suggestive comparison.
page 313 note 3 Arist., de Caelo., ii. 9Google Scholar.
page 313 note 4 Poeta quidam Samius,’ ap. Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth. 5.
page 313 note 5 Iamblich. Vit. 84.
page 313 note 6 See for example Darembergand Saglio, p. 971, Fig. 1225.
page 313 note 7 Br. Bruckm. Denkm. Nos. 494, 495.
page 314 note 1 E.g. Gerh. Gr. Vasenbilder, Nos. 305, 306.
page 314 note 2 Conze, Attische Grabreliefs, Tafelband i.; xxi.; xxiii. 125; xxvi.; xxvii. 62, 63. Fourthcentury examples are numerous and include the stele of Hegeso.