The Pythagoreans and the Therapeutic Effects of the Paean between Religion, Paideia and Politics

Abstract

The interest of the Early Pythagoreans in musical speculation appears in literary sources as strictly linked with religion and education. The use of paeans for healing and calming both rage and anger among the Pythagoreans (see for instance Iamblichus, De vita pythagorica 110; Porphyrius, Vita Pythagorae 30) shows that catharsis was meant within such groups as a “purification” from every kind of excess in which religion, medicine and ethics were blended together in order to provide a harmonious order within the individuals. Music and musical education in Pythagorean communities had also a “political” role, since they were intended to foster social order.