Pitagora (Pythagoras)

The Renaissance fortune of Pythagoras, definitely garbled by the centuries-old stratification of disparate sources, also crossed the work of Bruno. Frequently cited, as a rule, his picture is different from that of other Presocratic philosophers. The sage of Samos is presented in at least five different contexts : 1. as precursor of heliocentrism ; 2. as endorsing the doctrine of the world soul ; 3. as entertaining the idea of metempsychosis ; 4. as inceptor of the theory of numbers ; 5. finally as crucial link in the chain of ancient wisdom. Recall, that Bruno often refers generically to the Pythagoreans.