Archytas of Tarentum (c. BCE—c. BCE)
Archytas of Tarentum was active in the first half of the fourth century BCE as a mathematician and a philosopher in the Pythagorean tradition. He is famous for having sent a ship in BCE to rescue Plato from Dionysius II, tyrant of Syracuse. Archytas is unique among ancient philosophers for his success in the political sphere&#x;he was elected general seven consecutive times in a democratically governed Tarentum (at the time one of the most important Greek city-states in southern Italy).
More texts have been preserved in Archytas's name than in that of any other Pythagorean, but the majority of these texts are spurious. The pseudo-Pythagorean treatises of the first century BCE and later were often written in his name, considering him the latest of the three great early Pythagoreans (following Pythagoras himself and Philolaus). The spurious works on categories in Archytas's name were regarded as genuine by the commentators on Aristotle's Categories and were frequently cited. Four fragments survive from Archytas's genuine works, of which Harmonics was the most important, and there is a relatively rich set of testimonia.
Archytas provided
Cambridge University Press
- Archytas of Tarentum - Pythagorean, Philosopher and Mathematician King - by Carl A. Huffman
Excerpt
PART ONE
Introductory essays
CHAPTER I
Life, writings and reception
SOURCES
(The original texts and translations of the testimonia for Archytas&#; life are found in Part Three, Section One)
Archytas did not live the life of a philosophical recluse. He was the leader of one of the most powerful Greek city-states in the first half of the fourth century BC. Unfortunately he is similar to most important Greek intellectuals of the fifth and fourth centuries BC, in that we have extremely little reliable information about his activities. This dearth of information is all the more frustrating since we know that Aristoxenus wrote a biography of Archytas, not long after his death (A9). Two themes bulk large in the bits of evidence that do survive from that biography and from other evidence for Archytas&#; life. First, there is Archytas&#; connection to Plato, which, as we will see, was more controversial in antiquity than in most modern scholarship. The Platonic Seventh Letter, whose authenticity continues to be debated, por
Biography
Archytas of Tarentum was a mathematician, statesman and philosopher who lived in Tarentum in Magna Graecia, an area of southern Italy which was under Greek control in the fifth century BC. The Pythagoreans, who had at one stage been strong throughout Magna Graecia, were attacked and expelled until only the town of Tarentum remained a stronghold for them. Archytas led the Pythagoreans in Tarentum and tried to unite the Greek towns in the area to form an alliance against their non-Greek neighbours. He was commander in chief of the forces in Tarentum for seven years despite there being a law that nobody could hold the post for more than a year. Plato, who became a close friend, made his acquaintance while staying in Magna Graecia. Heath writes in [4]:-he is said, by means of a letter, to have saved Plato from death at the hands of Dionysius.In fact Plato made a number of trips to Sicily and it was on the third of these trips in BC that he was detained by Dionysius II. Plato wrote to Archytas who sent a ship to rescue him. For more details on the relationship between Archytas and Plato consult the interesting article [8].
Given the above story and the conclusion
Archytas of Tarentum
(fl. Tarentum [now Taranto], Italy, ca. b.c.)
philosophy, mathematics, physics.
After the Pythagoreans had been driven out of most of the cities of southern Italy by the Syracusan tyrant Dionysius the Elder at the beginning of the fourth century B.C., Tarentum remained their only important political center. Here Archytas played a leading role in the attempt to unite the Greek city-states against the non-Greek tribes and powers. After the death of Dionysius the Elder, he concluded, through the agency of Plato, an alliance with his son and successor, Dionysius the Younger.
Archytas made very important contributions to the theory of numbers, geometry, and the theory of music. Although extant ancient tradition credits him mainly with individual discoveries, it is clear that all of them were connected and that Archytas was deeply concerned with the foundations of the sciences and with their interconnection. Thus he affirmed that the art of calculation (λογιστικ´η) is the most fundamental science and makes its results even clearer than those of geometry. He also discussed mathematics as the foundation of astronomy.
A central point in Archytas’ manifo
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