The Neopythagoreans and the Mathematics of the Embryo

Abstract

Although Neopythagoreans are rarely mentioned in scholarly discussions of ancient embryology, they developed one of the more idiosyncratic ways of investigating embryo development in antiquity: mathematical calculations. This paper examines what these calculations entailed, how diverse they were and what historical and philosophical influences motivated their development. It begins with the reception of this method in Byzantine mathematics, showing that these ideas spread far and wide. Then I look at the evidence in the extant Neopythagorean texts, focusing on two questions: (i) What embryological problems are mathematical methods applied to and (ii) how are these methods motivated philosophically? Despite some diversity in the extant texts, the emerging motifs and patterns point towards polemical engagement which motivates the development of mathematical investigations of embryos. The final part of the paper focuses on the question of influences and originality. The Neopythagorean approach is clearly not entirely unique: it is influenced by various ideas from the Classical and Hellenistic periods that mathematics can reveal something about the development of an embryo, and the final part of this paper looks at how Neopythagoreans synthesised these ideas as well as the extent to which their approach was novel.