person
Pherecydes of Syros
Pherecydes
also: Pherecydes
Early Greek thinker said to be the teacher of Pythagoras. Cicero notes that from well-water he foretold an earthquake, but reckons this natural philosophy rather than divination (De Divinatione 1.112).
Reading notes
- Tusculan Disputations §1.38 the first who said, as far as the record stands in writing, that the souls of men are everlasting was Pherecydes of Syros
Pherecydes of Syros (sixth century BC), reputed teacher of Pythagoras and the first writer to assert the soul's immortality. Cicero notes he lived in the reign of Servius Tullius, 'my own clansman' (Cicero being of the Tullia gens).