Pythagoras, Persia and the birth of Mazda Yazna (Philo-Sophy)
the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician, is traditionally believed to have spent time in Persia and Babylon, where he studied with the Magi—the priestly scholars of the Zoroastrian tradition.
The Iranian Magi (Medes and Persians) were renowned for their knowledge in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and religious rituals, and they played an essential role in Achaemenian society as scholars and spiritual leaders. The training Pythagoras would have received from the Magi likely exposed him to Zoroastrian cosmology, which emphasizes dualities—good and evil, light and darkness—as fundamental forces. This worldview inspired Pythagoras’s later philosophical inquiries, particularly his ideas about the harmony and interconnectedness of opposites.
In Babylon, Pythagoras encountered advanced mathematics and astronomy, as Babylonian scholars had developed sophisticated methods for calculating celestial phenomena and using numbers symbolically. Babylonian mathematics was highly advanced with a number system that influenced Greek thought, especially in geometry and abstract mathematics.
Mazda Yazna = Philo-Sophy (i.e. Love of Wisdom)
One fascinating link is the possible connection between the Zoroastrian concept of Mazda Yazna (which translates to “Love of Wisdom”) and the Greek word philosophia (also meaning “love of wisdom”), a term Pythagoras is credited with coining.
Some scholars, including Dr. Jason Reza Jorjani in Iranian Leviathan, suggest that Pythagoras adapted the concept from Mazda Yazna, having been influenced by his encounters with the Magi. This theory would mean that not only the philosophical foundations of Greece were in part inspired by Iranian thought but also the word and concept of philosophy itself.
Moreover, Pythagoras’s later teachings about the immortality of the soul, reincarnation, and cosmic harmony resonate with Zoroastrian and Eastern ideas. He founded a school that emphasized the mystical and symbolic nature of numbers, and his famous doctrine of the music of the spheres—the belief that celestial bodies move according to mathematical ratios, creating a kind of cosmic music—mirrors the Zoroastrian emphasis on Asha, cosmic order and harmony.
Pythagoras’s interactions with the Magi and Babylonian scholars likely played a crucial role in shaping his philosophy, blending Eastern and Western ideas into a vision that would profoundly influence both Greek and later European thought.
