Xenophilus
b. 400 BC · musician, mathematician and Pythagorean philosopher of ancient Greece
Xenophilus was a musician, mathematician and philosopher of ancient Greece, from the region of Chalcidice and associated with the Pythagoreans. He matters chiefly as a link between late Pythagorean thought and the music theory of his time, although very little of his own work survives.
He is placed in the first half of the fourth century BC, during the reign of Dionysius II the Younger. He is traditionally regarded as a pupil of Philolaus, though the connection is not firmly documented. He is the only Pythagorean known to have lived in Athens in that century. He was the close friend and teacher of Aristoxenus of Taranto, and Aulus Gellius suggests that he passed Pythagorean doctrine on to him.
He is credited with a saying about education: the best way to raise a son is to make him a citizen of a well-governed state. According to a later tradition, he lived 105 years, a figure recorded in the works attributed to pseudo-Lucian and linked by Pliny to a life without illness. This reputation for longevity made him well known during the Renaissance.
Key ideas
- Civic education: a person's formation depends above all on the good order of the community in which they live.
- Pythagorean continuity: he belonged to the last generation of Pythagoreans and passed their teaching on to his students.
- Music theory: as a musician, he dealt with harmony and its mathematical basis, in line with the Pythagorean tradition.
Curiosities
A very long life
According to a later tradition, he lived 105 years, a figure attributed to him in late ancient texts.
Advice on education
He is credited with the view that the best education for a son is to grow up as a citizen of a well-governed state.
Teachers and influences
Teachers
- Philolaus 469 BC–389 BC
Pupils
- Aristoxenus 359 BC–299 BC
Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.