Telauges (; fl. c. 500 BC) was a Samos Pythagoreanism philosopher and, according to tradition, the son of Pythagoras and Theano. Little is known about his life and works other than a scattering of remarks from much later writers.
Life
Little is known about the life of Telauges. According to tradition, he was the son of
Pythagoras and Theano.
[Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 43][Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras, 4][Suda, Telauges τ481, Pythagoras π3120, Theano θ84] Iamblichus claims that Pythagoras died when Telauges was very young, and that Telauges eventually married Bitale the daughter of Damo, his sister.
[Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, 146] It was said that Telauges was a teacher of
Empedocles,
[Suda, Telauges τ481, Empedokles ε1002][Eusebius, Preparatio Evangelica, x. 14] perhaps in an attempt to link Empedocles to Pythagoras.
Works
Diogenes Laërtius says that Telauges wrote nothing,
but then makes use of a supposed letter from Telauges to
Philolaus for some information concerning Empedocles.
[Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 53, 74. Although even in antiquity the credibility of the letter was doubted, viii. 55.] Iamblichus claims that a work of Pythagoras concerning the gods was said by some to have been composed by Telauges, using the notes which Pythagoras bequeathed to Damo.
The
Suda claims that Telauges wrote four books on the
tetractys.
[Suda, Telauges τ481] Marcus Aurelius, in his
Meditations, contrasts Telauges with
Socrates.
[Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, vii. 66]
