Pythagoras: The Life & Times (new episode) – Human Voices Wake Us

Tonight, I'm thrilled to read a poem that I began working on three years ago on the life, teachings, and mysticism of the Greek philosopher, Pythagoras (c. 570- c.495 BCE). I am also thrilled that the poem is being simultaneously published at The Basilisk Tree. Many thanks to its editor, Bryan Helton, for coordinating all of this with me. For anyone who wants to look closer at the earliest Classical accounts of Pythagoras, his life, and his teachings, check out: The History of Greek Philosophy Volume 1: The Earlier Presocractics and the Pythagoreans, by W. K. C. Guthrie, and The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library, ed. Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie. Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us on Substack, where you can also get our newsletter and other extras. You can also support the podcast by ordering any of my books: Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone. Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com — Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/humanvoiceswakeus/support

1. Pythagoras: The Life & Times (new episode) 35:10
2. The Great Myths #23: Odin (new episode) 01:41:13
3. Is There Anybody Out There? (new episode) 55:54
4. Advice from the Beatles (new episode) 59:41
5. On Seamus Heaney (new episode) 53:26
6. Whitman Affirms the World 12:04
7. Advice from William Wordsworth (new episode) 01:00:04
8. Da Vinci & His Bodies (new episode) 29:31
9. Anthology: Poems for Spring (new episode) 38:06
10. Anthology: Poems on How to Live 59:51

Going through my computer the other day, I found the .pdfs of these classic book sets, and thought to post them here for whoever wants them: Frazer’s The Golden Bough, The Mythology of All Races, and Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. [An update in 2021, I’ve now added a translation of the eleventh-century Irish Lebor Gabála Érenn] Whatever their limitations now, they are still great resources. I can’t remember where I found them, but it’s probably still difficult to cobble all of these sets together on one page. So I can at least offer that: 

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Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, edited by James B. Pritchard: Volume 1 | Volume 2

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The Golden Bough, by James. G. Frazer:

The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings (Part 1)
The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings (Part 2)
Taboo and the Perils of the Soul
The Dying God
Adonis, Attis, Osiris (Part 1)
Adonis, Attis, Osiris (Part 2)
Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild (Part 1)
Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild (Part 2)
The Scapegoat
Balder the Beautiful (Part 1)
Balder the Beautiful (Part 2)
Bibliography and General Index
Aftermath & Supplement

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The Mythology of All Races, edited by George Herbert Reed

Greek & Roman, by William Sherwood Fox
Eddic, by John Arnott MacCulloch
Celtic and Slavic, by John Arnott MacCulloch and Jan Máchal
Finno-Ugric and Siberian, by Uno Holmberg
Semitic, by Stephen Herbert Langdon
Indian and Iranian, by Arthur Berriedale Keith and Albert Joseph Carnoy
Armenian and African, by Mardiros Harootioon Ananikian and Alice Werner
Chinese and Japanese, by John Calvin Ferguson and Masaharu Anesaki
Oceanic, by Roland Burrage Dixon
North American, by Hartley Burr Alexander
Latin American, by Hartley Burr Alexander
Egyptian and Indo-Chinese, by Wilhelm Max Müller and James George Scott
Complete Index

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R. A. S. Macalister’s five-volume translation of the c.11th century Irish Lebor Gabála Érenn, published between 1938 and 1956, can be downloaded here. Read about the Lebor Gabála Érenn, or visit the website of its publisher, the Irish Texts Society.

Lebor Gabála Érenn, volume 1
Lebor Gabála Érenn, volume 2
Lebor Gabála Érenn, volume 3
Lebor Gabála Érenn, volume 4
Lebor Gabála Érenn, volume 5