Greek mythographer and cosmogonist
traditionally associated with the Seven
Wise Men of Greece (especially Thales).
Pherecydes is credited with
originating metempsychosis, a doctrine
that holds the human soul to be
immortal, passing into another body,
either human or animal, after death. He
is also known as the author of
Heptamychos, a work, extant in fragments
only, describing the origin of the world
from a divine trinity: Zas (Zeus),
Chronos or Kronos, and Chthonie or Ge
(Mother Earth). Pherecydes was
characterized by Aristotle in
Metaphysics, Book XIV, as a theologian
who mixed philosophy and myth. Tradition
says that he was the teacher of
Pythagoras. He is not to be confused
with Pherecydes of Athens, a genealogist
who lived about a century later.
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