Pythagoras' Utopia
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2023
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What comes to your mind when you think of Pythagoras, the ancient Greek polymath? Some might think of the Pythagorean theorem, a foundational principle of mathematics. But he was also the enigmatic founder of Pythagoreanism, a mysterious secret society that strove to create a utopia on earth.
Today Dan is joined by Kristen Ghodsee, an ethnographer and author of Everyday Utopia. Kristen delves into this ancient social experiment, and talks about other attempts at paradise in the millennia since.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and James Hickmann, and edited by Ella Blaxill.
Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW sign up now for your 14-day free trial.
We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at [email protected].
You can take part in our listener survey here.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Try royal opera house stream this Christmas for just one pound and watch enchanting productions including the nutcracker |
| 0:07.0 | enjoy unlimited access to over 80 extraordinary ballets, operas and exclusive behind-the-scenes features. |
| 0:15.0 | Sign up for Royal Opera House Stream now with your first month for just one pound. |
| 0:19.0 | For details, visit R.OH.org. UK forward slash offer. |
| 0:23.0 | One pound for the first month after 14 free days, |
| 0:26.0 | and nine 99 a month thereafter, |
| 0:28.0 | cancel any time, tease and sees apply. |
| 0:30.0 | May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get |
| 0:38.0 | 10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk home in the rain again. |
| 0:45.0 | Trains now on Uber. |
| 0:48.0 | Tees and sees apply. Check the Uber app. |
| 0:52.0 | Hi everybody welcome to Dan Snow's history heads. Today I'm learning about the |
| 0:56.2 | history of utopias attempts that have been made that have actually been put |
| 1:00.4 | into practice to create a better world to create different kinds of societies which are not marked by brutal economic inequality |
| 1:10.1 | punishment rule and rulers and these utopias seem to have very interesting things in common. |
| 1:16.5 | No matter where they occur in time or in space on the planet, they pop up everywhere in all sorts |
| 1:22.1 | different periods, They pull resources. They think about raising children communally. |
| 1:27.2 | And they broaden the definition of family, of friends, of community. I've got a very cool scholar on the podcast she's been on before. |
| 1:33.4 | Christian Gossie is an American ethnographer. She's professor of Russian and |
| 1:37.0 | Eastern European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She's got a new book out. |
| 1:40.7 | It's called Every Day Utopia and she's going to take me right back to the beginning. |
| 1:44.8 | The first well-attested Utopia, that established by Pythagoras. You might think |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.