IV. In Greece

Greece, a nation in Southern Europe with a rich and early civilization, is the cradle of Western culture.

The philosopher Pythagoras, also a political and religious reformer, after studying in Egypt, Persia, and India, returned to Greece and introduced the theory of reincarnation. His teachings were divided into two parts: an esoteric tradition reserved for advanced disciples who could grasp the mysteries, and an exoteric tradition for ordinary people with less developed intellect. This exoteric tradition gave rise to the concept of “degenerative reincarnation.”

According to this concept, Timaeus of Locri, a disciple of Pythagoras, stated: “The soul of a coward is reborn as a woman to endure contempt and humiliation, the soul of a murderer is reborn as a ferocious beast to atone for their crimes, the soul of a dishonest and corrupt person is reborn as a pig or a boar, the fickle and unreliable soul is reborn as a bird flitting through the air, and the lazy, foolish, and ignorant souls are reborn as aquatic creatures.”

Herodotus, revered as the “Father of History,” believed that pure souls could ascend to the stars.

Another prominent disciple of Pythagoras, the philosopher Plato, proposed two arguments in favor of reincarnation:

• In his first argument, he observed that in the world, death follows life, and therefore, one could reason that life also follows death. Since nothing can arise from nothing, if the dead did not reincarnate, all things would eventually perish.

• In his second argument, he drew upon the power of memory, stating that learning is essentially remembering. He reasoned that if our souls, through learning, can remember having lived before entering our current bodies, why shouldn’t we believe that after leaving this body, our souls will continue to be reborn in multiple lives?

Plato further asserted that souls that have reached a state of perfection cease to reincarnate. However, before attaining such a high state, all souls, after death, descend to the underworld for a thousand years. Upon rebirth, they drink from the river Lethe, causing them to forget their past lives.