Euryphamus was a philosopher who likely lived during the 2nd or 3rd century CE, a period of late antiquity when earlier Greek philosophical traditions were being revived and blended. He is identified with the Pythagorean school of thought, which emphasized mathematics, harmony, and the immortality of the soul. No details of his personal life or origins are known.
He is credited with a single work, On the Soul, which has not survived intact. Our knowledge of it comes from one fragment preserved by the later Neoplatonist philosopher Iamblichus in his own work of the same title. This fragment, which was later copied into an anthology by Stobaeus in the 5th century, discusses the soul's nature and its relationship to the body using characteristically Pythagorean ideas involving numbers and harmony.
Euryphamus is an obscure figure, and his significance lies entirely in being a representative of the late Pythagorean tradition. According to modern scholars, the preservation of his fragment by an influential thinker like Iamblichus shows that his ideas were considered a valid part of the Pythagorean teachings that were being collected and studied at the time. This single fragment helps illustrate how Pythagorean themes about the soul remained active within the broader Platonic philosophical currents of the Roman imperial era.
Available Works
Sources
- Stanford Encyclopedia Entry (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Accessed: 2026-01-26
- Perseus Entry (Perseus Digital Library) Accessed: 2026-01-26
- ToposText Entry (ToposText) Accessed: 2026-01-26