Pythagoras and Empedocles

The Egyptians were the first to declare this doctrine, that the human soul is immortal. And each time the body perishes it enters into another animal as it is born. Its circuit takes three thousand years. Some Greeks have adopted this doctrine some earlier and some later - but Herodotus won't tell us their names. The fact that Pythagoras' teaching on reincarnation seems to be one of these secret doctrines is very difficult to interpret. But it surely points us once again in the direction of mystery, cult, and teaching when we try to figure out what Pythagora's thought was all about.