Metempsychosis

Metempsychosis (μετεμψύχωσις) is a philosophical term in the Greek language referring to the transmigration or reincarnation of the soul after death. The earliest Greek thinker with whom metempsychosis is connected is Pherecydes of Syros; but Pythagoras, who is said to have been his pupil, is its first famous philosophic exponent. The importance of metempsychosis in Western tradition is largely due to its adoption by Plato. In Plato's view the number of souls is fixed (not created at birth), and they transmigrate from one body to another. The idea persisted in antiquity down to the latest classic thinkers, Plotinus and the other Neoplatonists.

In Theosophical a more common term for this idea is reincarnation.

Further reading

• Metempsychosis at Theosopedia