A Pythagorean magic square? Jamblichus of Chalcis as a precursor to the Arabo-Byzantine commentators
While ancient Chinese and medieval Arabic sources about magic squares are known, the first known Greek source is late Byzantine from the 14th Cent. The author notes that the late classical Greek author Jamblichos in his commentary on Nicomachos, when explaining the Pythagorean theory of numbers, describes what can be considered a way of obtaining a magic square of order 3. The conclusion seems to be speculative.
scientific article