Pythagoras

Early Life and Teachings

Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570 – c. 495 BCE) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and polymath. He started a school in Croton, a city in southern Italy, around 530 BCE. His school taught many important ideas about math, science, and religion.

Mathematical Discoveries

Pythagoras is best known for the Pythagorean theorem. This theorem explains the relationship between the sides of a triangle. It is one of the most famous rules in math.

Philosophy and Legacy

Pythagoras was also known for his ideas about the soul. He believed in a teaching called metempsychosis, which means that after death, a soul lives again in a new body. His ideas influenced many great thinkers, including Plato, Aristotle, and even scientists like Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler. His teachings continued to be important from ancient Greece through the Middle Ages.

Life

We do not have any writings from Pythagoras himself. Most of what we know about him comes from stories told much later. He was probably born around 570 BCE on the island of Samos in the eastern Aegean.

Later, he moved to Croton, which is now called Crotone in Calabria, in a place called Magna Graecia. There, around 530 BCE, he started a school. Many people joined to learn from him.

Pythagoras taught his students about math, thinking, and living in a clean and friendly way. His ideas helped shape ideas in the West and influenced famous thinkers like Plato and Aristotle. Even though many amazing stories are told about him, his work on learning is still valued today.

Teachings

Pythagoras was a Greek thinker from long ago. He had many interesting ideas. One of his beliefs was metempsychosis. This is the idea that after a person dies, their soul goes into a new body. Stories say Pythagoras could remember lives from long ago, like being a hero from the Trojan War and even a fisherman!

Pythagoras loved numbers. He thought numbers were very important. He believed that stars and planets moved in patterns, just like music. His followers studied math a lot. They made special shapes and ideas, like the tetractys. This was a triangle shape they thought was very special.

Pythagoreanism

Main article: Pythagoreanism

Pythagoreans Celebrate the Sunrise (1869) by Fyodor Bronnikov

Pythagoras created a special way of living that mixed religious and philosophical ideas. His school in Croton was like a monastery. People there shared everything and followed strict rules. They studied Pythagoras's teachings together and lived as one big family.

The Pythagoreans had their own customs. They ate meals together and had rules for daily life. They thought music and exercise were good for both the mind and body. Some traditions, like keeping quiet about certain ideas, helped their community stay strong.

Pythagorean saying	Original ritual purpose according to Aristotle/Iamblichus	Porphyry's philosophical interpretation
"Do not take roads traveled by the public."	"Fear of being defiled by the impure"	"with this he forbade following the opinions of the masses, yet to follow the ones of the few and the educated".
"and [do] not wear images of the gods on rings"	"Fear of defiling them by wearing them."	"One should not have the teaching and knowledge of the gods quickly at hand and visible [for everyone], nor communicate them to the masses."
"and pour libations for the gods from a drinking cup's handle [the 'ear']"	"Efforts to keep the divine and the human strictly separate"	"thereby he enigmatically hints that the gods should be honored and praised with music; for it goes through the ears".

Legends

Pythagoras had many interesting stories told about him. Some people thought he was very special. One story says he had a golden thigh and showed it during the Olympic Games. Other stories say he could fly over long distances with a magic arrow and was seen in two places at once.

People also told stories about Pythagoras and animals. He was said to have persuaded a bull not to eat certain beans. He was also said to have stopped a bear from harming anything, and the bear kept its promise. In these stories, he wore white and a golden wreath on his head.

Attributed discoveries

Pythagoras is famous for his work in math, especially the Pythagorean theorem. This theorem shows the relationship between the sides of a right-angled triangle.

Stories say that after finding this theorem, Pythagoras might have given a special gift to the gods.

Pythagoras also had ideas about music. He noticed that the sounds made by blacksmiths' hammers could be explained with math.

In astronomy, Pythagoras and another thinker named Parmenides were among the first to suggest that the Earth is round.

Later influence in antiquity

Hadrian's Pantheon in Rome, depicted in this eighteenth-century painting by Giovanni Paolo Panini, was built according to Pythagorean teachings.

Pythagoras had a big impact on Greek ideas and more. His thoughts influenced well-known thinkers like Plato and Aristotle. Many of Pythagoras's followers started groups in places such as Magna Graecia, Phlius, and Thebes. They kept studying his ideas there.

Pythagorean ideas helped shape art and buildings. Places like the Porta Maggiore Basilica in Rome and the Pantheon were built using Pythagorean rules. These buildings show Pythagorean beliefs about the universe, numbers, and balance. Early Christian leaders such as Eusebius and Jerome also liked Pythagoras for his wise and good teachings.

Influence after antiquity

Pythagoras appears in a relief sculpture on one of the archivolts over the right door of the west portal at Chartres Cathedral.

During the Middle Ages, Pythagoras was respected as the founder of mathematics and music, two of the Seven Liberal Arts. His ideas appeared in many old artworks and writings.

Later, Pythagoras influenced many scientists and thinkers. For example, Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler saw their work as following Pythagorean ideas. Kepler named one of his books after a Pythagorean concept. Modern scientists like Albert Einstein also admired Pythagorean thinking for its focus on simple patterns in nature.