Pythagoras (c. 570 - c. 495 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician, born on the island of Samos, whose teachings shaped early Western philosophy, mathematics, and music theory. [1] He founded a religious and philosophical community at Croton in southern Italy and is traditionally associated with the Pythagorean theorem in geometry. [2] Because he left no writings, much of what is known about him derives from later, often legendary accounts. [3]
Early life
Pythagoras was born around 570 BCE on Samos, an Ionian Greek island in the eastern Aegean. [1] Ancient biographers, writing centuries after his death, report that he travelled widely, including to Egypt and in some accounts Babylon, before settling in the Greek colonies of southern Italy. [3] Around 530 BCE he established himself at Croton, where he attracted a following and founded a community organized around his teachings. [2]
The Pythagorean school
The society Pythagoras led combined philosophical inquiry with religious observance and a strict communal way of life. Its members, known as Pythagoreans, followed rules governing diet, ritual, and conduct, and they regarded their master's doctrines with great authority. [2] Central to Pythagorean belief was the transmigration of souls (metempsychosis), the idea that the soul is immortal and reborn in successive bodies. [3] The school also acquired political influence in Croton, which eventually provoked hostility; Pythagoras is said to have withdrawn to Metapontum, where he died around 495 BCE. [1]
Mathematics and harmony
Pythagoras and his followers are credited with the conviction that numbers and numerical ratios underlie the structure of reality. [2] The theorem that bears his name, stating that in a right triangle the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides, was known to earlier Babylonian mathematicians, but tradition links its systematic study and proof to the Pythagorean school. [1] Pythagoras is also associated with early work in music theory, in particular the observation that harmonious musical intervals correspond to simple whole-number ratios. [3]
Sources and legacy
Because Pythagoras left no writings that survive, and because his disciples often attributed their own ideas to him, it is difficult to separate the historical figure from later legend. [3] His influence was nonetheless profound: Pythagorean ideas about number, proportion, and the immortality of the soul shaped later thinkers, including Plato, and through them the broader Western intellectual tradition. [2] The Pythagorean theorem remains one of the most widely taught results in elementary geometry. [1]
