Pythagoras Biography

Pythagoras Biography

Full Name: Mr. Pythagoras
Date of Birth: circa 580 BC
Place of Birth: Samos, Ionia, Greece
Died: circa 500 BC
Place of Death: Metapontum, Lucania, Greece
Classification: Scientists & Thinkers


Known in the modern world as a philosopher and a mathematician, Pythagoras was more of a leader of a religious movement that believed in the quantitative operations of the universe. In his sect, he and his followers believed in the reincarnation of the soul and that true happiness would not be gained unless one led a life of pure moral and ethical standards.

Pythagoras was born on a small island called Samos, but when the island’s government began to brutalize intellectuals, he fled to Italy and started his own school in the region of Croton. While there, many scholars believed Pythagoras became not only active in education, but also in politics. When another sect began losing followers to Pythagoras’ teachings, the group attacked Pythagoras’ disciples, killing nearly all of them.

As a religious leader, a philosopher, a mathematician, and a scientist, Pythagoras had a lot of subjects to deal with. However, during his lifetime, it was quite common, in fact, for Math and Religion to be under the same academic heading. One wouldn’t simply study philosophy, for example, without having a strong base in mathematics. In any regard, since either Pythagoras or his followers became more involved in searching for mathematical anomalies, their finding of the hypotenuse of right triangles has been dubbed the Pythagorean Theorem ever since.

Even while they continuously studied the world around them, their philosophy became their religion as it took on more mystical teachings and practices. One aspect that made Pythagoreanism, or the religion of his followers, so appealing was its ability to answer questions about how life was connected. Pythagoras taught that all life was interconnected, even plants and animals. And, while a human would not reincarnate into a plant, a similar life force ran through both equally. The Pythagoreans did believe, however, that a human could embody the soul of an animal if that person did not lead an ethical life.

In the field of mathematics, Pythagoras attempted to teach about the Limited and Unlimited dual universe in which everyone lived. His conclusions were based on the study of music and other mathematical ratios that showed how intervals could all be expressed using the numbers one, two, three, and four. If all of these numbers are added together, the sum is 10 – what is called “the whole nature of number”. Additionally, Pythagoras and his followers developed their own theories about the cosmos. All in all, Pythagoras helped lead men to search for answers, whether it was through religion, philosophy, math, or science, which helped in the development of these fields.