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Top 10 Facts about Pythagoras

Pythagoras of Samos was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia, they influenced the philosophers of Plato and Aristotle. Any knowledge regarding his life is clouded by legend but he appears to have been the son of Mnesarchus. Modern scholars don’t agree that Pythagoras had any education, but they do agree that he traveled to southern Italy and he founded a school.

Pythagoras devised the doctrine of musical universals which holds the planets move according to mathematical equations and thus resonate to produce an inaudible symphony of music. Modern scholars debate that he developed numerological and musical teachings. Many of his followers came into conflict with supporters of democracy and his meeting houses were burned. They all believe that Pythagorean may have been killed during this persecution or he escaped to Metapontum where he eventually died.

Pythagoras was credited with many mathematical and scientific discoveries some of them including the Pythagorean theorem, Pythagorean tuning, and the five regular solids. Records show that he was the first man to call himself a philosopher which translated to lover of wisdom. Historians debate whether Pythagoras made these discoveries and accomplishments.

His ideas on mathematical perfection also impacted ancient Greek art. His teachings underwent a major revival in the first century BC among Middle Platonists. He was regarded as a great philosopher throughout the middle ages, his philosophy had a major impact on scientists like Issac Newton and Johannes Kepler. 

1. The Fascinating Life History of Pythagoras 

There are no writings of Pythagoras and there is no proof of his life. However, the earliest sources on Pythagoras’s life are brief, it shows his teachings as a satirical poem. Many believe that it was written after his death by Xenophanes of Colophon to describe his work and proof of existence, it incorporates many of his teachings.

Most of the major sources on Pythagoras’s life are from the Roman period. Three ancient biographies of Pythagoras have survived from late antiquity and are filled primarily with myths and legends. The two later biographies were written by the Neoplatonist philosopher’s Porphyry and Iamblichus. The later sources are much lengthier than the earlier ones and are even more exciting and have amazing descriptions.

2. Pythagoras Studied in Egypt in the Early years

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Early writers agree that Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus and that he was born on the Greek island of Samos in the eastern Aegean. Biographers have noted that his father wasn’t born on the island but he was raised there. According to Iamblichus, he was a native of the island, and he was said to have been a wealthy merchant but his ancestry is unclear. His mother was a native of Samos a descendant of a geomoroi family.

Traditionally, he is considered to have received most of his education in the Near East. Scholars have shown that the culture of Archaic Greece was heavily influenced by Levantine and Mesopotamian cultures.  Pythagoras was said to have been studied in Eygpt in the fourth century BC. Antiphon wrote that Pythagoras learned to speak Egyptian from the Pharaoh Amasis II and that he studied with the Egyptian priests at Diospolis. He was the only foreigner ever that was granted the privilege of taking part in their worship. 

3. He Traveled as far as Egypt Teaching His Philosophy 

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In most of his travels, he learned a new language or a new culture. Ancient writers claimed that he learned some of his teachings from the Magi in Persia or from Zoroaster. He later visited Crete where he went to the Cave of Ida with Epimenides. It is believed that the Phoenicians taught Pythagoras arithmetic and the Chaldeans to have taught him astronomy. In the third century BC, he was reported to have studied under the Jews as well. 

Sophist Philostratus claims that he also studied under sages or gymnosophists in India, and also studied with the Celts and Iberians. Sources record Pythagoras studied under a variety of native Greek thinkers. many believe that he was taught by Orpheus thus representing the Orphic Mysteries. Pythagoras had written on the gods in the Doric Greek dialect, they believed that he was dedicated to Pythagoras by the Orphic priest upon his initiation to the orphic Mysteries at Leibethra.

Orpheus is credited for being the model for Pythagoras’s manner of speech, his spiritual attitude, and his manner of worship. Pythagoreanism is described as a synthesis of everything Pythagoras had learned from Orpheus, the Egyptian Priests, and other religious and philosophical traditions. It is recorded that Pythagoras might have met Thales of Miletus, he was a philosopher, scientist, mathematician, and engineer. 

Diogenes Laertius states that Pythagoras learned most of his moral doctrines from the Delphic priestess Themistoclea. There are several noted similarities between the religious and ascetic peculiarities of Pythagoras with the Orphic or Cretan mysteries.

4. He Had ain Interesting Time In Croton

Pythagoras dwelled in a secret cave where he studied in private and occasionally held discourses with his close friends. In 530 BC, he left Samos. His admirers believed that he left because he disagreed wi the tyranny of Polycrates in Samos. All sources agreed that Pythagoras was charismatic and acquired great political influence in his new environment. 

In Croton, he served as an advisor to the elites and gave them frequent advice. Biographers do not that his eloquent speeches in leading the people of Croton to abandon their luxurious life and devote themselves to the purer system which he introduced.

5. Pythagoras had a Wife and Children

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Pythagoras was married to Theano who were a lady of Crete and the daughter of Pythenax. The couple had several children together, they had two sons named Telauges and Arignote and a daughter named Myia. Mnesarchus who was his other son was raised by Pythagoras’s appointed successor Aristaeus. He eventually took over the school when Aristaeus was too old to run it. 

Milo of Croton, who was a wrestler was said to be a close associate of Pythagoras and was credited for having saved the philosopher’s life when a roof was about to collapse. However, many believe that the association could be a result of confusion with a different man called Pythagoras who was an athletics trainer.

6. He Taught in Depth about Metempsychosis

Pythagoras’s teachings are uncertain but it is possible to reconstruct a general outline of his main ideas. One of his main doctrines appears to have been metempsychosis which is the belief that all souls are immortal and that after death, a soul is transferred into a new body.

The teaching is referred to by Xenophanes, Ion of Chios, and Herodotus. It is known that the natural mechanism by which Pythagoras believed metempsychosis to occur. There was a time when he openly shared that he had four previous lives that he could remember in detail. One of these lives includes him being the son of Hermes, Aethalides, who granted him the ability to remember all his past incarnations. 

His other incarnation, was when he was Euphorbus, a minor hero from the Trojan War briefly mentioned in the Iliad. He then became the philosopher Hermotimus, who recognized the shield of Euphorbus in the temple of Apollo. His final incarnation was as Pyrrhus, a fisherman from Delos.

7. His Insightful Teachings on Mysticism

There is a belief that Pythagoras was the Harmony of the Spheres which maintained that the planets and stars moved according to mathematical equations that correspond to musical notes and produce an inaudible symphony. 

Porphyry notes that Pythagoras taught the seven Muses were actually the seven planets singing together. He was said to have practiced divination and prophecy, in his visits to Greece, Delos, Sparta, and Crete. He usually appears either in his religious or priestly guise or even as a lawgiver in all the places he travels.

8. Pythagoras’s Teachings on Numerology

Pythagoreans were the first to take up mathematics, they not only advanced the subject but the also saturated with it. They fancied that the principles of mathematics were principles of all things. Pythagoreans used mathematics devoid of practical application, they believed that all things were made of numbers. Pythagoreans believed that number one represented the origin of all things and number two represented matter. 

The number three was an ideal number because it had a beginning middle and end and was also the smallest number of points that could be used to describe a plane triangle. The number four signified the four seasons and the four elements while the number seven represented the number of planets and the number of strings on a lyre. The number ten was regarded as a perfect number and the Pythagoreans honored it by never gathering in groups of more than ten.

They believed that the odd number was masculine and the even numbers were feminine, they taught that the number five represented marriage because it was the sum of an even and odd number.

9. Pythagorean Communal Lifestyle was Amazing

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The organization Pythagoras founded at Croton was called a “school” in many ways, it resembled a monastery. the adherents were bound by a vow to Pythagoras for the purpose of pursuing religious and ascetic observances. To study his religious and philosophical theories.

Pythagoreans ate meals in common after the manner of the Spartans. both Iamblichus and Porphyry provide a detailed account of the organization of the school. However, the primary interest of both writers isn’t historically accurate but it is meant to present Pythagoras as a divine figure who was sent by the gods to benefit humankind.

The Pythagoreans believed that music was a purification for the soul and acted as a medicine that would purify the body. They emphasized the importance of physical exercise, therapeutic dancing, and daily morning walks. Athletics were a major component of their lifestyle, at both the beginning and the end of each day.

10. Pythagoras has a Mysterious Death Record

Pythagoras and his admirers headed to Cylon and Ninon. However, there was an attack during one of his meetings in the house of Milo. The attack has many stories of what actually happened, one of them being, the building was set on fire and many of the assembled members perished. The other story is that Pythagoras was at the meetings and managed to escape, he led a small group of followers to the nearby city of Locris.

Another story reveals that when the house was on fire, his devoted students laid down on the ground to make a path for him and he was able to walk over their bodies across the flames like a bridge.