Pythagoras is remembered today for his famous theorem in geometry, the ‘Pythagoras Theorem’. Pythagoras was born in the island of Samos in around 569 BC. His father, Mnesarchus, was a merchant and his mother Pythais, was a native of Samos. Young Pythagoras spent most of his early years in Samos but travelled to many places with his father. He was intelligent, well-educated. Pythagoras was also fond of poetry and recited the poems of Homer.
It is believed that philosophers like Thales, Pherekydes and Anaximander influenced Pythagoras to a great extent when he was young. Thales created a strong impression on him. He contributed to Pythagoras’s interest in astronomy and mathematics. On Thales’s advice, Pythagoras traveled to Egypt and learned a great deal about astronomy and mathematics there. He attended many lectures given by Anaximander, who was Thales’s pupil. Anaximander’s interest in cosmology and geometry influenced Pythagoras to a large extent.
Pythagoras was famous for his religious teachings and made several contributions to science and religion. Pythagoras’s teachings were centered on the doctrine of metempsychosis. He believed that a person’s soul does not die and is destined to a cycle of rebirths.
Pythagoras was famous for his religious teachings and made several contributions to science and religion. Pythagoras’s teachings were centered on the doctrine of metempsychosis. He believed that a person’s soul does not die and is destined to a cycle of rebirths.
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Pythagoras also asserted that dynamics of the structure of the universe lies on the interaction of the contraries or the opposites, such as, light and darkness, limited and unlimited, square and oblong, straight and crooked, right and left, singularity and plurality, male and female, motionless and movement and good and bad.
There are very few records regarding Pythagoras’s personal life. According to some historical accounts, Pythagoras married Theano, who was a native of Croton. He had one son named Telauges and three daughters Myia, Damo and Arignote.
Most of his works were lost throughout the history and very few survived. Pythagorean brotherhood couldn’t survive for long as they were suppressed. According to certain historical accounts Pythagoras died along with his disciples in the temple, while some other evidences suggest that he fled to Tarentum and then to Metapontum, where he starved himself to death.
