Pythagoras

Pythagoras was married to Theano, his first pupil at Croton. She was also a philosopher in her own right. She wrote a treatise called ‘On Virtue’ and the doctrine of the golden mean was included in it. However, some say that she was not his wife, but a disciple.

According to various accounts, the couple had a son named Telauges, and three daughters named Damo, Arignote, and Myia. Some sources also put the number to seven. Their second daughter Arignote was a known scholar and works like ‘The Rites of Dionysus’, ‘Sacred Discourses’ have been credited to her.

Their third daughter Myia is said to have married the famous wrestler, Milo of Croton. It is further stated that Milo was an associate of Pythagoras and saved his life from a roof collapse.

Pythagoras was born in the eastern Aegean island of Samos, Greece in 570 BC. It is believed that his mother, Pythias, was a native of the island while his father, Mnesarchus, was a merchant from Tyre (Lebanon), dealing in gems. It is also said that he had two or three siblings.

Pythagoras spent most of his early childhood at Samos. As he grew up, he began to accompany his father on his trading trips. It is believed that Mnesarchus once took him to Tyre, where he studied under scholars from Syria. It is possible that he might have also visited Italy during those early years.

Subsequently, Pythagoras studied extensively under different teachers. He learned poetry, could recite Homer and play the lyre. Apart from scholars from Syria, he also studied under wise men of Chaldea. Pherecydes of Syros was also one of his early teachers under whom he studied philosophy. .

At the age of eighteen, Pythagoras traveled to Miletus to meet Thales, a master of mathematics and astronomy. Although by then Thales had become too old to teach, the meeting was quite fruitful; it elicited in him an interest in science, mathematics and astronomy.

He must have also studied under Thales’ student Anaximander. The later works of Pythagoras show a striking similarity with the works of Anaximander. Both his astronomical and geometrical theories seem to have naturally developed from the theories of the elder philosopher.

On his return to Samos, Pythagoras opened a school called The Semicircle. However, his method of teaching was different and appealed to few. At the same time, the leaders wanted him to get involved with the city administration, which did not appeal to him.

In 518 BC, he shifted his base to Croton in southern Italy. Some accounts say he went there to study law and stayed back. Other accounts claim he went there in 530 BC to escape the tyranny of Polycrates, not to Egypt.

Whatever may be the case, it was here at Croton that he first started teaching in full scale, quickly gathering a band of followers. Subsequently, he set up a brotherhood, which was open to both men and women. It developed into a religious cum philosophical school with considerable political clout.

The Pythagoreans, as the followers of Pythagoras were called, could be divided into two sects. Those who lived and worked at the school were known as the mathematikoi or learners. Others, who lived outside the school, were known as akousmatics or listeners. Pythagoras was the master of both the sects.

The mathematikoi had to lead their life according to rules, which defined what they ate, wore or even spoke. They had no personal possession and followed strict vegetarianism. Contrarily, the akousmatics were allowed to own personal properties and eat non-vegetarian food. They attended the school only during the day time.

Pythagoras is most famous for his concept of geometry. It is believed that he was first to establish that the sum of the angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles and that for a right-angled triangle the square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides.

Although the last mentioned theorem was already discovered by the Babylonians, Pythagoras was first to prove it. It is also believed that he devised the tetractys, the triangular figure of four rows which add up to ten, which according him, was the perfect number.