Pythagorus
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Pythagoras was one of the most respected and controversial Greek mathematicians and philosophers. He lived between 570BC and 490BC. He was born at Sideon in Phoenicia. His father was Mnesarchus, a merchant who hailed from Tyre, while his mother was Pythaus, an inhabitant of Samos. His father helped the Samos people during famine, so he was rewarded with Samos citizenship. His mother’s original name was Partheni, but after Pythagoras’ birth, his father changed her name to Pythaus to honor the god Apollo Pythia (Donald Tyson, 2007). Pythagoras spent most of his early life in Samos: a Greek island in the eastern Aegean. He had two mentors, Creophilus and Pherecydes the Syrian (Donald Tyson, 2007). He left his hometown to flee to Italy and several other countries to escape the dictatorial government of Polycrate. Based on his teacher’s statement that Egyptian priests were wise, he went to Egypt to take part in priesthood practices, where he learned most of the geometry applications and principles that he used in formulating his well-known theorems. He also used all of the religious rites that he learned in Egypt to establish his own religious school in southern Italy.
When the King of Persia made war with Egypt in 525 BC, Pythagoras was taken to Babylon as a prisoner, where his learning of mathematics, especially arithmetic, reached its peak. He also learned music as the Babylonians taught it. He later came back to Samos after both Polycrate and the King of Persia had died. After his return, he left for Crete to learn the rule of law and than came back to establish a school called the �semi circle’ Pythagoras (Connor and Robertson, 1999).
Evidence has shown that throughout his life, he did not do any writing. This may be due in part to the secret form of religion that he was practicing. Most of the information about him has come from other authors who wrote many years after he had died.
Upon his arrival at Croton, he and his wife Theano established a religious society and school. He encouraged the people around him to follow in his teachings. His followers were called Pythagoreans; they believed the sexes were equal and that all living beings should be treated with kindness, even to the extent that their animals were valued as having a soul just as humans did.
Pythagoras laid down strict rules to guide and govern them. His inner chamber groups were called the Mathematikoi. The Mathematikoi lived within the premises of the school, had no personal possessions, and were strictly vegetarians, whereas the other members who were allowed to come to the school from their respective houses were called the Akousmotikoi. The Akousmotikoi were allowed to have personal belongings and could choose not to be vegetarians.
Pythagoras was noted for his extraordinary silence, which he instilled into his followers to the extent that if a rule is broken, it could lead to the death penalty. His beliefs and way of life were similar to a particular type of ancient Greece religious sect. He was also noted for his explanation of the fate of the soul of man after death
Regarding his dietary restrictions, he believed that “all animate beings are of the same family” (porphyry VP 19), so he believed that since humans cannot eat other humans, animals should not be eaten. However, this claim was disputed when it was found that Pythagoras actually refrained from eating some part of animals but not all. The most well known of Pythagoras’ dietary restriction was his prohibition against eating beans. It was believed that beans are somehow connected to Hades, and that when a bean is eaten, it does not digest easily, thereby causing the person to lose concentration on what he or she is doing
Pythagoras also made some impact on music. He, contributed immensely to the mathematical theory of music because he was determined to improve the quality of music in his time, when music was very cumbersome. He understood how musical notes could be changed to mathematical equations to more easily understand them. He also proposed the music of the spheres in which the celestial spheres of the planets were thought to produce a kind of harmony. He used music to heal various sicknesses and disorders and preserve souls in a healthy condition.
Pythagoras was considered a supreme being and, a wonder worker. He also had the power to speak and interact with the plants and animals; he could travel through time and space