Pythagoras facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pythagoras
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Bust of Pythagoras of Samos in the
Capitoline Museums, Rome |
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| Born | c. 570 BC |
| Died | c. 495 BC (aged around 75) either Croton or Metapontum
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| Era | Ancient Greek philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Pythagoreanism |
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Main interests
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Notable ideas
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Attributed ideas:
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Influences
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Pythagoras of Samos was a famous Greek mathematician and philosopher (c. 570 – c. 495 BC). He is known best for the proof of the important Pythagorean theorem, which is about right angle triangles. He started a group of mathematicians, called the Pythagoreans, who worshiped numbers and lived like monks. He had an influence on Plato.
He had a great impact on mathematics, theory of music and astronomy. His theories are still used in mathematics today. He was one of the greatest thinkers of his time.
Pythagoras was born in Samos, a little island off the western coast of Asia Minor. There is not much information about his life. It is said that he had a good childhood. Growing up with two or three brothers, he was well educated. He did not agree with the government and their schooling, so he moved to Crotone and set up his own cult (little society) of followers under his rule. His followers did not have any personal possessions, and they were all vegetarians. Pythagoras taught them all, and they had to obey strict rules.
Some say he was the first person to use the term philosophy. Since he worked very closely with his group, the Pythagoreans, it is sometimes hard to tell his works from those of his followers.
Religion was important to the Pythagoreans. They swore their oaths by "1+2+3+4" (which equals 10). They also believed the soul is immortal and goes through a cycle of rebirths until it can become pure. They believed that these souls were in both animal and plant life.
His beliefs
Pythagoras' most important belief was that the physical world was mathematical and that numbers were the real reality.
- that at its deepest level, reality is mathematical in nature,
- that philosophy can be used for spiritual purification,
- that the soul can rise to union with the divine,
- that certain symbols have a mystical significance, and
- that all brothers of the order should observe strict loyalty and secrecy.
Pythagorean theorem
Pythagoras is most famous for his theorem to do with right triangles. He said that the length of the longest side of the right angled triangle called the hypotenuse (C) squared would equal the sum of the other sides squared. And so a² + b² = c² was born. There are many different proofs for this Pythagorean theorem.
Images for kids
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Bust of Pythagoras, Vatican
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A scene at the Chartres Cathedral shows a philosopher, on one of the archivolts over the right door of the west portal at Chartres, which has been attributed to depict Pythagoras.
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Croton on the southern coast of Magna Graecia (Southern Italy), to which Pythagoras ventured after feeling overburdened in Samos.
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Excerpt from Philolaus Pythagoras book, (Sir William Smith, 1870)
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A visual proof of the Pythagorean theorem
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Medieval woodcut showing Pythagoras with bells and other instruments in Pythagorean tuning
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Pythagoras, the man in the center with the book, teaching music, in Raphael's The School of Athens
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Pythagoreans celebrate sunrise, painting by Fyodor Bronnikov(1827–1902)
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Pythagoras, depicted as a medieval scholar in the Nuremberg Chronicle
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Pythagoras, depicted on a 3rd-century coin
