Pythagoras. Greek philosopher. Born in Samoa, which he left for Crotona, in Southern Italy, where he exercised so much influence as an opponent of democracy that his followers were exposed to persecution and exile. He left no writings, but his doctrines of the "Kosmos," "Metempsychosis," and the "Music of the Spheres" are well known, the first being the beginning of physical science. Pythagoras died about 500 B.C.

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