Pythagoras

Pythagoras was born in Samos in the last quarter of the 6th century before Christ. He seems to have travelled widely, and to have acquired a knowledge of the then existing Greek philosophy as well as of the religious systems of the Egyptians, the Persians, the Phoenicians, and the Jews. About 530 B.C. he settled at Crotona in the south of Italy. Here the Pythagorean philosophy grew up. Politically its votaries became the aristocratic party, and after a period of domination they were defeated. Their leader is said to have died at Metapontum at the end of the century. Our knowledge of Pythagorean doctrines is derived chiefly from Philolaus, a successor of Pythagoras. Their central doctrines were those of the Transmigration of Souls and the Doctrine of Numbers, as well as the poetic notion of the Harmony of the Spheres. [Astronomy, Philosophy, Religion.]