Personality - Pythogarus

BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD

Born around 565 B.C. on the Greek island Samos off the Coast of Asia-Minor, his father Mnesarchos was a wealthy merchant and an engraver. His mother Pythais was a native of Samos. He passed his childhood in Samos, but often accompanied his father on business tours.

EDUCATION

He was educated according to the traditions of those times. He was a good musician and could play the Lair, a musical instrument of ancient Greece, similar to Indian musical instrument ‘Veena’. He learned poetry and was fond of reciting ‘Homer’.

VISIT TO MILETUS

Around 545 B.C., he visited Miletus, a seat of learning. There he met the well-known philosopher Thales, who influenced him, a great deal.

Thales introduced him to mathematical ideas. He advised Pythagoras to visit Egypt to gain more knowledge about mathematics and astronomy. Thales’s pupil Anaximander was a philosopher. Pythagoras attended his lectures and got interested in Geometry and Cosmology. Afterwards, he returned to Samos.

VISIT TO EGYPT

Around 535 B.C., he visited Egypt. Polycrates, the ruler of Samos gave him a letter of introduction. He traveled far and wide in Egypt and beyond. He learnt astronomy, mathematics and philosophy. He also studied religious rites and social customs of Egypt. In short, he absorbed everything that he came across. Enlightened with Egyptian culture, he returned to Samos.

BANISHMENT FROM SAMOS

Polycrates wished to be regarded as a man of culture. He invited learned persons from Samos and surrounding areas. Pythagoras became his favorite courtier. When relations with Polycrates soured, Polycrates banished Pythagoras from Samos around 530 B.C.

As Pythagoras traveled further east, he visited Babylon and came across Magi in Persia and also probably met some Indians there. He was enlightened by the knowledge, philosophy and religion among other subjects of these distant lands. Having traveled thus far, Pythagoras returned home to Samos.

After returning from Egypt, Pythagoras founded a school named Semi Circle. He started describing himself as ‘philosopher’ i.e. lover of wisdom and set up as a teacher of the subjects that he had learnt about, earlier. Samos then, under the reign of Polycrates, attained the heights of prosperity. Its nautical trading was in full bloom. So neighboring states envied its progress and prosperity. They were eager to attack Samos and deprive it of its riches. To cope up with the threats of such rivals, Polycrates allied with Egypt. But after some time, Polycrates suddenly changed sides and allied with the powerful Persian Empire.

During all these political events and strategies, Pythagoras being an eminent all-round citizen and as a courtier might have played or had been compelled to play some role (politics) one way or other that made him unpopular with Polycrates. His relations with Polycrates gradually worsened. As a result Pythagoras was banished from Samos by Polycrates. Some believe that he was imprisoned at a place south of the island. There was a cave on the mountainside which was locally known as Pythagoras’s Gaol.

Pythagoras traveled westward after banishment from Samos and arrived at Magna-Graecia in southern Italy, around 529 B.C. He settled at a Greek colony named Croton. He called himself a philosopher, meaning a lover of wisdom. This way, he distinguished himself from the ‘Sophists’ meaning wise men, who according to Pythagoras, were blind followers of religion and not rational thinkers.

Pythagoras did major part of his works on mathematics, during the early period of his stay at Croton. In fact people knew very little about the life and work of Pythagoras, so it is not possible to distinguish his works on mathematics from that of his followers. Pythagoras had also worked on astronomy. His contribution to astronomy is as fundamental as his mathematical discoveries.

Croton was a peaceful and safe haven for him compared to Samos. Pythagoras lived there for about 30 years. Here, he could work on various subjects like mathematics, astronomy, music, philosophy etc. He worked on numbers and number ratios, applied it to vibrating strings, musical octave and musical harmony. He selected number ratios producing symmetric geometrical shapes. Spherical planets moving in circular orbits at different distances from the center, produced celestial harmony.

He gave three doctrines to the Pythagoreans – The doctrine of rebirth or transmigration of soul, the doctrine of recollection of previous generations, the doctrine of three types (tripartite) of souls. He worked on numbers and classified them in various types – odd and even numbers, odd numbers represented good things in day-to-day life and even numbers signifying bad things and their union producing harmony in life.

He founded a school of philosophy and mathematics. He framed rules to govern the society. The members of the society had no personal possessions and they lived together in colonies. All members were treated equally. It was compulsory for them to be loyal to society and to the leader. Secrecy about the work and way of life in their society was expected and adhered to. All this made the life in the colony quite harmonious. People outside were impressed by their way of life. Hence a number of colonies were established in Magna-Graecia around Croton and spread up to Tarentum. The aristocrats treated them well. Educated persons in the society could get jobs in various public offices. This way, they prospered and were honored by people of Croton. It is believed that Pythagoras held an important job in public office. He was allotted work to reform the currency and he did it successfully. The coinage of Croton became far more advanced, both in design and manufacture.

However, gradually the people of Croton and aristocrats became conscious about the activities of Pythagoreans. Secrecy about the activities of the society, staunch Pythagoreanism, loyalty towards the community and the leader made people suspicious about them. Moreover, projecting the leader as a mystic performer and spreading legends about his supernatural abilities, made people jealous of the society. Therefore, they started ridiculing the Pythagoreans on stage. They hated them. During that time, Croton attacked and defeated its neighbor Sybaris. It is believed that Pythagoras was involved in the dispute. Hence, Cylon a noble from Croton and his persons attacked Pythagoras. Pythagoras and his followers were forced to flee from Croton to Metaponteum which was a Greek colony city, about 100 miles north on the Gulf of Tarentum. Pythagoras died at Metaponteum (around 490 B. C.) sometime later, though some believed that he was burned to death when anti-Pythagorean demonstrators set afire the commune house where he was living.