Pythagoras

PYTHAGORASBy Khalia Knighton and Joy’cari Walker

PYTHAGORAS

P

ythagoras, one of the most famous and controversial ancient Greek

philosophers, lived from ca. 570 to ca. 490 BCE. He spent his early years on

the island of Samos, off the coast of modern Turkey. At the age of forty,

however, he emigrated to the city of Croton in southern Italy and most of

his philosophical activity occurred there. Pythagoras wrote nothing, nor

were there any detailed accounts of his thought written by contemporaries.

By the first centuries BCE, moreover, it became fashionable to present

Pythagoras in a largely unhistorical fashion as a semi-divine figure, who

originated all that was true in the Greek philosophical tradition, including

many of Plato's and Aristotle's mature ideas

WORK SITED

j

wilson.coe.uga.edu/emt669/student.folders/...1/

pythagorean.html

w

ww-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/

Pythagoras.html

PYYTHAGORAS’S BIRTH

Pythagoras of Samos is often described as the first pure

mathematician. He is an extremely important figure in the

development of mathematics yet we know relatively little about

his mathematical achievements. Unlike many later Greek

mathematicians, where at least we have some of the books which

they wrote, we have nothing of Pythagoras's writings. The society

which he led, half religious and half scientific, followed a code of

secrecy which certainly means that today Pythagoras is a

mysterious figure.

PYTHAGORAS

PYTHAGORAS

PYTHGORAS BIRTH

B

orn: about 569 BC in Samos, Ionia

D

ied: about 475 BC

WHERE HE LIVED

p

In Samos in Greece from approximately 580 to 500

FAMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS

T

he Pythagorean Theorem was one of the earliest theorems

known to ancient civilizations. This famous theorem is named

for the Greek mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras.

Pythagoras founded the Pythagorean School of Mathematics

in Cortona, a Greek seaport in Southern Italy. He is credited

with many contributions to mathematics although some of

them may have actually been the work of his students.

PICTURES OF HIM