Pythagoras, a very famous philosopher from Greek and also a religious teacher, was born in c. 575 B.C on the Samos Island. He was the leader of the school of thought that believed that souls could be transmigrated and also developed it as a universal principle.
His father was Mnesarchus. He ran to the South of Italy to get away from the oppression of the Polycrates who had come into power in 538 B.C. It is said that he has also been to Babylon and Egypt. He and his supporters came into power in the south of Italy in Croton. That’s where Pythagoras established a school for new sect. It is predicted that Pythagoreans participated in the home government so that they might preach people to lead pure and simple lives as per their teachings. But unfortunately, the enemies attacked the Pythagoreans and the whole sect was eradicated. So, the Pythagoreans were either evicted from Italy or they left the town willingly after they were attacked. He passed away in c. 495 B.C. in Metapontum.
Religious Teachings
Pythagoras and his supporters contributed a lot to both science and religion. The teachings he gave about religion were based on the principle of metempsychosis according to which the belief was that the soul was eternal and that it was intended to be reborn until it could set itself free from the phase of wholesomeness of its life.
Pythagoreanism differed from other systems of philosophy. It did not just seek the truth of life but also gave preaching about leading the way of life till final destination.
This aspect made it more similar to mysterious religions than that to philosophy. Many beliefs taught were unthinkable or supernatural that came up from various sources like sympathetic magic, folk rituals and Greek traditional beliefs that were held by them while they developed extremely rational and imaginative systems of science.
Another important aspect of this theory was relationship of the entire life. It was believed that the spirit was present in animals as well as vegetables but there is no proof about this that it was believed by Pythagoras that he believed that spirits could be born in form of vegetables or plants. He said that he had heard his friend’s voice in form of a dog’s howl. It was said that the number of lives as each soul would be born was infinite. This all came from their religious teachings. Pythagoras himself said to have remembered four diverse lives. The followers of Pythagoras and the sect joined into this confidentiality but it was later said that the commands were not observed devotedly.
Mathematical Teachings
The parts between the Unlimited and the Limited were set by the Pythagoreans. It is assumed that Pythagoras himself that the universal principle was a number and limited and gave shape to matter. It was his research on the musical intervals that led to discover that the main intervals, that fell amid the initial four integers, could also be expressed in the form of numerical ratio. He also came up with a theory that the summation of the initial four integers is 10 and gripped the complete nature of the number.
Pythagoreans’ work regarding the “Tetractys of the Decad” was so respected that people preferred to oath by this rather than their gods. The famous theorem of the right angled triangles that was discovered by Pythagoras has already been found in the scripts from the time of Hammurabi, a king of Babylon. Still, Pythagoras did some remarkable work in arranging and organizing the knowledge of mathematics.
Pythagoras concluded the two contradictions, unlimited and limited, as vital principles. The evenness or oddness of Numerical is equated with Unlimited and Limited, just as plurality and one, female and male, left and right, movement and motionlessness, crooked and straight, darkness and light, oblong and square, and bad and good. It was not clear whether there were one or more reasons for setting out these categories.
Cosmological Views
The Pythagoreans came up with cosmology and had different views from their attendants. It was only because of their knowledge of Mathematics and beliefs of religion. Their most important aspect was that planet Earth was the shape of the sphere and it rotated in the centre place in the universe. They believed that there was fire in the centre of the system but it was not visible to the people as they said their side of the earth was turned away from it. They also believed that the sun was reflected from this fire and the rest five planets were far away and they had to take longer routes around. It is unknown that how much part of this theory was given out by Pythagoras on his own. Later, it was said by many people that this theory was given out by Philolaos although it was a whole group of people who circulated this view.
Pythagoras was very well known for his teachings of religion and mathematics in the western world. He made a very good religious teacher and many of ancient beliefe in Greece are based on the teachings of Pythagoras.
