Pythagoras | Biography, Philosophy, & Facts
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Pythagoras, Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the Pythagorean brotherhood.
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Pythagoras (born c. 570 bce, Samos, Ionia [Greece]—died c. 500–490 bce, Metapontum, Lucanium [Italy]) was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the Pythagorean brotherhood that, although religious in nature, formulated principles that influenced the thought of Plato and Aristotle and contributed to the development of mathematics and Western rational philosophy. (For a fuller treatment of Pythagoras and Pythagorean thought, see Pythagoreanism).

Little of what is known about Pythagoras comes from contemporary accounts, and the first fragmentary accounts of his life came in the fourth century bce, about 150 years after his death. Pythagoras was born in Samos and likely went to Egypt and Babylon as a young man. He emigrated to southern Italy about 532 bce, apparently to escape Samos’s tyrannical rule, and established his ethico-political academy at Croton (now Crotone, Italy). Because of anti-Pythagorean feeling in Croton, he fled that city in 510 bce for Metapontum (now Metaponto, Italy) where he died.

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