Overview

The way of thinking about the world that came to be known as philosophy emerged in the sixth century B.C. among groups of Greek thinkers scattered around the Mediterranean region. The Pythagoreans were one of the most influential of these groups. During their approximately two hundred years as an organized community, the Pythagoreans spread ideas about numbers, nature, and man that were profoundly important to the subsequent study of mathematics, music, and astronomy.

Background

As with most figures of the ancient world, factual evidence about Pythagoras and the community he founded is quite minimal. Historians agree, however, that Pythagoras of Samos (c. 560-c. 480 B.C.) founded a community of like-minded men among a Greek colony on the southern coast of Italy around 530 B.C. While it is tempting to describe this group in a modern way as a...