I.

Introduction

Pythagoras (582?-500?bc), Greek philosopher and mathematician, whose doctrines strongly influenced Plato.

Born on the island of Sámos, Pythagoras was instructed in the teachings of the early Ionian philosophers Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. Pythagoras is said to have been driven from Sámos by his disgust for the tyranny of Polycrates. About 530 bc Pythagoras settled in Crotona, a Greek colony in southern Italy, where he founded a movement with religious, political, and philosophical aims, known as Pythagoreanism. The philosophy of Pythagoras is known only through the work of his disciples.