Bust of Philosopher Pythagoras on a Beige Base in Alabaster

Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570–495 BC) was one of the most influential philosophers and thinkers of ancient Greece. Born on the island of Samos, he is said by ancient sources to have travelled widely throughout the known world, acquiring knowledge of philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. He later settled in Croton, in Magna Graecia in southern Italy, where he established a philosophical and religious community. Pythagorean teaching connected mathematics with philosophy, proposing that numbers and mathematical relationships governed the harmony and order of the universe. His school made important contributions to the development of geometry, musical theory and astronomical thought. The famous Pythagorean Theorem, although the underlying mathematical relationship was known in earlier civilizations, became associated in the Greek tradition with Pythagoras and his school. Pythagoras exerted a profound influence on Greek philosophy and, in particular, on the later thought of Plato. His legacy came to symbolize the pursuit of knowledge, mathematical harmony and the relationship between humanity and the order of the cosmos.