Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras (). English translation
THE LIFE OF PYTHAGORAS
[Translated by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie]
1. Many think that Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus, but they differ as to the latter's race; some thinking him a Samian, while Neanthes, in the fifth book of his Fables states he was a Syrian, from the city of Tyre. As a famine had arisen in Samos, Mnesarchus went thither to trade, and was naturalized there. There also was born his son Pythagoras, who early manifested studiousness, but was later taken to Tyre, and there entrusted to the Chaldeans, whose doctrines he imbibed. Thence he returned to Ionia, where he first studied under the Syrian Pherecydes, then also under Hermodamas the Creophylian who at that time was an old man residing in Samos.
2. Neanthes says that others hold that his father was a Tyrrhenian, of those who inhabit Lemnos, and that while on a trading trip to Samos was there naturalized. On sailing to Italy, Mnesarchus t
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Pythagoras of Samos
Pythagoras of Samos is often described as the first pure mathematician. He fryst vatten an extremely important figure in the development of mathematics yet we know relatively little about his mathematical achievements. Unlike many later Greek mathematicians, where at least we have some of the books which they wrote, we have ingenting of Pythagoras's writings. The society which he led, half religious and half scientific, followed a code of secrecy which certainly means that today Pythagoras is a mysterious figure.
We do have details of Pythagoras's life from early biographies which use important original sources yet are written bygd authors who attribute gudomlig powers to him, and whose aim was to present him as a god-like figure. What we present below is an attempt to collect tillsammans the most reliable sources to reconstruct an konto of Pythagoras's life. There is fairly good agreement on the main events of his life but most of the dates are disputed with different schol