Pythagoras

Pythagoras, 570-495 BC, was the student of Anaximenes. While considered to be one of the wisest

men of ancient times, he never wrote anything himself. As such, it is difficult to determine how much of the Pythagorean doctrine was his own teaching, and what was added over the years. It is also problematic to sort the fact from the legend accounting his life. What we can say is that he was a man of science, and also a religious teacher, these two became entwined within his general philosophy.

Most notable of the contributions of Pythagoras is the Pythagorean theorem. The square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square of the other two sides

This is commonly known as the Pythagorean proposition Euclid 1.47 The importance of this theory

was in trying to determine the duplication of the square. Assuming that Pythagoras was familiar with the 3:4:5 triangle of Thales, then we can find a connection to the Miletos schools of philosophy.
This is commonly known as the Pythagorean proposition Euclid 1.47 The importance of this theory was in trying to determine the duplication of the square. Assuming that Pythagoras was familiar with the 3:4:5 triangle of Thales, then we can find a connection to the Miletos schools of philosophy.

 It is important once again to note that our modern perception of Pythagoras is highly distorted by subsequent writings. While we remember Pythagoras for his mathematical prowess, this was probably added to his legend in subsequent years. During his life, he was more noted as a religious teacher. He was noted as an expert on the fate of the soul after death, he taught that the soul was immortal and went through a series of reincarnation. He was known for his miracles, and his ability to be two places at once, for his religious ritual, and for a strict way of life that emphasized diet, personal discipline and ritual. These can be seen in the Golden Verses of Pythagoras

 Perhaps the most central element to Pythagorean beliefs was that the universe was the product of math and numbers. They held that everything could be counted and measured. This led to the discovery of notes and scales within music. They held that the universe itself existed within harmony. and they believed,  that the universe arose of chaos, and that through numbers it found meaning and became understandable.

 Pythagoras is also noted by Plato in Phaedo 86b in regards to medicine where we are told by Simmias that

which is related and akin to the divine and the immortal, perish before that which is mortal. He would say that the harmony must still exist somewhere, and that the wood and the strings must rot away before anything could happen to it. And I fancy, Socrates, that it must have occurred to your own mind that we believe the soul to be something after this fashion; that our body is strung and held together by heat, cold, moisture, dryness, and the like,

The belief was that in medicine, that in the body there are opposites, such as hot and cold, dry and wet, and that like the tuning of an instrument, the body could be kept in tune by a like means through understanding the limited and the unlimited. For this, Pythagoras was considered the forerunner of Hipprocrates, and as a strict vegetarian who followed a strenuous  health regime. As such he could by all rights be considered the father of holistic medicine.