Pythagoras of Samos

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he had two brothers although some sources say that he had three. Certainly he was well educated, learning to play the lyre, learning poetry, and learning to recite Homer. There were, among his teachers, three philosophers who were to influence Pythagoras while he was a young man. One of the most important was Pherekydes who many describe as the teacher of Pythagoras.
The other two philosophers who were to influence Pythagoras and to introduce him to mathematical ideas were Thales and his pupil Anaximander, who both lived on Miletus. It is said that Pythagoras visited Thales in Miletus when he was between 18 and 20 years old. By this time, Thales was an old man and although he created a strong impression on Pythagoras, he probably did not teach him a great deal. However, he did contribute to Pythagoras’s interest in mathematics and astronomy and advised him to travel to Egypt to learn more of these subjects.
In about 535 B.C. Pythagoras went to Egypt. This happened a few years after the tyrant Polycrates seized control of the city of Samos. There is some evidence to suggest that Pythagoras and Polycrates were friendly at first and it is claimed that Pythagoras went to Egypt with a letter of introduction written by Polycrates. In fact, Polycrates had an alliance with Egypt and there were strong links between Samos and Egypt at the time. The accounts of Pythagoras’s time in Egypt suggest that he visited many of the temples and took part in many discussions with the priests. According to Porphyry, Pythagoras was refused admission to all the temples except the one at Diospolis where he was accepted into the priesthood after completing the rites necessary for admission.
It is not difficult to relate many of Pythagoras’s beliefs, ones he would later impose on the society that he set up in Italy, to the customs that he came across in Egypt. For example, the secrecy of the Egyptian priests, their refusal to eat beans, ...