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Background: universe was built on the foundation of
Pythagoras was certainly well-educated, numbers. They held that numbers were
learning to play the lyre, studying poetry, the key to understanding the true nature
and reciting Homer. He was taught of reality, a belief echoed centuries later by
mathematics by the ancient Greek Galileo who famously said, “God is a
philosopher Thales, who introduced the mathematician.”
Greeks to mathematical concepts from
Ancient Egypt, and by Anaximander, a Pythagoras revered numbers as
notable student of Thales. Throughout the essence of all existence. He
his life, Pythagoras had many teachers, began counting from the number 3,
including Zoroastrian astrologer-priests considering 1 and 2 as the foundational
with whom Pythagoras studied for 12 building blocks for all other numbers.
years. This combination of knowledge Each number, according to Pythagoras,
surely led to something extraordinary. had a unique character and significance.
For instance, he associated the number
No Boundary between the 7 with opportunity, and the number 4
Scientific and the Spiritual with justice. The Pythagoreans revered
Unlike many mathematicians of his the number 10, as it symbolized a perfect
time and thereafter, Pythagoras saw no equilateral triangle when the first four
boundary between the scientific and the numbers (1,2,3, and 4) are arranged
spiritual. He believed in the reincarnation in a tetractys. They also held a deep
of souls and claimed to remember his past understanding of harmony, viewing it
four lives. Some accounts suggest that as a balance of opposites, represented by
he believed he could communicate with even and odd numbers.
plants and animals, and travel through
space and time. The monad (a unit) represented the
birthplace of all things, while the dyad
Central to Pythagoras’ philosophy was the (number two) symbolized matter. The
idea that numbers were divine and held sacred number seven resonated through the
magical powers. He and his followers, strings of a lyre, the planets, and the Greek
known as Pythagoreans, believed that the calendar, embodying a divine harmony.
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