Samos, home of Pythagoras

Left: Samos, Greece: aguide2Greece.com

The renowned mathematician Pythagoras, he of the famous theorem that every school child must learn, was born and grew up on the island of Samos, then part of Ionia.

He traveled widely, and had many interests besides math. He could play the lyre and recite the poetry of Homer, and also liked astronomy.

Pythagoras was not only the world's first pure mathematician; he was a philosopher too. He studied as a young man with Pherekydes, and later with Thales and Anaximander, and later developed his own philosophy, which included a belief that humans had separate physical, mental and astral bodies. He and his followers are also believed to have been vegetarians.

The gorgeous Aegean isle of Samos, much contested in ancient times, lies just off the northwestern coast of Turkey and belongs to Greece. A statue of the great mathematician may be seen in the Samian town of Pythagorion.