More handpicked essays just for you.
Pythagorean on Plato and Aristotle
Pythagoras and his contribution to mathematics
Pythagoras and his contribution to mathematics
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Pythagorean on Plato and Aristotle
Pythagoras was an Ionian philosopher and mathematician, born in sixth century BC in Samos. Most of the information about him available today has been written a few centuries after his death and as a result, many of the available accounts go against each other. However the known is that he was born into a merchant from Tyre and had studied under various teachers since his early childhood.
Pythagoras was born in the eastern Aegean island of Samos. It is believed that his mother is a native of the island and his father is from Tyre. It is also said he has two or three siblings. He spent most of his early childhood at Samos. As he grew up he began to accompany his father on his business trips. It is believed he may have been taken to Tyre where
Sophocles was one of the most influential writers of Ancient Greece. He was thought to be born around 496 B.C.E. in Colonus, near Athens Greece, and died at around 406 B.C.E. meaning that he only lived for about 90 years. He was born into a wealthy family, his father being Sophillius, and he was an amour manufacturer in the rural community
Empedocles was born in Acragas, Sicily about 492 BCE to a distinguished and aristocratic family. His father, Meto, is believed to have been involved in overthrowing Thrasydaeus who was the tyrant of Agrigentum in the year 470 BCE. Empedocles is said to have been somewhat wealthy and was a popular politician and a champion of democracy and equality.
Socrates (Philosopher) – He was a Greek philosopher recognized as one of the creators of Western Philosophy. He was famous for his Socratic Method, an art of reasoning. Socrates was born on 469 B.C. in Alopeke. His father, Sophroniscus was a Stonemason or a sculptor and his mother, Phaenarete was a midwife. Socrates was married to Xanthippe who had a not-so-good temperament. Xanthippe gave birth to three sons who were Menexenus, Lamprocles and Sophroniscus.
The life of Archimedes was one of intense and interesting significance. He was born in 287 BC in a seaport city of Syracuse called Sicily. Sicily was a self-governing colony in Magna Graecia, which was in Southern Italy. Plutarch wrote about Archimedes in his book Parallel Lives, which he said Archimedes was related to King Hiero ll, the ruler of Syracuse. There was said to be a biography of Archimedes written by his friend Heracleides, but it has been lost and thus making Archimedes life a bit unknown and obscure. Archimedes was brought up in what has now come to be known as the Hellenistic period. The word “Hellenistic” comes from the word Hellenes, which is greek word for “Greek.” This period of time started when Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, and it ended with Rome’s occupation of the last major Hellenistic kingdom in approximately 30 BC. During the Hellenistic period, the Greek influence of ideas and culture spread, and the language was used often for trading and commerce purpose. During this time period, life was very flourishing...
One of the most well known contributors to math from Greece would be Archimedes. He
Sophocles was born around 496 B.C. in the rural area of Hippeious Colonus, Attica, near Athens. His father was an wealthy armor manufacturer (“Sophocles”). Sophocles was educated in music, dancing, and athletics.
He tells us of his father, Olorus, and the gold mines that he owned at Scapte Hyle in Thrace. Herodotus suggests that this source of wealth was inherited from Thracian aristocracy. We know that Thucydides was an Athenian general for some time, and that his apparent failure to aid his ally Eucles at the battle of Amphipolis in 422BC caused him to be sent into exile. (Herodotus, B.VI, P.39.).
Parmenides was a Pre-Socratic philosopher who lived from 515-445 B.C. He was born in Elea (now Velia), a Greek city in southern Italy. His city was at the far end of the known world on the other side of Greece where Heraclitus and the Ionians lived. He escaped his town to study in Athens, the center of the known world. Most likely he was a student of Anaximander and was also influenced greatly by the teachings of Pythagoras. Parmenides joined the religious and philosophical following of Pythagoras in Crotona.
For the Greeks philosophy wasn’t restricted to the abstract it was also their natural science. In this way their philosophers were also their scientist. Questions such as what is the nature of reality and how do we know what is real are two of the fundamental questions they sought to answer. Pythagoras and Plato were two of the natural philosophers who sought to explain these universal principles. Pythagoras felt that all things could be explained and represented by mathematical formulae. Plato, Socrate’s most important disciple, believed that the world was divided into two realms, the visible and the intelligible. Part of the world, the visible, we could grasp with the five senses, but the intelligible we could only grasp with our minds. In their own way they both sought to explain the nature of reality and how we could know what is real.
Due to a lack of primary sources from the time period, much of Plato's life has been constructed by scholars through his writings and the writings of contemporaries and classical historians. Traditional history estimates Plato's birth was around 428 B.C.E., but more modern scholars, tracing later events in his life, believe he was born between 424 and 423 B.C.E. Both of his parents came from the Greek aristocracy. Plato's father, Ariston, descended from the kings of Athens and Messenia. His mother, Perictione, is said to be related to the 6th century B.C.E. Greek statesman Solon. According to Alexander of Miletus quoted by Diogenes Laertius in his "Lives and Doctrines of Eminent Philosophers" his name was Aristocles, son of Ariston, of the deme Collytus.
Plato was born in Athens, Greece in 427 B.C. and died in 347 B.C.E., he grew up in a wealthy and noble family. Plato 's father, Ariston died when he just a little boy and his mother Prediction ended up remarrying. Plato was a very smart child growing up, the staff of the history.com states "He was educated in philosophy, poetry and gymnastics by distinguished Athenian teachers including the philosopher Cratylus"(History.com Staff). As time went on Plato grew up and became a statesman and a devoting follower of Socrates; until Socrates took his life then Plato devoted his life to philosophy . Plato then left Athens an ended up spending 12 years traveling in Libya for mathematicians then Egypt for prophets and mystics and last Italy and Sicily. While traveling Plato became a slave and then was free and returned to Athens. When he returned to Athens and had found the Academy so they say in the books, but no one really knows what happened. Plato stayed and ended up teaching mathematics and philosophy till he passed away at the age of 81.
Eratosthenes was born in Cyrene which is now in Libya in North Africa. His teachers included the scholar Lysanias of Cyrene and the philosopher Ariston of Chios who had studied under Zeno, the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy. Eratosthenes also studied under the poet and scholar Callimachus who had also been born in Cyrene. Eratosthenes then spent some years studying in Athens.
Theodorus of Cyrene was a Greek mathematician who lived in the 5th century B.C. He was a student of Protagoras, a follower of Pythagoras, and a teacher of Plato and Theaetetus. He is best known for his contribution to the theory of irrational numbers.
Archimedes was born in 287 BC in Syracuse, Sicily. Much like the history of pi, his life is very obscure. His friend, Heracleides, wr...
Euclid of Alexandria was born in about 325 BC. He is the most prominent mathematician of antiquity best known for his dissertation on mathematics. He was able to create “The Elements” which included the composition of many other famous mathematicians together. He began exploring math because he felt that he needed to compile certain things and fix certain postulates and theorems. His book included, many of Eudoxus’ theorems, he perfected many of Theaetetus's theorems also. Much of Euclid’s background is very vague and unknown. It is unreliable to say whether some things about him are true, there are two types of extra information stated that scientists do not know whether they are true or not. The first one is that given by Arabian authors who state that Euclid was the son of Naucrates and that he was born in Tyre. This is believed by historians of mathematics that this is entirely fictitious and was merely invented by the authors. The next type of information is that Euclid was born at Megara. But this is not the same Euclid that authors thought. In fact, there was a Euclid of Megara, who was a philosopher who lived approximately 100 years before Euclid of Alexandria.