Pythagorese

The Pythagorese, also known as the Pythagoreans, were adherents of Pythagoras and his school in the ancient Greek world. They formed a movement that flourished from the 6th century BCE in Magna Graecia (notably in Croton, southern Italy) and in certain Greek city-states. The group was a loose network of teachers and followers rather than a single institution, combining philosophical, religious, and mathematical ideas.

Central to their worldview was the belief that numbers and numerical relationships underlie the structure of reality. They pursued mathematics, geometry, astronomy, and musical theory as ways to understand harmony and order in the cosmos. Their ethical and religious practices often emphasized ascetic discipline, communal rules, and a structured way of life; some traditions included shared property and initiation rites. The Pythagorese also held that souls undergo metempsychosis, or transmigration, and that moral conduct could influence cosmic order.

Their intellectual legacy is most evident in early Greek mathematics and natural philosophy. They contributed to the development of geometric and number-theoretic ideas and influenced later thinkers, including Plato. The discovery of irrational numbers is attributed to Pythagorean circles, which also provoked internal crisis and contributed to the group’s fragmentation. By the late Classical period, political opposition and internal disputes led to the decline of the Pythagorese as a distinct school, though many of their ideas persisted in Platonic and Neopythagorean traditions.

Much of what is known about the Pythagorese comes from later authors and fragments, making precise details of doctrine and practice difficult to verify.