THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS: Focus on Pythagoras

Not much is known about Pythagoras (c. 570/550 - 500 BC) despite the fact that much has been written about his beliefs relative to other presocratic philosophers. Although most scholars today are skeptical about the many achievements that are frequently attributed to him, it is at least clear that his name (if not his person) served as a catalyst for a fertile group of later philosophers who called themselves Pythagoreans. Some of these attempted to reduce all knowledge to mathematics. Justice, for example, was associated with the number 4, and so on.