Pythagoras Essay, Research Paper
My name is Pythagoras of Samos. I believe I should win the fabulous two-week cruise on the incomparable Argo because I dedicated my life to educating and caring for the future generations. I risked my life to share my knowledge with anyone who wanted to learn.
I was born on the island of Samos, but lived most of my life in Crotona, Italy. When I was a young man, I traveled to many different places to observe the different lifestyles and cultures. Some of the countries I visited were India, Egypt, and Persia (Bulfinch).
After viewing many different aspects of life I developed my philosophies and beliefs. My most important philosophy is that almost everything in life can be associated in some way with numbers . I was one of the first people to believe that the earth was shaped like a sphere and that all the planets have movements of their own (S. Marc Cohen 921). I believe in metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls from one body to another. This idea relates to reincarnation (Alexander P.D. Mourelatos 45). I taught my followers that both sexes are equal, that it is inhumane to have slaves, and that all animals should be respected (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Ed.).
I was one of the first to promote the idea of vegetarianism (Alexander P.D. Mourelatos 45). I created a school called the Pythagorean brotherhood. I tried to create a society where everyone was treated equally and everybody respected each other s possessions (Thomas Bulfinch). All of my disciples followed a sort of religion called Pythagoreanism. Some of the beliefs were that reality is mathematical in nature, any soul can become divine, and certain things or symbols can have mysterious meanings. Not only did my ideas influence my disciples, but they also influenced famous philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle (The New Encyclopedia Britannica). I am most famous for discovering the Pythagorean Theorem, which solves the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle. Use the equation aX + bX = cX, where a and b are the two sides forming the right angle to solve c which is the hypotenuse (Bruce E. Meserve 46).
If I could meet a Greek god or goddess I would undoubtedly choose Apollo. Apollo has many great characteristics and I think we could be good friends if we talked with each other. One reason why I want to meet him is because I am interested in seeing what he looks like. In books they say he is the most beautiful god represented by the color gold. He also has a golden chariot with golden horses which I want to ride.
Another reason is that he is the god of things that I m interested in like music, mathematics, and medicine (Bernard Evslin 37). He is also a very thoughtful and kindhearted god. The main reason I want to meet him is that he owns an oracle that can tell the future and even though I have clairvoyant powers at this moment, I want to ask him if he will let me borrow his oracle just in case if I lose my powers (Ellen Switzer 26).
I asked the Oracle of Mother Earth to tell me how modern Greece was dealing with its current political problems. She said that Greece s prime minister was trying to resolve the Kosovo problem by talking with both political forces. The prime minister felt that fighting and war was not the acceptable solution . He wants the neighboring countries to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to ensure peace and to have economic cooperation (Greece, Albania Vow). I think that Prime Minister Simitis is a great man for trying to help out.
It is good to see that Greece is trying to create peace with its neighboring countries. That is what I tried to teach my followers and I hope that I succeeded. Without peace there would be complete chaos.