Strange Accounts: The World of Hyperborea

Less well-known than Atlantis, the continent of Hyperborea was even more ancient and fantastic. As with Atlantis, Hyperborea was first mentioned by the ancient Greek philosophers. For them, the place was real, not legend, and since that time many researchers have joined in the quest for this lost land.

The oldest mention of Atlantis is found in the Epigones, an epic history of ancient Greece. Although the author has been forgotten, we do know it was written in the 8th Century B.C. Hyperborea is also mentioned in another work of the same period, this one by the celebrated poet Hesiod.

The Presocratic Philosophers - Pythagoras of Samos

Who Was Pythagoras?

Pythagoras, born on the Aegean island of Samos in the 6th century B.C. and active in southern Italy, was an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician best known for a theorem in geometry that was named for him.

Pythagoras is credited with founding a philosophical school that deviated from the male-dominated Greek norms by allowing women to participate equally. The teachings of the school aren't strictly what we think of as philosophical. They also include rules on living and what to eat. 

The Surprising, and Surprisingly Influential, Life of Pythagoras

Pythagoras held that there are three sorts of men, just as there are three classes of strangers who go to the Olympic games. There are the lovers of gain who come to buy and sell, the lovers of honour who come to compete, and the lovers of wisdom who come simply to look on.

Life

Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos, not far from Miletus. On the advice of Thales of Miletus, he travelled to Memphis in Egypt where he came into contact with priests renowned for their wisdom. At the age of 40, he fled the tyranny of Polycrates to Croton in Southern Italy, where he established a philosophical and religious community.