Thales was not the only one who was looking for a first cause.
Pythagoras of Samos (c.570-c.495) did the same.
According to legend, he left his country and studied with the wise men of Egypt, but was taken captive when the Persian king Cambyses invaded the country of the Nile (525).
He now became a student of the Chaldaeans of Babylon and the Magians of Persia.
Some even say that he visited the Indian Brahmans, because
Pythagoras believed in reincarnation. At the end of the sixth century, he lived in southern Italy, where he founded
a community of philosophers.
In his view, our world was governed by numbers, and therefore essentially harmonious.
