Pythagoras

About Pythagoras

Pythagoras of Samos, a highly influential Ionian Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived from approximately -570 to -495, is ranked #36 in historical importance by the Pantheon project due to his foundational contributions to mathematics and the development of Pythagoreanism. While best known today for the theorem bearing his name concerning the sides of a right-angled triangle, his philosophical doctrines—which included transmigration of the soul (metempsychosis)—were deeply significant in shaping subsequent Western thought, particularly influencing Plato.

In the context of modern digital attention, Pythagoras demonstrates an Attention Gap of approximately 1x relative to his historical significance. In 2025, his Wikipedia page accrued 837K annualized views. This level of attention is relatively aligned with his rank, especially when contrasted with less historically crucial figures. For instance, the contemporary philosopher Rajneesh, ranked #568, drew significantly more attention with 1.7M views, illustrating a moment where modern internet traffic diverges from deep historical influence.

However, the trajectory of this attention suggests a slight drift, with Pythagoras experiencing a year-over-year view decline of -21.2% and a Q1 versus Q3 momentum drop of -15% in 2025, indicating that his foundational concepts may be receding from immediate online interest.