Pythagoras

"[He was] a brilliant scholar who discovered many secrets about the heavenly spheres and our cosmos."

- Leonardo da Vinci, on Pythagoras.

Pythagoras (c. 570 – 495 BCE) was an ancient Greek scholar, philosopher and mathematician, who at one point had dealings with a Piece of Eden.

Tetractys
During the 6th century BCE, Pythagoras and his protégé, Kyros of Zarax, lived in the town of Samos, where they had a villa. During one of his strolls through the town, Pythagoras suddenly rushed into a nearby blacksmith and began to hit anvils with hammers, paying special attention to the different sounds they made.

He then had Kyros take ten hammers of different sizes back to his villa, and asked the blacksmiths to bring an anvil there as well. They spent their entire day experimenting with the hammers, and Pythagoras made many notes in the sand of his courtyard, barely even touching the food that his wife Theano brought him. After a long night of making notes and studying them, he muttered something about the tetractys before he went to sleep.

The next morning, a gathering of renowned scholars was held at the villa, where Pythagoras explained his theory of "the perfect number" to his fellow scholars. Though many were skeptical about his findings, there were also many who praised him for his discovery.

Croton
A few years after the gathering in the villa, Pythagoras, Kyros and several servants travelled to Croton, a city that was well known for its intelligent citizens. Upon their arrival, they found that they were more than welcome in the city, and everyone was willing to listen to them. With this, Pythagoras began to pass on his teachings to the young citizens, and both he and Kyros took students under their wing. During this time, Pythagoras taught an intelligent, but arrogant youth named Alcmaeon, while Kyros began to train the young athlete Milo.

Not long after that, Pythagoras came across a man beating a dog, to which he ordered him to stop, as he heard the voice of an old friend in its cries. In response, the entire crowd was amazed by Pythagoras' proof of the immortality of the soul.

Tension
A while after the incident with the dog, Kyros and Damo, Pythagoras' daughter, came across Alcmaeon while he was torturing another dog. Witnessing the cruel treatment to the animal, Kyros stopped Alcmaeon by force and explained the incident to his master. Following this, Pythagoras immediately decided to banish Alcmaeon from the city, and declared that he was to be considered dead by the members of his family.

This angered many important people in Croton, and during a banquet in Pythagoras' honor, organized by the Council of Citizens, a column that was supposed to keep the roof in its place was sabotaged. The ceiling began to crumble, of which the debris crushed a servant, though Kyros and Milo were able to use their strength to support the roof in place until everyone had escaped.

Pythagoras was then escorted back to Milo's house by Kyros and four other bodyguards, but they were ambushed by trained warriors that attempted to take the scholar's life. Despite this, Kyros and his bodyguards managed to fend off the assailants and arrived at Milo's house, where they found a secret passage out of Croton, while Milo and his wife Myia distracted the angry mob outside.

Meeting Hermes Trismegistus
"Our journey is at an end. You have served me well, old friend. Now begins a new chapter in our lives."

- Pythagoras to Kyros, after their meeting with Hermes Trismegistus. Many years passed, and Pythagoras and Kyros explored a vast desert. As they wandered aimlessly, almost without water, they suddenly spotted someone standing on a hill. Once they had made their way over to him, the man introduced himself as Hermes Trismegistus, and the fatigue fell away from Pythagoras as he was judged by Hermes and his staff. After a while, the staff deemed him worthy, and his protégé Kyros lost consciousness.

Pythagoras tended to Kyros' thirst until he woke up, and revealed that he had been given the staff and his thigh had been turned into gold. He then told his friend that their journey together was over and that Kyros had served him well.

Many years later, Pythagoras told Kyros where he could find an Apple of Eden, which would help him win the race against the famously fleet-footed princess of Arcadia, Atalanta.

Legacy
Following his death, his followers – the Pythagoreans – constructed a temple in his name. It was located in catacombs beneath the city of Rome, and was guarded with a number of puzzle chambers.

In 1506, the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze and his friend Leonardo da Vinci visited this temple and discovered the Pythagorean Vault, where they found information that they could not understand (GPS coordinates), from which Ezio deduced that the information was probably not meant for them.

In 1527, Giovanni Borgia and Maria Amiel visited the vault, where Giovanni underwent some kind of transformation as Consus, the Erudite God, spoke through him.

Personality and characteristics
Pythagoras was an extremely knowledgeable person, who would often pass his teachings on to other scholars, which made him a respected man in his society. Even though he was a strict and rigidly disciplined man, consistently staying faithful to his beliefs and ordering his followers to stick by his way of living, he had a large following who esteemed and admired him.

As a scholar, Pythagoras was not remarkably well-built, possessing a normal body size and not being particularly muscular. During most of his life, he had a beard, which turned gray as he grew older. After the encounter with Hermes, Pythagoras was given a golden thigh, and his posture changed to that of a younger man than he truly was.

Appearances

 * Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
 * Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – The Da Vinci Disappearance
 * Assassin's Creed: Origins