Pythagoras (born 500 BCE)
Born 500 BCE.
Pythagoras of Samos or Pythagoras of Rhegion (Ancient Greek: Πυθαγόρας, fl. 5th century BC) was an Ancient Greek sculptor from Samos. Pliny the Elder describes two different sculptors who bore a remarkable personal likeness to each other. In the nineteenth century Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Philip Smith accepted the opinion of Karl Julius Sillig (1801–1855) that Pliny's date of Olympiad 87 (c. 428 BC) ought to be referred to a Pythagoras of Samos but not a Pythagoras of Rhegium; other writers considered it possible Pythagoras of Samos lived closer to the beginning of the 5th century BC. Modern writers consider it certain these two were the same artist, and that this Pythagoras was one of the Samian exiles who moved to Zankle at the beginning of the 5th century BC and came under the power of the tyrant Anaxilas in Rhegium. While a Samian by birth, he was a pupil of Clearchus of Rhegium. Pythagoras was at first a painter, but eventually turned to sculpture, apparently focusing on portraits of athletic champions from Hellenic cities of Magna Graecia in the Italian Peninsula and Sicily.
Text from the Wikipedia article Pythagoras_(sculptor), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.