He was attracted by the ideas of metempsychosis and reincarnation. He made important advances in the relationship between music and mathematics; harmony was conceptually important in his cosmic theories. He is of course best known for the theorem that goes under his name: In a right-angled triangle, the area of the square of the side opposite the right angle is the same as the sum of the areas of the two squares made from the other side of the triangle. But in this case, there is no doubt that the Greek thinker was drawing on “barbarian lore,” for the Babylonians had cracked the fundamental
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