Pythagoras

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

―Leonardo da Vinci describing Pythagoras to Ezio Auditore, 1506.

Pythagoras (c. 570 BCE – 421 BCE) was an ancient Greek scholar, philosopher and mathematician from Samos who lived during the Archaic period. During his lifetime, he fathered several children, including Damo, Myia and Kassandra. Through Kassandra, he was an ancestor of Aya of Alexandria, one of the co-founders of the Hidden Ones.

The famed founder of the school of Pythagoreanism, Pythagoras at one point met the Isu Hermes Trismegistus and was appointed as his successor. Gifted with a Staff of Eden which granted him immortality, Pythagoras spent much of his life travelling and researching on the Isu and the famed city of Atlantis.

During his travels in the 5th century BCE, Pythagoras fathered a daughter named Kassandra with the Spartan noblewoman Myrrine, the daughter of King Leonidas I. Pythagoras soon departed to continue his search for Atlantis, leaving Myrrine to raise their daughter on her own. As a result, Kassandra grew up unaware of her biological father's true identity.

In the decades that followed, Pythagoras found the sunken city beneath the island of Thera. Unable to access its vast library of knowledge and deeming it too dangerous to be left untouched, Pythagoras sought to find a way to seal off the vault and was eventually able to do so with the help of Kassandra, with whom he was reunited around 422 BCE. Unable to unlock and use the full power of the Staff of Hermes, Pythagoras relinquished the artifact to Kassandra before passing away.

Biography

Tetractys

Pythagoras and Kyros in Samos

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 going 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.

Life in Croton

Pythagoras speaking to the citizens of Croton

A few years after the gathering at 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.

At one point, 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. Some time later, Kyros and Damo, Pythagoras' daughter, came across Alcmaeon while he was torturing another dog. Witnessing the cruel treatment of the animal, Kyros stopped Alcmaeon and explained the incident to his master. This prompted Pythagoras to banish Alcmaeon from the city and declare that he was to be considered dead by the members of his family.

Alcmaeon's exile 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, Pythagoras' youngest daughter 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.

Pythagoras saying farewell to Kyros

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 Pythagoras worthy, and Kyros lost consciousness.

Pythagoras tended to his protégé's 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 Kyros that their journey together was over and that his protégé 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.

Discovering Atlantis and isolation

Having been appointed as Hermes's successor and given his Staff, Pythagoras would embark on a journey to research the Isu, whom he linked to the Minoan civilization. Due to the immortality granted by the Staff, Pythagoras was able to live well into the 5th century BCE.

During his journeys, he befriended Ikaros, a golden eagle who became his closest companion, and met Myrrine, the daughter of King Leonidas I of Sparta, with whom he had a daughter named Kassandra. However, his obsession with researching the Isu civilization led him to leave Myrrine and isolate himself, though he would later send Ikaros to watch over Kassandra.

Eventually, Pythagoras discovered a vault beneath Atlantis, an underwater Isu city. He would subsequently spend years researching the vault and looking for a way to seal the city to prevent its knowledge from falling into the wrong hands.

Meeting Kassandra and death

"This is your burden now. Humanity's fate will be decided by the choices you make."

―Pythagoras to Kassandra before relinquishing the Staff, ending his life, c. 421 BCE.

Pythagoras meeting Kassandra for the first time

Some time in 422 BCE, Pythagoras was discovered by his daughter, Kassandra, who had been directed to find him by Myrrine. As a result of the knowledge he had gained from the Staff, Pythagoras was well-aware of Kassandra's adventures throughout Greece and answered some of her burning questions before tasking her with hunting down the four Atlantis artifacts needed to seal the ancient city.

After Kassandra recovered each artifact and placed them in their corresponding pillars, she and Pythagoras were met with an ancient voice who spoke about the history of the Isu and asked Pythagoras to relinquish the Staff. However, now that he had access to Atlantis' secrets, the scholar was hesitant to do so, believing he could learn more about the Isu and humanity's origins and even acquire the Isu's power.

Realizing that Pythagoras had changed his mind about sealing the gateway to Atlantis, Kassandra convinced him to abandon his pursuit of knowledge and relinquish the Staff. Pythagoras agreed and gave the Staff to his daughter, whereupon he quickly passed away due to no longer having the artifact to prolong his life.

Legacy

After being given the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus by Pythagoras, Kassandra went on to use it to seal Atlantis, preventing its secrets from falling into the hands of the Cult of Kosmos. Kassandra would subsequently become the new Keeper of the Staff, being granted immortality and embarking on a millenia-long journey across the world to find and destroy dangerous Pieces of Eden.

The entrance to the Temple of Pythagoras

Following Pythagoras' 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 the temple and discovered the Pythagorean Vault, where they found a string of numbers whose meaning evaded them. Although unaware that these were in fact the coordinatesof the Grand Temple in Turin, New York, Ezio ultimately deduced that the information was probably not meant for them.

In 1527, Giovanni Borgia and Maria Amiel visited the Pythagorean Vault, where Giovanni underwent a transformation as Consus, the Erudite God, who spoke through him to deliver a message.

In 2020, the Assassin Layla Hassan listed Pythagoras in her notes as one of the bearers of the Staff of Hermes.

Personality and traits

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.

Skills and equipment

Pythagoras possessed a remarkable intellect which was well beyond his time and his people. He spent a lifetime trying to decipher the calculations present inside Atlantis and discovered more about the Isu and their technology than most humans. He even came close to discovering the story of the creation of humankind.

With the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, his lifespan was greatly extended and so he used this immortality to isolate himself from the world so that he may finally decipher the equations of reality inside Atlantis. However, once he passed the Staff on to his daughter Kassandra, his age caught up with him and he finally passed away.

Behind the scenes

Pythagoras is a historical character who first appeared in the 2010 Facebook game Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy. He made his first appearance in the main series in the 2018 game Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, where he is voiced by the English actor Anthony Skordi.

Historically, Pythagoras died around 495 BCE in either Croton or Metapontum, depending on the version of the story.

Gallery

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  Pythagoras in Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy
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  Head models of Pythagoras
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  Close-up of Pythagoras
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  Pythagoras passing the Staff of Hermes to Kassandra
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  Pythagoras dying in Kassandra's arms

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – The Da Vinci Disappearance (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Origins (mentioned in papyrus only)
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey novel
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned only)

References

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