‘Today is Pythagoras Day!’

    

George Kenning & Son

Today is Pythagoras Day!

What’s Pythagoras Day? What is he talking about?

The 47th Problem of Euclid, formally known as the Pythagorean Theorem, is a traditional symbol of Past Masters, as seen on this jewel.

Oxford University’s Mathematical Institute says:

  

Did you know that Saturday, October 24, 2026 is Pythagorean Theorem Day? Also known as Pythagorean Triple Day or Right Triangle Day, this fun mathematical date occurs when the month, day and last two digits of the year form a Pythagorean triple. For October 24, 2026, the numbers work perfectly together: the squares of 10 and 24 add up to the square of 26!

It’s a great opportunity to explore right-angled triangles, discover interesting number patterns and celebrate the beauty of geometry. Why not try a few Pythagorean theorem problems and see what you can discover?

As you know, Pythagoras—that old Peter Gower guy—factors significantly into the legends of Freemasonry. Albert G. Mackey’s History of Freemasonry, as revised by Robert Ingham Clegg in 1906, says:

The old manuscript constitutions containing the Legend of the Gild, or the Legend of the Craft, with a single exception, have no reference to Pythagoras. That exception is to be found in the Cooke MS., where the legendist, after telling the story of the two pillars inscribed with all the sciences and erected by Jabal before the Flood, adds, in lines 318-326, this statement:

“And after this flood many years, as the chronicle telleth, these 2 pillars were found, and as the Polychronicon saith, that a great clerk that [was] called Pythagoras found that one, and Hermes, the philosopher, found that other, and they taught forth the sciences that they found therein written.”

 

The Constitutions of the Free-Masons of 1723 by James Anderson explains:

...Nor do we find the Grecians arriv’d to any considerable Knowledge in Geometry, before the Great Thales Miletus, the Philosopher, who dy’d in the Reign of Belshazzar and the Time of the Jewish Captivity. But his Scholar, the Greater Pythagoras, prov’d the Author of the 47th Proposition of Euclid’s first Book, which, if duly observ’d, is the Foundation of all Masonry, sacred, civil, and military.*

 

*Pythagoras traveled into Egypt the Year that Thales dy’d and living there among the Priests 22 years became expert in Geometry, and in all the Egyptian Learning, until he was captivated by Cambyses King of Persia, and sent to Babylon, where he was much conversant with the Chaldean Magi, and the learned Babylonish Jews, from whom he borrow’d great Knowledge, that render’d him Very famous in Greece and Italy, where afterwards he flourish’d and dy’d; when Mordecai was the prime Minister of State to Ahasuerus King of Persia Years after Zerubbabel’s Temple was finish’d. Pythagoras. One of the most celebrated of the Grecian philosophers, and the founder of what has been called the Italic school, was born at Samos about 586 years B.C. Educated as an athlete, he subsequently abandoned that profession and devoted himself to the study of philosophy. He travelled through Egypt, Chaldea, and Asia Minor, and is said to have submitted to the initiations in those countries for the purpose of acquiring knowledge. On his return to Europe, he established his celebrated school at Crotona, much resembling that subsequently adopted by the Freemasons. His school soon acquired such a reputation that disciples flocked to him from all parts of Greece and Italy. Pythagoras taught, as the principal dogma of his philosophy, the system of metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls. He taught the mystical power of numbers, and much of the symbolism on that subject which we now possess is derived from what has been left to us by his disciples, for of his own writings there is nothing extant. He was also a geometrician, and is regarded as having been the inventor of several problems, the most important of which is that now known as the Forty-Seventh Problem of Euclid. He was also a proficient in music, and is said to have demonstrated the mathematical relations of musical intervals, and to have invented a number of musical instruments. Disdaining the vanity and dogmatism of the ancient sages, he contented himself with proclaiming that he was simply a seeker after knowledge, not its possessor, and to him is attributed the introduction of the word philosopher, or lover of wisdom, as the only title which he would assume. After the lawless destruction of his school at Crotona, he fled to the Locrians, who refused to receive him, when he repaired to Metapontum, and sought an asylum from his enemies in the temple of the Muses, where tradition says that he died of starvation 506 years B.C. when eighty years old.

Mackey also writes:

Pythagoras, School of. The schools established by Pythagoras at Crotona, and other cities, have been considered by many writers as the models after which Masonic lodges were subsequently constructed. They undoubtedly served the Christian ascetics of the first century as a pattern for their monastic institutions, with which institutions the Freemasonry of the Middle Ages, in its operative character, was intimately connected. A brief description of the school of Crotona will not therefore be inappropriate. The disciples of this school wore the simplest kind of clothing, and having on their entrance surrendered all their possessions to the common fund, they submitted for three years to voluntary poverty, during which time they were also compelled to a rigorous silence.

The doctrines of Pythagoras were always delivered as infallible propositions which admitted of no argument, and hence the expression “he said it” was considered a sufficient answer to anyone who demanded a reason. The scholars were divided into Exoterics and Esoterics. This distinction was borrowed by Pythagoras from the Egyptian priests, who practiced a similar mode of instruction. The exoteric scholars were those who attended the public assemblies, where general ethical instructions were delivered by the sage. But only the esoterics constituted the true school, and these alone Pythagoras called, says Jamblichus, his companions and friends. Before admission to the privileges of this school, the previous life and character of the candidate were rigidly scrutinized, and in the preparatory initiation secrecy was enjoined by an oath, and he was made to submit to the severest trials of his fortitude and self-command. He who after his admission was alarmed at the obstacles he had to encounter, was permitted to return to the world, and the disciples, considering him as dead, performed his funeral obsequies, and erected a monument to his memory. The mode of living in the school of Crotona was like that of the modern communists. The brethren, about six hundred in number, with their wives and children, resided in one large building. Every morning the business and duties of the day were arranged, and at night an account was rendered of the day’s transactions. They arose before day to pay their devotions to the sun, and recited verses from Homer, Hesiod, or some other poet. Several hours were spent in study, after which there was an interval before dinner, which was occupied in walking and in gymnastic exercises, the meals consisted principally of bread, honey, and water, for though the table was often covered with delicacies, no one was permitted to partake of them. It was in this secret school that Pythagoras gave his instructions on his interior doctrine, and explained the hidden meaning of his symbols. There were three degrees: the first, or Mathematici, being engaged in the study of the exact sciences; and the second, or Theoretici, in the knowledge of God, and the future state of man; but the third, or highest degree, was communicated only to a few whose intellects were capable of grasping the full fruition of the Pythagorean philosophy. This school, after existing for thirty years, was finally dissolved through the machinations of Kylo, a wealthy inhabitant of Crotona, who, having been refused admission, in revenge excited the citizens against it, when a lawless mob attacked the scholars while assembled in the house of Milo, set fire to the building and dispersed the disciples, forty of them being burned to death. The school was never resumed, but after the death of the philosopher, summaries of his doctrines were made by some of his disciples. Still many of his symbols and his esoteric teachings have to this day remained uninterpreted and unexplained. After this account of the Pythagorean school, the Mason will find no difficulty in understanding that part of the so-called Leland Manuscript which is said so much to have puzzled the great metaphysician John Locke. This manuscript—the question of its authenticity is not here entered upon—has the following paragraphs:

How comede ytt [Freemasonry] yn Engelonde? Peter Gower, a Grecian, journeyeded for kunnynge yn Egypte and in Syria, and yn everyche londe whereat the Venetians hadde plauntedde Maconrye, and wynnynge entraunce yn al Lodges of Maconnes, he lerned muche, and retournedde and worked yn Grecia Magna wachsynge and becommynge a myghtye wysacre and gratelyche renowned, and here he framed a grate Lodge at Groton, and maked many Maconnes, some whereoffe dyd journeye yn Fraunce, and maked manye Maconnes where fromme, yn process of tyme, the arte passed yn Engelonde.”

Locke confesses that he was at first puzzled with those strange names, Peter Gower, Groton, and the Venetians; but a little thinking taught him that they were only corruptions of Pythagoras, Crotona, and the Phoenicians. It is not singular that the old Masons should have called Pythagoras their “ancient friend and brother,” and should have dedicated to him one of their geometrical symbols, the Forty-Seventh Problem of Euclid; an epithet and a custom that have, by the force of habit, been retained, in all the modern rituals.

    

Today’s date is not the only Pythagoras Day, but it is the last of the 21st century. Last September 16 brought a once-in-a-century Pythagorean Triple Square Day, where every part of the date represented a perfect square (9 = 3², 16 = 4², 25 = 5²) forming the classic 3-4-5 right triangle (3² + 4² = 5²). Today’s date isn’t that beautiful. It measures 10² + 24² = 26², or 100 + 576 = 676, but it’s the theorem that counts!