Pythagoras: The Ancient Name for Vegetarianism

Biography

Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE) was an ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher, after whom the Pythagorean theorem is named.

Connection to Vegetarianism

Pythagoras and his followers advocated abstaining from meat, rooted in their beliefs about the transmigration of souls and the interconnectedness of all things. Because of this, before the word "vegetarian" was coined in the 19th century, Europeans had long referred to a meat-free diet as the "Pythagorean diet."

Significance

By linking diet to philosophy, ethics, and cosmology, Pythagoras stands as one of the earliest sources of vegetarian thought in the Western tradition.