The Origins of Pythagoreanism

Empedocles was from the Sicilian Greek city of Akragas, so once again we find ourselves in southern Italy. He lived some time in the 5th century BCE, a bit later than Parmenides. And it's probably safe to say he grew up in a milieu suffused with Pythagoreanism. Later Doxographic writers like Diogenes' Laertius give us a wonderful amount of colorful detail about Empedocles' life and especially his death.