Template:Did you know nominations/Pythagoras

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 00:51, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

Pythagoras

(

)

Capitoline bust of Pythagoras

... that, according to later legends, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras had a golden thigh, was able to fly using a magic arrow given to him by the priest of Apollo, was once greeted by name by a river, and, when he was bitten by a deadly snake, he bit it back and it died? Source: "Aristotle described Pythagoras as a wonder-worker and somewhat of a supernatural figure. In a fragment, Aristotle writes that Pythagoras had a golden thigh... Supposedly, the priest of Apollo gave Pythagoras a magic arrow, which he used to fly over long distances and perform ritual purifications... When Pythagoras crossed the river Casas, "several witnesses" reported that they heard it greet him by name... A fragment from Aristotle records that, when a deadly snake bit Pythagoras, he bit it back and it died."
- ALT1:... ~~that the Greek philosopher Pythagoras believed in metempsychosis (reincarnation) and told people that he could remember his previous incarnations?~~ Source: "One of Pythagoras's main doctrines appears to have been metempsychosis, the belief that all souls are immortal and that, after death, a soul is transferred into a new body... Empedocles alludes in one of his poems that Pythagoras may have claimed to possess the ability to recall his former incarnations. Diogenes Laërtius reports an account from Heraclides Ponticus that Pythagoras told people that he had lived four previous lives that he could remember in detail."

Comment: This is my first DYK, so I have no idea if I am doing this right. The article Pythagoras became a GA yesterday morning and it is currently listed as a Level 3 "Vital Article." There are all kinds of crazy stories told about Pythagoras by ancient writers, so I thought I would write the DYK about those. --Katolophyromai (talk) 16:43, 3 February 2018 (UTC)

Improved to GA Katolophyromai (talk). Self-nominated at 16:43, 3 February 2018 (UTC).

COMMENT: WAY too long (limit is 200 characters, counting spaces), and besides too many legends, each with different references. I suggest a shorter ALT2. When providing the supporting source, the number and name of the ref is often enough. The name of the article should be Wikilinked and in bold (I added bold), and try to avoid other Wikilinks in the hook. David notMD (talk) 21:41, 3 February 2018 (UTC)

COMMENT: It'd be a sin against the gods not to use some version of the awesome original hook; Mr notMD is right that it needs to be pared down, though:

ALT2: ... that Greek legends claimed Pythagoras had a golden thigh, could fly thanks to a magic arrow, was greeted by name by a river, and, when bitten by a snake, bit it back and killed it?

For people who don't know that question marks can function as commas, you could also redo that ALT with commas instead, although it makes the last part a little messier; semicolons could also work. ALT1 doesn't really work at all: if you have a single sentence to explain an idea, you don't use an obscure synonym and immediately gloss it; you just use the simpler, better known term in the first place. It's also redundant to explain that he believed in reincarnation and that he told people about his past lives: the latter subsumes the former:

ALT3: ~~... that the Greek philosopher Pythagoras believed in reincarnation?~~
ALT4: ~~... that the Greek philosopher Pythagoras claimed he could remember four of his past lives in detail?~~

— LlywelynII 10:18, 5 February 2018 (UTC)

Comment: ALT3 or ALT4 looks good to me.--Farang Rak Tham (talk) 08:53, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

@LlywelynII: I would be fine with ALT2, but I do not especially care for ALT3 or ALT4; I think both of them are far too bland and I doubt either of them will attract very many viewers. --Katolophyromai (talk) 00:46, 22 February 2018 (UTC)

Full review needed. BlueMoonset (talk) 03:25, 2 March 2018 (UTC)
- Date and length fine. AGF on offline sources. I am approving ALT1 as it is most hooky and @Katolophyromai: would you be interested in having this on April Fools Day? QPQ not needed as nominator's first DYK nom. No close paraphrasing. Good to go (pending any April Fools decision). The C of E God Save the Queen! (talk) 09:26, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

@The C of E: I do not really care that much when this goes on the main page, but I assure you, this is not a prank; every one of these is a real legend that was told about Pythagoras in antiquity. In fact, there are even some weirder ones than these out there, as the "Legends" section of the article clearly indicates, but I did not have enough space to mention all of them in the hook, so I just put in a few of my favorites. --Katolophyromai (talk) 11:00, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

The C of E, why have you approved ALT1, a hook that has been struck and remains struck even after your review? (It has parentheses, which is forbidden for DYK hooks.) Another aspect is that hooks currently get 24 hours on the main page, but April Fools' Day hooks seem likely to get 12 hours at most, because there are too many for a single set that day. If ALT2 is desired, I would recommend that the question marks (except the last) be replaced by commas as noted above. BlueMoonset (talk) 15:13, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

@BlueMoonset: I am pretty sure that The C of E really meant to say ALT2, which is the one I said I preferred and which is, at least in my opinion, by far the most appealing of all the hooks. Nonetheless, he needs to come back and clarify what he meant. I would very much like for this article to be on the main page for a full twenty-four hours, so I would rather not have it on April Fools' Day. --Katolophyromai (talk) 15:43, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

Mea culpa, I had meant ALT2. The C of E God Save the Queen! (talk) 17:36, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

I was pretty sure, too, but the review comment needs to specify the correct hook, and it now does; thanks to The C of E for the clarification. I have changed the internal question marks to commas for ALT2, and fixed the ellipsis. This can be promoted to the main page at any time now. BlueMoonset (talk) 18:46, 9 March 2018 (UTC)