Prime numbers have occupied human attention since ancient times and were even associated with the supernatural. Even today, in modern times, there are people trying to provide prime numbers with mystical properties. The well-known astronomer and science author Carl Sagan wrote a book in 1985 called "Contact," dealing with extraterrestrials (a human-like culture outside of earth) trying to communicate with humans using prime numbers as signals. The idea that signals based on prime numbers could serve as a basis for communication with extraterrestrial cultures continues to ignite the imagination of many people to this day.
It is commonly assumed that serious interest in prime numbers started in the days of Pythagoras. Pythagoras was an ancient Greek mathematician. His students, the Pythagoreans—partly scientists and partly mystics—lived in the sixth century BC. They did not leave written evidence and what we know about them comes from stories that were passed down orally. Three hundred years later, in the third century BC, Alexandria (in modern Egypt) was the cultural capital of the Greek world.

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