He was likely a member of the Klytidiai,[2] a clan of seers in Elis who interpreted the oracles of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia[3] where Pyrrho served as a high priest.

[5] Diogenes Laërtius, quoting from Apollodorus of Athens, says that Pyrrho was at first a painter, and that pictures by him were exhibited in the gymnasium at Elis.

Later he was diverted to philosophy by the works of Democritus, and according to Diogenes Laërtius became acquainted with the Megarian dialectic through Bryson, pupil of Stilpo.

One account tells of him being angered on behalf of his sister, justifying himself with the statement that "where a little woman was concerned it was not appropriate to display indifference".

Diogenes himself states that Pyrrho avoided nothing and took no precautions, thereby making his safety dependent on his disciples, this according to Antigonus of Carystus,[12] but he also quotes Aenesidemus as saying:'Although he practised philosophy on the principles of suspension of judgement, he did not act carelessly in the details of daily life.

Most interpretations of the information on Pyrrho's philosophy suggest that he claimed that reality is inherently indeterminate, which, in the view of Pyrrhonism described by Sextus Empiricus, would be considered a negative dogmatic belief.

"[5] There are conflicting interpretations of the ideas presented in this passage, each of which leads to a different conclusion as to what Pyrrho meant: 'The things themselves are equally indifferent, and unstable, and indeterminate, and therefore neither our senses nor our opinions are either true or false.

'[17]In the writings of Cicero[18] and Seneca[19] Pyrrho is listed among those philosophers who left no one to carry on their teachings,[20] though the opposite may be understood from Pliny.

Philosophical skepticism was already present in Greek philosophy, particularly in the Democritean tradition in which Pyrrho had studied prior to visiting India.

[20] Richard Bett heavily discounts any substantive Indian influences on Pyrrho, arguing that on the basis of testimony of Onesicritus regarding how difficult it was to converse with the gymnosophists, as it required three translators, none of whom understood any philosophy, that it is highly improbable that Pyrrho could have been substantively influenced by any of the Indian philosophers.

[24] According to Indologist and Buddhist scholar Johannes Bronkhorst, early Buddhism and Pyrrho's philosophy share no connection.