Hippasus, the Pythagoreans and the Broad Beans (part 1)

In this exciting and phantasmagorical article, we will talk about a character who should be well known to all students: I’m talking about the great, immeasurable (wink wink), triangular Pythagoras! But we don’t want to tell you only about him, but in particular about his gang of little friends, the Sect of the Pythagoreans and some fantastic adventures that happened to them.

The Pythagoreans

Yes, we will deal with a sect, after all not very different from Scientology. The Pythagoreans, however, did not believe that the souls of aliens thrown into the Earth’s volcanoes at the behest of the evil Xenu tormented their lives, but they also had flaws.

For example, the Pythagoreans believed in reincarnation (which they, however, called metempsychosis). According to this doctrine, because of an unspecified original fault, souls have to reincarnate numerous times, both as human beings and in animals.
Eventually, these will be completely purified and will, therefore, be able to spend the rest of eternity as they want.

For this reason, Pythagoras and his followers were openly vegetarian — it wasn’t just an excuse for dieting.
And apparently it all started one fine day when good old Pythagoras stopped a man who was mistreating a dog. In fact, Pythagoras told him that he recognized a friend of his, perhaps Giorgio — or was it, Marco? In short, one of those that you haven’t seen in a long time and that perhaps, in the meantime, has also passed away.
So, it’s okay not to mistreat the animals, but maybe Pythagoras could have invented a slightly less complex excuse (nowadays, high school students still have to study it).
Of course, perhaps it was a little more complex than that and Pythagoras had prepared his doctrine of reincarnation well.

The fact remains that he and his friends were really efficient in the wildlife protection and every time they saw fishermen, tired after a long day of work in the sun and with the salt that impregnated their skin, he used to order them to release all the fishes they caught. At which, the fishermen politely invited him to proceed on his way.

The fishermen faced with the reasonable requests of Pythagoras.

In addition to the bizarre ideas about souls and animals, the Pythagoreans also had a large list of nice precepts to follow. Here they are!

1. Refrain from broad beans
2. Do not collect what has fallen
3. Don’t touch a white rooster
4. Don’t break the bread
5. Do not climb over the beams
6. Do not poke the fire with iron
7. Don’t bite into a whole loaf
8. Do not tear off the garlands
9. Don’t sit on a cup
10. Don’t eat the heart
11. Don’t walk on the highways
12. Don’t let the swallows share your roof
13. When you remove the pot from the fire, do not leave its mark in the ashes, but mix it up
14. Don’t look in a mirror next to a light
15. When you slide off the covers, roll them up and flatten the body imprint

We could have invented this list on the spot, but taking the original commandments of the Pythagorean school was easier. We would hardly have been able to invent more fun ones. And we couldn’t help commenting on a few.

Third. Do not touch the white rooster, which the good old Bertrand Russell literally reports as “Do not touch a white cock”. Avoid searching for it on Google.

Ninth. Why on earth would anyone invent such a prohibition?! Even in kindergarten, there is no need to write such a thing! But now we want to know, Pythagoras: what happened to that mug?

Tenth. Daenerys Stormborn et cetera et cetera has been removed from the Pythagorean group. Sure, three dragons provide good bargaining power and perhaps our dear oxygenated princess wouldn’t have had much trouble getting herself admitted to the group, but let’s not digress.
This is the only thing that came to mind in this regard, we are infinitely sorry for those who have not followed GOT (it’s not true, it’s your fault).

Twelfth. Respect for all animals, except swallows. Swallows can perish by the storms rather than nest under your roof. And good Pythagoras!

And that’s all for now! But keep following us if you want to know what happens when Pythagoras meets … the broad beans!

Notes

As for the doctrine of Scientology, the most authoritative source to which we can refer remains the 12th episode of the 9th season of South Park.

Sources

Pythagoras

Pythagoreanism

Hippasus

Carl B. Boyer, Uta C. Merzbach, (2010), A History of Mathematics (3rd ed.), Wiley, ISBN 978–0–470–52548–7

Roger L. Cooke, (2013), The history of mathematics: a brief course (3rd ed.), Wiley, ISBN 978–1–118–21756–6