We all know Pythagoras because at school he produced huge headaches with his hypotenuse theorem. Yes, that of “In every right triangle, the sum of the squares of the legs is equal to the square of the hypotenuse” And since then, we have this illustrious Greek mathematician among our idols. Pythagoras lived between science and beliefs in his time.
But, in addition to being a great mathematician in his time, we must also recognize that it was something eccentric. He created a school called “Pythagorean School”, to which some curtained sect, where scientific, religious and esoteric ideas were mixed, which was based on several principles, among which the following can be highlighted:
- The body is the tomb of the soul.
- The body needed continuous purification.
- The numbers are the subject of which the world is made
- Women have relevance and are equal to men in dignity and rights.
- Bees are evil and were described as a curse of the universe.
Pythagoras disciples gathered to study and discuss mathematical subjects; In fact, several very important mathematicians left that school, among which were several women. But there was also talk of reincarnation and evil that the beans made to the world and men.
Pythagoras promised his followers that he would go to Hades (the underworld, according to the Greeks) and that he would return to tell them what had happened in his absence, demonstrating that he could go and return with his soul to touch the jaws of hell and return to earth.
What he did was lock himself in his mother’s basement for several days without taking any food, and when he returned, the poor man was totally demacrated. He spoke with his mother to tell him what had happened in his absence of the real world and thus revealed that he knew what his disciples had done. Something unheard of, but that fell fully into his followers, who believed him together.
The fact of introducing beans as something to take into account and that it is related to evil, made believe that they were connected to Hades, the Greek God of the dead and the underworld. The black spots of their flowers and the hollow stems of the plants served as stairs for human souls and were associated with reincarnation, since they were the first to go out in spring, and, therefore, they were considered as the first offering of the dead to the living. I already said Orpheus, that I also had an immense mania, which was like eating your father’s head.
The most widespread idea was that the dead buried release their souls underground in the form of gas that was absorbed by souls as they grew. If you ate beans, you would be digging those souls in the form of wind.
Plinio proclaimed that: “Haba is used in the cult of the dead because it contains the souls of the deceased ”.
Pythagoras even resembled them to the genital organs of women and, although he had a lot of respect for the female gender, that gave him a bit of repelús.
We know that beans were used in ancient Greece to vote: White represented “yes”, and black, “no”; So some believed that Pythagoras’s message was to tell them that they did not get into politics, because that was something totally opposed to being a good philosopher.
As the mathematician did not want to see the beans, he prohibited them for him and all the people who followed him. In fact, the philosopher was attributed to the gift of understanding the language of animals, and that used it to convince an ox not to eat beans.
Bees are a healthy food and loaded with good properties, although its intake may be discouraged or very limited in very specific cases:
People suffering from favism: disease of genetic origin that implies the deficiency of the glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), should avoid taking them, since their intake could aggravate the characteristic symptoms of this pathology, among them, the decrease in red blood cells and, consequently, anemia.
Beeks, like other legumes, can be somewhat indigestible, especially for people suffering from gastrointestinal problems. Eating raw beans or beans boiled in large quantities could cause more or less severe discomfort, from gases and flatulence, to diarrhea or abdominal pain.
The consumption of this legume is relatively modern, since already in ancient Egypt, where the national dish is the “Medame”(Buried beans), at the time of the pharaohs they were considered impure and only the slaves ate them. The Egyptian priests did not even dare to look at them.
The first modern reports of this disease date back to the 1840s, but took a few decades to establish that there was a link between the Vicia Faba and hemolytic anemia. Favism is found throughout the world, but is more frequent in the Mediterranean.
Since this substance is present in beans, exposure to beans or even their pollen can trigger fevers, jaundice, hemolytic anemia and death.
The scientists noticed a correlation between the consumption of that legume and the prevalence of malaria. They discovered that beans contained chemical compounds similar to quinine -based medications used to treat malaria. So eating beans, they created a hostile atmosphere inside the body for malaria.
But, returning to Pythagoras, it is told about him that, being persecuted by his enemies, he had no other way out to cross a planted beans field to save his life, but given this decision Pythagoras preferred to be captured and executed than getting into such a disgusting place, epitome of evil, proclaiming that of “out there.”
Originally published at LaDamadeElche.com
———-
First published in this link of The European Times.
