Editing Pythagoras (section)

=== Prohibitions and regulations ===
[[File:Do Not Eat Beans.jpg|thumb|alt=Old manuscript illustration showing a cloaked and hooded man labelled "Pythagoras" raising his arms and turning his face away from a fava bean plant, labelled "Fabe."|French manuscript from 1512/1514, showing Pythagoras turning his face away from [[Vicia faba|fava beans]] in revulsion]]

Pythagorean teachings were known as "symbols" (''symbola''){{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=8}} and members took a vow of silence that they would not reveal these symbols to non-members.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=8}}{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=168}}<ref>Scholion ad Aristophanes, ''Nub.'' 611; {{harvp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§237–§238}}</ref> Those who did not obey the laws of the community were expelled{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=69}} and the remaining members would erect [[tombstone]]s for them as though they had died.{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=69}} A number of "oral sayings" (''akoúsmata'') attributed to Pythagoras have survived,{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|page=31}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=64–67}} dealing with how members of the Pythagorean community should perform sacrifices, how they should honor the gods, how they should "move from here", and how they should be buried.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=64}} Many of these sayings emphasize the importance of ritual purity and avoiding defilement.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=65}}{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|pages=30–31}} Other extant oral sayings forbid Pythagoreans from breaking bread, poking fires with swords, or picking up crumbs{{sfnp|Kenny|2004|page=10}} and teach that a person should always put the right sandal on before the left.{{sfnp|Kenny|2004|page=10}} The exact meanings of these sayings, however, are frequently obscure.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=65–67}} Iamblichus preserves Aristotle's descriptions of the original, ritualistic intentions behind a few of these sayings,{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=65–66}} but these apparently later fell out of fashion, because Porphyry provides markedly different ethical-philosophical interpretations of them:{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=66–67}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Pythagorean saying
! Original ritual purpose according to Aristotle/Iamblichus
! Porphyry's philosophical interpretation
|-
| "Do not take roads traveled by the public."{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=66}}{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|page=31}}
| "Fear of being defiled by the impure"{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=66}}
| "with this he forbade following the opinions of the masses, yet to follow the ones of the few and the educated".{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=66}}
|-
| "and [do] not wear images of the gods on rings"{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=66}}
| "Fear of defiling them by wearing them."{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=66}}
| "One should not have the teaching and knowledge of the gods quickly at hand and visible [for everyone], nor communicate them to the masses."{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=66}}
|-
| "and pour libations for the gods from a drinking cup's handle [the 'ear']"{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=66}}
| "Efforts to keep the divine and the human strictly separate"{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=66}}
| "thereby he enigmatically hints that the gods should be honored and praised with music; for it goes through the ears".{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=66}}
|}

New initiates were allegedly not permitted to meet Pythagoras until after they had completed a five-year initiation period,{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=64}} during which they were required to remain silent.{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=64}} Sources indicate that Pythagoras himself was unusually progressive in his attitudes towards women{{sfnp|Pomeroy|2013|page=xvi}} and female members of Pythagoras's school appear to have played an active role in its operations.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=8}}{{sfnp|Pomeroy|2013|page=xvi}} Iamblichus provides a list of 235 famous Pythagoreans,{{sfnp|Pomeroy|2013|page=1}} seventeen of whom are women.{{sfnp|Pomeroy|2013|page=1}} In later times, many prominent female philosophers contributed to the development of [[Neopythagoreanism]].{{sfnp|Pomeroy|2013|pages=xvi–xvii}}

Pythagoreanism also entailed a number of dietary prohibitions.{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|pages=30–31}}{{sfnp|Kenny|2004|page=10}}<ref>comp. {{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§32}}; {{harvp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§96}}</ref> It is more or less agreed that Pythagoras issued a prohibition against the consumption of [[Vicia faba|fava beans]]{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|pages=137, 200}}{{sfnp|Kenny|2004|page=10}} and the meat of non-sacrificial animals such as fish and poultry.{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|page=200}}{{sfnp|Kenny|2004|page=10}} Both of these assumptions, however, have been contradicted.{{sfnp|Copleston|2003|page=30}}<ref>{{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.19, §1.34}}; Aulus Gellius, iv. 11; {{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§34}}, ''de Abst.'' i. 26, {{harvp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§98}}</ref> Pythagorean dietary restrictions may have been motivated by belief in the doctrine of [[metempsychosis]].{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=168}}{{sfnp|Plutarch, de Esu Carn|loc=§993, §996, §997|pp=540–545, 557–571}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=9}}{{sfnp|Kenny|2004|pages=10–11}} Some ancient writers present Pythagoras as enforcing a strictly [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]] diet.{{efn|name=vegetarianism}}{{sfnp|Cornelli|McKirahan|2013|page=168}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=9}} [[Eudoxus of Cnidus]], a student of Archytas, writes, "Pythagoras was distinguished by such purity and so avoided killing and killers that he not only abstained from animal foods, but even kept his distance from cooks and hunters."<ref>Eudoxus, frg. 325</ref>{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|page=235}} Other authorities contradict this statement.<ref>Aristoxenus ap. {{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.20}}; comp. {{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§7}}; {{harvp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§85, §108}}</ref> According to [[Aristoxenus]],<ref>Aristoxenus ap.  {{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.20}}</ref> Pythagoras allowed the use of all kinds of animal food except the flesh of [[oxen]] used for [[plough]]ing, and [[sheep|rams]].{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|page=235}}<ref>comp. {{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§7}}; {{harvp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§85, §108}}</ref> According to Heraclides Ponticus, Pythagoras ate the meat from sacrifices{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|page=235}} and established a diet for athletes dependent on meat.{{sfnp|Zhmud|2012|page=235}}