10 Weirdest Ways Famous Ancient Greeks Died
5. Pythagoras — Refused To Flee Through Bean Field And Was Murdered
Usually introduced to generations of schoolchildren rather reductively as the 'triangle' guy, Pythagoras is one of the most interesting and unusual of pre-socratic philosophers. But of all his esoteric doctrines, his concerns about beans ended up costing him his life.
For all the many admirable and interesting aspects of Pythagorean philosophy, including strict vegetarianism motivated by his distaste for the maltreatment of animals and belief in metempsychosis (the transmigration of souls, a form of reincarnation), there was one agreed-upon aspect that seems to stick out. He forbade his followers from having anything to do with fava beans.
Precisely why is disputed at best, woefully unclear at most, but it seems he held they should be absolutely avoided. This proved fateful when civil conflict erupted in the town of Croton, where he and his sect lived, and the Pythagoreans were persecuted. Fleeing his would-be assassins, he was making a good run for it when he came to a fava bean field. As crossing it would contradict his indictment against them, he stopped still and waited, and so was duly murdered.