So let us suppose that Pythagoras prohibited the consumption of the
garbanzo bean and not the fava bean. The reason for the taboo was
that Pythagoras used the beans in his calculations. Pythagoras used
the beans in the construction of mathematical figures.
Indeed, the Greek word Psephizo means to count with pebbles, to compute, calculate, or reckon. Interestingly enough another meaning is to give one's vote by casting a pebble into an urn. Where have we seen this before? Oh yes, one of the various explanations for why Pythagoras forbade beans was that they were used for voting. Here we find it connected with using pebbles for calculating, but dried garbanzo beans have several advantages over pebbles. The beans weigh less and have a general uniformity in both size and shape.
I must point out that the current view on pebble and bean based
calculating systems holds that they were very primitive systems. Say
that you were counting cattle, for each animal one bean is put in a
bag. In the end you have as many head of cattle as there are beans in
the bag. Such a system is sadly inefficient. You still don't know how
many cattle you have, only that it is the same as the number of beans
that you have in the bag.
But there exists another option.
And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his
doctrine,
Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the
fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and
immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root,
it withered away.
And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it,
and it yielded no fruit.
And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and
increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some
an hundred.
And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mark 4:2-9
Notice the yield. Thirty, sixty, and one hundred. Why go from thirty
to sixty, a doubling, and then from sixty to one hundred?
Jesus said, "Listen, a sower came forth, took a handful, and cast.
Now, some fell upon the path, and the birds came and picked them out.
Others fell upon rock, and they did not take root in the soil, and
did not send up ears. And others fell upon the thorns, and they
choked the seed; and the grubs devoured them. And others fell upon
good soil, and it sent up good crops and yielded sixty per measure
and a hundred and twenty per measure."
GoT #9
The above parallel saying from the Gospel of Thomas gives what I
consider to be a logical doubling, from sixty (60) to one hundred and
twenty (120). But it only serves to underscore the mystery behind the
actual ratios used in Mark and Matthew.
Exactly which ratios are we looking at? 30, 60, and 100. The greatest
common denominator being 10, reducing these numbers to 3, 6, and 10.
Which gives us what exactly?
Suppose you were using garbanzo beans for psephizo, for counting.
Counting sheep perhaps. For the first ten you form a triangle of ten
beans.
----.----
---. .---
--. . .-- 10
-. . . .-
Then, the next six beans, representing the next six sheep, form the
second layer.
----.----
---. .--- 6
--. . .--
And upon those are placed three more beans.
----.----
---. .--- 3
Until at last, the final bean, the sower as it were, caps the
structure.
----.---- 1
Giving us a grand total of twenty beans per tetrahedron.
Such a method of counting left one with easy to calculate units, and
it is clear from the usage in the Gospel that these ratios were known
to the NT authors.
