Timycha

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Timycha the wife of Myllias of Croton was a member of a group 4th century BC. Pythagorean philosophers who were attacked by Sicily soliders. Although they had the option of running through a field of beans to escape, they would not, as this was a taboo to them. Instead they fought and died, with the exception of the pregnant Timycha and her husband, who were captured. The tyrant Dionysius of Sicily questioned her as to the reason for this taboo, but she refused to answer, instead, she bit off her tongue and spat it at his feet in a gesture of defiance.