大献祭A hecatomb of oxen

37° A hecatomb of oxen. Legend has it that Pythagoras celebrated his discovery of the famous right-triangle theorem by sacrificing to the gods a hecatomb (that is, 100 head) of oxen. Concerning this sacrifice, C. L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), in his A New Theory of Parallels published in 1895, says:

But neither thirty years, nor thirty centuries, affect the clearness, or the charm, of Geometrical truths. Such a theorem as "the square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the sides" is as dazzlingly beautiful now as it was in the day when Pythagoras first discovered it, and celebrated its advent, it is said, by sacrificing a hecatomb of oxen—a method of doing honor to Science that has always seemed to me slightly exaggerated and uncalled-for. One can imagine oneself, even in these degenerate days, marking the epoch of some brilliant scientific discovery by inviting a convivial friend or two, to join one in a beefsteak and a bottle of wine. But a hecatomb of oxen! It would produce a quite inconvenient supply of beef.