Myia c. 525 BCE
Myia ( or Myria) is a daughter of Theano and Pythagoras. She had an elder sister, Damo and a brother, Telauges.It appears that she, like the other children, studied at the school in Crotona. We know that she married Milo, an Olympic athlete, who competed in wrestling. Milo won accolades from the Panhellenic or "All-Greek" athletic circuit, comprising the regular festivals at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea and Isthmia. His victories included five triumphs at Olympia, an extraordinary record. Milo was legendary both for his athletic prowess and his appetite and is mentioned by Socrates in one of the Dialogues of Plato. As for Myia, some say that her father burned to death in her home when Cylon, a Crotoniate led an attack on the house and set it afire. (Cylon was a leading citizen by birth. He had also attained riches and fame but had a violent, tyrannical disposition. He desired to participate in the Pythagorean way of life but Pythagoras rejected him because of his disposition. Cylon and his friends vowed to make a attack on Pythagoras and his followers. Others say that Pythagoras escaped the fire but was later killed as he was escaping because he would not walk on a field of beans - saying it was better to die than betray one's principles. (Source: Iamblichus ) As for his daughter, it is clear that she lived according to Pythagorean principles and we can see some of these at work in an extant letter about hiring a nurse for one's baby. See: Letter of Myia
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