The Radical, Anti-Democratic Pythagorean Sect

A History of Mankind (87)

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Members of Pythagoras' sect shared all their possessions in common and were devoted to each other to the exclusion of outsiders.

Pythagoras was fairly feminist to the point of counting women as disciples – a rarity anywhere during his time, and especially in the macho-oriented Greek culture[1] – although this may have had some downsides: like many overtly feminist men in history, Pythagoras had a particularly sharp interest in women that went well beyond the intellectual, and he preferred to be interested in as many women as possible, rather than just one[2].  

This side of Pythagoras may or may not give added context to the most famous Pythagorean maxim, "koina ta philon" ("All things in common among friends.")[3]