Encyclopedia Britannica (1952) concluded that Thales was most likely a native Milesian of noble birth and that he was certainly a Greek. Diogenes Laërtius seems to also reference an alternative account: "Most writers, however, represent him as a genuine Milesian and of a distinguished family". It is also possible that he was of mixed ancestry, given his father had a Carian name and his mother had a Greek name. However, Friedrich Nietzsche and others interpret this quote as meaning only that his ancestors were seafaring Cadmeians from Boeotia. Diogenes Laërtius references Herodotus, Duris, and Democritus, who all agree "that Thales was the son of Examyas and Cleobulina, and belonged to the Thelidae who are Phoenicians and amongst the noblest descendants of Cadmus and Agenor" who had been banished from Phoenicia and that Thales was enrolled as a citizen in Miletus along with Neleus. While the probability is that Thales was as Greek as most Milesians, Herodotus described Thales as "a Phoenician by remote descent". Map of Phoenician (in yellow) and Greek colonies (in red) around 8th to 6th century BC. While it is all we have, Diogenes wrote some eight centuries after Thales's death and his sources often contained "unreliable or even fabricated information." It is known Thales was from Miletus, a mercantile city settled at the mouth of the Maeander river. The main source concerning the details of Thales's life and career is the doxographer Diogenes Laërtius, in his third century AD work Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers. Thales was also an engineer credited with diverting the Halys River. He was also credited with discovering the position of the constellation Ursa Major as well as the timings of the solstices and equinoxes. In science, Thales was an astronomer who reportedly predicted the weather and a solar eclipse. ![]() Thales was said to have calculated the heights of the pyramids and the distance of ships from the shore. In mathematics, Thales is the namesake of Thales's theorem, and the intercept theorem can also be known as Thales's theorem. Thales thought the Earth floated in water. Thales theorized that this single substance was water. The first philosophers followed him in explaining all of nature as based on the existence of a single ultimate substance. He is thus otherwise credited as the first to have engaged in mathematics, science, and deductive reasoning. Many regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, breaking from the prior use of mythology to explain the world and instead using natural philosophy. ![]() Thales was one of the Seven Sages, founding figures of Ancient Greece, and credited with the saying " know thyself" which was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. 548/545 BC) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales of Miletus ( / ˈ θ eɪ l iː z/ THAY-leez Greek: Θαλῆς c.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |