Posidonius

Philosopher, Mathematician, Physicist, Astronomer, Meteorologist, Statesman, Historian, Geographer (c135 BC – c51 BC)

Posidonius was born in Syria and flourished in Rhodes. He was an exceptional scientist whose work spanned numerous different fields. Poseidonius is widely considered by modern scholars to be equal to Aristotle in terms of knowledge and wisdom. He holds the title of possible inventor of the Antikythera Mechanism together with Hipparchus and Archimedes. He had profound influence on the Romans thanks to his spiritual glory.

As a philosopher, Posidonius reintroduced the religious element in Stoic philosophy. According to him, man’s soul derives from God; it is therefore immortal and has a divine essence to it. The soul descended to Earth from the sky as a result of sin and became entrapped inside a prison: the mortal human body. During life, the soul continuously tries to ascend back to the sky and reach God whilst overcoming earthly temptations. To achieve this, man must live a life of virtues; it is only by means of virtue that the soul can come closer to its creator. Not all souls, however, are capable of this ascension. This task can only be undertaken by those willing to live a life free of bodily desires and materialistic desires. For it is only those who strive to preserve the divine part of their nature by keeping it uncontaminated who will earn a rightful place in the heavens. The reunion of man’s soul with God will be achieved only by those who accomplish this feat.

God does not have a form; instead, he takes the form of all. All life and all souls derive from God. Everything that comprises the three hierarchies: plants, animals and humans, including their interrelationships are characterized by order set by God’s wisdom. Posidonius also spoke about two worlds co-existing: the earthly world, which is mortal and the heavenly world, which is immortal. The link between the two worlds is man, who participates in both the earthly and the heavenly world by his body and soul respectively. In his book On Heroes and Daemons Posidonius writes that except man, there are other beings that inhabit these worlds and possess nous (intellect). These beings are found everywhere and possess different abilities. He described these aerial beings as Daemons and Heroes. Posidonius communicated with these beings.

Posidonius was not only a philosopher. He was a gifted polymath. As a scientist he was the first to describe the tidal phenomena caused by the moon’s influence on the sea. During the Renaissance Paolo Toscanelli studied Poseidonius’ writings according to which one could travel to the Indies if one set sail from the west and having constantly an east wind. Toscanelli compiled maps according to this, which Cristopher Colombus would later use to reach America.

Posidonius’ works in meteorology contain several interesting studies such as the effects on climate on the proprioception of humans, explanations involving the clouds, winds, rain, frost, lightning etc. He wrote hundreds of books; just his historical and geographical work altogether comprises of 52 books. In astronomy Poseidonius successfully calculated the Earth’s circumference using the star of Canopus as reference point while in mathematics he advanced the Euclidean geometry and proposed several terms and definitions.

The philosophy of Posidonius was one of the last contributions of Ancient Greece to philosophy. According to N.I. Luvaris: ”He was a sage, a thinker, a researcher… He was something more than a scientist. He was a prophet, who showed man’s place in this world and defined his true destination…”. His philosophy had an immense influence on the Roman civilization as numerous Roman nobles became his students, most notably Cicero.

Bibliography

1. Koutoulas, Diamantis. The Ancient Greek Religion and the Mathematics. Thessaloniki: Psaras, 2001. Print.
2. Pleuris, Konstantinos. Greek Philosophers. Athens: Hilektron, 2013. Print
3. Pleuris Konstantinos. Diogmos ton Ariston. Athens: Hilektron, 2013. Print
4. “Poseidonius”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print

Aesop

Story teller (c620 BC – 564 BC)

A legendary story teller, whose actual existence was disputed even in the Classical times. He is regarded as the most famous story teller of antiquity. His stories were systematically compiled and published in the 14^th century by Maximus Planoudis, a monk who gave the form of “Aesop’s Fables” as they are today.

His name is first recited by Herodotus nearly after 100 years after Aesop’s death. According to him, Aesop was a crippled, stutter hunchback. He was primarily laughed at not for his voice but for his ugliness. He came to Greece as a slave but eventually gained his freedom and started travelling around the world. He visited Egypt, Asia Minor and Babylon until settling in King Kroisos’ courtyard, who admired him for his wisdom.

Aesop’s fables are short narratives with allegorical and ethical characteristics. Most of them feature anthropomorphic animals as the protagonists, who engage in a discussion with didactic background. Another common aspect in Aesop’s Fables is that it pits the rich and powerful against the poor and week, with often the latter winning, possibly reflecting Aesop’s own image. Perhaps the most famous one is “The Tortoise and the Hare”, in which a tortoise and a rabbit hold an unequal race which results in the tortoise’s victory because of the rabbit’s overconfidence. Other well-known fables include “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs”, “The Fox and the Grapes”, “The Lion and the Fox”, “The Lion and the Mosquito”, “The Eagle and the Beetle” etc. More than 300 such fables exist, each one with its own moral.

The origin of Aesop’s fables is obscure. Ancient Greek writers suggest that some of them were as old as the Greek race itself, some even older. Some of them had originated in Egypt or Asia but regardless of their origin, they were always attributed to the mythical person under the name of Aesop, even when some of the fables were made after Aesop’s death.

Bibliography

1. “Aesop”. Helios. Passas, I. Athens. 1946. Print.

 

Philip II

King of Macedon (386 BC – 336 BC)

King of Macedon from 359 BC till his assassination in 336 BC, one of the most powerful political figures of antiquity and father of Alexander the Great, by whom he is frequently overshadowed in history. Nevertheless, both father and son were capable strategists who established their own empires.

When he was a child, Philip studied the art of war next to Epaminondas and Pelopidas, two strategists renowned for their battles as well as the works of Isocrates, Plato and Aristotle. It was then that he was imbued with the idea of the unification of all Greece and the conquering of the Persians. Once he rose to the throne, he made this the goal of his life.

The first thing Philip did during his reign was to secure his position as king by exterminating all his usurpers. Afterwards, he began implementing his dream of Panhellenic Unification. In the beginning, Philip was faced with rejection as numerous city-states refused to recognize him as King of Greece and waged war against him. As a result, he descended Greece and turned against all major city-states in order to impose himself by means of war. He managed to take control of numerous goldmines which he harvested so that he could build a massive fleet. Philip successfully fended off all neighbouring enemies of the Macedonian Empire, improved the empire’s economy and succeeded in expanding his empire’s borders. Furthermore, he put an end to the Greeks who sought money from the Persians in order to battle against each other in civil wars.

It is worth mentioning that when Philip rose to power at the age of 23, his kingdom was nothing more but a poor country with peasants, surrounded by neighbouring enemies and suffering from internal conflicts. Philip took this country and transformed it into a mighty empire that stretched from the river Danube down to Peloponnesus, with an indestructible army of excellently trained soldiers that learned to love each other and fight coherently. Unfortunately, just when the treaty for Panhellenic Unification had been signed by all city-states, Philip was assassinated, leaving the undertaking in his son’s hands. Alexander was to carry out his father’s vision.

Philip was a cunning man. Even though he was admired by everyone for his bravery and intuition, he would rely on hypocrisy to carry out his plans and avoid bloodshed whenever possible. Sometimes he would pretend, other times he would betray his promise in order to reach his goals. Moreover, he used his vast amount of money to buy off and to corrupt people among his enemies. Nonetheless, Philip was very fond of philosophy and arts and for this reason he had invited Aristotle and many other philosophers to teach his son.

Philip and Alexander shared many traits in common. Both were charismatic leaders and would always fight alongside their fellow men in the first line of battle. Both were tough against their enemies. Their rule was to reward their friends and allies and punish anyone who became an obstacle. Both were idealists; one envisioned a world state where Greeks as a united force dominated the entire known world while the other accomplished it.

Bibliography

1. “Philip II”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print
2. Pleuris, Konstantinos. The King Alexander. Athens. Hilektron. 2015. Print

Eurytus

Warrior (? BC – 480 BC)

Eurytus was one of the 300 Spartans led by king Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. Like most Spartans, he was primarily chosen because he had an heir, a son. Eurytus was not unlike any other Spartan of his time; he was brought up according to the Spartan tradition and was fiercely trained to fight. He had not seen any major battles against barbarians but was awaiting to fight for glory.

In 480 BC, Leonidas and his 300 Spartans joined no more than 7000 allies to block Xerxes’ immense army from passing through Thermopylae. As the battle came close to a beginning, Eurytus suffered an eye infection and was deemed incapable of fighting. Leonidas gave him two options: either return to Sparta or retreat to a nearby battlefield to recover. He opted for the second.

Drawing up significant losses and with Ephialtes’ betrayal, Leonidas saw a certain defeat. During the final day of battle, he dismissed as many allies as possible so that they could build a second wall of defence in the south. Leonidas and his 300 Spartans, along with a few remaining allies, would sacrifice themselves to fend off the rest of the Persian army in a historic last stand. News of this reached Eurytus who was still recovering in the nearby military camp. Still blind and unable to fight, he ordered his heilot to bring him his armour and guide him to battle on the side of his fellow Spartans. Despite having lost his sight, Eurytus fought along with Leonidas and the Spartans in a glorious final assault against Xerxes’ army.

In 480 BC Eurytus died on the battlefield along with his king, having defied his disability for the sake of his country and its people. He had never seen any major battles against barbarians and he never would, but his courage and philopatry that characterize this act of sacrifice mark him a timeless hero and figure of patriotism.

Bibliography

1. “Eurytus”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print.
2. Lagoudakis, Stavros. “The Known Unknown Eurytus”. Helleniki Agogi. 21. 74 (2003):37-45. Print.

Leonidas

King of Sparta, Warrior (c540 BC – 480 BC)

No one in world history provided such act of courage, love of honor, and philopatry than that of king Leonidas and his 300 Spartans in the legendary Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.

Born around 540 BC, Leonidas I became warrior-king of city-state Sparta. In 480 BC, during the second Persian invasion, he led against all odds 300 Spartans and no more than 7000 allies against Xerxes’ army of 2.5 million in Thermopylae, according to Herodotus. For seven days, the army fought against a massive Persian army, and for two full days, fended them off, blocking them from advancing to the south.

During the last day, the Greek army found itself betrayed by Ephialtes, leading a number of allies to flee from certain death by the outnumbered Persian army who had them surrounded. In an ultimate act of patriotism, Leonidas and his remaining 300 Spartans together with 700 Thespians led by Demophilus remained in the battlefield to slaughter as many Persians as possible and defend their homeland. Knowing that his sacrifice would ensure the final Greek victory, he led his army to a final blow against the Persian army, leading to massive enemy casualties and coming as close as to kill Xerxes himself. In one of history’s most celebrated last stands, the terrified Persian army sought to finish the battle with a rain of arrows while the last remaining Spartans protected their king’s body from further harm.

The result of the Battle of Thermopylae shook the Persian Empire to its core. It is estimated that had the Greeks not been betrayed, the Persian army would have retreated due to lack of food and water. Leonidas’ epic stance against the enemy not only provided an immense moral boost to all Greeks, who united against a common enemy, but also proved crucial in the outcome of the subsequent battles, as it gave the Greeks time to set their defenses on the Isthmus of Corinth and prepare for the Battle of Salamis.

Leonidas’ words to Xerxes ”ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ” echo through time and history, sealing the ideals of an entire nation; freedom, country, glory. Today, the Battle of Thermopylae stands as the definitive example of heroic apotheosis and dedication to one’s nation, with Leonidas himself being a model for courage, bravery and ideals. On the epitaph of the cenotaph of Leonidas and his 300 Spartan men the following phrase was written: “Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by. That here, obedient to their laws, we lie“.

Bibliography

1. “Leonidas”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens. 1946. Print.
2. Volonakis, Ioannis. Ancient Greece’s Great Leaders. Athens: Georgiades, 1997. Print.

 

Ptolemy

Mathematician, Astronomer, Astrologer, Geographer, Poet (c100 – c170)

The greatest geographer of antiquity and one of the greatest astronomers who ever lived. Claudius Ptolemy was born in Egypt, where he remained active till the end of his life. His writings have had a profound influence on geography and mathematics. His book “Syntaxis Mathematica” has been described as the most important scientific writing ever written between the 2^nd and the 16^th century AD.

Ptolemy had founded observatories in several cities of Egypt where he studied the planets and the stars with specially designed astrologic tools. The astrolabe of Ptolemy as it came to be known was a genius astrological instrument which depicted the celestial sphere and was used to measure the longitude and latitude of the observed stars from anywhere on Earth and vice versa. In this way, Ptolemy could locate the position of any star in the night sky and also measure the distance between the sun and the moon. The Planetary Solar System was a geocentric astronomical model which depicted and forecasted the orbits of the sun, the moon and all of the known planets at the time. Upon it were implemented mathematical principles of Apollonius of Perga, Hipparchus and Ptolemy which made the geocentric model the dominant model up until the 16^th century, when Copernicus re-introduced the heliocentric model of Aristarchus of Samos. Finally, Ptolemy used a parallactic instrument for measuring vertical angles of the moon and its distance from the Earth.

He wrote books on the physics, reflection and refraction of light, historical books, books on trigonometry, geometry and most importantly astronomy. His magnum opus “Syntaxis Mathematica” was the bible of astronomy that determined the astronomical perceptions of all humanity for as long as 1500 years. The book was translated by the Arabs into Almagest, which translates to “The Great” from Greek «μεγίστη» (megiste). In the Almagest, which is comprised of 13 books, Ptolemy introduces the mathematical models which he created in order to explain the motions of the sun, the moon and the planets based on his observations with his astrological instruments. He presents trigonometric principles, geometric applications, numerous astronomical phenomena and the zodiac signs. In addition, the book contains Hipparchus’ original star catalogue of 1022 stars now each with their own coordinates and magnitude added by Ptolemy. It is said that one of the agreements of the peace treaty imposed by Chosroes on Heraclitus was the deliverance of a copy of the Almagest to him. Another one of Ptolemy’s monumental works is “Geography” in which he provides a description of the known world with extraordinary accuracy. His book “Tetrabiblos” sums up all the Greek knowledge on horoscopes and is an invaluable tool for the field of astrology.

Ptolemy as an astronomer could be considered an equal to Hipparchus. Even though the geocentric model he proposed turned out to be false, it still retains its value for being a genius astronomical model for the interpretation of complex astronomical phenomena, as well as for being one of the most strenuous attempts to investigate all these phenomena based on mathematical principles, provided that the Earth be the centre of the solar system.

Bibliography

1. Kotsanas, Kostas. Ancient Greek Technology The inventions of the ancient Greeks. Pyrgos: Kostas Kotsanas, 2013. Print.
2. Koutoulas, Diamantis. The Ancient Greek Religion and the Mathematics. Thessaloniki: Dion. 2001. Print
3. “Ptolemaios, Klaudios”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens. 1946. Print.

Hippocrates of Kos

Physician, Philosopher (c460 BC – c356 BC)

The most renowned of the Greek physicians, descendent of the Asclepiads, Hippocrates of Kos’ influence in medicine was strongest than any other physician’s before him. He was the quintessence of the philosopher-doctor, who combined rational thinking with medical practice for the combat and most importantly the prevention of disease.

Hippocrates learnt medicine from his father by studying in the Asclepieions of Kos and Cnidus. Herodicus, Gorgias and Democritus were also his teachers. He travelled in the depths of Asia and Africa, Macedonia and Thrace before eventually settling in Larissa, where he would flourish during the Golden Age of Pericles like many other Great Greeks at that time. Hippocrates quickly rose to fame for offering his services in numerous cities around Greece. In Athens he was made an honorary citizen and was initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries. When he was asked to offer his services to the Persian King, Hippocrates refused, saying that he would never help the enemies of his country.

Hippocrates’ contributions in medicine befall in all of today’s medical specialties. In Anatomy, he described the bones, the bone marrow, the joints, several muscles, numerous internal and reproductive organs as well as the heart and its valves. He knew that veins contained blood but believed that arteries carried air to the heart. He was unable to decipher the brain’s actual function but had acknowledged the fact that it was the center of cognition, movement and sensation. He also knew that vision and smell were functions connected to the brain.

As a pioneer in surgery, Hippocrates performed surgeries that even today are considered very difficult. He describes in his texts the opening of a skull with a drill, amputations, pleurectomies, paracentesis, haemorrhoid operations, phlebotomies. Moreover, he used catheters, knives, needles, chainsaws, and many other tools which he had built for operations. He founded preventive medicine and established all of the ethical codes and deontology in medicine. The roots of Homeopathy as a science were also established by Hippocrates (“similia similibus curentur”).

Hippocrates’ philosophy on the human body was that it was composed of 4 major elements: wind, earth, fire and water. In each of these elements corresponds a trait: cold, dry, warm and liquid. The heart was thought to be the center of the warm trait. The major humors of the human body were blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Provided that there is a balanced mixture of the four, the person would be healthy. If, however, one of the humors predominated in the mixture, then disease would develop. A disease is not confined to one organ; rather the entire organism is diseased. Numerous diseases are named and described in his texts, namely influenza, tuberculosis, typhus, malaria, herpes, leprosy and some nervous diseases such as mania and depression. Treatment lies in what we eat. An interesting concept in Hippocrates’ philosophy on the human body is that inside of it lies an inner force which he terms “nature” and it is the force responsible for the conservation and development of the body as well as its healing.

Hippocrates was a prolific writer; Soranus of Ephesos reports that he had written 64 books on medicine, of which 57 survive today. The first category of his books includes The Hippocratic Oath, “The Law”, “On Ancient Medicine”, “On Art”, “Aphorisms” etc. These books were concerned with medicine as a science and its relationship with philosophy. They were mostly intended for students studying at the Asclepieions. The second category contains 9 books written on Anatomy and Physiology, namely “On Anatomy”, “On the Heart”, “On the Articulations”, “The Nature of Man” etc. He wrote books on diet (“On Food”, “On Diet”), on pathology and disease (“On Airs, Waters, Places”, “On Ulcers”, “On Regimen of Acute Diseases”), on prognostics, of which The Book of Prognostics is the most valuable one, therapeutic ones, on surgery (“On the Surgery”, “On Fistulae”, “On Fractures”, “On Haemorrhoids”), on ophthalmology, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, orthopedics, hygiene and dentistry. A very large number of his works was saved and translated into Latin and Arabic. This was not coincidence, as people found Hippocrates’ writings more understandable than the writings of philosophers as well as more useful since they would benefit their own health.

All of his books comprise the Corpus Hippocraticum, which is used to this day as an invaluable tool by doctors and students alike in medical universities. It is called voices of God by Suda, the oldest Greek encyclopaedia, and that his teachings come not from a human spirit but were direct words of God. He also calls Hippocrates star and light of medicine. Galen, the second most renowned physician of antiquity after Hippocrates, considers him as the greatest physician of all ages, the most important writer of all time and one of the greatest philosophers. Erotianos compares him to Homer, Herodotus and Thucydides calling him divine, God-like and founder of logical medicine. He stands among Asclepius and Apollo, one as the founder of medicine, one as the physician of the Gods and he respectively as Father of Medicine.

Bibliography:

1. “Hippocrates of Kos”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print.
2. Manias, Theophanes. The Holy Geometry of the Greeks and the Mathematical Structure of the Hellenic Language. Athens: Pyrinos Kosmos, 2006. Print.
3. Manias, Theophanes. The Unknown Masterpieces of the Ancient Greeks. Athens: Pyrinos Kosmos, 2006. Print.
4. Tziropoulou Eustathiou, Anna. Archigenethlos Helliniki Glossa. Athens: Georgiades, 2011. Print.
5. Tziropoulou Eustathiou, Anna. O en tei Lexei Logos. Athens: Georgiades, 2011. Print.

Hippodamus

Urban Planner, Architect, Mathematician, Philosopher, Physicist, Meteorologist (498 BC – 408 BC)

Hippodamus is one of the lesser-known polymaths of Greek antiquity. He is considered the Father of urban planning, a branch of architecture concerned with organization and design of urban space. In addition to his contributions in architecture, he was a skilled mathematician, able to implement mathematical and geometrical principles in the construction of cities as well as a philosopher interested primarily in politics.

He is the founder of the Hippodamian plan, a city planning system that is widely used to this day in urban planning for the construction of city layouts. According to it, rectangular blocks representing land of equal area were crossed by parallel lines representing streets in such a way as to create an idiomorphic pattern. The location of important city structures and landmarks were determined with precision; the agora, the vouleuterion and the temples were placed in the center of the grid while the houses were placed in the periphery. Before the invention of the Hippodamian plan, most cities’ grid was irregular and buildings were built around an important landmark e.g. the Acropolis in Athens. This often hindered transport or water supply to the houses. That is why Aristotle credits Hippodamus with “inventing the art of planning cities”.

Following his success and having achieved fame, Hippodamus was called up by Pericles and was tasked with building the city layout of Piraeus. He built neighbourhoods composed of two-storey houses with a kitchen, living room and garden. He orientated every house in such a way that they could be warm during the winter and cool during the summer. He also invented an ingenious water supply system that supplied every house with clean water. Moreover, roads with big inclination were designed to remove water during floods. Upon its completion, Piraeus’s layout stood as the prototype for all ancient Greek cities. To this day, Piraeus retains the same layout. He went on to do the same for Miletus, another port town, Thouria in Southern Italy and Rhodes. After this, numerous cities adopted this system implemented by Hippodamus, namely Olynthus, Priene and Alexandria.

In addition to being an urban planner, Hippodamus was involved in the political and administrative aspects of a city. He distinguished 3 types of properties: public, private and sacred. He studied how a city must be structured in order to function excellently and its people live gracefully. Numerous Ancient Greek writers such as Strabo, Stobaeus and most importantly Aristotle cite him on their works and credit him as a meteorologist and physicist. Sadly, his works in mathematics, physics and meteorology have not survived.

Bibliography

1. “Hippodamus”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print.
2. Vassileva, Diliana. “Hippodamus and Early Planned Cities”. museumofthecity.org. 29 March, 2016.

Xenocrates

Philosopher, Mathematician (394 BC – 314 BC)

Xenocrates was one of Plato’s students. He studied philosophy in the Academy before becoming a scholar there. Xenocrates, while a Platonic philosopher had also profound knowledge of Pythagorean philosophy. He had travelled in Syracuse together with Plato and Speusippus to study the Pythagoreans.

Little is known about his life. He lived an ascetic life; at one point in his life he didn’t have money to pay the taxes to the Athenians so they sold him as slave. Thankfully, he was bought by Demetrius of Phalera and granted him his freedom. The two would later become close friends. Xenocrates had also deep respect for mathematics.

Xenocrates work begins when he becomes a scholar of the Academy. He compiled and published all of Plato’s works. Furthermore, he wrote numerous books, namely “Logistics”, composed of 9 tomes, “On Studies”, composed of 6 tomes, “On Distances”, “On Astrology” (6 books). In total, Xenocrates wrote more than 60 books on physics, logic, philosophy and ethics, nearly none of which has survived today.

Philosophically, Xenocrates believed that the soul is immortal that is able to go beyond the body. He accepted that there are somatic and spiritual goods and that priority should be given to the latter. By means of a virtuous life, one could free himself from the bonds of the body and live a life free of materialism. Xenocrates supported the fact that virtuous life does not simply mean avoiding bad actions but also avoiding bad thoughts. According to him cognition is the only form of knowledge that enables us to safely reach the truth. Finally, he had philosophical ideas on ethics and physics, though details, unfortunately today are not known.

Bibliography:

1. Pleuris. Konstantinos. Greek Philosophers. Athens: Hilektron, 2012. Print.
2. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. ”Xenocrates.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.

Thales of Miletus

Philosopher, Mathematician, Physicist, Astronomer (c604 BC – c546 BC)

The first by chronological order Greek philosopher and the founder of European philosophy as a science of humanity. Thales claimed that he owed gratitude to luck for 3 things: First that he was born a human being, second that he was born a man and not a woman and third that he was born Greek, not barbarian.

Thales was born in Miletus at a time when the city had become an important trade centre. He used this advantage to travel to Persia and Egypt. He visited the pyramids, which he successfully measured their height using his own mathematical theorems, measured the distance from shore of ships to sea and came up with an explanation for the floods of river Nile, facing the Egyptians not only as tutors but as students as well.

Thales was portrayed as a wise researcher devoted to the study of science. Plato, for example, writes that one day Thales fell into a drain shaft as he was walking on the street while gazing at the sky while studying the movement of the stars.

What is special about Thales is his expertise in numerous fields. He did discoveries purely scientific in astronomy, physics and geometry; he established his own philosophical system and participated actively in politics. Concurrently, he performed great mechanical works and worked as a political supervisor of the Ionians.

He would frequently use his vast scientific knowledge to surprise people. In one example, in May 28^th, 585 BC he predicted a total solar eclipse that stopped the battle between two opposing forces. Because of this feat, Thales’ reputation as a mathematician and astronomer grew enormously and was hailed as one of the 7 wide men of Greece. In another example, by studying and observing the stars, Thales correctly predicted that during the next autumn, the harvest from the olive oils would be significantly increased in comparison to the previous period. He proceeded to negotiations with the oil presses and succeeded in renting them for much higher prices than he himself had originally paid. In this way, Thales had used his astronomic knowledge in conjunction with economics in a way that no modern economist has done to this day. By then, philosophy had acquired a practical value thanks to Thales.

As a mathematician, Thales made radical discoveries in geometry most notably that the diameter divides the circle into two equal parts, that an isosceles triangle has its two basal angles equal, the intercept theorem and the well-known Thales’ Theorem. Even though some of them were already known and used by the Babylonians, Thales was the first to prove them mathematically and today they are considered as fundamental basics of geometry.

In the field of physics and astronomy, Thales always sought to find out the cause. Aside from his research on solar eclipse, earthquakes and floods, Thales’ major contribution in physics were his observations on the phenomena of magnetism and electricity. He is the first person recorded to have discovered electricity, the fact that two light objects could be attracted after being rubbed on amber. With this seemingly simple discovery, Thales was opening the gates to the unknown, which thousands of years later scientists of the Enlightenment would enter and explore.

As a philosopher, Thales is a Unitarian. He believes that the primordial substance of all is water. Everything we see comes from water and is a result of this substance’s simple transformation. Water as a primordial substance and all its products are not dead; they are life, full of energy and it is the water inside everything that is strongly connected to an energetic force, which in living beings is correspondent to the soul.

Thales of Miletus, scientist and philosopher, observer, researcher and experimentalist, founder of the Ionic school of philosophy and discoverer of electricity stands today in the first line of the wisest men in history of mankind. His most famous aphorism “Know thyself” (γνῶθι σ’αὐτὸν) guides all those scientists who wish to climb the stairs to wisdom.

Bibliography

1. Manias, Theophanes. The Unknown Masterpieces of the Ancient Greeks. Athens: Pyrinos Kosmos, 2006. Print.
2. Pleuris, Konstantinos. Greek Philosophers. Athens: Hilektron, 2012. Print.
3. ”Thales of Miletus”. Helios. Passas, I.Athens. 1946. Print