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| Plan of ancient Miletos, Situated on a low promontory, about 500m × 1500m, it had two harbours on the west and one on the east, but they became silted up, and it is now 8km from the sea. Image: Wikimedia Commons. |
Situated about 40 km south of the modern coastal resort of Kuşadası, the most prosperous of these Ionian cities was Miletos, and in subsequent Greek tradition Thales of Miletos was identified as the first natural philosopher or scientist (Aristotle: Metaphysics 983b21–22).1 In the popular view of the time, he was the first person to put forward physical explanations for natural phenomena rather than mythological ones (though he also seems also to have been somewhat of a pantheist). Unusually, because of his later fame, we have quite a lot of information about him compared with some of the succeeding early scientists, although how much of this is accurate has inevitably been the subject of much debate. Fame begets fame, even in science, and Thales seems to have become somewhat of a Newtonian figure amongst the ancient Greeks, attracting stories and exaggerations like the falling apple or the annus mirabilis of the plague year.
Evidence for Thales’ dates comes from the often unreliable biographer Diogenes Laërtios (1.37‒38, DK 11A1)2 who says that the chronographer Apollodoros of Alexandria (fl. 150 BCE) put his birth in Olympiad 35.1 which equates to 640/39 BCE. However, this is almost certainly a scribal error for Olympiad 39.1 (caused by a misreading of θ’ as ε’, which often look very similar in manuscripts), resulting in a date of 624/3 BCE. Diogenes Laërtios goes on to say that Thales died either at the age of 78 in the 58th Olympiad (548‒545 BCE) or, on the authority of the chronographer Sosikrates (fl 180 BCE), at the age of 90. This indicates a date for his death of either 546/5 BCE, which coincides —plausibly or perhaps too conveniently— with the capture of Sardis by the Persians, or a date of 534/3 BCE.
Diogenes Laërtios gives other testimony (1.22, DK 11A1),2 saying that the politician Demetrios of Phaleron (late C4th BCE) reports that Thales was deemed one of the canonical seven sages of Greece during the archonship of Damasios at Athens (582/1 BCE). By this time, Thales would have been 42 years old and thus just past the traditional age for a man's acme amongst the chronographers. Taken together with evidence for his activities (see below) these dates, whilst not proven, seem at least plausible and, in the chronologically challenged world of early Greek science, may be regarded as comprising one of the more securely established lifespans of that era.
Thales was most probably born and bred in Miletos but may have been partly Karian or even Phoenician by descent. This is stated by the C5th BCE historian Herodotos (1.170).3 A somewhat different story is provided by Diogenes Laërtios (1.22; DK 11A1)2 who suggests that Thales came to Miletos in his youth but also affirms the Phoenician connection. However, according to a standard textbook (KRS 77 n. 1) the term 'Phoenician' here may mean 'Boeotian' because of the legend that some Phoenicians settled in Boeotia in southern central Greece. As is pointed out in another textbook (TEGP 38), however, we need not disbelieve Herodotos since he probably got his information from the geographer and historian Hekataios (late C6th BCE) who was also from Miletos. It is also pointed out in KRS and TEGP that Thales' father, Examyes, had a Karian name and may thus have been the child of a Greek man and a Karian woman, an ancient practice as Herodotos indicates elsewhere (1.146). Conversely, Thales' mother, Kleobouline, had a Greek name, thus fixing in all likelihood his mother tongue. All in all, we can probably view Thales as a typical product of the cosmopolitan milieu that was C7th Ionia without trying to be too specific about his forebears. Whatever his ancestry, however, Thales would most likely have identified as Greek.
On the evidence of the C1st CE philosopher and essayist Plutarch (Solon 2.4.4, DK11A11)4 and from general consideration of the locale, it seems likely that Thales was born into a mercantile family and was thus given opportunities to travel as part of the family trading business. There is some further evidence from Plutarch (Opinions 1.3.1.), the C2nd CE doxographer Aëtios (1.3.1, DK11A11; 4.1.1, DK11A16) and the C5th CE commentator Proklos (On Euclid 65.3, DK 11A11) that he travelled to Egypt. This is entirely plausible since we know from Herodotos (2.152‒154) that Greeks (including Milesians), along with Karians, had established trading posts there which were later consolidated at Naukratis in the Nile delta in the middle of the C7th BCE.5
That Thales was a celebrated figure after his death is proved by casual references in the C5th BCE comic playwright Aristophanes. In The Birds (line 1010), the astronomer Meton is described with the words 'the man's a Thales' (ἅνθρωπος Θαλῆς), much as we might describe someone as 'an Einstein'. And in The Clouds (line 180), Socrates is implicitly lampooned by a character who asks 'So why do we admire that guy Thales?' (τί δῆτ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν Θαλῆν θαυμάζομεν;). This reputation persisted for centuries as witnessed by the fact that we find similar references in the C2nd BCE Roman playwright Plautus (Bacchides 122, Captivi 274, Rudens 1003).
In the C4th BCE Plato (Theaitetos 174A)6 records an anecdote whereby Thales was mocked by a female slave for falling into a well while he was looking up at the stars, the archetype possibly of the absent minded professor trope. In contrast to this, Aristotle reports (Politics 1259a6–19)7 a story in which Thales, having deduced from his winter astronomical studies that there would be a large olive crop, secured by deposit all the olives–presses in Miletos and Chios, and was able to hire them out at a large profit in the following summer. So, here we have two different a presentations of the man, simultaneously both lacking in and endowed with, common sense it seems.
We need not think, of course, that either of these stories are true, but they serve to illustrate the reputation as an all round genius that Thales had acquired by about a century after his death (or sooner) and which he continued to hold for some time afterwards. Incidentally, it is worth noting here that the idea that one could carry out long range weather forecasts by means of astronomical study (sometimes called juridical astrology) was a persistent theme of, and one of the motivators for, much of ancient Greek astronomy.
There is disagreement in the ancient sources over whether Thales wrote a book. The C6th CE commentator Simplicius (On the Physics 23.29‒33, DK 11B1) suggests that he wrote a book entitled Nautical Astronomy (Ναυτικῆς Ἀστρολογίας). However, Diogenes Laërtios (1.23, DK11A1)1 reports that this book was ascribed to a certain Phokos of Samos, but then goes on to say that Thales wrote two books: On the Solstice and On the Equinox (Περὶ τροπῆς καὶ Ἰσημερίας). And the medieval Suda (s.v.) simply says that he wrote in verse on celestial matters such as the equinox and many other topics.
It is quite difficult to know what to make of this testimony, but the likelihood is that he wrote no books of the type that we might recognise as an ancient scientific book, that is, a single text (scroll) of perhaps five to fifteen thousand words on a specific topic. The sources above are all late, some eight centuries and more after Thales lived, and even if they go back to Eudemos or Theophrastos, there is a credibility problem. Aristotle, for example, implies (On the Heavens 294a28‒33) that he has no direct knowledge of any writings by Thales. Since he was already famous by the C5th BCE, it is probable that books of the sort that people would expect such a sage to have written were, even then, ascribed to Thales. However, it is not unreasonable to suppose that he kept notes on astronomical matters, particularly in regard to navigation.8
Aside from astronomy Thales is credited with other achievements. Herodotos (1.170)2 reports that Thales was involved in politics and gave advice to his fellow Ionians in regard to the threat they faced from the expanding Persian Empire. This is likely since it was normal for men from leading families to assume political roles in their cities through the local council.
Herodotos also relates (1.75.3–5)9 —but simultaneously doubts— the widely believed story that Thales was involved in military engineering by helping the Lydian King, Croesus, to get his army across the river Halys. He did this by changing its course in order that Croesus could lead his army eastwards and thus pre-empt a Persian invasion. This would have been in 547/6 BCE, when Thales was 77 years old. The reason for Herodotos' doubt may simply have been that he knew of old bridges across the river that could have been used or because of Thales' age or because of the political situation between Lydia and Miletos.
Croesus may have had strategic reasons for preferring a route that was not well known or frequented. That Thales might have been employed by Croesus is plausible, despite the history of tension between Lydians and Greeks and the story related by Diogenes Laërtios (1.25, DK11A1) that Thales advised the Milesians against forming an alliance with Croesus. First, because Persia was a common enemy of which the Greeks had had little experience (Lydia was in effect the devil they knew). Second, because Miletos was situated near the prograding delta of the river Meander, and Milesians were likely to be well known as experienced in water management. Thus, it is not impossible, despite the official neutrality of Miletos in the war between the Lydian and Median empires, that Thales might have offered his services in a private capacity to Croesus. In fact, it would have made good sense if done discreetly.
The first developments in mathematics in Greece are inevitably assigned to Thales. Six mathematical 'discoveries' are identified in later sources:
- a circle is bisected by its diameter (Proklos, Commentary on Euclid 157.10), which is included in Euclid's definition 17;
- vertically opposite angles are equal (ibid. 299.3‒4), which is Euclid's proposition 1.15;
- the angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal (ibid. 250.20‒21), which is Euclid's proposition 1.5;
- congruent triangles are determined by having one line and adjacent angles equal, and the use of this fact to calculate the distance of ships at sea (ibid. 352.13‒18), which is effectively Euclid's proposition 1.4;
- construction of a right angled triangle in a circle (that is, the angle subtended by the diameter is a right angle), which is sometimes called Thales' Theorem (Diogenes Laertios 1.24), and is a special case of Euclid's proposition 3.31;
- the use of similar triangles for determining the height of pyramids (Plutarch Dinner of the Seven Wise Men 147a; Pliny Natural History 36.82 DKA21), which recalls Euclid's proposition 6.11.
On the whole, Greek mathematics in its Euclidean form does not seem to owe much to foreign influence. However, it is not really credible that Thales proved these results in some deductive manner since his immediate successors in Ionia do not seem to have been much involved with mathematics. Such developments belong to the middle of the C5th BCE (at the earliest) with the advent of mathematicians like Oinopides and Hippokrates, both from Chios, and Theodoros of Kyrene. Nevertheless, it may the case be that Thales initiated a tradition of playing around with geometrical figures, based on practical knowledge picked up in Egypt, and noting down what seemed to him to be useful facts.12
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| The location of Miletos on the southern shore of the Meander delta opposite Priene on the northern shore. The delta is now an alluvial plain but in the time of Thales it was a navigable bay. Image: Wikimedia Commons. |
The Earth is held to float on water, seemingly a kind of underground ocean from which all rivers and seas apparently originate. This notion is not far removed from, and perhaps was a modification of, the traditional Greek (and indeed Mesopotamian) idea of an encircling river. As if in confirmation of his idea, Thales also said, according to Seneca (Natural Questions: 3.14),14 that earthquakes are caused by waves occurring in the water under the Earth, suggesting that he viewed the Earth as essentially a flat surface.
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| View from the ruins of Priene across the Meander delta to the site of Miletos on the distant hills. Now rich farmland, in ancient times this was open water. Photo by the author, 2016. |
In addition to this rather vaguely expressed materialism, Aristotle also tells us (On the Soul A5, 411a7) that Thales entertained pantheistic ideas in relation to the world in general, believing that "everything is full of gods". As an example of this, he remarks also (On the Soul A2, 405a19) that Thales attributed a soul to stone because it could attract iron. Interestingly, Diogenes Laërtios (1.24, DK11A1), citing Aristotle and Hippias, and as well as mentioning the magnetic stone (μαγνῆτις λίθος), adds amber (ἤλεκτρον), which has similar properties of attraction by virtue of its ability to store static electrical charge. We could choose to see in this the birth of the idea of a vital force, but equally we could link it to primitive ideas of animism, in the sense that whatever can impart movement must also have life. Perhaps the ideas are not so very far apart.
Thales is credited in the ancient sources with several astronomical accomplishments and observations. First, there are a couple of minor matters: his opinion that the stars are earthy but contain fire (Aëtios P2.13.1, S1.24.1a) and the rather trivial observation that the Hyades contain a northern part and a southern part (Scholion on Aratos 172; DK 11B2). The first of these is interesting insofar as it is the first recorded statement in history on the physical constitution of the stars, and it suggests that within Thales' physical theory his view might have been that stars evolved out of water with one part undergoing a condensation to Earth and another part, a rarefaction to fire. The second is a simple statement of observed fact, insofar as the Hyades star cluster appears to the naked eye to consist of two lines of stars proceeding eastwards from the star γ Tau, the southern line terminating in the bright star α Tau (Aldebaran), while the northern line terminates in the star ε Tau.
Second, we have the statement that the Sun's period from solstice to solstice is not always equal (Derkyllides, reported by Theon of Smyrna 198.14‒18) and corroborated by Diogenes Laërtios (1.23; DK 11A1)2. This is interesting, since if true it is the earliest example of something that was to become a major preoccupation of later astronomers: how to determine the length of the year. Although the period between two solstices or two equinoxes of the same type is close to the average length of the tropical year (current value 365.242189 days), the period between two consecutive solstices or equinoxes can vary by over three days.15 For example, the summer solstice in Miletos in the year 585 BCE, for example, occurred on 29th June at 10:09 and the winter solstice of that year on 26th December at 22:01, an interval of 180.499 days. However, the summer solstice in the following year, 584 BCE, took place on 29th June at 16:02, an interval of 183.750 days. At some point, the Greeks certainly did discover this, but the date of a solstice is a difficult thing to determine accurately with primitive instruments, more difficult even than determining the date of an equinox, and so it is asking quite a lot of us to believe that the variation in the lengths of the seasons was discovered this early.
On this matter, the authors of KRS (83) take an insouciant view, claiming that a simple gnomon (vertical pole) would be all that is required to determine the date of a solstice. However, this would be difficult in practice. For example, trying to determine the date of the summer solstice of 585 BCE around midday using the shadow length of a two metre vertical gnomon to measure the maximum altitude of the Sun would give the following results in Miletos:
| Date | Time | Max Altitude (a) | Shadow (2 metres × cot a) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22nd June | 11:55 | 75.9708° | 499.7 mm |
| 23rd June | 11:55 | 76.0158° | 498.1 mm |
| 24th June | 11:55 | 76.0508° | 496.8 mm |
| 25th June | 11:55 | 76.0847° | 495.5 mm |
| 26th June | 11:56 | 76.1088° | 494.6 mm |
| 27th June | 11:56 | 76.1261° | 493.9 mm |
| 28th June | 11:56 | 76.1361° | 493.6 mm |
| 29th June | 11:56 | 76.1389° | 493.5 mm (solstice) |
| 30th June | 11:57 | 76.1350° | 493.7 mm |
| 1st July | 11:56 | 76.1186° | 494.3 mm |
| 2nd July | 11:57 | 76.1058° | 494.7 mm |
| 3rd July | 11:57 | 76.0806° | 495.7 mm |
| 4th July | 11:58 | 76.0483° | 496.9 mm |
| 5th July | 11:58 | 76.0092° | 498.3 mm |
| 6th July | 11:58 | 75.9631° | 500.0 mm |
As can be seen from the table such an instrumental set up would a considerable degree of precision: one would need to determine the time of the solar zenith to within a minute (interpolating that time with a klepsydra perhaps). Not only that, but it takes three days on either side of the solstice for the shadow length to vary by more than a millimetre, and seven days for it to vary by more than half a centimetre. Add to this the need for a smooth planar surface such as polished marble and the fact that, because the Sun is not a point source of light, the edge of the shadow is somewhat fuzzy and thus cannot really be determined with an accuracy of less than ±1 mm even on a good surface, and it becomes clear that the process is not a simple operation. Moreover if the gnomon were to be extended or replaced by a pillar, for example, the edge of the shadow simply becomes increasingly fuzzy in proportion, thereby making it difficult to increase the level of accuracy.
Thus it would require an instrument of some accuracy and size, and a dedicated observer willing to measure the shadow lengths over a period of perhaps a two months in order to interpolate even the correct day for the solstice (and this would be on top of the daily interpolations for maximum shadow length around noon). Possibly this method was used in early C6th BCE, but the level of accuracy required belongs probably to the C4th BCE. In general, horizontal methods were used in this period to determine the solstices, not vertical ones. Therefore, it might be the case that this discovery of unequal seasons was a later one which was subsequently attributed to Thales. Against this negative view, however, is a surviving quotation from the late C6th BCE philosopher, Herakleitos of Ephesos, who said (Plutarch On Exile: 604a; DK22B94):16
The Sun will not overstep his measures, otherwise the Furies, the ministers of justice, will find him out.Although expressed in mythological terms, it is possible here that Herakleitos is referring to the annual path of the Sun and what he assumed was the equal length of the seasons. Was he, perhaps, challenging a view —a view going back to Thales— that the astronomical seasons were not of exactly the same length? Of course, accepting that Thales did make such a claim is not the same as accepting that he was able to measure them correctly.
Third, we learn from Pliny (Natural History 18.213; DK 11A18)17 that Thales said that the morning setting [cosmical setting] of the Pleiades happens on the 25th day after the autumnal equinox. For example, in the year 585 BCE, the equinox occurred on 29th September at 09:37, and the 25th day after that (counting inclusively) was 23rd October. On that day in Miletos, the Sun rose at 05:14 and at the same time the Pleiades were almost setting at an altitude of just 2° 15' directly opposite. For someone with acute eyesight in good seeing conditions it is possible that they might still have been visible above the sea horizon (perhaps aided by a rudimentary sighting tube), since with a combined magnitude of 1.2 they would typically have been reduced to an effective magnitude of 6.5 by the atmosphere, the usually accepted limit of human vision.18 There is, of course, the uncertainty here that Thales may not have known the exact date of the equinox (he certainly would not have known the time of day), but if true it this suggests that he was an acute observer, not just in terms of his eyesight, but in his practice of keeping some kind of record of his observations.
Fourth, we learn from the C3rd BCE Alexandrian poet and scholar Kallimachos (Iambics: fr. 191, DK11A3) that he
measured the little stars of the Wagon, by which the Phoenicians sail,meaning, it is supposed, that he introduced to the Greeks the practice of using Ursa Minor (known to the Greeks as both the Little Bear and the Little Wagon) as a guide to the north celestial pole. This is plausible insofar as in the early C6th BCE there was no convenient star that marked the north pole. The bright constellation of Ursa Major was about 20° away from the pole and a rather inexact marker. The smaller and less bright constellation of Ursa Minor was on the other side of the pole and only about 10° away. Using the two of them together would have given a much better fix on the true direction of north, and the two stars of the latter, β UMi and γ UMi, pointed almost directly to the pole. Perhaps 'measured' in the Kallimachos quote means the age old practice of using the outstretched hand to estimate the distance and direction to the pole. If this is correct, it confirms the idea that this was a legacy of ancient Mediterranean astronomy which originated with the Minoans and was adapted by the Phoenicians. And, of course, it ties in neatly with the idea that Thales may have had some Phoenician heritage. Conversely, if the story were true, it is also possible that his Phoenician heritage was inferred from this fact.
Fifth, he is said to have made a determination of the apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon and to state that the size of the Sun in relation to its circular path was in the ratio 1 to 720 (Diogenes Laërtios 1.24; DK 11A1)2, a report which is more elaborately stated (though the number is not given) in the earlier writer Apuleius (Florida 18; DK 1A19). Although the number is correct, it is not credible that Thales could have stated this since, given his belief in a flat Earth floating on water, he could not have believed that the Sun had a circular orbit. Rather, he probably viewed the Sun as disappearing into the western Okeanos at night and travelling around to the eastern part for the dawn, similar to the Egyptian viewpoint which was later echoed by his younger contemporary Anaximenes. Most likely, this measurement was carried out by a later figure in the C5th BCE such as Anaxagoras. Here again, we have an example of a more recent development in Greek astronomy being credited to a famous figure from the more distant past.
Sixth, Thales is the originator of a theory about the annual flooding of the Nile. This is attributed specifically in Seneca (Natural Questions 4a.2.22) and Aëtios (P 4.1.1), while Herodotos (2.20) mentions it without naming Thales. The hypothesis is that the so called Etesian Winds, which in the summer blow from the northwest into Egypt, hinder the flow of the Nile into the Mediterranean, causing the water to back up and the river level to rise. Herodotos rightly dismisses this idea, citing counter-evidence, and then goes on to dismiss a partially correct reason (snow melt in Ethiopia, though in fact it is summer rainfall there that causes the Blue Nile to surge) before putting forward his own theory (which has some vague merit). Not much can be said about this overall, except that it reinforces Thales' intellectual connection with Egypt and with rivers.
Finally, we come to Thales' most celebrated achievement. Several ancient accounts say that Thales foretold a solar eclipse ('predicted', as sometimes stated by modern commentators, is too strong and technical a word for the sources to bear without quotation marks). This is reported principally by Herodotos (1.74.1‒5)19 who probably got the story from the Milesian writer Hekataios. While some of the later sources may just be echoing Herodotos, there are a couple of others that appear to bear witness to an independent tradition.
Pliny (Natural History 2.53, 2.12(9); DK 11A5)20 in the C1st CE helpfully supplies a date using two different methods of calculation which suggest either 585 or 584 BCE. Since Herodotos does not give a date, Pliny must have had an independent source. This is likely to have been Apollodoros who in turn drew on the polymath Eratosthenes of Kyrene (C3rd BCE), but where the latter got his information from is not known for sure. Probably it was via a student of Aristotle such as Eudemos (C4th BCE), and indeed the biographer Diogenes Laërtios (1.23; DK 11A1)1 stated not only that Eudemos accepted the claim that Thales foretold the eclipse, but also that the earlier figures Demokritos in the C5th BCE, and Herakleitos and Xenophanes in C6th BCE did too, the latter living not much more than a generation after Thales. Diogenes Laërtios probably had a copy of Eudemos' book on the history of astronomy since the later commentator Proklos almost certainly did.
Modern astronomical calculations have shown that the eclipse of Thales, if it has any substance at all, can only have been that of of 28th May 585 BCE which achieved 97% totality when viewed from Miletos and was total over large parts of the Anatolian plateau. It is said to have happened during the so called Battle of the Halys River between the Lydians and the Medes. We do not know exactly where the battle was fought since no archaeology has ever been found, but the river was the de facto border between the two empires and it was likely to have been nearby.
On what basis Thales felt able to make his 'prediction' is not at all clear. On both historical and scientific grounds, direct Babylonian influence seems at first glance unlikely, despite this view being endorsed by a number of distinguished authorities for over a century (TEGP: 38–9).21 It is difficult to see how an Ionian Greek could possibly have had effective contact with a Babylonian astronomer in the early C6th BCE, even though, with the overthrow of the Assyrians by the Babylonians and their allies in 609 BCE, there were inherited trading links through various settlements in the Levant, such as Al-Mina and Tell Sukas (Boardman 1999: 46–54).22 The difficulties involved in understanding astronomical texts written in an unknown script and a foreign language, and moreover, embedded in a divinatory theory of the heavens which was alien to Greek sensibilities would have been immense (though not impossible if enough intermediaries were involved).
In addition to this, it is not clear that the Babylonians at this time could have furnished sufficient information about solar eclipses to be of much use. Neugebauer (1957: 142–3) dismissed the idea entirely, but his is essentially a straw man argument, since it is clear from the sources that we are not dealing with a prediction in either the later Hellenistic or Seleucid sense, as he seems to assume. Some more recent commentators, such as North (2008: 69) have followed suit, but seem not to have engaged with the actual historical evidence.23 In fact, as Heath (1913: 16–17)21 long ago recognised, Babylonian astronomers had by the C7th BCE developed a practical 5 or 6 month rule of thumb which enabled them to guess when a lunar eclipse was likely to happen. From this, they knew that a solar eclipse (which they could not predict at all) was also a possibility. It was their talent to turn this possibility into a 'prediction' by framing expectations and recommending an appropriate apotropaic ritual.
An alternative idea is to posit that Thales had devised some kind of home–grown theory of eclipses (which would inevitably have been incorrect) and that it was on that basis of that he was able to make his forecast. Couprie (2004) has attempted to explain it along these lines, but this itself has been met with skepticism by Querejeta (2011), although the problems identified by the latter do not really invalidate the central idea. Moreover, the whole issue of the eclipse 'prediction' has become entangled with the separate question of whether or not Thales understood the proximate cause of solar eclipses, namely the blocking of the Sun's light by the Moon. With good reason, many modern scholars have doubted this, despite a relatively recent papyrus discovery (Oxyrhynchus Papyri 53.3710, column 2, fragment c) which suggests that Aristarchos of Samos was happy to accept that he did. However, it is not clear why we should accept the authority of Aristarchos on this matter since he could not have possessed any original documents. The whole question of the Eclipse of Thales is too complex and finely balanced to discuss further here and will be dealt with more fully in a future special topic on this website.
In sum, there can be little doubt that Thales was a major contributor to the development of early Greek science, such as it was, but mainly in the sense of a figure who set the scientific ball rolling. Indeed, it is difficult to attribute to him specific advances other than a partial reorientation of Greek thinking away from mythological explanations towards physical processes. There is no evidence, for example, that he kept systematic observations or attempted to test his theories against data. Like his immediate successors, he seems to have been principally a speculative thinker with a concomitant reputation as a man of practical wisdom. And, like many other figures in ancient Greece, he has benefited (or suffered, depending upon your notions of historicity) from a widespread tendency in later generations to construct stories of how things came to be. It seems unlikely that he was the first to speculate in the manner that he did but history has afforded us no earlier example.
Lunar crater: Thales (diameter 31 km).
ABBREVIATIONS
KRS = Kirk, G. S., Raven, J. E. and Schofield, M. (1983). The Presocratic Philosophers, 2nd ed. Cambridge.
TEGP = Graham, Daniel W. (2010) The Texts of Early Greek Philosophy. Cambridge.
NOTES
1. (Aristotle: Metaphysics 983b19–27) τὸ μέντοι πλῆθος καὶ τὸ εἶδος τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρχῆς οὐ τὸ αὐτὸ πάντες λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ Θαλῆς μὲν ὁ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρχηγὸς φιλοσοφίας ὕδωρ φησὶν εἶναι （διὸ καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος ἀπεφήνατο εἶναι）, λαβὼν ἴσως τὴν ὑπόληψιν ταύτην ἐκ τοῦ πάντων ὁρᾶν τὴν τροφὴν ὑγρὰν οὖσαν καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ θερμὸν ἐκ τούτου γιγνόμενον καὶ τούτῳ ζῶν （τὸ δ᾽ ἐξ οὗ γίγνεται, τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ πάντων）—διά τε δὴ τοῦτο τὴν ὑπόληψιν λαβὼν ταύτην καὶ διὰ τὸ πάντων τὰ σπέρματα τὴν φύσιν ὑγρὰν ἔχειν, τὸ δ᾽ ὕδωρ ἀρχὴν τῆς φύσεως εἶναι τοῖς ὑγροῖς.
However, all are not agreed as to the number and character of such principles. Thales, the founder of this type of philosophy, says the principle is water (which is why he also said that the earth floats on water). Presumably he derived this assumption from seeing that the nutriment of everything is moist, and that heat itself is generated from moisture and depends upon it for its existence (and that from which a thing is generated is always its first principle). He derived his assumption, then, from this; and also from the fact that the seeds of everything have a moist nature, whereas water is the first principle of the nature of moist things.
2. (Diogenes Laërtios: Life of Thales) [22] Ἦν τοίνυν ὁ Θαλῆς, ὡς μὲν Ἡρόδοτος καὶ Δοῦρις καὶ Δημόκριτός φασι, πατρὸς μὲν Ἐξαμύου, μητρὸς δὲ Κλεοβουλίνης, ἐκ τῶν Θηλιδῶν, οἵ εἰσι Φοίνικες, εὐγενέστατοι τῶν ἀπὸ Κάδμου καὶ Ἀγήνορος. <ἦν δὲ τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν>, καθὰ καὶ Πλάτων φησί: καὶ πρῶτος σοφὸς ὠνομάσθη ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησι Δαμασίου, καθ᾽ ὃν καὶ οἱ ἑπτὰ σοφοὶ ἐκλήθησαν, ὥς φησι Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῇ τῶν ἀρχόντων Ἀναγραφῇ. ἐπολιτογραφήθη δὲ ἐν Μιλήτῳ, ὅτε ἦλθε σὺν Νείλεῳ ἐκπεσόντι Φοινίκης: ὡς δ᾽ οἱ πλείους φασίν, ἰθαγενὴς Μιλήσιος ἦν καὶ γένους λαμπροῦ.
[22] Now Thales (as Herodotos, Douris, and Demokritos say) was the son of Examyes and Kleobouline and belonged to the Thelidai who are Phoenicians, illustrious descendants of Kadmos and Agenor. As Plato says, he was one of the Seven Sages. He was the first to be named Sage, in the archonship of Damasias at Athens, when the Seven Sages were announced, as Demetrios of Phaleron records in his List of Archons. He became a citizen of Miletos when he came to that town along with Nileos, who had fled Phoenicia. But most say that he was a true born Milesian and from a distinguished family.
[23] Μετὰ δὲ τὰ πολιτικὰ τῆς φυσικῆς ἐγένετο θεωρίας. καὶ κατά τινας μὲν σύγγραμμα κατέλιπεν οὐδέν: ἡ γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναφερομένη Ναυτικὴ ἀστρολογία Φώκου λέγεται εἶναι τοῦ Σαμίου. Καλλίμαχος δ᾽ αὐτὸν οἶδεν εὑρετὴν τῆς ἄρκτου τῆς μικρᾶς, λέγων ἐν τοῖς Ἰάμβοις οὕτως: καὶ τῆς ἁμάξης ἐλέγετο σταθμήσασθαι τοὺς ἀστερίσκους, ᾗ πλέουσι Φοίνικες. κατά τινας δὲ μόνα δύο συνέγραψε, Περὶ τροπῆς καὶ Ἰσημερίας, τὰ ἄλλ᾽ ἀκατάληπτα εἶναι δοκιμάσας. δοκεῖ δὲ κατά τινας πρῶτος ἀστρολογῆσαι καὶ ἡλιακὰς ἐκλείψεις καὶ τροπὰς προειπεῖν, ὥς φησιν Εὔδημος ἐν τῇ περὶ τῶν Ἀστρολογουμένων ἱστορίᾳ: ὅθεν αὐτὸν καὶ Ξενοφάνης καὶ Ἡρόδοτος θαυμάζει. μαρτυρεῖ δ᾽ αὐτῷ καὶ Ἡράκλειτος καὶ Δημόκριτος.
[23] After engaging in politics he became a student of nature. According to some he left no writings, as the 'Nautical Astronomy' attributed to him is said to be by Phokos of Samos. Kallimachos knows him as the discoverer of the Little Bear [Ursa Minor]; saying in his 'Iambics':
He measured out the little stars of the Wagon by which the Phoenicians sail.
And according to others he wrote only two things: 'On the Solstice' and 'On the Equinox', opining that all other matters were unknowable. By some accounts he seems to have been the first to study astronomy, the first to predict solar eclipses and the first to determine the solstices; so Eudemos says in his 'History of Astronomy'. Because of this, Xenophanes and Herodotos admired him, and Herakleitos and Demokritos endorse him.
[24] Ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν πρῶτον εἰπεῖν φασιν ἀθανάτους τὰς ψυχάς: ὧν ἐστι Χοιρίλος ὁ ποιητής. πρῶτος δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τροπῆς ἐπὶ τροπὴν πάροδον εὗρε, καὶ πρῶτος τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου μέγεθος <τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ κύκλου ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ τῆς σελήνης μέγεθος> τοῦ σεληναίου ἑπτακοσιοστὸν καὶ εἰκοστὸν μέρος ἀπεφήνατο κατά τινας. πρῶτος δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑστάτην ἡμέραν τοῦ μηνὸς τριακάδα εἶπε. πρῶτος δὲ καὶ περὶ φύσεως διελέχθη, ὥς τινες. Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ καὶ Ἱππίας φασὶν αὐτὸν καὶ τοῖς ἀψύχοις μεταδιδόναι ψυχῆς, τεκμαιρόμενον ἐκ τῆς λίθου τῆς μαγνήτιδος καὶ τοῦ ἠλέκτρου. παρά τε Αἰγυπτίων γεωμετρεῖν μαθόντα φησὶ Παμφίλη πρῶτον καταγράψαι κύκλου τὸ τρίγωνον ὀρθογώνιον, καὶ θῦσαι βοῦν.
[24] And some, like the poet Choirilos, say that he was the first to maintain the immortality of the soul. He was also the first to find the course from solstice to solstice, and according to some the first to declare the size of the Sun and Moon to be one seven hundred and twentieth part of the solar and lunar circles. He was the first to say that the last day of the month was the thirtieth; and the first, some say, to discuss physical problems. Aristotle and Hippias say that also attributed life to inanimate objects, arguing from magnetic stone and from amber. Pamphile states that, having learnt geometry from the Egyptians, he was the first to inscribe a right-angled triangle in a circle, whereupon he sacrificed an ox.
[25] οἱ δὲ Πυθαγόραν φασίν, ὧν ἐστιν Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ λογιστικός. οὗτος προήγαγεν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον, ἅ φησι Καλλίμαχος ἐν τοῖς Ἰάμβοις Εὔφορβον εὑρεῖν τὸν Φρύγα, οἷον "σκαληνὰ καὶ τρίγωνα" καὶ ὅσα γραμμικῆς ἔχεται θεωρίας. Δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πολιτικοῖς ἄριστα βεβουλεῦσθαι. Κροίσου γοῦν πέμψαντος πρὸς Μιλησίους ἐπὶ συμμαχίᾳ ἐκώλυσεν: ὅπερ Κύρου κρατήσαντος ἔσωσε τὴν πόλιν. καὶ αὐτὸς δέ φησιν, ὡς Ἡρακλείδης ἱστορεῖ, μονήρη αὑτὸν γεγονέναι καὶ ἰδιαστήν.
[25] Others tell this story of Pythagoras, like Apollodoros the arithmetician. (It was he [Pythagorias] who developed furthest the discoveries attributed by Kallimachos in his 'Iambics' to Euphorbos the Phrygian, such as scalene triangles and such things as constitute the theory of lines.) It seems also that he [Thales] had excellent judgement in political matters. For instance, when Croesus sent to Miletos offering an alliance, he prevented it, thus saving the city when Cyrus obtained victory. And he himself says, as Herakleides relates, that he lived a private and solitary life.
[26] ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ γῆμαι αὐτὸν καὶ Κύβισθον υἱὸν σχεῖν: οἱ δὲ ἄγαμον μεῖναι, τῆς δὲ ἀδελφῆς τὸν υἱὸν θέσθαι. ὅτε καὶ ἐρωτηθέντα διὰ τί οὐ τεκνοποιεῖ, "διὰ φιλοτεκνίαν" εἰπεῖν. καὶ λέγουσιν ὅτι τῆς μητρὸς ἀναγκαζούσης αὐτὸν γῆμαι, "[νὴ Δία]," ἔλεγεν, "οὐδέπω καιρός." εἶτα, ἐπειδὴ παρήβησεν ἐγκειμένης, εἰπεῖν, "οὐκέτι καιρός." φησὶ δὲ καὶ Ἱερώνυμος ὁ Ῥόδιος ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ Τῶν σποράδην ὑπομνημάτων, ὅτι βουλόμενος δεῖξαι ῥᾴδιον εἶναι πλουτεῖν, φορᾶς μελλούσης ἐλαιῶν ἔσεσθαι, προνοήσας ἐμισθώσατο τὰ ἐλαιουργεῖα καὶ πάμπλειστα συνεῖλε χρήματα.
[26] Some say that he married and had a son Kybisthos, others that he remained unmarried and adopted his sister's son. And when he was asked why he had no children of his own he replied "because I love children." And a story is told that, when his mother tried to force him to marry, he replied "No by Zeus, it is too soon", and when she pressed him again later, he replied "it is too late". Hieronymos of Rhodes in the second of his "Scattered Notes" says that, wanting to show how easy it is to grow rich and foreseeing that it would be a fruitful season for olives, he rented all the oil-presses and made a fortune.
[27] Ἀρχὴν δὲ τῶν πάντων ὕδωρ ὑπεστήσατο, καὶ τὸν κόσμον ἔμψυχον καὶ δαιμόνων πλήρη. τάς τε ὥρας τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ φασιν αὐτὸν εὑρεῖν καὶ εἰς τριακοσίας ἑξήκοντα πέντε ἡμέρας διελεῖν. Οὐδεὶς δὲ αὐτοῦ καθηγήσατο, πλὴν ὅτι εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐλθὼν τοῖς ἱερεῦσι συνδιέτριψεν. ὁ δὲ Ἱερώνυμος καὶ ἐκμετρῆσαί φησιν αὐτὸν τὰς πυραμίδας ἐκ τῆς σκιᾶς, παρατηρήσαντα ὅτε ἡμῖν ἰσομεγέθης ἐστίν. συνεβίω δὲ καὶ Θρασυβούλῳ τῷ Μιλησίων τυράννῳ, καθά φησι Μινύης. Τὰ δὲ περὶ τὸν τρίποδα φανερὰ τὸν εὑρεθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν ἁλιέων καὶ διαπεμφθέντα τοῖς σοφοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τῶν Μιλησίων.
[27] He posited that water was the origin of all things, and that the world is animate and full daemons. They say that he determined the seasons of the year and divided it into 365 days. No one taught him, although he went to Egypt and spent time with the priests there. Hieronymus says that he measured the pyramids from their shadows, taking the observation when our shadows are the same lengths as ourselves. According to Minyas, he lived with Thrasyboulos, the ruler of Miletos. The well known story of the tripod found by fishermen and sent successively by the people of Miletos to the Wise Men in runs as follows.
[28] φασὶ γὰρ Ἰωνικούς τινας νεανίσκους βόλον ἀγοράσαι παρὰ Μιλησίων ἁλιέων. ἀνασπασθέντος δὲ τοῦ τρίποδος ἀμφισβήτησις ἦν, ἕως οἱ Μιλήσιοι ἔπεμψαν εἰς Δελφούς: καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἔχρησεν οὕτως: ἔκγονε Μιλήτου, τρίποδος πέρι Φοῖβον ἐρωτᾷς; τίς σοφίῃ πάντων πρῶτος, τούτου τρίποδ᾽ αὐδῶ. διδοῦσιν οὖν Θαλῇ: ὁ δὲ ἄλλῳ καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλῳ ἕως Σόλωνος. ὁ δὲ ἔφη σοφίᾳ πρῶτον εἶναι τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Δελφούς. ταῦτα δὴ ὁ Καλλίμαχος ἐν τοῖς Ἰάμβοις ἄλλως ἱστορεῖ, παρὰ Μαιανδρίου λαβὼν τοῦ Μιλησίου. Βαθυκλέα γάρ τινα Ἀρκάδα φιάλην καταλιπεῖν καὶ ἐπισκῆψαι "δοῦναι τῶν σοφῶν ὀνηΐστῳ." ἐδόθη δὴ Θαλῇ καὶ κατὰ περίοδον πάλιν Θαλῇ:
[28] They say that some Ionian youths having purchased from Milesian fishermen their catch of fish, a dispute arose over the tripod which had been drawn up with the catch until the Milesians referred the question to Delphi, and the god gave his pronouncement: "Child of Miletos, you ask Apollo about the tripod? Whoever is first in wisdom, I speak of this tripod." Accordingly they give it to Thales, and he to another, and so on until it comes to Solon, who says that the god was the most wise, sent it off to Delphi. Kallimachos in his 'Iambics' has a different version, which he took from Maeandrios of Miletos. It is that Bathykles, an Arkadian, left at his death a bowl and ordered that it "should be given to him who had done most good by his wisdom." So it was given to Thales, who sent it off to the other sages, but it came back to Thales again.
[29] ὁ δὲ τῷ Διδυμεῖ Ἀπόλλωνι ἀπέστειλεν, εἰπὼν οὕτω κατὰ τὸν Καλλίμαχον: Θαλῆς με τῷ μεδεῦντι Νείλεω δήμου δίδωσι, τοῦτο δὶς λαβὼν ἀριστεῖον. τὸ δὲ πεζὸν οὕτως ἔχει: "Θαλῆς Ἐξαμύου Μιλήσιος Ἀπόλλωνι Δελφινίῳ Ἑλλήνων ἀριστεῖον δὶς λαβών." ὁ δὲ περιενεγκὼν τὴν φιάλην τοῦ Βαθυκλέους παῖς Θυρίων ἐκαλεῖτο, καθά φησιν Ἔλευσις ἐν τῷ Περὶ Ἀχιλλέως καὶ Ἀλέξων ὁ Μύνδιος ἐν ἐνάτῳ Μυθικῶν. Εὔδοξος δ᾽ ὁ Κνίδιος καὶ Εὐάνθης ὁ Μιλήσιός φασι τῶν Κροίσου τινὰ φίλων λαβεῖν παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ποτήριον χρυσοῦν, ὅπως δῷ τῷ σοφωτάτῳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων: τὸν δὲ δοῦναι Θαλῇ.
[29] And he sent it to Apollo at Didyma, with this dedication, according to Kallimachos: "Thales, descended from Neleus, judged the wisest, gives you this twice-won prize." But the prose inscription is: "Thales the Milesian, son of Examyes [dedicates this] to Delphinian Apollo, a twice awarded prize from the Greeks." The bowl was carried from place to place by the son of Bathykles, whose name was Thyrion, so it is stated by Eleusis in his work 'On Achilles', and Alexo the Myndian in the ninth book of his 'Myths'. But Eudoxos of Knidos and Euanthes of Miletus say that someone who was a friend of Croesus received from the king a golden goblet in order to bestow it upon the wisest of the Greeks, and he gave it to Thales.
[30] Καὶ περιελθεῖν εἰς Χίλωνα, ὃν πυνθάνεσθαι τοῦ Πυθίου τίς αὑτοῦ σοφώτερος: καὶ τὸν ἀνελεῖν Μύσωνα, περὶ οὗ λέξομεν. <τοῦτον οἱ περὶ τὸν Εὔδοξον ἀντὶ Κλεοβούλου τιθέασι, Πλάτων δ᾽ ἀντὶ Περιάνδρου.> περὶ αὐτοῦ δὴ τάδε ἀνεῖλεν ὁ Πύθιος: Οἰταῖόν τινα φημὶ Μύσων᾽ ἐνὶ Χηνὶ γενέσθαι σοῦ μᾶλλον πραπίδεσσιν ἀρηρότα πευκαλίμῃσιν. ὁ δ᾽ ἐρωτήσας ἦν Ἀνάχαρσις. Δαΐμαχος δ᾽ ὁ Πλατωνικὸς καὶ Κλέαρχος φιάλην ἀποσταλῆναι ὑπὸ Κροίσου Πιττακῷ καὶ οὕτω περιενεχθῆναι. Ἄνδρων δ᾽ ἐν τῷ Τρίποδι Ἀργείους ἆθλον ἀρετῆς τῷ σοφωτάτῳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τρίποδα θεῖναι: κριθῆναι δὲ Ἀριστόδημον Σπαρτιάτην, ὃν παραχωρῆσαι Χίλωνι.
[30] And it came to Chilon, who consulted Pythian Apollo with the question as to who was wiser than him. And the god replied "Myson". We shall have more to say him later. (In the list of the Seven Sages given by Eudoxus, Myson takes the place of Kleoboulos; Plato also by omitting Periander.) The answer of the oracle respecting him was as follows: "Myson of Oeta in Chen, who has a wiser heart than you". Anacharsis was the one who asked the question. Daimachos the Platonist and Klearchos say that a bowl was sent by Croesus to Pittakos and thus did the rounds. Andron in his 'Tripod ' says that the Argives offered a tripod as a prize of virtue to the wisest of the Greeks. Aristodemos of Sparta was judged to be the winner but retired in favour of Chilon.
...
[31] μέμνηται τοῦ Ἀριστοδήμου καὶ Ἀλκαῖος οὕτως: ὣς γὰρ δή ποτ᾽ Ἀριστόδαμόν φασ᾽ οὐκ ἀπάλαμνον ἐν Σπάρτᾳ λόγον εἰπεῖν: χρήματ᾽ ἀνήρ, πενιχρὸς δ᾽ οὐδεὶς πέλετ᾽ ἐσλός. ἔνιοι δέ φασιν ὑπὸ Περιάνδρου Θρασυβούλῳ τῷ Μιλησίων τυράννῳ πλοῖον ἔμφορτον ἀποσταλῆναι: τοῦ δὲ περὶ τὴν Κῴαν θάλασσαν ναυαγήσαντος, ὕστερον εὑρεθῆναι πρός τινων ἁλιέων τὸν τρίποδα. Φανόδικος δὲ περὶ τὴν Ἀθηναίων θάλασσαν εὑρεθῆναι καὶ ἀνενεχθέντα εἰς ἄστυ γενομένης ἐκκλησίας Βίαντι πεμφθῆναι:
[31] Aristodemos is mentioned by Alkaios thus: Surely no witless word was this of the Spartan, I deem, "Wealth is the worth of a man; and poverty void of esteem." Some relate that a vessel with its freight was sent by Periander to Thrasyboulos, tyrant of Miletos, and that, when it was wrecked in Koan waters, the tripod was afterwards found by certain fishermen. However, Phanodikos declares it to have been found in Athenian waters and thence brought to Athens. An assembly was held and it was sent to Bias;
[32] διὰ τί δέ, ἐν τῷ περὶ Βίαντος λέξομεν. Ἄλλοι φασὶν ἡφαιστότευκτον εἶναι αὐτὸν καὶ δοθῆναι πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ Πέλοπι γαμοῦντι: αὖθίς τε εἰς Μενέλαον ἐλθεῖν καὶ σὺν τῇ Ἑλένῃ ἁρπασθέντα ὑπ᾽ Ἀλεξάνδρου ῥιφῆναι εἰς τὴν Κῴαν θάλασσαν πρὸς τῆς Λακαίνης, εἰπούσης ὅτι περιμάχητος ἔσται. χρόνῳ δὲ Λεβεδίων τινῶν αὐτόθι γρῖφον ὠνησαμένων καταληφθῆναι καὶ τὸν τρίποδα, μαχομένων δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἁλιέας γενέσθαι τὴν ἄνοδον ἕως τῆς Κῶ: καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν ἤνυτον, τοῖς Μιλησίοις μητροπόλει οὔσῃ μηνύουσιν. οἱ δ᾽ ἐπειδὴ διαπρεσβευόμενοι ἠλογοῦντο, πρὸς τοὺς Κῴους πολεμοῦσι. καὶ πολλῶν ἑκατέρωθεν πιπτόντων ἐκπίπτει χρη- σμὸς δοῦναι τῷ σοφωτάτῳ: καὶ ἀμφότεροι συνῄνεσαν Θαλῇ. ὁ δὲ μετὰ τὴν περίοδον τῷ Διδυμεῖ τίθησιν Ἀπόλλωνι.
[32] for what reason shall be explained in the life of Bias. There is yet another version, that it was the work of Hephaistos presented by the god to Pelops on his marriage. Thence it passed to Menelaus and was carried off by Paris along with Helen and was thrown by her into the Koan sea, for she said it would be a cause of strife. In process of time certain people of Lebedos, having purchased a catch of fish thereabouts, obtained possession of the tripod, and, quarrelling with the fishermen about it, put in to Kos, and, when they could not settle the dispute, reported the fact to Miletos, their mother-city. The Milesians, when their embassies were disregarded, made war upon Kos; many fell on both sides, and an oracle pronounced that the tripod should be given to the wisest; both parties to the dispute agreed upon Thales. After it had gone the round of the sages, Thales dedicated it to Apollo of Didyma.
[33] Κῴοις μὲν οὖν τοῦτον ἐχρήσθη τὸν τρόπον: οὐ πρότερον λήξει νεῖκος Μερόπων καὶ Ἰώνων, πρὶν τρίποδα χρύσειον, ὃν Ἥφαιστος βάλε πόντῳ, ἐκ πόλιος πέμψητε καὶ ἐς δόμον ἀνδρὸς ἵκηται, ὃς σοφὸς ᾖ τὰ ἐόντα τά τ᾽ ἐσσόμενα πρό τ᾽ ἐόντα. Μιλησίοις δέ: ἔκγονε Μιλήτου, τρίποδος πέρι Φοῖβον ἐρωτᾷς; καὶ ὡς προείρηται. καὶ τόδε μὲν οὕτως. Ἕρμιππος δ᾽ ἐν τοῖς Βίοις εἰς τοῦτον ἀναφέρει τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπό τινων περὶ Σωκράτους. ἔφασκε γάρ, φασί, τριῶν τούτων ἕνεκα χάριν ἔχειν τῇ Τύχῃ: πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ἐγενόμην καὶ οὐ θηρίον, εἶτα ὅτι ἀνὴρ καὶ οὐ γυνή, τρίτον ὅτι Ἕλλην καὶ οὐ βάρβαρος.
[33] The oracle which the Koans received was on this wise: Hephaistos cast the tripod in the sea; Until it quit the city there will be No end to strife, until it reach the seer Whose wisdom makes past, present, future clear. That of the Milesians beginning "Who shall possess the tripod?" has been quoted above. So much for this version of the story. Hermippos in his Lives refers to Thales the story which is told by some of Socrates, namely, that he used to say there were three blessings for which he was grateful to Fortune: "first, that I was born a human being and not one of the brutes; next, that I was born a man and not a woman; thirdly, a Greek and not a barbarian."
[34] λέγεται δ᾽ ἀγόμενος ὑπὸ γραὸς ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας, ἵνα τὰ ἄστρα κατανοήσῃ, εἰς βόθρον ἐμπεσεῖν καὶ αὐτῷ ἀνοιμώξαντι φάναι τὴν γραῦν: "σὺ γάρ, ὦ Θαλῆ, τὰ ἐν ποσὶν οὐ δυνάμενος ἰδεῖν τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οἴει γνώσεσθαι;" οἶδε δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἀστρονομούμενον καὶ Τίμων, καὶ ἐν τοῖς Σίλλοις ἐπαινεῖ αὐτὸν λέγων: οἷόν θ᾽ ἑπτὰ Θάλητα σοφῶν σοφὸν ἀστρονόμημα. Τὰ δὲ γεγραμμένα ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ φησι Λόβων ὁ Ἀργεῖος εἰς ἔπη τείνειν διακόσια. ἐπιγεγράφθαι δ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς εἰκόνος τόδε: τόνδε Θαλῆν Μίλητος Ἰὰς θρέψασ᾽ ἀνέδειξεν ἀστρολόγων πάντων πρεσβύτατον σοφίᾳ.
[34] It is said that once, when he was taken out of doors by an old woman in order that he might observe the stars, he fell into a ditch, and his cry for help drew from the old woman the retort, "How can you expect to know all about the heavens, Thales, when you cannot even see what is just before your feet?" Timon too knows him as an astronomer, and praises him in the Silli where he says: Thales among the Seven the sage astronomer. His writings are said by Lobon of Argos to have run to some two hundred lines. His statue is said to bear this inscription: Pride of Miletos and Ionian lands, Wisest astronomer, here Thales stands.
[35] Τῶν τε ᾀδομένων αὐτοῦ τάδε εἶναι: οὔ τι τὰ πολλὰ ἔπη φρονίμην ἀπεφήνατο δόξαν: ἕν τι μάτευε σοφόν, ἕν τι κεδνὸν αἱροῦ: δήσεις γὰρ ἀνδρῶν κωτίλων γλώσσας ἀπεραντολόγους. Φέρεται δὲ καὶ ἀποφθέγματα αὐτοῦ τάδε: πρεσβύτατον τῶν ὄντων θεός: ἀγένητον γάρ. κάλλιστον κόσμος: ποίημα γὰρ θεοῦ. μέγιστον τόπος: ἅπαντα γὰρ χωρεῖ. τάχιστον νοῦς: διὰ παντὸς γὰρ τρέχει. ἰσχυρότατον ἀνάγκη: κρατεῖ γὰρ πάντων. σοφώτατον χρόνος: ἀνευρίσκει γὰρ πάντα. οὐδὲν ἔφη τὸν θάνατον διαφέρειν τοῦ ζῆν. "σὺ οὖν," ἔφη τις, "διὰ τί οὐκ ἀποθνήσκεις;" "ὅτι," ἔφη, "οὐδὲν διαφέρει."
[35] Of songs still sung these verses belong to him: Many words do not declare an understanding heart. Seek one sole wisdom. Choose one sole good. For thou wilt check the tongues of chatterers prating without end. Here too are certain current apophthegms assigned to him: Of all things that are, the most ancient is God, for he is uncreated. The most beautiful is the universe, for it is God's workmanship. The greatest is space, for it holds all things. The swiftest is mind, for it speeds everywhere. The strongest, necessity, for it masters all. The wisest, time, for it brings everything to light. He held there was no difference between life and death. "Why then," said one, "do you not die?" "Because," said he, "there is no difference."
[36] πρὸς τὸν πυθόμενον τί πρότερον γεγόνοι, νὺξ ἢ ἡμέρα, "ἡ νύξ," ἔφη, "μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ πρότερον." ἠρώτησέ τις αὐτὸν εἰ λήθοι θεοὺς ἄνθρωπος ἀδικῶν: "ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ διανοούμενος," ἔφη. πρὸς τὸν μοιχὸν ἐρόμενον εἰ ὀμόσειε μὴ μεμοιχευκέναι, "οὐ χεῖρον," ἔφη, "μοιχείας ἐπιορκία." ἐρωτηθεὶς τί δύσκολον, ἔφη, "τὸ ἑαυτὸν γνῶναι:" τί δὲ εὔκολον, "τὸ ἄλλῳ ὑποθέσθαι:" τί ἥδιστον, "τὸ ἐπιτυγχάνειν:" τί τὸ θεῖον, "τὸ μήτε ἀρχὴν ἔχον μήτε τελευτήν." τί δὲ καινὸν εἴη τεθεαμένος ἔφη: "γέροντα τύραννον." πῶς ἄν τις ἀτυχίαν ῥᾷστα φέροι, "εἰ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς χεῖρον πράσσοντας βλέποι:" πῶς ἂν ἄριστα καὶ δικαιότατα βιώσαιμεν, "ἐὰν ἃ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιτιμῶμεν, αὐτοὶ μὴ δρῶμεν:"
[36] To the question which is older, day or night, he replied: "Night is the older by one day." Some one asked him whether a man could hide an evil deed from the gods: "No," he replied, "nor yet an evil thought." To the adulterer who inquired if he should deny the charge upon oath he replied that perjury was no worse than adultery. Being asked what is difficult, he replied, "To know oneself." "What is easy?" "To give advice to another." "What is most pleasant?" "Success." "What is the divine?" "That which has neither beginning nor end." To the question what was the strangest thing he had ever seen, his answer was, "An aged tyrant." "How can one best bear adversity?" "If he should see his enemies in worse plight." "How shall we lead the best and most righteous life?" "By refraining from doing what we blame in others."
[37] τίς εὐδαίμων, "ὁ τὸ μὲν σῶμα ὑγιής, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν εὔπορος, τὴν δὲ φύσιν εὐπαίδευτος." φίλων παρόντων καὶ ἀπόντων μεμνῆσθαί φησι: μὴ τὴν ὄψιν καλλωπίζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν εἶναι καλόν. "μὴ πλούτει," φησί, "κακῶς, μηδὲ διαβαλλέτω σε λόγος πρὸς τοὺς πίστεως κεκοινωνηκότας." "οὓς ἂν ἐράνους εἰσενέγκῃς," φησί, "τοῖς γονεῦσιν, τοὺς αὐτοὺς προσδέχου καὶ παρὰ τῶν τέκνων." τὸν Νεῖλον εἶπε πληθύειν ἀνακοπτομένων τῶν ῥευμάτων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐτησίων ἐναντίων ὄντων. Φησὶ δ᾽ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τοῖς Χρονικοῖς γεγενῆσθαι αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος τῆς τριακοστῆς πέμπτης [ἐνάτης ̣] Ὀλυμπιάδος.
[37] "What man is happy?" "He who has a healthy body, a resourceful mind and a docile nature." He tells us to remember friends, whether present or absent; not to pride ourselves upon outward appearance, but to study to be beautiful in character. "Shun ill-gotten gains," he says. "Let not idle words prejudice thee against those who have shared thy confidence." "Whatever provision thou hast made for thy parents, the same must thou expect from thy children." He explained the overflow of the Nile as due to the etesian winds which, blowing in the contrary direction, drove the waters upstream. Apollodoros in his Chronology places his birth in the first year of the 35th Olympiad [640 BCE].
[38] ἐτελεύτησε δ᾽ ἐτῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ὀκτώ, <ἤ, ὡς Σωσικράτης φησίν, ἐνενήκοντα>: τελευτῆσαι γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς ὀγδόης Ὀλυμπιάδος, γεγονότα κατὰ Κροῖσον, ᾧ καὶ τὸν Ἅλυν ὑποσχέσθαι ἄνευ γεφύρας περᾶσαι, τὸ ῥεῖθρον παρατρέψαντα. Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι Θαλαῖ, καθά φησι Δημήτριος ὁ Μάγνης ἐν τοῖς Ὁμωνύμοις, πέντε: ῥήτωρ Καλλατιανός, κακόζηλος: ζωγράφος Σικυώνιος, μεγαλοφυής: τρίτος ἀρχαῖος πάνυ, κατὰ Ἡσίοδον καὶ Ὅμηρον καὶ Λυκοῦργον: τέταρτος οὗ μέμνηται Δοῦρις ἐν τῷ Περὶ ζωγραφίας: πέμπτος νεώτερος, ἄδοξος, οὗ μνημονεύει Διονύσιος ἐν Κριτικοῖς.
[38] He died at the age of 78 (or, according to Sokicrates, of 90 years); for he died in the 58th Olympiad, being contemporary with Croesus, whom he undertook to take across the Halys without building a bridge, by diverting the river. There have lived five other men who bore the name of Thales, as enumerated by Demetrios of Magnesia in his Dictionary of Men of the Same Name: 1. A rhetorician of Kallatia, with an affected style. 2. A painter of Sikyon, of great gifts. 3. A contemporary of Hesiod, Homer and Lykourgos, in very early times. 4. A person mentioned by Douris in his work On Painting. 5. An obscure person in more recent times who is mentioned by Dionysios in his Critical Writings.
[39] Ὁ δ᾽ οὖν σοφὸς ἐτελεύτησεν ἀγῶνα θεώμενος γυμνικὸν ὑπό τε καύματος καὶ δίψους καὶ ἀσθενείας, ἤδη γηραιός. καὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπιγέγραπται τῷ μνήματι: ἦ ὀλίγον τόδε σᾶμα -- τὸ δὲ κλέος οὐρανόμακες -τῶ πολυφροντίστω τοῦτο Θάλητος ὅρη. ἔστι καὶ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν ἐς αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ἐπιγραμμάτων ἢ Παμμέτρῳ τόδε τὸ ἐπίγραμμα: γυμνικὸν αὖ ποτ᾽ ἀγῶνα θεώμενον, ἠέλιε Ζεῦ, τὸν σοφὸν ἄνδρα Θαλῆν ἥρπασας ἐκ σταδίου. αἰνέω ὅττι μιν ἐγγὺς ἀπήγαγες: ἦ γὰρ ὁ πρέσβυς οὐκέθ᾽ ὁρᾶν ἀπὸ γῆς ἀστέρας ἠδύνατο.
[39] Thales the Sage died as he was watching an athletic contest from heat, thirst, and the weakness incident to advanced age. And the inscription on his tomb is: Here in a narrow tomb great Thales lies; Yet his renown for wisdom reached the skies. I may also cite one of my own, from my first book, Epigrams in Various Metres: As Thales watched the games one festal day The fierce sun smote him, and he passed away; Zeus, thou didst well to raise him; his dim eyes Could not from earth behold the starry skies.
[40] Τούτου ἐστὶν τὸ Γνῶθι σαυτόν, ὅπερ Ἀντισθένης ἐν ταῖς Διαδοχαῖς Φημονόης εἶναί φησιν, ἐξιδιοποιήσασθαι δὲ αὐτὸ Χίλωνα. Περὶ δὴ τῶν ἑπτά--ἄξιον γὰρ ἐνταῦθα καθολικῶς κἀκείνων ἐπιμνησθῆναι--λόγοι φέρονται τοιοῦτοι. Δάμων ὁ Κυρηναῖος, γεγραφὼς Περὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων, πᾶσιν ἐγκαλεῖ, μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς ἑπτά. Ἀναξιμένης δέ φησι πάντας ἐπιθέσθαι ποιητικῇ: ὁ δὲ Δικαίαρχος οὔτε σοφοὺς οὔτε φιλοσόφους φησὶν αὐτοὺς γεγονέναι, συνετοὺς δέ τινας καὶ νομοθετικούς. Ἀρχέτιμος δὲ ὁ Συρακούσιος ὁμιλίαν αὐτῶν ἀναγέγραφε παρὰ Κυψέλῳ, ᾗ καὶ αὐτός φησι παρατυχεῖν: Ἔφορος δὲ παρὰ Κροίσῳ πλὴν Θαλοῦ. φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ ἐν Πανιωνίῳ καὶ ἐν Κορίνθῳ καὶ ἐν Δελφοῖς συνελθεῖν αὐτούς.
[40] To him belongs the proverb "Know thyself," which Antisthenes in his Successions of Philosophers attributes to Phemonoë, though admitting that it was appropriated by Chilon. This seems the proper place for a general notice of the Seven Sages, of whom we have such accounts as the following. Damon of Kyrene in his History of the Philosophers carps at all sages, but especially the Seven. Anaximenes remarks that they all applied themselves to poetry; Dikaiarchos that they were neither sages nor philosophers, but merely shrewd men with a turn for legislation. Archetimos of Syracuse describes their meeting at the court of Kypselos, on which occasion he himself happened to be present; for which Ephoros substitutes a meeting without Thales at the court of Croesus. Some make them meet at the Pan-Ionian festival, at Corinth, and at Delphi.
[41] διαφωνοῦνται δὲ καὶ αἱ ἀποφάσεις αὐτῶν καὶ ἄλλου ἄλλο φασίν, ὡς ἐκεῖνο: ἦν Λακεδαιμόνιος Χίλων σοφός, ὃς τάδ᾽ ἔλεξε: "μηδὲν ἄγαν: καιρῷ πάντα πρόσεστι καλά." στασιάζεται δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ αὐτῶν. Μαιάνδριος μὲν γὰρ ἀντὶ Κλεοβούλου καὶ Μύσωνος Λεώφαντον Γοργιάδα, Λεβέδιον ἢ Ἐφέσιον, ἐγκρίνει καὶ Ἐπιμενίδην τὸν Κρῆτα: Πλάτων δὲ ἐν Πρωταγόρᾳ Μύσωνα ἀντὶ Περιάνδρου: Ἔφορος δὲ ἀντὶ Μύσωνος Ἀνάχαρσιν: οἱ δὲ καὶ Πυθαγόραν προσγράφουσιν. Δικαίαρχος δὲ τέσσαρας ὡμολογημένους ἡμῖν παραδίδωσι, Θαλῆν, Βίαντα, Πιττακόν, Σόλωνα. ἄλλους δὲ ὀνομάζει ἕξ, ὧν ἐκλέξασθαι τρεῖς, Ἀριστόδημον, Πάμφυλον, Χίλωνα Λακεδαιμόνιον, Κλεόβουλον, Ἀνάχαρσιν, Περίανδρον. ἔνιοι προστιθέασιν Ἀκουσίλαον Κάβα ἢ Σκάβρα Ἀργεῖον.
[41] Their utterances are variously reported, and are attributed now to one now to the other, for instance the following: Chilon of Lacedaemon's words are true: Nothing too much; good comes from measure due. Nor is there any agreement how the number is made up; for Maeandrios, in place of Kleoboulos and Myson, includes Leophantos, son of Gorgiadas, of Lebedos or Ephesos, and Epimenides the Cretan in the list; Plato in his Protagoras admits Myson and leaves out Periander; Ephoros substitutes Anacharsis for Myson; others add Pythagoras to the Seven. Dikaiarchos hands down four names fully recognized: Thales, Bias, Pittakos and Solon; and appends the names of six others, from whom he selects three: Aristodemos, Pamphylos, Chilon the Lacedaemonian, Kleoboulos, Anacharsis, Periander. Others add Akousilaos, son of Kabas or Skabras, of Argos.
[42] Ἕρμιππος δ᾽ ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν σοφῶν ἑπτακαίδεκά φησιν, ὧν τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἄλλους ἄλλως αἱρεῖσθαι: εἶναι δὲ Σόλωνα, Θαλῆν, Πιττακόν, Βίαντα, Χίλωνα, <Μύσωνα>, Κλεόβουλον, Περίανδρον, Ἀνάχαρσιν, Ἀκουσίλαον, Ἐπιμενίδην, Λεώφαντον, Φερεκύδην, Ἀριστόδημον, Πυθαγόραν, Λᾶσον Χαρμαντίδου ἢ Σισυμβρίνου, ἢ ὡς Ἀριστόξενος Χαβρίνου, Ἑρμιονέα, Ἀναξαγόραν. Ἱππόβοτος δὲ ἐν τῇ Τῶν φιλοσόφων ἀναγραφῇ: Ὀρφέα, Λίνον, Σόλωνα, Περίανδρον, Ἀνάχαρσιν, Κλεόβουλον, Μύσωνα, Θαλῆν Βίαντα, Πιττακόν, Ἐπίχαρμον, Πυθαγόραν. Φέρονται δὲ καὶ τοῦ Θαλοῦ ἐπιστολαὶ αἵδε: Θαλῆς Φερεκύδει
[42] Hermippos in his work On the Sages reckons seventeen, from which number different people make different selections of seven. They are: Solon, Thales, Pittakos, Bias, Chilon, Myson, Kleoboulos, Periander, Anacharsis, Akousilaos, Epimenides, Leophantos, Pherekydes, Aristodemos, Pythagoras, Lasos, son of Charmantides or Sisymbrinos, or, according to Aristoxenos, of Chabrinos, born at Hermione, Anaxagoras. Hippobotos in his List of Philosophers enumerates: Orpheus, Linos, Solon, Periander, Anacharsis, Kleoboulos, Myson, Thales, Bias, Pittakos, Epicharmos, Pythagoras. Here follow the extant letters of Thales. Thales to Pherekydes
[43] "Πυνθάνομαί σε πρῶτον Ἰώνων μέλλειν λόγους ἀμφὶ τῶν θείων χρημάτων ἐς τοὺς Ἕλληνας φαίνειν. καὶ τάχα μὲν ἡ γνώμη τοι δικαίη ἐς τὸ ξυνὸν καταθέσθαι γραφὴν ἢ ἐφ᾽ ὁποιοισοῦν ἐπιτρέπειν χρῆμα ἐς οὐδὲν ὄφελος. εἰ δή τοι ἥδιον, ἐθέλω γενέσθαι λεσχηνευτὴς περὶ ὁτέων γράφεις: καὶ ἢν κελεύῃς, παρὰ σὲ ἀφίξομαι ἐς Σῦρον. ἦ γὰρ ἂν οὐ φρενήρεες εἴημεν ἐγώ τε καὶ Σόλων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, εἰ πλώσαντες μὲν ἐς Κρήτην κατὰ τὴν τῶν κεῖθι ἱστορίην, πλώσαντες δὲ ἐς Αἴγυπτον ὁμιλήσοντες τοῖς ἐκεῖ ὅσοι ἱερέες τε καὶ ἀστρολόγοι, παρὰ σὲ δὲ μὴ [πλώσαιμεν]. ἥξει γὰρ καὶ ὁ Σόλων, ἢν ἐπιτρέπῃς.
[43] "I hear that you intend to be the first Ionian to expound theology to the Greeks. And perhaps it was a wise decision to make the book common property without taking advice, instead of entrusting it to any particular persons whatsoever, a course which has no advantages. However, if it would give you any pleasure, I am quite willing to discuss the subject of your book with you; and if you bid me come to Syros I will do so. For surely Solon of Athens and I would scarcely be sane if, after having sailed to Crete to pursue our inquiries there, and to Egypt to confer with the priests and astronomers, we hesitated to come to you. For Solon too will come, with your permission.
[44] σὺ μέντοι χωροφιλέων ὀλίγα φοιτέεις ἐς Ἰωνίην, οὐδέ σε ποθὴ ἴσχει ἀνδρῶν ξείνων: ἀλλά, ὡς ἔλπομαι, ἑνὶ μούνῳ χρήματι πρόσκεαι τῇ γραφῇ. ἡμέες δὲ οἱ μηδὲν γράφοντες περιχωρέομεν τήν τε Ἑλλάδα καὶ Ἀσίην." Θαλῆς Σόλωνι "Ὑπαποστὰς ἐξ Ἀθηνέων δοκέεις ἄν μοι ἁρμοδιώτατα ἐν Μιλήτῳ οἶκον ποιέεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς ἀποίκοις ὑμέων: καὶ γὰρ ἐνθαῦτά τοι δεινὸν οὐδέν. εἰ δὲ ἀσχαλήσεις ὅτι καὶ Μιλήσιοι τυραννεόμεθα-ἐχθαίρεις γὰρ πάντας αἰσυμνήτασ--ἀλλὰ τέρποι᾽ ἂν σὺν τοῖς ἑτάροις ἡμῖν καταβιούς. ἐπέστειλε δέ τοι καὶ Βίης ἥκειν ἐς Πριήνην: σὺ δὲ εἰ προσηνέστερόν τοι τὸ Πριηνέων ἄστυ, κεῖθι οἰκέειν, καὶ αὐτοὶ παρὰ σὲ οἰκήσομεν."
[44] You, however, are so fond of home that you seldom visit Ionia and have no longing to see strangers, but, as I hope, apply yourself to one thing, namely writing, while we, who never write anything, travel all over Hellas and Asia." Thales to Solon "If you leave Athens, it seems to me that you could most conveniently set up your abode at Miletus, which is an Athenian colony; for there you incur no risk. If you are vexed at the thought that we are governed by a tyrant, hating as you do all absolute rulers, you would at least enjoy the society of your friends. Bias wrote inviting you to Priene; and if you prefer the town of Priene for a residence, I myself will come and live with you."
3. (Herodotos 1.170.3) αὕτη μὲν Βίαντος τοῦ Πριηνέος γνώμη ἐπὶ διεφθαρμένοισι Ἴωσι γενομένη, χρηστὴ δὲ καὶ πρὶν ἢ διαφθαρῆναι Ἰωνίην Θάλεω ἀνδρὸς Μιλησίου ἐγένετο, τὸ ἀνέκαθεν γένος ἐόντος Φοίνικος, ὃς ἐκέλευε ἓν βουλευτήριον Ἴωνας ἐκτῆσθαι, τὸ δὲ εἶναι ἐν Τέῳ (Τέων γὰρ μέσον εἶναι Ἰωνίης), τὰς δὲ ἄλλας πόλιας οἰκεομένας μηδὲν ἧσσον νομίζεσθαι κατά περ ἐς δῆμοι εἶεν: οὗτοι μὲν δή σφι γνώμας τοιάσδε ἀπεδέξαντο.
This was the advice which Bias of Priene gave to the Ionians upon their defeat. Useful also was that given before the Ionian defeat by Thales of Miletos, a Phoenician by descent. He urged the Ionians to set up a single capital, and that it be in Teos (for that was the centre of Ionia), and that the other cities be considered no more than regions. Such was the advice they gave.
4. (Plutarch: Solon 2.4.4) ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ πόλεων οἰκισταὶ γεγόνασι μεγάλων, ὡς καὶ Μασσαλίας Πρῶτις ὑπὸ Κελτῶν τῶν περὶ τὸν Ῥοδανὸν ἀγαπηθείς. καὶ Θαλῆν δέ φασιν ἐμπορίᾳ χρήσασθαι καὶ Ἱπποκράτην τὸν μαθηματικόν, καὶ Πλάτωνι τῆς ἀποδημίας ἐφόδιον ἐλαίου τινὸς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ διάθεσιν γενέσθαι.
Some merchants were founders of great cities, like Protis was of Marseilles, who was beloved by the Gauls along the Rhone. They say that Thales engaged in trade, and as Hippocrates the mathematician too; and Plato defrayed the expenses of his trip to Egypt by the sale of oil.
5. This is before Naukratis was handed over in its entirety to Greeks by the Pharoah Wahibre sometime after 570 BCE (part of the consolidation of Greek settlements in Egypt), as reported by Herodotos (2.154). For a discussion of the archaeological evidence see Boardman (1999: 118‒141).
6. (Plato: Theaitetos 174A) Σωκράτης: ὥσπερ καὶ Θαλῆν ἀστρονομοῦντα, ὦ Θεόδωρε, καὶ ἄνω βλέποντα, πεσόντα εἰς φρέαρ, Θρᾷττά τις ἐμμελὴς καὶ χαρίεσσα θεραπαινὶς ἀποσκῶψαι λέγεται ὡς τὰ μὲν ἐν οὐρανῷ προθυμοῖτο εἰδέναι, τὰ δ᾽ ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ καὶ παρὰ πόδας λανθάνοι αὐτόν. ταὐτὸν δὲ ἀρκεῖ σκῶμμα ἐπὶ πάντας ὅσοι ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ διάγουσι.
Socrates: Take the case of Thales observing the stars, Theodoros. While he was looking upwards he fell into a well, and a pretty, witty Thracian slave girl mocked him, they say, because he was so keen to know what was in the sky that waht was in front of his feet escaped his notice. The same joke applies to all who pass their lives in philosophy.
7. (Aristotle Politics 1259a6–19) οἷον καὶ τὸ Θάλεω τοῦ Μιλησίου: τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι κατανόημά τι χρηματιστικόν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκείνῳ μὲν διὰ τὴν σοφίαν προσάπτουσι, τυγχάνει δὲ καθόλου τι ὄν. ὀνειδιζόντων γὰρ αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν πενίαν ὡς ἀνωφελοῦς τῆς φιλοσοφίας οὔσης, κατανοήσαντά φασιν αὐτὸν ἐλαιῶν φορὰν ἐσομένην ἐκ τῆς ἀστρολογίας, ἔτι χειμῶνος ὄντος εὐπορήσαντα χρημάτων ὀλίγων ἀρραβῶνας διαδοῦναι τῶν ἐλαιουργίων τῶν τ᾽ ἐν Μιλήτῳ καὶ Χίῳ πάντων, ὀλίγου μισθωσάμενον ἅτ᾽ οὐθενὸς ἐπιβάλλοντος: ἐπειδὴ δ᾽ ὁ καιρὸς ἧκε, πολλῶν ζητουμένων ἅμα καὶ ἐξαίφνης, ἐκμισθοῦντα ὃν τρόπον ἠβούλετο, πολλὰ χρήματα συλλέξαντα ἐπιδεῖξαι ὅτι ῥᾴδιόν ἐστι πλουτεῖν τοῖς φιλοσόφοις, ἂν βούλωνται, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ περὶ ὃ σπουδάζουσιν. Θαλῆς μὲν οὖν λέγεται τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐπίδειξιν ποιήσασθαι τῆς σοφίας:
… for example the plan of Thales of Miletos, which is a device for the business of getting wealth, but which, though it is attributed to him because of his wisdom, is really of universal application. Thales, so the story goes, because of his poverty was taunted with the uselessness of philosophy; but from his knowledge of astronomy he had observed while it was still winter that there was going to be a large crop of olives, so he raised a small sum of money and paid round deposits for the whole of the olive-presses in Miletus and Chios, which he hired at a low rent as nobody was running him up; and when the season arrived, there was a sudden demand for a number of presses at the same time, and by letting them out on what terms he liked he realized a large sum of money, so proving that it is easy for philosophers to be rich if they choose, but this is not what they care about. Thales then is reported to have thus displayed his wisdom, …
8. See KRS (pp. 86‒88) for an extensive discussion.
9. (Herodotos 1.75.3–5) ὡς δὲ ἀπίκετο ἐπὶ τὸν Ἅλυν ποταμὸν ὁ Κροῖσος, τὸ ἐνθεῦτεν, ὡς μὲν ἐγὼ λέγω, κατὰ τὰς ἐούσας γεφύρας διεβίβασε τὸν στρατόν, ὡς δὲ ὁ πολλὸς λόγος Ἑλλήνων, Θαλῆς οἱ ὁ Μιλήσιος διεβίβασε. ἀπορέοντος γὰρ Κροίσου ὅκως οἱ διαβήσεται τὸν ποταμὸν ὁ στρατός (οὐ γὰρ δὴ εἶναι κω τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον τὰς γεφύρας ταύτας) λέγεται παρεόντα τὸν Θαλῆν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ ποιῆσαι αὐτῷ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐξ ἀριστερῆς χειρὸς ῥέοντα τοῦ στρατοῦ καὶ ἐκ δεξιῆς ῥέειν, ποιῆσαι δὲ ὧδε: ἄνωθεν τοῦ στρατοπέδου ἀρξάμενον διώρυχα βαθέαν ὀρύσσειν, ἄγοντα μηνοειδέα, ὅκως ἂν τὸ στρατόπεδον ἱδρυμένον κατὰ νώτου λάβοι, ταύτῃ κατὰ τὴν διώρυχα ἐκτραπόμενος ἐκ τῶν ἀρχαίων ῥεέθρων, καὶ αὖτις παραμειβόμενος τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐς τὰ ἀρχαῖα ἐσβάλλοι: ὥστε ἐπείτε καὶ ἐσχίσθη τάχιστα ὁ ποταμός, ἀμφοτέρῃ διαβατὸς ἐγένετο.
When Croesus came to the river Halys, he transported his army across (as I maintain) by the bridges which were there then in place; but the predominant view of the Greeks is that Thales of Miletos got the army across. They say that, as Croesus did not know how his army could cross the river (since the bridges did not then exist), Thales, who was in the encampment, made the river, which flowed on the left of the army, also flow on the right in this way: starting upstream from the camp, he dug a deep trench, made like a crescent Moon, so that the river, turned from its old course, would take the one to the rear of the camp, and passing by in this way would flow into its former bed. And as soon as the river was thus divided both channels could be forded.
10. (Herodotos 2.109) τούτων μὲν δὴ εἵνεκα κατετμήθη ἡ Αἴγυπτος. κατανεῖμαι δὲ τὴν χώρην Αἰγυπτίοισι ἅπασι τοῦτον ἔλεγον τὸν βασιλέα, κλῆρον ἴσον ἑκάστῳ τετράγωνον διδόντα, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου τὰς προσόδους ποιήσασθαι, ἐπιτάξαντα ἀποφορὴν ἐπιτελέειν κατ᾽ ἐνιαυτόν. εἰ δὲ τινὸς τοῦ κλήρου ὁ ποταμός τι παρέλοιτο, ἐλθὼν ἂν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐσήμαινε τὸ γεγενημένον: ὁ δὲ ἔπεμπε τοὺς ἐπισκεψομένους καὶ ἀναμετρήσοντας ὅσῳ ἐλάσσων ὁ χῶρος γέγονε, ὅκως τοῦ λοιποῦ κατὰ λόγον τῆς τεταγμένης ἀποφορῆς τελέοι. δοκέει δέ μοι ἐνθεῦτεν γεωμετρίη εὑρεθεῖσα ἐς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἐπανελθεῖν: πόλον μὲν γὰρ καὶ γνώμονα καὶ τὰ δυώδεκα μέρεα τῆς ἡμέρης παρὰ Βαβυλωνίων ἔμαθον οἱ Ἕλληνες.
For this reason Egypt was intersected. This king also (they said) divided the country among all the Egyptians by giving each an equal parcel of land, and made this his source of revenue, assessing the payment of a yearly tax. And any man who was robbed by the river of part of his land could come to Sesostris and declare what had happened; then the king would send men to look into it and calculate the part by which the land was diminished, so that thereafter it should pay in proportion to the tax originally imposed. From this, in my opinion, the Greeks learned the art of measuring land; the sun clock and the sundial, and the twelve divisions of the day, came to Hellas from Babylonia and not from Egypt.
11. (Aristotle: Metaphysics 981b23) διὸ περὶ Αἴγυπτον αἱ μαθηματικαὶ πρῶτον τέχναι συνέστησαν, ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἀφείθη σχολάζειν τὸ τῶν ἱερέων ἔθνος.
Thus the mathematical sciences originated around of Egypt, because there the priestly class was afforded leisure.
12. The subject of Thales and the origin of Greek mathematics has been much discussed. Heath (A History of Greek Mathematics: 1921: 1.118‒140), for example, is an extensive early discussion.
13. (Aristotle: On the Heavens 294a28) οἱ δ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος κεῖσθαι. τοῦτον γὰρ ἀρχαιότατον παρειλήφαμεν τὸν λόγον, ὅν φασιν εἰπεῖν Θαλῆν τὸν Μιλήσιον.
Others say that it rests on water. This is the most ancient explanation that we have received, which is the theory that Thales the Milesian expressed.
14. Seneca: ait enim terrarum orbem aqua sustinieri et vehi more navigii mobilitateque eius fluctuare tunc cum dicitur tremere.
For he [sc. Thales] said that the world is supported by water and is carried like a ship, and when it is reported to quake it is shaking because of waves in the water.
15. In the analysis, I have for simplicity determined the solstice times by solar ecliptic longitude rather than solar declination.
16. (Plutarch: On Exile 604a) 'ἥλιος γὰρ οὐχ ὑπερβήσεται τὰ μέτρα' φησὶν ὁ Ἡράκλειτος, 'εἰ δὲ μή, Ἐρινύες μιν Δίκης ἐπίκουροι ἐξευρήσουσιν.'
17. Pliny: Eorum, qui in eadem regione dissedere, unam discordiam ponemus exempli gratia: occasum matutinum vergiliarum Hesiodus - nam huius quoque nomine exstat astrologia - tradidit fieri, cum aequinoctium autumni conficeretur, Thales XXV die ab aequinoctio, Anaximander XXXI, Euctemon XLIIII, Eudoxus XLVIII.
Of those who, though living in the same country, have disagreed, we shall provide one discrepancy by way of example. Hesiod (since under his name also there is an extant astronomical work) has stated that the morning setting of the Pleiades takes place at the time of the autumn equinox, whereas for Thales it is 25 days after the equinox, Anaximander 31 days, Euktemon 44 days and Eudoxos 48 days.
18. Following Heath (1913: 20, n. 5) the authors of KRS suggest (p. 88) that the observation might have been made in Egypt, but this seems mistaken. The Pleiades at sunrise in Alexandria, for example, would have been half a degree lower, and with an effective magnitude of more than 7 and thus almost certainly invisible.
19. (Herodotos: 1.74) [1] μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα, οὐ γὰρ δὴ ὁ Ἀλυάττης ἐξεδίδου τοὺς Σκύθας ἐξαιτέοντι Κυαξάρῃ, πόλεμος τοῖσι Λυδοῖσι καὶ τοῖσι Μήδοισι ἐγεγόνεε ἐπ᾽ ἔτεα πέντε, ἐν τοῖσι πολλάκις μὲν οἱ Μῆδοι τοὺς Λυδοὺς ἐνίκησαν, πολλάκις δὲ οἱ Λυδοὶ τοὺς Μήδους· ἐν δὲ καὶ νυκτομαχίην τινὰ ἐποιήσαντο· [2] διαφέρουσι δέ σφι ἐπὶ ἴσης τὸν πόλεμον τῷ ἕκτῳ ἔτεϊ συμβολῆς γενομένης συνήνεικε ὥστε τῆς μάχης συνεστεώσης τὴν ἡμέρην ἐξαπίνης νύκτα γενέσθαι. τὴν δὲ μεταλλαγὴν ταύτην τῆς ἡμέρης Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος τοῖσι Ἴωσι προηγόρευσε ἔσεσθαι, οὖρον προθέμενος ἐνιαυτὸν τοῦτον ἐν τῷ δὴ καὶ ἐγένετο ἡ μεταβολή. [3] οἱ δὲ Λυδοί τε καὶ οἱ Μῆδοι ἐπείτε εἶδον νύκτα ἀντὶ ἡμέρης γενομένην, τῆς μάχης τε ἐπαύσαντο καὶ μᾶλλόν τι ἔσπευσαν καὶ ἀμφότεροι εἰρήνην ἑωυτοῖσι γενέσθαι. οἱ δὲ συμβιβάσαντες αὐτοὺς ἦσαν οἵδε, Συέννεσίς τε ὁ Κίλιξ καὶ Λαβύνητος ὁ Βαβυλώνιος. [4] οὗτοί σφι καὶ τὸ ὅρκιον οἱ σπεύσαντες γενέσθαι ἦσαν, καὶ γάμων ἐπαλλαγὴν ἐποίησαν· Ἀλυάττεα γὰρ ἔγνωσαν δοῦναι τὴν θυγατέρα Ἀρύηνιν Ἀστυάγεϊ τῷ Κυαξάρεω παιδί· ἄνευ γὰρ ἀναγκαίης ἰσχυρῆς συμβάσιες ἰσχυραὶ οὐκ ἐθέλουσι συμμένειν. [5] ὅρκια δὲ ποιέεται ταῦτα τὰ ἔθνεα τά πέρ τε Ἕλληνες, καὶ πρὸς τούτοισι, ἐπεὰν τοὺς βραχίονας ἐπιτάμωνται ἐς τὴν ὁμοχροίην, τὸ αἷμα ἀναλείχουσι ἀλλήλων.
[1] Subsequently, since Alyattes would not extradite the Skythians to Kyaxares as he demanded, there was war between the Lydians and the Medes for five years, in which the Medes defeated the Lydians many times and the Lydians, the Medes, many times also, and in which they also fought a night-battle. [2] And they were waging war on equal terms in the sixth year when it happened that, during an encounter with battle having been engaged, the day suddenly became night. This was the cessation of the day that Thales the Milesian had foretold to the Ionians, fixing this year in fact as the limit in which the change occurred. [3] When the Lydians and the Medes saw night instead of day they stopped fighting, and both sides moreover urged for there to be peace amongst them. And the ones who brought them together were Syennesis the Cilician and Nabonidus the Babylonian. [4] They were also keen for there to be an oath between them and a marriage alliance: they decided that Alyattes should give his daughter, Aryenis, to Astyages, the son of Kyaxares, for without strong compulsion those making agreements are not willing to remain faithful. [5] These nations make sworn compacts as do the Greeks; and besides, when they cut the skin of their arms, they lick each other's blood.
20. (Pliny: Natural History 2.53) Apud Graecos autem investigavit primus omnium Thales Milesius Olympiadis XLVIII anno quarto praedicto solis defectu, qui Alyatte rege factus est urbis conditae anno CLXX.
Among the Greeks, however, Thales the Milesian first investigated [the causes of eclipses], in the fourth year of the 48th Olympiad [Summer 585 – Summer 584 BCE], with the prediction of an eclipse of the sun, which happened in the reign of Alyattes, in the 170th year of the founding of the City [21st April 584 BCE – 20th April 583 BCE].
21. Amongst them are: Heath, Sir Thomas (Aristarchos of Samos 1913: 13‒18), Russell, Bertrand (A History of Western Philosophy 1961: 45), KRS (82).
22. Boardman, John (1999). The Greeks Overseas, 4th edition. London. As Heath points out (op cit: 17–18), Egypt offers another possible conduit for knowledge transfer.
23. Neugebauer, Otto (1957). The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, 2nd edition. New York. North, John (2008). Cosmos. Chicago
Last updated 06/07/20
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