1.
Capitoline Museums
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The Capitoline Museums are a single museum containing a group of art and archeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The history of the museums can be traced to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated a collection of important ancient bronzes to the people of Rome, the museums are owned and operated by the municipality of Rome. The statue of a rider in the centre of the piazza is of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It is a copy, the original being housed on-site in the Capitoline museum. Open to the public in 1734 under Clement XII, the Capitoline Museums are considered the first museum in the world, understood as a place where art could be enjoyed by all and this section contains collections sorted by building, and brief information on the buildings themselves. For the history of their design and construction, see Capitoline Hill#Michelangelo, the Capitoline Museums are composed of three main buildings surrounding the Piazza del Campidoglio and interlinked by an underground gallery beneath the piazza. In addition, the 16th century Palazzo Caffarelli-Clementino, located off the adjacent to the Palazzo dei Conservatori, was added to the museum complex in the early 20th century. The collections here are ancient sculpture, mostly Roman but also Greek, the Conservators Apartment is distinguished by elaborate interior decorations, including frescoes, stuccos, tapestries, and carved ceilings and doors. The third floor of the Palazzo dei Conservatori houses the Capitoline Art Gallery, housing the museums painting, the Capitoline Coin Cabinet, containing collections of coins, medals, jewels, and jewelry, is located in the attached Palazzo Caffarelli-Clementino. Statues, inscriptions, sarcophagi, busts, mosaics, and other ancient Roman artifacts occupy two floors of the Palazzo Nuovo, in the Hall of the Galatian can also be appreciated the marble statue of the Dying Gaul also called “Capitoline Gaul” and the statue of Cupid and Psyche. The gallery was constructed in the 1930s and it contains in situ 2nd century ruins of ancient Roman dwellings, and also houses the Galleria Lapidaria, which displays the Museums collection of epigraphs. The new great glass covered hall — the Sala Marco Aurelio — created by covering the Giardino Romano is similar to the one used for the Sala Ottagonale, the design is by the architect Carlo Aymonino. Its volume recalls that of the oval space designed by Michelangelo for the piazza and its centerpiece is the bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, which was once in the centre of Piazza del Campidoglio and has been kept indoors ever since its modern restoration. Moving these statues out of the palazzo allows those sculptures temporarily moved to the Centrale Montemartini to be brought back. The Centrale Montemartini is a power station of Acea in southern Rome. Its permanent collection comprises 400 ancient statues, moved here during the reorganisation of the Capitoline Museums in 1997, along with tombs, busts, many of them were excavated in the ancient Roman horti between the 1890s and 1930s, a fruitful period for Roman archaeology. They are displayed there along the lines of Tate Modern, except that the machinery has not been moved out, Capitoline Brutus Capitoline Museums official website
Capitoline Museums
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Michelangelo 's design for Capitoline Hill, now home to the Capitoline Museums. Engraved by
Étienne Dupérac, 1568.
Capitoline Museums
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The
Palazzo dei Conservatori is one of the three main buildings of the Capitoline Museums.
Capitoline Museums
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Capitoline Museums gallery
Capitoline Museums
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Palazzo Nuovo
2.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
Rome
Rome
Rome
Rome
3.
Samos
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It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. In ancient times Samos was a rich and powerful city-state, particularly known for its vineyards. It is home to Pythagoreion and the Heraion of Samos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes the Eupalinian aqueduct, Samian wine was well known in antiquity, and is still produced on the island. The island was governed by the semi-autonomous Principality of Samos under Ottoman suzerainty from 1835 until it joined Greece in 1912, the area of the island is 477.395 km2, and it is 43 km long and 13 km wide. It is separated from Anatolia by the approximately 1-mile-wide Mycale Strait, while largely mountainous, Samos has several relatively large and fertile plains. A great portion of the island is covered with vineyards, from which wine is made. The most important plains except the capital, Vathy, in the northeast, are that of Karlovasi, in the northwest, Pythagoreio, in the southeast, the islands population is 33,814, which is the 9th most populous of the Greek islands. The Samian climate is typically Mediterranean, with rainy winters. Samos relief is dominated by two mountains, Ampelos and Kerkis. The Ampelos massif is the larger of the two and occupies the center of the island, rising to 1,095 metres. Mt. Kerkis, though smaller in area is the taller of the two and its summit is the islands highest point, at 1,434 metres, the mountains are a continuation of the Mycale range on the Anatolian mainland. According to Strabo, the name Samos is from Phoenician meaning rise by the shore, Samos is home to many surprising species including the golden jackal, stone marten, wild boar, flamingos and monk seal. Samos is one of the sunniest places in Europe with almost 3300 hours of sunshine annually or 74% of the time and its climate is mild and wet in winter and dry in summer. In classical antiquity the island was a center of Ionian culture and luxury, renowned for its Samian wines and its most famous building was the Ionic order archaic Temple of goddess Hera—the Heraion. Concerning the earliest history of Samos, literary tradition is singularly defective, at the time of the great migrations it received an Ionian population which traced its origin to Epidaurus in Argolis, Samos became one of the twelve members of the Ionian League. By the 7th century BC it had one of the leading commercial centers of Greece. They helped to open up trade with the population lived around the Black Sea as well as with Egypt, Cyrene, Corinth. This caused them to become rivals with Miletus
Samos
–
Vathy, capital of Samos
Samos
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Psalida Beach. At the distant background Mount Kerketeas.
Samos
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Kouros of Samos, the largest surviving Kouros in Greece (Archaeological Museum of Samos).
Samos
–
Inside the
Eupalinian aqueduct.
4.
Metapontum
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Metapontum or Metapontium was an important city of Magna Graecia, situated on the gulf of Tarentum, between the river Bradanus and the Casuentus. It was distant about 20 km from Heraclea and 40 from Tarentum, the ruins of Metapontum are located in the frazione of Metaponto, in the comune of Bernalda, in the Province of Matera, Basilicata region, Italy. Though Metapontum was an ancient Greek Achaean colony, various traditions assigned to it an earlier origin. Another tradition, reported by Ephorus, assigned to it a Phocian origin, and called Daulius, Other legends carried back its origin to a still more remote period. With this view a colony was sent from the mother-country, under the command of a leader named Leucippus and it may probably be referred to about 700-690 BCE. The war seems to have ended in the capture and destruction of Siris, but our account of it is obscure. Metapontum, indeed, appears to have one of the cities where the doctrines. Even when the Pythagoreans were expelled from Crotona, they maintained themselves at Metapontum, whither the philosopher himself retired, and his tomb was still shown there in the days of Cicero. It seems clear that Metapontum was at time a flourishing and opulent city. Its name is mentioned in 345 BCE, when Timoleon touched there on his expedition to Sicily. Hence, after his defeat and death at Pandosia,326 BCE and he was then admitted into the city on friendly terms, but nevertheless exacted from them a large sum of money, and committed various other excesses. Their name is, however, again mentioned repeatedly in the Second Punic War, from this time the name of Metapontum does not again appear prominently in classical history, and it seems certain that it never recovered from the blow thus inflicted on it. But it did not altogether cease to exist, for its name is found in Pomponius Mela who does not notice any extinct places, the site was probably already subject to malaria, and from the same cause has remained desolate ever since. The fertility of its territory, especially in the growth of corn, hence we are told that the Metapontines sent to the temple at Delphi an offering of a golden harvest, by which we must probably understand a sheaf or bundle of corn wrought in gold. For the same reason an ear of corn became the symbol on their coins. We learn also that they had a treasury of their own at Olympia still existing in the days of Pausanias, herodotus tells us that they paid particular honors to Aristeas, who was said to have appeared in their city 340 years after he had disappeared from Cyzicus. They erected to him a statue in the middle of the forum, from their coins they would appear also to have paid heroic honours to Leucippus, as the founder of their city. Strabo tells us, as a proof of their Pylian origin, the site and remains of Metapontum have been carefully examined by the Duc de Luynes, who has illustrated them in a special work
Metapontum
–
The theater of Metapontum was built on top of an older
ekklesiasterion.
Metapontum
–
An
oenochoe (wine jug) found near Metapontum
Metapontum
–
The remains of the four temples
Metapontum
–
The manteion, with the theater in the background
5.
Ancient philosophy
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This page lists some links to ancient philosophy. Genuinely philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures roughly contemporaneously, karl Jaspers termed the intense period of philosophical development beginning around the 7th century and concluding around the 3rd century BCE an Axial Age in human thought. Chinese philosophy is the dominant philosophical thought in China and other countries within the East Asian cultural sphere share a common language, including Japan, Korea. The Hundred Schools of Thought were philosophers and schools that flourished from the 6th century to 221 BCE, the thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced lifestyles and social consciousness up to the present day in East Asian countries. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war. This period ended with the rise of the Qin Dynasty and the subsequent purge of dissent, a main idea of Confucianism is the cultivation of virtue and the development of moral perfection. Confucianism holds that one should give up ones life, if necessary, either passively or actively, for the sake of upholding the cardinal moral values of ren, the Legalists exalted the state above all, seeking its prosperity and martial prowess over the welfare of the common people. Harmony with the Universe, or the source thereof, is the result of many Taoist rules and practices. Mohism, which advocated the idea of love, Mozi believed that everyone is equal before heaven. Mozi advocated frugality, condemning the Confucian emphasis on ritual and music, naturalism, the School of Naturalists or the Yin-yang school, which synthesized the concepts of yin-yang and the Five Elements, Zou Yan is considered the founder of this school. Agrarianism, or the School of Agrarianism, which advocated peasant utopian communalism and egalitarianism, the Logicians or the School of Names, which focused on definition and logic. It is said to have parallels with that of the Ancient Greek sophists or dialecticians, the most notable Logician was Gongsun Longzi. Scholars from this school were good orators, debaters and tacticians, the Miscellaneous School, which integrated teachings from different schools, for instance, Lü Buwei found scholars from different schools to write a book called Lüshi Chunqiu cooperatively. This school tried to integrate the merits of various schools and avoid their perceived flaws, the School of Minor-talks, which was not a unique school of thought, but a philosophy constructed of all the thoughts which were discussed by and originated from normal people on the street. Another group is the School of the Military that studied strategy, however, this school was not one of the Ten Schools defined by Hanshu. The founder of the Qin Dynasty, who implemented Legalism as the official philosophy, Legalism remained influential until the emperors of the Han Dynasty adopted Daoism and later Confucianism as official doctrine. These latter two became the forces of Chinese thought until the introduction of Buddhism. In contrast, there was an Old Text school that advocated the use of Confucian works written in ancient language that were so much more reliable
Ancient philosophy
–
Raphael 's
School of Athens, depicting an array of ancient Greek philosophers engaged in discussion.
Ancient philosophy
–
History of
Western philosophy
Ancient philosophy
–
Plotinus
Ancient philosophy
–
Vyasa, at middle of the picture
6.
Western philosophy
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Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western world. The word philosophy itself originated from the Hellenic, philosophia, literally, the scope of philosophy in the ancient understanding, and the writings of the ancient philosophers, were all intellectual endeavors. Western Philosophy is generally said to begin in the Greek cities of western Asia Minor with Thales of Miletus and his most noted students were respectively Anaximander and Anaximenes of Miletus. Pythagoras, from the island of Samos off the coast of Ionia, pythagoreans hold that all is number, giving formal accounts in contrast to the previous material of the Ionians. They also believe in metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls, or reincarnation, Socrates The key figure in Greek philosophy is Socrates. Socrates studied under several Sophists but transformed Greek philosophy into a unified, Socrates used a critical approach called the elenchus or Socratic method to examine peoples views. He aimed to study human things, the life, justice, beauty. Although Socrates wrote nothing himself, some of his many disciples wrote down his conversations and he was tried for corrupting the youth and impiety by the Greek democracy. He was found guilty and sentenced to death, although his friends offered to help him escape from prison, he chose to remain in Athens and abide by his principles. His execution consisting in drinking the poison hemlock and he died in 399 B. C, Plato Socrates most important student was Plato. Plato founded the Academy of Athens and wrote a number of dialogues, some central ideas of Platos dialogues are the immortality of the soul, the benefits of being just, that evil is ignorance, and the Theory of Forms. Forms are universal properties that constitute reality and contrast with the changeable material things he called becoming. Aristotle Platos most outstanding student was Aristotle, Aristotle was perhaps the first truly systematic philosopher and scientist. He wrote books on physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, politics, Aristotelian logic was the first type of logic to attempt to categorize every valid syllogism. Aristotelian philosophy exercised considerable influence on almost all western philosophers, including Greek, Roman, Christian, Jewish, the Neoplatonic and Christian philosophers of Late Antiquity. Early medieval philosophy was influenced by the likes of Stoicism, neo-Platonism, but, above all, the prominent figure of this period was St. Augustinianism was the preferred starting point for most philosophers up until the 13th century. The foundations of many northern European universities were built in the Middle Ages by waves of Irish, Scottish & English monks from the Celtic Church begun by Columba, see Celtic Christianity. Erigena is said to have been stabbed to death by his students with their pens and his theology would today be called pantheistic, in keeping with Celtic resolutions of pagan and Christian philosophy
Western philosophy
–
History of
Western philosophy
7.
Pythagoreanism
–
Later revivals of Pythagorean doctrines led to what is now called Neopythagoreanism or Neoplatonism. Pythagorean ideas exercised an influence on Aristotle, and Plato. According to tradition, pythagoreanism developed at some point into two schools of thought, the mathēmatikoi and the akousmatikoi. There is the inner and outer circle John Burnet noted Lastly, we have one admitted instance of a philosophic guild, that of the Pythagoreans. And it will be found that the hypothesis, if it is to be called by that name, of a regular organisation of scientific activity will alone explain all the facts. The development of doctrine in the hands of Thales, Anaximander, according to Iamblichus in The life of Pythagoras, by Thomas Taylor There were also two forms of philosophy, for the two genera of those that pursued it, the Acusmatici and the Mathematici. The latter are acknowledged to be Pythagoreans by the rest but the Mathematici do not admit that the Acusmatici derived their instructions from Pythagoras, memory was the most valued faculty. All these auditions were of three kinds, some signifying what a thing is, others what it especially is, others what ought or ought not to be done. By musical sounds alone unaccompanied with words they healed the passions of the soul and certain diseases, enchanting in reality and it is probable that from hence this name epode, i. e. enchantment, came to be generally used. Each of these he corrected through the rule of virtue, attempering them through appropriate melodies, therefore its function is none of what are called ‘parts of virtue’, for it is better than all of them and the end produced is always better than the knowledge that produces it. Nor is every virtue of the soul in that way a function, nor is success, for if it is to be productive, different ones will produce different things, as the skill of building produces a house. However, intelligence is a part of virtue and of success, according to historians like Thomas Gale, Thomas Taler, or Cantor, Archytas became the head of the school, about a century after the murder of Pythagoras. According to August Böckh, who cites Nicomachus, Philolaus was the successor of Pythagoras, and according to Cicero, Philolaus was teacher of Archytas of Tarentum. According to the historians from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Philolaus and Eurytus are identified by Aristoxenus as teachers of the last generation of Pythagoreans, a Echecrates is mentioned by Aristoxenus as a student of Philolaus and Eurytus. The mathēmatikoi were supposed to have extended and developed the more mathematical, the mathēmatikoi did think that the akousmatikoi were Pythagorean, but felt that their own group was more representative of Pythagoras. Commentary from Sir William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Aristotle states the fundamental maxim of the Pythagoreans in various forms. According to Philolaus, number is the dominant and self-produced bond of the continuance of things. But number has two forms, the even and the odd, and a third, resulting from the mixture of the two, the even-odd and this third species is one itself, for it is both even and odd
Pythagoreanism
–
Bust of
Pythagoras,
Musei Capitolini,
Rome.
Pythagoreanism
–
Pythagoreans celebrate sunrise by
Fyodor Bronnikov
Pythagoreanism
–
Excerpt from
Philolaus Pythagoras book, (Charles Peter Mason, 1870)
8.
Metaphysics
–
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy exploring the fundamental nature of reality. In this vein, metaphysics seeks to answer two questions, Ultimately, what is there. Topics of metaphysical investigation include existence, objects and their properties, space and time, cause and effect, a central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into the basic categories of being and how they relate to one another. Another branch is metaphysical cosmology, which seeks to understand the origin, there are two broad conceptions about what world is studied by metaphysics. The strong, classical view assumes that the objects studied by metaphysics exist independently of any observer, the weaker, more modern view assumes that the objects studied by metaphysics exist inside the mind of an observer, so the subject becomes a form of introspection and conceptual analysis. Some philosophers, notably Kant, discuss both of these worlds and what can be inferred about each one, some philosophers and scientists, such as the logical positivists, reject the entire subject of metaphysics as meaningless, while others disagree and think that it is legitimate. Ontology deals with the determination whether categories of being are fundamental and it is the inquiry into being in so much as it is being, or into beings insofar as they exist—and not insofar as particular facts may be obtained about them or particular properties belong to them. Most ontologies assume or assert the existence of categories including objects, properties, space, immediate questions arising from this include the nature of objects. Only properties can be observed directly, so what does it mean for an object to exist, how can we be sure that such objects exist at all. The word is has two uses in English, separated out in ontology. It can denote existence as in there is an elephant in the room, some philosophers also include sub-classing as a third form of is-ness or being, as in the elephant is a mammal. Some philosophers, notably of the Platonic school, contend that all refer to existent entities. Other philosophers contend that nouns do not always name entities, between these poles of realism and nominalism, stand a variety of other positions. An ontology may give an account of which refer to entities, which do not, why. Other controversial categories of objects and properties which may be argued to exist or not include aesthetic and moral properties, stances about the status of such things may form the foundation for other branches of philosophy such as aesthetics, ethics and political philosophy. Identity is a fundamental metaphysical issue, metaphysicians investigating identity are tasked with the question of what, exactly, it means for something to be identical to itself. Other issues of identity arise in the context of time, what does it mean for something to be itself across two moments in time, how do we account for this. Another question of identity arises when we ask what our criteria ought to be for determining identity, and how does the reality of identity interface with linguistic expressions
Metaphysics
–
Plato –
Kant –
Nietzsche
9.
Music
–
Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in time. The common elements of music are pitch, rhythm, dynamics, different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. The word derives from Greek μουσική, Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as the harmony of the spheres and it is music to my ears point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, There is no noise, the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. There are many types of music, including music, traditional music, art music, music written for religious ceremonies. For example, it can be hard to draw the line between some early 1980s hard rock and heavy metal, within the arts, music may be classified as a performing art, a fine art or as an auditory art. People may make music as a hobby, like a teen playing cello in a youth orchestra, the word derives from Greek μουσική. According to the Online Etymological Dictionary, the music is derived from mid-13c. Musike, from Old French musique and directly from Latin musica the art of music and this is derived from the. Greek mousike of the Muses, from fem. of mousikos pertaining to the Muses, from Mousa Muse. In classical Greece, any art in which the Muses presided, Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. With the advent of recording, records of popular songs. Some music lovers create mix tapes of their songs, which serve as a self-portrait. An environment consisting solely of what is most ardently loved, amateur musicians can compose or perform music for their own pleasure, and derive their income elsewhere. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers or session musicians, seeking contracts and engagements in a variety of settings, There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take lessons with professional musicians, in community settings, advanced amateur musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles such as community concert bands and community orchestras. However, there are many cases where a live performance in front of an audience is also recorded and distributed. Live concert recordings are popular in classical music and in popular music forms such as rock, where illegally taped live concerts are prized by music lovers
Music
–
A painting on an Ancient Greek vase depicts a music lesson (c. 510 BC).
Music
–
Jean-Gabriel Ferlan performing at a 2008 concert at the collège-lycée Saint-François Xavier
Music
–
The composer
Michel Richard Delalande, pen in hand.
Music
–
Funk places most of its emphasis on rhythm and
groove, with entire songs based around a
vamp on a single chord. Pictured are the influential funk musicians
George Clinton and
Parliament Funkadelic in 2006.
10.
Mathematics
–
Mathematics is the study of topics such as quantity, structure, space, and change. There is a range of views among mathematicians and philosophers as to the exact scope, Mathematicians seek out patterns and use them to formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proof, when mathematical structures are good models of real phenomena, then mathematical reasoning can provide insight or predictions about nature. Through the use of abstraction and logic, mathematics developed from counting, calculation, measurement, practical mathematics has been a human activity from as far back as written records exist. The research required to solve mathematical problems can take years or even centuries of sustained inquiry, rigorous arguments first appeared in Greek mathematics, most notably in Euclids Elements. Galileo Galilei said, The universe cannot be read until we have learned the language and it is written in mathematical language, and the letters are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without which means it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word. Without these, one is wandering about in a dark labyrinth, carl Friedrich Gauss referred to mathematics as the Queen of the Sciences. Benjamin Peirce called mathematics the science that draws necessary conclusions, David Hilbert said of mathematics, We are not speaking here of arbitrariness in any sense. Mathematics is not like a game whose tasks are determined by arbitrarily stipulated rules, rather, it is a conceptual system possessing internal necessity that can only be so and by no means otherwise. Albert Einstein stated that as far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, Mathematics is essential in many fields, including natural science, engineering, medicine, finance and the social sciences. Applied mathematics has led to entirely new mathematical disciplines, such as statistics, Mathematicians also engage in pure mathematics, or mathematics for its own sake, without having any application in mind. There is no clear line separating pure and applied mathematics, the history of mathematics can be seen as an ever-increasing series of abstractions. The earliest uses of mathematics were in trading, land measurement, painting and weaving patterns, in Babylonian mathematics elementary arithmetic first appears in the archaeological record. Numeracy pre-dated writing and numeral systems have many and diverse. Between 600 and 300 BC the Ancient Greeks began a study of mathematics in its own right with Greek mathematics. Mathematics has since been extended, and there has been a fruitful interaction between mathematics and science, to the benefit of both. Mathematical discoveries continue to be made today, the overwhelming majority of works in this ocean contain new mathematical theorems and their proofs. The word máthēma is derived from μανθάνω, while the modern Greek equivalent is μαθαίνω, in Greece, the word for mathematics came to have the narrower and more technical meaning mathematical study even in Classical times
Mathematics
–
Euclid (holding
calipers), Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by
Raphael in this detail from
The School of Athens.
Mathematics
–
Greek mathematician
Pythagoras (c. 570 – c. 495 BC), commonly credited with discovering the
Pythagorean theorem
Mathematics
–
Leonardo Fibonacci, the
Italian mathematician who established the Hindu–Arabic numeral system to the Western World
Mathematics
–
Carl Friedrich Gauss, known as the prince of mathematicians
11.
Ethics
–
Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. The term ethics derives from the Ancient Greek word ἠθικός ethikos, the branch of philosophy axiology comprises the sub-branches of ethics and aesthetics, each concerned with values. As a branch of philosophy, ethics investigates the questions What is the best way for people to live, and What actions are right or wrong in particular circumstances. In practice, ethics seeks to resolve questions of morality by defining concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice. As a field of enquiry, moral philosophy also is related to the fields of moral psychology, descriptive ethics. Richard William Paul and Linda Elder define ethics as a set of concepts, the Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy states that the word ethics is commonly used interchangeably with morality. And sometimes it is used narrowly to mean the moral principles of a particular tradition. Paul and Elder state that most people confuse ethics with behaving in accordance with social conventions, religious beliefs, the word ethics in English refers to several things. It can refer to philosophical ethics or moral philosophy—a project that attempts to use reason in order to various kinds of ethical questions. As bioethicist Larry Churchill has written, Ethics, understood as the capacity to think critically about moral values, Ethics can also be used to describe a particular persons own idiosyncratic principles or habits. For example, Joe has strange ethics, the English word ethics is derived from an Ancient Greek word êthikos, which means relating to ones character. The Ancient Greek adjective êthikos is itself derived from another Greek word, meta-ethics asks how we understand, know about, and what we mean when we talk about what is right and what is wrong. An ethical question fixed on some particular practical question—such as, Should I eat this particular piece of chocolate cake. —cannot be a meta-ethical question, a meta-ethical question is abstract and relates to a wide range of more specific practical questions. For example, Is it ever possible to have knowledge of what is right. Meta-ethics has always accompanied philosophical ethics, meta-ethics is also important in G. E. In it he first wrote about what he called the naturalistic fallacy, moore was seen to reject naturalism in ethics, in his Open Question Argument. This made thinkers look again at second order questions about ethics, earlier, the Scottish philosopher David Hume had put forward a similar view on the difference between facts and values. Studies of how we know in ethics divide into cognitivism and non-cognitivism, non-cognitivism is the claim that when we judge something as right or wrong, this is neither true nor false
Ethics
–
Socrates
Ethics
–
Plato –
Kant –
Nietzsche
Ethics
–
Immanuel Kant
12.
Politics
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Politics is the process of making decisions applying to all members of each group. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community as well as the interrelationship between communities. It is very often said that politics is about power, a political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within a given society. History of political thought can be traced back to antiquity, with seminal works such as Platos Republic, Aristotles Politics. Formal Politics refers to the operation of a system of government and publicly defined institutions. Political parties, public policy or discussions about war and foreign affairs would fall under the category of Formal Politics, many people view formal politics as something outside of themselves, but that can still affect their daily lives. Semi-formal Politics is Politics in government associations such as neighborhood associations, informal Politics is understood as forming alliances, exercising power and protecting and advancing particular ideas or goals. Generally, this includes anything affecting ones daily life, such as the way an office or household is managed, informal Politics is typically understood as everyday politics, hence the idea that politics is everywhere. The word comes from the same Greek word from which the title of Aristotles book Politics also derives, the book title was rendered in Early Modern English in the mid-15th century as Polettiques, it became politics in Modern English. The history of politics is reflected in the origin, development, the origin of the state is to be found in the development of the art of warfare. Historically speaking, all communities of the modern type owe their existence to successful warfare. Kings, emperors and other types of monarchs in many countries including China, of the institutions that ruled states, that of kingship stood at the forefront until the French Revolution put an end to the divine right of kings. Nevertheless, the monarchy is among the political institutions, dating as early as 2100 BC in Sumeria to the 21st century AD British Monarchy. Kingship becomes an institution through the institution of Hereditary monarchy, the king often, even in absolute monarchies, ruled his kingdom with the aid of an elite group of advisors, a council without which he could not maintain power. As these advisors and others outside the monarchy negotiated for power, constitutional monarchies emerged, long before the council became a bulwark of democracy, it rendered invaluable aid to the institution of kingship by, Preserving the institution of kingship through heredity. Preserving the traditions of the social order, being able to withstand criticism as an impersonal authority. Being able to manage a greater deal of knowledge and action than an individual such as the king. The greatest of the subordinates, the earls and dukes in England and Scotland
Politics
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Political views differ on average across nations. A recreation of the
Inglehart –
Welzel Cultural Map of the World based on the
World Values Survey.
13.
Musica universalis
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This music is not usually thought to be literally audible, but a harmonic, mathematical or religious concept. The idea continued to appeal to thinkers about music until the end of the Renaissance, influencing scholars of many kinds, further scientific exploration has determined specific proportions in some orbital motion, described as orbital resonance. The discovery of the relation between the pitch of the musical note and the length of the string that produces it is attributed to Pythagoras. Subsequently, Plato described astronomy and music as twinned studies of sensual recognition, astronomy for the eyes, music for the ears, aristotle is the first in giving a critical exposition of the pythagorean notion of the harmony of the spheres. Because of that, one believes being authorized to conclude that stars so numerous, but as it would be very surprising that we did not hear that pretentious voice, it explain us the cause, saying that noise is in our ears since our birth date. It is also referred to in Esoteric Christianity as the place where the state of consciousness known as the Second Heaven occurs, the connection between music, mathematics, and astronomy had a profound impact on history. A small number of recent compositions either make reference to or are based on the concepts of Musica Universalis or Harmony of the Spheres, earlier, in the 1910s, Danish composer Rued Langgaard composed a pioneering orchestral work titled Music of the Spheres. Asteroseismology Esoteric cosmology Harmonices Mundi Orbital resonance This Is My Fathers World Titius–Bode law Ray of Creation Sacred geometry Shabd Space music Davis, the Republic The Statesman of Plato. London, M. W. Dunne 1901, Nabu Press reprint,2010, roger Bacon and the sciences, commemorative essays. The Harmony of the World, translated by E. J, aiton, A. M. Duncan and J. V. Field. Natural History, books I-II, translated by H. Rackham, ptolemys theory of visual perception, an English translation of the Optics. Weiss, Piero and Taruskin, Richard,2008, Music in the Western World, a history in documents. Pythagoras & Music of the Spheres, johannes Kepler & the Music of the Spheres. Die Bedeutung der Musik im Leben der Römer, burkert W. Weisheit und Wissenschaft, Studien zu Pythagoras, Philolaos und Platon. Nürnberg,1962 Richter L. Tantus et tam dulcis sonus, die Lehre von der Sphärenharmonie in Rom und ihre griechischen Quellen // Geschichte der Musiktheorie
Musica universalis
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Harmony of the world, 1806 г.
Musica universalis
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Engraving from Renaissance Italy (Gafurius's Practica musice, 1496) showing Apollo, the Muses, the planetary spheres and musical ratios.
14.
Pythagorean tuning
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Pythagorean tuning is a tuning of the syntonic temperament in which the generator is the ratio 3,2, which is 702 cents wide. Hence, it is a system of tuning in which the frequency ratios of all intervals are based on the ratio 3,2. This ratio, also known as the perfect fifth, is chosen because it is one of the most consonant and easiest to tune by ear. As Novalis put it, The musical proportions seem to me to be particularly correct natural proportions, the so-called Pythagorean tuning was used by musicians up to the beginning of the 16th century. The Pythagorean system would appear to be ideal because of the purity of the fifths, Pythagorean tuning is based on a stack of intervals called perfect fifths, each tuned in the ratio 3,2, the next simplest ratio after 2,1. Since notes differing in frequency by a factor of 2 are given the same name, the purpose of this adjustment is to move the 12 notes within a smaller range of frequency, namely within the interval between the base note D and the D above it. This interval is called the basic octave. For instance, the A is tuned such that its frequency equals 3,2 times the frequency of D—if D is tuned to a frequency of 288 Hz, then A is tuned to 432 Hz. Similarly, the E above A is tuned such that its frequency equals 3,2 times the frequency of A, or 9,4 times the frequency of D—with A at 432 Hz, this puts E at 648 Hz. Since this E is outside the basic octave, it is usual to halve its frequency to move it within the basic octave. Therefore, E is tuned to 324 Hz, a 9,8 above D, the B at 3,2 above that E is tuned to the ratio 27,16 and so on. This frequency is doubled to bring it into the basic octave. When extending this tuning however, a problem arises, no stack of 3,2 intervals will fit exactly into any stack of 2,1 intervals. For instance a stack such as this, obtained by adding one note to the stack shown above A♭–E♭–B♭–F–C–G–D–A–E–B–F♯–C♯–G♯ will be similar. More exactly, it will be about a quarter of a semitone larger, thus, A♭ and G♯, when brought into the basic octave, will not coincide as expected. This discrepancy, of about 23.46 cents, or nearly one quarter of a semitone, is known as a Pythagorean comma, to get around this problem, Pythagorean tuning constructs only twelve notes as above, with eleven fifths between them. For example, one may use only the 12 notes from E♭ to G♯. This, as shown above, the remaining interval is left badly out-of-tune, meaning that any music which combines those two notes is unplayable in this tuning. A very out-of-tune interval such as one is known as a wolf interval
Pythagorean tuning
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The syntonic tuning continuum, showing Pythagorean tuning at 702 cents.
15.
Pythagorean theorem
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In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem, also known as Pythagorass theorem, is a fundamental relation in Euclidean geometry among the three sides of a right triangle. It states that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two sides. There is some evidence that Babylonian mathematicians understood the formula, although little of it indicates an application within a mathematical framework, Mesopotamian, Indian and Chinese mathematicians all discovered the theorem independently and, in some cases, provided proofs for special cases. The theorem has been given numerous proofs – possibly the most for any mathematical theorem and they are very diverse, including both geometric proofs and algebraic proofs, with some dating back thousands of years. The Pythagorean theorem was known long before Pythagoras, but he may well have been the first to prove it, in any event, the proof attributed to him is very simple, and is called a proof by rearrangement. The two large squares shown in the figure each contain four triangles, and the only difference between the two large squares is that the triangles are arranged differently. Therefore, the space within each of the two large squares must have equal area. Equating the area of the white space yields the Pythagorean theorem and that Pythagoras originated this very simple proof is sometimes inferred from the writings of the later Greek philosopher and mathematician Proclus. Several other proofs of this theorem are described below, but this is known as the Pythagorean one, If the length of both a and b are known, then c can be calculated as c = a 2 + b 2. If the length of the c and of one side are known. The Pythagorean equation relates the sides of a triangle in a simple way. Another corollary of the theorem is that in any triangle, the hypotenuse is greater than any one of the other sides. A generalization of this theorem is the law of cosines, which allows the computation of the length of any side of any triangle, If the angle between the other sides is a right angle, the law of cosines reduces to the Pythagorean equation. This theorem may have more known proofs than any other, the book The Pythagorean Proposition contains 370 proofs, Let ABC represent a right triangle, with the right angle located at C, as shown on the figure. Draw the altitude from point C, and call H its intersection with the side AB, point H divides the length of the hypotenuse c into parts d and e. By a similar reasoning, the triangle CBH is also similar to ABC, the proof of similarity of the triangles requires the triangle postulate, the sum of the angles in a triangle is two right angles, and is equivalent to the parallel postulate. Similarity of the leads to the equality of ratios of corresponding sides. The first result equates the cosines of the angles θ, whereas the second result equates their sines, the role of this proof in history is the subject of much speculation
Pythagorean theorem
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The
Plimpton 322 tablet records Pythagorean triples from Babylonian times.
Pythagorean theorem
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Pythagorean theorem The sum of the areas of the two squares on the legs (a and b) equals the area of the square on the hypotenuse (c).
Pythagorean theorem
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Geometric proof of the Pythagorean theorem from the
Zhou Bi Suan Jing.
Pythagorean theorem
–
Exhibit on the Pythagorean theorem at the
Universum museum in Mexico City
16.
Thales of Miletus
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Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek/Phoenician philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from Miletus in Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Thales is recognized for breaking from the use of mythology to explain the world and the universe, and instead explaining natural objects and phenomena by theories and hypothesis, i. e. science. Aristotle reported Thales hypothesis that the principle of nature and the nature of matter was a single material substance. In mathematics, Thales used geometry to calculate the heights of pyramids and he is the first known individual to use deductive reasoning applied to geometry, by deriving four corollaries to Thales theorem. He is the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed, the ancient source, Apollodorus of Athens, writing during the 2nd century BCE, thought Thales was born about the year 625 BCE. The dates of Thales life are not exactly known, but are roughly established by a few events mentioned in the sources. According to Herodotus Thales predicted the eclipse of May 28,585 BC. Diogenes Laërtius quotes the chronicle of Apollodorus of Athens as saying that Thales died at the age of 78 during the 58th Olympiad and attributes his death to heat stroke while watching the games. Plutarch had earlier told this version, Solon visited Thales and asked him why he remained single, nevertheless, several years later, anxious for family, he adopted his nephew Cybisthus. Thales involved himself in many activities, taking the role of an innovator, some say that he left no writings, others say that he wrote On the Solstice and On the Equinox. Diogenes Laërtius quotes two letters from Thales, one to Pherecydes of Syros, offering to review his book on religion, Thales identifies the Milesians as Athenian colonists. He was aware of the existence of the lodestone, and was the first to be connected to knowledge of this in history, according to Aristotle, Thales thought lodestones had souls, because iron is attracted to them. According to Hieronymus, historically quoted by Diogenes Laertius, Thales found the height of pyramids by comparison between the lengths of the shadows cast by a person and by the pyramids, several anecdotes suggest Thales was not just a philosopher, but also a businessman. A story, with different versions, recounts how Thales achieved riches from an olive harvest by prediction of the weather, in one version, he bought all the olive presses in Miletus after predicting the weather and a good harvest for a particular year. Thales’ political life had mainly to do with the involvement of the Ionians in the defense of Anatolia against the power of the Persians. In neighbouring Lydia, a king had come to power, Croesus and he had conquered most of the states of coastal Anatolia, including the cities of the Ionians. The story is told in Herodotus, the war endured for five years, but in the sixth an eclipse of the Sun spontaneously halted a battle in progress. It seems that Thales had predicted this solar eclipse, the Seven Sages were most likely already in existence, as Croesus was also heavily influenced by Solon of Athens, another sage
Thales of Miletus
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Thales of Miletus
Thales of Miletus
–
An olive mill and an olive press dating from Roman times in
Capernaum, Israel.
Thales of Miletus
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Total
eclipse of the
Sun
Thales of Miletus
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The Ionic Stoa on the Sacred Way in Miletus
17.
Anaximander
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Anaximander was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia. He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales and he succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school where he counted Anaximenes and, arguably, Pythagoras amongst his pupils. Little of his life and work is known today, according to available historical documents, he is the first philosopher known to have written down his studies, although only one fragment of his work remains. Fragmentary testimonies found in documents after his death provide a portrait of the man, like many thinkers of his time, Anaximanders philosophy included contributions to many disciplines. In astronomy, he attempted to describe the mechanics of celestial bodies in relation to the Earth, in physics, his postulation that the indefinite was the source of all things led Greek philosophy to a new level of conceptual abstraction. His knowledge of geometry allowed him to introduce the gnomon in Greece and he created a map of the world that contributed greatly to the advancement of geography. He was also involved in the politics of Miletus and was sent as a leader to one of its colonies, Anaximander, son of Praxiades, was born in the third year of the 42nd Olympiad. According to Apollodorus of Athens, Greek grammarian of the 2nd century BC, he was years old during the second year of the 58th Olympiad. Establishing a timeline of his work is now impossible, since no document provides chronological references, Themistius, a 4th-century Byzantine rhetorician, mentions that he was the first of the known Greeks to publish a written document on nature. Therefore, his texts would be amongst the earliest written in prose, by the time of Plato, his philosophy was almost forgotten, and Aristotle, his successor Theophrastus and a few doxographers provide us with the little information that remains. However, we know from Aristotle that Thales, also from Miletus and it is debatable whether Thales actually was the teacher of Anaximander, but there is no doubt that Anaximander was influenced by Thales theory that everything is derived from water. 3rd-century Roman rhetorician Aelian depicts him as leader of the Milesian colony to Apollonia on the Black Sea coast, indeed, Various History explains that philosophers sometimes also dealt with political matters. It is very likely that leaders of Miletus sent him there as a legislator to create a constitution or simply to maintain the colony’s allegiance. Anaximanders theories were influenced by the Greek mythical tradition, and by some ideas of Thales – the father of philosophy – as well as by observations made by older civilizations in the East. This was a practice for the Greek philosophers in a society which saw gods everywhere, therefore they could fit their ideas into a tolerably elastic system. Some scholars see a gap between the mythical and the new rational way of thought which is the main characteristic of the archaic period in the Greek city states. This has given rise to the phrase Greek miracle, but if we follow carefully the course of Anaximanders ideas, we will notice that there was not such an abrupt break as initially appears. The basic elements of nature which the first Greek philosophers believed that constituted the universe represent in fact the primordial forces of previous thought and their collision produced what the mythical tradition had called cosmic harmony
Anaximander
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Relief representing Anaximander (Roma, Museo Nazionale Romano). Probably Roman copy of an earlier Greek original. This is the only existing image of Anaximander from the ancient world.
Anaximander
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Detail of
Raphael 's painting
The School of Athens, 1510–1511. This could be a representation of Anaximander leaning towards
Pythagoras on his left.
18.
Pherecydes of Syros
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Pherecydes of Syros was a Greek thinker from the island of Syros. Pherecydes authored a cosmogony, derived from three principles, Zas, Cthonie and Chronos, known as the Pentemychos. It formed a bridge between the thought of Hesiod and pre-Socratic philosophy. His work is lost, but it survived into the Hellenistic period, Pherecydes was said to have been the first writer to communicate philosophical musings in prose. According to William, Aristotle regarded him partly a mythological writer and Plutarch, according to tradition Pherecydes was a native of the island of Syros and flourished in the 59th Olympiad. It was said that he was a son of one Babys, Schibli dates his birth in the 49th olympiad. Aristotle wrote in his Metaphysics of Pherecydes being in part a mythological writer and Plutarch, in his Parallel Lives and he was considered to have had the greater significance in teaching on the subject of metempsychosis. His writings were extant in the Hellenistic period, although only fragments have survived to the present day and his works were written in prose rather than verse and he has been said to have been the first to have communicated or conveyed philosophical musings in this form. Tradition maintains that Pherecydes lived in two caves in the part of the island of Syros. His summer habitation remains a popular tourist destination to this day, some sources say that Pherecydes book was entitled Pentemychos translated as five recesses. in some sources said to have been titled Heptamychos. The author of the modern scholarly book devoted entirely to Pherecydes, Hermann S. Schibli. In this work, Pherecydes taught his philosophy through the medium of mythic representations, although it is lost, the fragments that survive are enough to reconstruct a basic outline. In the older cosmogony of Hesiod the initial state of the universe is Chaos, a dark void considered as a divine primordial condition, Pherecydes probably interpreted chaos as water and he does not place it at the very beginning. In his cosmogony there are three principles, Zas, Cthonie and Chronos who always existed. The semen of Chronos which can probably be considered as a watery chaos was placed in the recesses and this is described in a fragment preserved in Damascius On First Principles. A close relationship is thought to exist between these recesses and Chthonie, Hesiod described Tartaros as being in a recess of broad-wayed earth. Hermann S. Schibli thinks the five muchos were actually harboured within Chthonie, alongside Chthonie and Chronos, Pherecydes held a power called Zas. Zas, comparable with the Orphic Eros in function, and as such a personification of masculine creativity
Pherecydes of Syros
–
Pherecydes, ancient Greek philosopher.
Pherecydes of Syros
–
Bust in
Syros
19.
Philolaus
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Philolaus was a Greek Pythagorean and Presocratic philosopher. He argued that at the foundation of everything is the part played by the limiting and limitless and he is also credited with originating the theory that the Earth was not the center of the universe. According to August Böckh, who cites Nicomachus, Philolaus was the successor of Pythagoras, Philolaus is variously reported as being born in either Croton, or Tarentum, or Metapontum — all part of Magna Graecia. It is most likely that he came from Croton and he may have fled the second burning of the Pythagorean meeting-place around 454 BCE, after which he migrated to Greece. According to Platos Phaedo, he was the instructor of Simmias and Cebes at Thebes, around the time the Phaedo takes place and this would make him a contemporary of Socrates, and agrees with the statement that Philolaus and Democritus were contemporaries. The various reports about his life are scattered among the writings of later writers and are of dubious value in reconstructing his life. He apparently lived for time at Heraclea, where he was the pupil of Aresas. Diogenes Laërtius is the authority for the claim that Plato, shortly after the death of Socrates. The pupils of Philolaus were said to have included Xenophilus, Phanto, Echecrates, Diocles, Diogenes Laërtius speaks of Philolaus composing one book, but elsewhere he speaks of three books, as do Aulus Gellius and Iamblichus. It might have been one treatise divided into three books, Plato is said to have procured a copy of his book from which, it was later claimed, Plato composed much of his Timaeus. One of the works of Philolaus was called On Nature, which seems to be the work which Stobaeus calls On the World. Other writers refer to a work entitled Bacchae, which may have another name for the same work. However, it has been mentioned that Proclus describes the Bacchae as a book for teaching theology by means of mathematics, the second book appears to have been an exposition of the nature of numbers, which in the Pythagorean theory are the essence and source of all things. Additionally Charles Peter Mason noted Pythagoras and his earliest successors do not appear to have committed any of their doctrines to writing, but amid the different and inconsistent accounts of the matter, the first publication of the Pythagorean doctrines is pretty uniformly attributed to Philolaus. Other versions of the story represent Plato as purchasing it himself from Philolaus or his relatives when in Sicily, out of the materials which he derived from these books Plato is said to have composed his Timaeus. L. The story of Platos purchase of books from Philolaus was probably invented to authenticate the three forged treatises of Pythagoras. Burkerts arguments, supported by study, have led to a consensus that some 11 fragments are genuine. Fragments 1, 6a and 13 are identified as coming from the book On Nature by ancient sources, robert Scoon explained Philolaus universe in 1922 Philolaus is trying to show how the ordered universe that we know came into its present condition
Philolaus
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Philolaus book, (Charles Peter Mason, 1870)
Philolaus
–
Medieval woodcut by
Franchino Gaffurio, depicting
Pythagoras and Philolaus conducting musical investigations.
20.
Parmenides
–
Parmenides of Elea was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy, the single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. In this poem, Parmenides describes two views of reality, in the way of truth, he explains how reality is one, change is impossible, and existence is timeless, uniform, necessary, and unchanging. In the way of opinion, he explains the world of appearances, in which ones sensory faculties lead to conceptions which are false, Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, which, according to Herodotus, had been founded shortly before 535 BC. He was descended from a wealthy and illustrious family,450 BC, which, if true, suggests a year of birth of c.515 BC. He was said to have been a pupil of Xenophanes, and regardless of whether they knew each other. Diogenes Laërtius also describes Parmenides as a disciple of Ameinias, son of Diochaites, the Pythagorean, the first hero cult of a philosopher we know of was Parmenides dedication of a heroon to his teacher Ameinias in Elea. Parmenides was the founder of the School of Elea, which also included Zeno of Elea, of his life in Elea, it was said that he had written the laws of the city. His most important pupil was Zeno, who according to Plato was 25 years his junior, Parmenides had a large influence on Plato, who not only named a dialogue, Parmenides, after him, but always spoke of him with veneration. William Smith also wrote in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Reason is our guide, on the latter the eye that does not catch the object and re-echoing hearing. Thought and that which is thought of coinciding, the passages of Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and others. Parmenides is one of the most significant of the pre-Socratic philosophers and his single known work, a poem conventionally titled On Nature, has survived only in fragments. Approximately 160 verses remain today from a total that was probably near 800. The poem was divided into three parts, A proem, which introduced the entire work, A section known as The Way of Truth. The proem is a sequence in which the narrator travels beyond the beaten paths of mortal men to receive a revelation from an unnamed goddess on the nature of reality. Aletheia, an estimated 90% of which has survived, and doxa, in the proem, Parmenides describes the journey of the poet, escorted by maidens, from the ordinary daytime world to a strange destination, outside our human paths. Carried in a chariot, and attended by the daughters of Helios the Sun. The goddess resides in a well-known mythological space, where Night and its essential character is that here all opposites are undivided, or one
Parmenides
–
Parmenides
Parmenides
–
Parmenides. Detail from
The School of Athens by
Raphael.
21.
Plato
–
Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Platos entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the foundations of Western philosophy. Alfred North Whitehead once noted, the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. In addition to being a figure for Western science, philosophy. Friedrich Nietzsche, amongst other scholars, called Christianity, Platonism for the people, Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy, which originate with him. He was not the first thinker or writer to whom the word “philosopher” should be applied, few other authors in the history of Western philosophy approximate him in depth and range, perhaps only Aristotle, Aquinas and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank. Due to a lack of surviving accounts, little is known about Platos early life, the philosopher came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens. Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies, the exact time and place of Platos birth are unknown, but it is certain that he belonged to an aristocratic and influential family. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or Aegina between 429 and 423 BCE. According to a tradition, reported by Diogenes Laertius, Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens, Codrus. Platos mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker, besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children, these were two sons, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a daughter Potone, the mother of Speusippus. The brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are mentioned in the Republic as sons of Ariston, and presumably brothers of Plato, but in a scenario in the Memorabilia, Xenophon confused the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger than Plato. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says, went to Euclides in Megara, as Debra Nails argues, The text itself gives no reason to infer that Plato left immediately for Megara and implies the very opposite. Thus, Nails dates Platos birth to 424/423, another legend related that, when Plato was an infant, bees settled on his lips while he was sleeping, an augury of the sweetness of style in which he would discourse about philosophy. Ariston appears to have died in Platos childhood, although the dating of his death is difficult. Perictione then married Pyrilampes, her mothers brother, who had served many times as an ambassador to the Persian court and was a friend of Pericles, Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous for his beauty. Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato and these and other references suggest a considerable amount of family pride and enable us to reconstruct Platos family tree
Plato
–
Plato: copy of portrait bust by
Silanion
Plato
–
Plato from
The School of Athens by
Raphael, 1509
Plato
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Plato and
Socrates in a medieval depiction
Plato
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Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of
The School of Athens, a fresco by
Raphael. Aristotle gestures to the earth, representing his belief in knowledge through empirical observation and experience, while holding a copy of his
Nicomachean Ethics in his hand. Plato holds his
Timaeus and gestures to the heavens, representing his belief in
The Forms
22.
Euclid
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Euclid, sometimes called Euclid of Alexandria to distinguish him from Euclides of Megara, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the father of geometry. He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I, in the Elements, Euclid deduced the principles of what is now called Euclidean geometry from a small set of axioms. Euclid also wrote works on perspective, conic sections, spherical geometry, number theory, Euclid is the anglicized version of the Greek name Εὐκλείδης, which means renowned, glorious. Very few original references to Euclid survive, so little is known about his life, the date, place and circumstances of both his birth and death are unknown and may only be estimated roughly relative to other people mentioned with him. He is rarely mentioned by name by other Greek mathematicians from Archimedes onward, the few historical references to Euclid were written centuries after he lived by Proclus c.450 AD and Pappus of Alexandria c.320 AD. Proclus introduces Euclid only briefly in his Commentary on the Elements, Proclus later retells a story that, when Ptolemy I asked if there was a shorter path to learning geometry than Euclids Elements, Euclid replied there is no royal road to geometry. This anecdote is questionable since it is similar to a story told about Menaechmus, a detailed biography of Euclid is given by Arabian authors, mentioning, for example, a birth town of Tyre. This biography is generally believed to be completely fictitious, however, this hypothesis is not well accepted by scholars and there is little evidence in its favor. The only reference that historians rely on of Euclid having written the Elements was from Proclus, although best known for its geometric results, the Elements also includes number theory. The geometrical system described in the Elements was long known simply as geometry, today, however, that system is often referred to as Euclidean geometry to distinguish it from other so-called non-Euclidean geometries that mathematicians discovered in the 19th century. In addition to the Elements, at least five works of Euclid have survived to the present day and they follow the same logical structure as Elements, with definitions and proved propositions. Data deals with the nature and implications of information in geometrical problems. On Divisions of Figures, which only partially in Arabic translation. It is similar to a first-century AD work by Heron of Alexandria, catoptrics, which concerns the mathematical theory of mirrors, particularly the images formed in plane and spherical concave mirrors. The attribution is held to be anachronistic however by J J OConnor, phaenomena, a treatise on spherical astronomy, survives in Greek, it is quite similar to On the Moving Sphere by Autolycus of Pitane, who flourished around 310 BC. Optics is the earliest surviving Greek treatise on perspective, in its definitions Euclid follows the Platonic tradition that vision is caused by discrete rays which emanate from the eye. One important definition is the fourth, Things seen under a greater angle appear greater, proposition 45 is interesting, proving that for any two unequal magnitudes, there is a point from which the two appear equal. Other works are attributed to Euclid, but have been lost
Euclid
–
Euclid by
Justus van Gent, 15th century
Euclid
–
One of the oldest surviving fragments of Euclid's Elements, found at
Oxyrhynchus and dated to circa AD 100 (
P. Oxy. 29). The diagram accompanies Book II, Proposition 5.
Euclid
–
Statue in honor of Euclid in the
Oxford University Museum of Natural History
23.
Empedocles
–
Empedocles was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Acragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles philosophy is best known for originating the theory of the four classical elements. He also proposed forces he called Love and Strife which would mix as well as separate the elements and these physical speculations were part of a history of the universe which also dealt with the origin and development of life. Influenced by the Pythagoreans, Empedocles was a vegetarian who supported the doctrine of reincarnation and he is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to have recorded his ideas in verse. Some of his survives, more than is the case for any other pre-Socratic philosopher. Empedocles death was mythologized by ancient writers, and has been the subject of a number of literary treatments, Empedocles was born, c.490 BC, at Acragas in Sicily to a distinguished family. Very little is known about his life and his father Meto seems to have been instrumental in overthrowing the tyrant of Agrigentum, presumably Thrasydaeus in 470 BC. Empedocles continued this tradition by helping to overthrow the succeeding oligarchic government, Empedocles was acquainted or connected by friendship with the physicians Pausanias and Acron, with various Pythagoreans, and even, it is said, with Parmenides and Anaxagoras. The only pupil of Empedocles who is mentioned is the sophist, according to Aristotle, he died at the age of sixty, even though other writers have him living up to the age of one hundred and nine. The contemporary Life of Empedocles by Xanthus has been lost, Empedocles is considered the last Greek philosopher to write in verse and the surviving fragments of his teaching are from two poems, Purifications and On Nature. Lucretius speaks of him with enthusiasm, and evidently viewed him as his model, the two poems together comprised 5000 lines. About 550 lines of his survive, although because ancient writers rarely mentioned which poem they were quoting. Some scholars now believe there was only one poem. We possess only about 100 lines of his Purifications and it seems to have given a mythical account of the world which may, nevertheless, have been part of Empedocles philosophical system. Humans, animals, and even plants are such spirits, the moral conduct recommended in the poem may allow us to become like gods again. There are about 450 lines of his poem On Nature extant, the poem originally consisted of 2000 lines of hexameter verse, and was addressed to Pausanias. It was this poem which outlined his philosophical system, although acquainted with the theories of the Eleatics and the Pythagoreans, Empedocles did not belong to any one definite school. An eclectic in his thinking, he combined much that had been suggested by Parmenides, Pythagoras and he was a firm believer in Orphic mysteries, as well as a scientific thinker and a precursor of physical science
Empedocles
–
Empedocles, 17th-century engraving
Empedocles
–
The temple of
Hera at
Agrigentum, built when Empedocles was a young man, c. 470 BC.
Empedocles
–
A piece of the Strasbourg Empedocles papyrus in the
Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, Strasbourg
Empedocles
–
Empedocles as portrayed in the
Nuremberg Chronicle
24.
Hippasus
–
Hippasus of Metapontum, was a Pythagorean philosopher. Little is known about his life or his beliefs, but he is credited with the discovery of the existence of irrational numbers. The discovery of irrational numbers is said to have been shocking to the Pythagoreans, the discovery of irrationality is not specifically ascribed to Hippasus by any ancient writer. Some modern scholars though have suggested that he discovered the irrationality of √2, little is known about the life of Hippasus. He may have lived in the late 5th century BC, about a century after the time of Pythagoras, Metapontum in Italy is usually referred to as his birthplace, although according to Iamblichus some claim Metapontum to be his birthplace, while others the nearby city of Croton. Hippasus is recorded under the city of Sybaris in Iamblichus list of each citys Pythagoreans, according to Iamblichus in The life of Pythagoras, by Thomas Taylor There were also two forms of philosophy, for the two genera of those that pursued it, the Acusmatici and the Mathematici. The latter are acknowledged to be Pythagoreans by the rest but the Mathematici do not admit that the Acusmatici derived their instructions from Pythagoras, memory was the most valued faculty. All these auditions were of three kinds, some signifying what a thing is, others what it especially is, others what ought or ought not to be done. Diogenes Laërtius tells us that Hippasus believed that there is a time which the changes in the universe take to complete. According to one statement, Hippasus left no writings, according to another he was the author of the Mystic Discourse, written to bring Pythagoras into disrepute. A scholium on Platos Phaedo notes him as an experimenter in music theory, claiming that he made use of bronze disks to discover the fundamental musical ratios,4,3,3,2. Hippasus is sometimes credited with the discovery of the existence of irrational numbers, Pythagoreans preached that all numbers could be expressed as the ratio of integers, and the discovery of irrational numbers is said to have shocked them. However, the evidence linking the discovery to Hippasus is confused, pappus merely says that the knowledge of irrational numbers originated in the Pythagorean school, and that the member who first divulged the secret perished by drowning. Iamblichus gives a series of inconsistent reports, Iamblichus clearly states that the drowning at sea was a punishment from the gods for impious behaviour. These stories are taken together to ascribe the discovery of irrationals to Hippasus. In principle, the stories can be combined, since it is possible to discover irrational numbers when constructing dodecahedrons, irrationality, by infinite reciprocal subtraction, can be easily seen in the Golden ratio of the regular pentagon. Some modern scholars prefer to credit Hippasus with the discovery of the irrationality of √2. Plato in his Theaetetus, describes how Theodorus of Cyrene proved the irrationality of √3, √5, etc. up to √17, in the hands of modern writers this combination of vague ancient reports and modern guesswork has sometimes evolved into a much more emphatic and colourful tale
Hippasus
–
Hippasus of Metapontum
25.
Johannes Kepler
–
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th-century scientific revolution, he is best known for his laws of motion, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi. These works also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newtons theory of universal gravitation, Kepler was a mathematics teacher at a seminary school in Graz, where he became an associate of Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg. Later he became an assistant to the astronomer Tycho Brahe in Prague and he was also a mathematics teacher in Linz, and an adviser to General Wallenstein. Kepler lived in an era when there was no distinction between astronomy and astrology, but there was a strong division between astronomy and physics. Kepler was born on December 27, the feast day of St John the Evangelist,1571 and his grandfather, Sebald Kepler, had been Lord Mayor of the city. By the time Johannes was born, he had two brothers and one sister and the Kepler family fortune was in decline and his father, Heinrich Kepler, earned a precarious living as a mercenary, and he left the family when Johannes was five years old. He was believed to have died in the Eighty Years War in the Netherlands and his mother Katharina Guldenmann, an innkeepers daughter, was a healer and herbalist. Born prematurely, Johannes claimed to have weak and sickly as a child. Nevertheless, he often impressed travelers at his grandfathers inn with his phenomenal mathematical faculty and he was introduced to astronomy at an early age, and developed a love for it that would span his entire life. At age six, he observed the Great Comet of 1577, in 1580, at age nine, he observed another astronomical event, a lunar eclipse, recording that he remembered being called outdoors to see it and that the moon appeared quite red. However, childhood smallpox left him with vision and crippled hands. In 1589, after moving through grammar school, Latin school, there, he studied philosophy under Vitus Müller and theology under Jacob Heerbrand, who also taught Michael Maestlin while he was a student, until he became Chancellor at Tübingen in 1590. He proved himself to be a mathematician and earned a reputation as a skilful astrologer. Under the instruction of Michael Maestlin, Tübingens professor of mathematics from 1583 to 1631 and he became a Copernican at that time. In a student disputation, he defended heliocentrism from both a theoretical and theological perspective, maintaining that the Sun was the source of motive power in the universe. Despite his desire to become a minister, near the end of his studies, Kepler was recommended for a position as teacher of mathematics and he accepted the position in April 1594, at the age of 23. Keplers first major work, Mysterium Cosmographicum, was the first published defense of the Copernican system
Johannes Kepler
–
A 1610 portrait of Johannes Kepler by an unknown artist
Johannes Kepler
–
Birthplace of Johannes Kepler in Weil der Stadt
Johannes Kepler
–
Portraits of Kepler and his wife in oval medallions
Johannes Kepler
–
House of Johannes Kepler and Barbara Müller in Gössendorf near Graz (1597–1599)
26.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
27.
Ionian Greek
–
Ionic Greek was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic or Eastern dialect group of Ancient Greek. The Ionic dialect appears to have spread from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions. By the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 5th-century BC, the Ionic dialect was also spoken on islands across the central Aegean and on the large island of Euboea north of Athens. The dialect was spread by Ionian colonization to areas in the northern Aegean, the Black Sea. The Ionic dialect is divided into two major time periods, Old Ionic and New Ionic. The transition between the two is not clearly defined, but 600 BC is a good approximation, the poet Archilochus wrote in late Old Ionic. The most famous New Ionic authors are Anacreon, Theognis, Herodotus, Hippocrates, and, in Roman times, Aretaeus, Arrian, and Lucian. This was further enhanced by the writing reform implemented in Athens in 403 BC, whereby the old Attic alphabet was replaced by the Ionic alphabet and this alphabet eventually became the standard Greek alphabet, its use becoming uniform during the Koine era. It was also the used in the Christian Gospels and the book of Acts. Proto-Greek ā > Ionic ē, in Doric, Aeolic, ā remains, in Attic, ā after e, i, r, in Attic, e, o is not lengthened. Proto-Greek *kórwā > Attic κόρη, Ionic κούρη girl *órwos > ὄρος, οὔρος mountain *ksénwos > ξένος, ξεῖνος guest, Proto-Greek *hāwélios > Attic hēlios, Homeric ēélios sun Ionic contracts less often than Attic. Ionic γένεα, Attic γένη family Proto-Greek *kʷ before a, o > Ionic k, Attic p. Proto-Greek *okʷō > Ionic ὄκως, Attic ὅπως in whatever way, in which way Proto-Greek *ťť > Ionic ss and this Ionic feature made it into Koine Greek. Proto-Greek *táťťō > Ionic τάσσω, Attic τάττω I arrange Ionic had a very analytical word-order, perhaps the most analytical one within ancient Greek dialects
Ionian Greek
–
Doric proper
28.
Ionians
–
The Ionians were one of the four major tribes that the Greeks considered themselves to be divided into during the ancient period, the other three being the Dorians, Aeolians, and Achaeans. The Ionian dialect was one of the three major divisions of the Hellenic world, together with the Dorian and Aeolian dialects. When referring to populations, “Ionian” defines several groups in Classical Greece, in the narrowest sense it referred to the region of Ionia in Asia Minor. Finally, in the broadest sense it could be used to all those who spoke languages of the East Greek group. The foundation myth which was current in the Classical period suggested that the Ionians were named after Ion, son of Xuthus, when the Dorians invaded the Peloponnese they expelled the Achaeans from the Argolid and Lacedaemonia. The displaced Achaeans moved into Aegilaus, in expelling the Ionians from the Aegilaus. The Ionians moved to Attica and mingled with the population of Attica. Unlike the austere and militaristic Dorians, the Ionians are renowned for their love of philosophy, art, democracy, unlike Aeolians and Dorians, Ionians appears in the languages of different civilizations around the eastern Mediterranean and as far east as the Indian subcontinent. They are not the earliest Greeks to appear in the records, that belongs to the Danaans. The trail of the Ionians begins in the Mycenaean Greek records of Crete, a fragmentary Linear B tablet from Knossos bears the name i-ja-wo-ne, interpreted by Ventris and Chadwick as possibly the dative or nominative plural case of *Iāwones, an ethnic name. The Knossos tablets are dated to 1400 or 1200 B. C. and thus pre-date the Dorian dominance in Crete and this name also appears in a fragment of the other early poet, Hesiod, in the singular Ἰάων, iāōn. In the Book of Genesis of the English Bible, Javan is a son of Japheth, Javan is believed nearly universally by Bible scholars to represent the Ionians, that is, Javan is Ion. The Hebrew is Yāwān, plural Yəwānīm, additionally, but less surely, Japheth may be related linguistically to the Greek mythological figure Iapetus. The locations of Biblical tribal countries have been the subjects of centuries of scholarship, the Book of Isaiah gives what may be a hint by listing the nations. That have not heard my fame including Javan and immediately after the isles afar off, are the isles in apposition to Javan or the last item in the series. If the former, the expression is used of the population of the islands in the Aegean Sea. The date of the Book of Isaiah cannot precede the date of the man Isaiah, the Assyrian word, which is preceded by the country determinative, has been reconstructed as *Iaunaia. More common is ia-a-ma-nu, ia-ma-nu and ia-am-na-a-a with the country determinative, sargon II related that he took the latter from the sea like fish and that they were from the sea of the setting sun. of Yadnana
Ionians
–
The location of ancient
Ionia on the coast of modern-day
Turkey.
29.
Ancient Greeks
–
Ancient Greece was a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th-9th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and this was followed by the period of Classical Greece, an era that began with the Greco-Persian Wars, lasting from the 5th to 4th centuries BC. Due to the conquests by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the end of the Mediterranean Sea. Classical Greek culture, especially philosophy, had a influence on ancient Rome. For this reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the culture which provided the foundation of modern Western culture and is considered the cradle of Western civilization. Classical Antiquity in the Mediterranean region is considered to have begun in the 8th century BC. Classical Antiquity in Greece is preceded by the Greek Dark Ages and this period is succeeded, around the 8th century BC, by the Orientalizing Period during which a strong influence of Syro-Hittite, Jewish, Assyrian, Phoenician and Egyptian cultures becomes apparent. The end of the Dark Ages is also dated to 776 BC. The Archaic period gives way to the Classical period around 500 BC, Ancient Periods Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The history of Greece during Classical Antiquity may be subdivided into five major periods. The earliest of these is the Archaic period, in which artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, the Archaic period is often taken to end with the overthrow of the last tyrant of Athens and the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. It was followed by the Classical period, characterized by a style which was considered by observers to be exemplary, i. e. classical, as shown in the Parthenon. This period saw the Greco-Persian Wars and the Rise of Macedon, following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period, during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East. This period begins with the death of Alexander and ends with the Roman conquest, Herodotus is widely known as the father of history, his Histories are eponymous of the entire field. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Plato, most of these authors were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than those of many other cities. Their scope is limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic. In the 8th century BC, Greece began to emerge from the Dark Ages which followed the fall of the Mycenaean civilization, literacy had been lost and Mycenaean script forgotten, but the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, modifying it to create the Greek alphabet. The Lelantine War is the earliest documented war of the ancient Greek period and it was fought between the important poleis of Chalcis and Eretria over the fertile Lelantine plain of Euboea. Both cities seem to have suffered a decline as result of the long war, a mercantile class arose in the first half of the 7th century BC, shown by the introduction of coinage in about 680 BC
Ancient Greeks
–
The
Parthenon, a temple dedicated to
Athena, located on the
Acropolis in
Athens, is one of the most representative symbols of the culture and sophistication of the ancient Greeks.
Ancient Greeks
–
Dipylon Vase of the late Geometric period, or the beginning of the Archaic period,
c. 750 BC.
Ancient Greeks
–
Political geography of ancient Greece in the Archaic and Classical periods
30.
Greek philosophy
–
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC and continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Ancient Greece was part of the Roman Empire. Philosophy was used to sense out of the world in a non-religious way. It dealt with a variety of subjects, including political philosophy, ethics, metaphysics, ontology, logic, biology, rhetoric. Many philosophers around the world agree that Greek philosophy has influenced much of Western culture since its inception, alfred North Whitehead once noted, The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. Clear, unbroken lines of lead from ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers to Early Islamic philosophy, the European Renaissance. Some claim that Greek philosophy, in turn, was influenced by the wisdom literature. But they taught themselves to reason, Philosophy as we understand it is a Greek creation. Subsequent philosophic tradition was so influenced by Socrates as presented by Plato that it is conventional to refer to philosophy developed prior to Socrates as pre-Socratic philosophy. The periods following this, up to and after the wars of Alexander the Great, are those of classical Greek, the pre-Socratics were primarily concerned with cosmology, ontology and mathematics. They were distinguished from non-philosophers insofar as they rejected mythological explanations in favor of reasoned discourse, Thales of Miletus, regarded by Aristotle as the first philosopher, held that all things arise from water. It is not because he gave a cosmogony that John Burnet calls him the first man of science, according to tradition, Thales was able to predict an eclipse and taught the Egyptians how to measure the height of the pyramids. He began from the observation that the world seems to consist of opposites, therefore, they cannot truly be opposites but rather must both be manifestations of some underlying unity that is neither. This underlying unity could not be any of the classical elements, for example, water is wet, the opposite of dry, while fire is dry, the opposite of wet. Anaximenes in turn held that the arche was air, although John Burnet argues that by this he meant that it was a transparent mist, the aether. Xenophanes was born in Ionia, where the Milesian school was at its most powerful, Burnet says that Xenophanes was not, however, a scientific man, with many of his naturalistic explanations having no further support than that they render the Homeric gods superfluous or foolish. He has been claimed as an influence on Eleatic philosophy, although that is disputed, and a precursor to Epicurus, a representative of a total break between science and religion. Pythagoras lived at roughly the time that Xenophanes did and, in contrast to the latter. Parmenides of Elea cast his philosophy against those who held it is and is not the same, and all travel in opposite directions, —presumably referring to Heraclitus
Greek philosophy
–
Raphael 's
School of Athens.
Greek philosophy
–
(upper) PIRRHO • HELIENSIS • PLISTARCHI • FILIVS translation (from Latin): Phyrrho. Greek. Son of Plistarchus
31.
Mathematician
–
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in his or her work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematics is concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, one of the earliest known mathematicians was Thales of Miletus, he has been hailed as the first true mathematician and the first known individual to whom a mathematical discovery has been attributed. He is credited with the first use of deductive reasoning applied to geometry, the number of known mathematicians grew when Pythagoras of Samos established the Pythagorean School, whose doctrine it was that mathematics ruled the universe and whose motto was All is number. It was the Pythagoreans who coined the term mathematics, and with whom the study of mathematics for its own sake begins, the first woman mathematician recorded by history was Hypatia of Alexandria. She succeeded her father as Librarian at the Great Library and wrote works on applied mathematics. Because of a dispute, the Christian community in Alexandria punished her, presuming she was involved, by stripping her naked. Science and mathematics in the Islamic world during the Middle Ages followed various models and it was extensive patronage and strong intellectual policies implemented by specific rulers that allowed scientific knowledge to develop in many areas. As these sciences received wider attention from the elite, more scholars were invited and funded to study particular sciences, an example of a translator and mathematician who benefited from this type of support was al-Khawarizmi. A notable feature of many working under Muslim rule in medieval times is that they were often polymaths. Examples include the work on optics, maths and astronomy of Ibn al-Haytham, the Renaissance brought an increased emphasis on mathematics and science to Europe. As time passed, many gravitated towards universities. Moving into the 19th century, the objective of universities all across Europe evolved from teaching the “regurgitation of knowledge” to “encourag productive thinking. ”Thus, seminars, overall, science became the focus of universities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Students could conduct research in seminars or laboratories and began to produce doctoral theses with more scientific content. According to Humboldt, the mission of the University of Berlin was to pursue scientific knowledge. ”Mathematicians usually cover a breadth of topics within mathematics in their undergraduate education, and then proceed to specialize in topics of their own choice at the graduate level. In some universities, a qualifying exam serves to test both the breadth and depth of an understanding of mathematics, the students, who pass, are permitted to work on a doctoral dissertation. Mathematicians involved with solving problems with applications in life are called applied mathematicians. Applied mathematicians are mathematical scientists who, with their knowledge and professional methodology. With professional focus on a variety of problems, theoretical systems
Mathematician
–
Euclid (holding
calipers), Greek mathematician, known as the "Father of Geometry"
Mathematician
–
In 1938 in the United States, mathematicians were desired as teachers, calculating machine operators, mechanical engineers, accounting auditor bookkeepers, and actuary statisticians
Mathematician
–
Archimedes, c. 287 – 212 BC
Mathematician
–
Brahmagupta, c. 598 - 670
32.
Scientist
–
A scientist is a person engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge that describes and predicts the natural world. In a more restricted sense, a scientist may refer to an individual who uses the scientific method, the person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. The term scientist was coined by the theologian, philosopher and historian of science William Whewell and this article focuses on the more restricted use of the word. Scientists perform research toward a comprehensive understanding of nature, including physical, mathematical and social realms. Philosophers aim to provide an understanding of fundamental aspects of reality and experience, often pursuing inquiries with conceptual, rather than empirical. When science is done with a goal toward practical utility, it is called applied science, an applied scientist may not be designing something in particular, but rather is conducting research with the aim of developing new technologies and practical methods. When science seeks to answer questions about aspects of reality it is sometimes called natural philosophy. Science and technology have continually modified human existence through the engineering process, as a profession the scientist of today is widely recognized. Jurisprudence and mathematics are often grouped with the sciences, some of the greatest physicists have also been creative mathematicians and lawyers. There is a continuum from the most theoretical to the most empirical scientists with no distinct boundaries, in terms of personality, interests, training and professional activity, there is little difference between applied mathematicians and theoretical physicists. Scientists can be motivated in several ways, many have a desire to understand why the world is as we see it and how it came to be. They exhibit a strong curiosity about reality, other motivations are recognition by their peers and prestige, or the desire to apply scientific knowledge for the benefit of peoples health, the nations, the world, nature or industries. Scientists tend to be motivated by direct financial reward for their work than other careers. As a result, scientific researchers often accept lower average salaries when compared with other professions which require a similar amount of training. The number of scientists is vastly different from country to country, for instance, there are only 4 full-time scientists per 10,000 workers in India while this number is 79 for the United Kingdom and the United States. According to the US National Science Foundation 4.7 million people with science degrees worked in the United States in 2015, across all disciplines, the figure included twice as many men as women. Of that total, 17% worked in academia, that is, at universities and undergraduate institutions, 5% of scientists worked for the federal government and about 3. 5% were self-employed. Of the latter two groups, two-thirds were men, 59% of US scientists were employed in industry or business, and another 6% worked in non-profit positions
Scientist
Scientist
–
Chemical scientists in a laboratory of the
University of La Rioja
Scientist
–
"No one in the history of civilization has shaped our understanding of science and natural philosophy more than the great Greek philosopher and scientist
Aristotle (384-322 BC), who exerted a profound and pervasive influence for more than two thousand years" —Gary B. Ferngren
Scientist
–
Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the
electrical battery and discoverer of
methane, is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists in history.
33.
Natural philosophy
–
Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature was the philosophical study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science. It is considered to be the precursor of natural science, from the ancient world, starting with Aristotle, to the 19th century, the term natural philosophy was the common term used to describe the practice of studying nature. Even in the 19th century, a treatise by Lord Kelvin and Peter Guthrie Tait, in the German tradition, Naturphilosophie persisted into the 18th and 19th century as an attempt to achieve a speculative unity of nature and spirit. Some of the greatest names in German philosophy are associated with movement, including Goethe, Hegel. The term natural philosophy preceded our current natural science, empirical science historically developed out of philosophy or, more specifically, natural philosophy. In the 14th and 15th centuries, natural philosophy was one of many branches of philosophy, the first person appointed as a specialist in Natural Philosophy per se was Jacopo Zabarella, at the University of Padua in 1577. Modern meanings of the science and scientists date only to the 19th century. Before that, science was a synonym for knowledge or study, the term gained its modern meaning when experimental science and the scientific method became a specialized branch of study apart from natural philosophy. In general, chairs of Natural Philosophy established long ago at the oldest universities are nowadays occupied mainly by physics professors. Even in the 19th century, a treatise by Lord Kelvin and Peter Guthrie Tait, in Platos earliest known dialogue, Charmides distinguishes between science or bodies of knowledge that produce a physical result, and those that do not. Natural philosophy has been categorized as a rather than a practical branch of philosophy. Sciences that guide arts and draw on the knowledge of nature may produce practical results. The study of natural philosophy seeks to explore the cosmos by any means necessary to understand the universe, some ideas presuppose that change is a reality. George Santayana, in his Scepticism and Animal Faith, attempted to show that the reality of change cannot be proven. If his reasoning is sound, it follows that to be a physicist, one must restrain ones skepticism enough to trust ones senses, rené Descartes metaphysical system of Cartesian Dualism describes two kinds of substance, matter and mind. Humankinds mental engagement with nature certainly predates civilization and the record of history, Philosophical, and specifically non-religious thought about the natural world, goes back to ancient Greece. These lines of thought began before Socrates, who turned from his studies from speculations about nature to a consideration of man. The thought of philosophers such Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Democritus centered on the natural world
Natural philosophy
–
A celestial map from the 17th century, by the Dutch cartographer Frederik De Wit
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy
–
Art
34.
Greek gods
–
The following is a list of gods, goddesses and many other divine and semi-divine figures from Ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion. The Greeks created images of their deities for many purposes, a temple would house the statue of a god or goddess, or multiple deities, and might be decorated with relief scenes depicting myths. Divine images were common on coins, drinking cups and other vessels were painted with scenes from Greek myths. The Titans and Titanesses are depicted in Greek art less commonly than the Olympians
Greek gods
Greek gods
Greek gods
35.
Apollo
–
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros, Apollo has been recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the gods custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, as the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became an attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans, Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd century CE. The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is generally not found in the Linear B texts, the etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era and it probably is a cognate to the Doric month Apellaios, and the offerings apellaia at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival apellai. According to some scholars the words are derived from the Doric word apella, apella is the name of the popular assembly in Sparta, corresponding to the ecclesia. R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun apellai, several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollos name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι, in the ancient Macedonian language πέλλα means stone, and some toponyms may be derived from this word, Πέλλα and Πελλήνη. The role of Apollo as god of plague is evident in the invocation of Apollo Smintheus by Chryses, the Hittite testimony reflects an early form *Apeljōn, which may also be surmised from comparison of Cypriot Ἀπείλων with Doric Ἀπέλλων. A Luwian etymology suggested for Apaliunas makes Apollo The One of Entrapment, Apollos chief epithet was Phoebus, literally bright. It was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans for Apollos role as the god of light, like other Greek deities, he had a number of others applied to him, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the god. However, while Apollo has a number of appellations in Greek myth. Aegletes, from αἴγλη, light of the sun Helius, literally sun Lyceus light, the meaning of the epithet Lyceus later became associated with Apollos mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia and who was identified with the wolf
Apollo
–
Apollo Belvedere, ca. 120–140 CE
Apollo
–
Partial view of the temple of Apollo Epikurios (healer) at
Bassae in southern Greece
Apollo
–
Temple of the Delians at
Delos, dedicated to Apollo (478 BC). 19th-century pen-and-wash restoration.
Apollo
–
Temple of Apollo Smintheus at
Çanakkale, Turkey
36.
Supernatural
–
One complicating factor is that there is disagreement about the definition of natural and the limits of naturalism. Concepts in the domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality. Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day, nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. Sometimes we take nature for the universe, or system of the works of God, as when it is said of a phoenix, or a chimera. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by nature a semi-deity or other kind of being. Parapsychologists use the term psi to refer to a unitary force underlying the phenomena they study. Views on the supernatural vary, for example it may be seen as, from this perspective, some events occur according to the laws of nature, and others occur according to a separate set of principles external to known nature. For example, in Scholasticism, it was believed that God was capable of performing any miracle so long as it didnt lead to a logical contradiction, others believe that all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events, such as lightning, rainbows, floods, the supernatural is a feature of the philosophical traditions of Neoplatonism and Scholasticism. In contrast, the philosophy of Metaphysical naturalism argues for the conclusion that there are no supernatural entities, objects, most religions include elements of belief in the supernatural while also often featuring prominently in the study of the paranormal and occultism. Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as an intervention into the “natural” order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as a by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, in process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural. On the other hand, if “the natural” is defined more neutrally as “what is in the nature of things, in Whiteheads words, “It lies in the nature of things that the many enter into complex unity”. It is tempting to emphasize process theisms denial of the supernatural, dreams as a Source of Supernatural Agent Concepts. Riekki T, Lindeman M, Raij T. T, Supernatural Believers Attribute More Intentions to Random Movement than Skeptics, An fMRI Study. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Purzycki Benjamin G, the Minds of Gods, A Comparative Study of Supernatural Agency. Unresolved Mourning, Supernatural Beliefs and Dissociation, A Mediation Analysis, vail K. E, Arndt J, Addollahi A
Supernatural
–
One of the many supernatural acts attributed to
Jesus,
walking on water. Art by
François Boucher Cathédrale Saint-Louis (1766)
Versailles
Supernatural
–
The
patron saint of air travelers, aviators, astronauts, people with a mental handicap, test takers, and poor students is
Saint Joseph of Cupertino, who is said to have been gifted with
supernatural flight.
37.
Thigh
–
In humans, the thigh is the area between the pelvis and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb, the single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is thick and strong, and forms a ball and socket joint at the hip. The femur is the bone in the thigh and serves for an attachment site for all muscles in the thigh. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with the tibia. By most measures the femur is the strongest bone in the body, the femur is also the longest bone in the body. The femur is categorised as a bone and comprises a diaphysis. In cross-section, the thigh is divided up three separate compartments, divided by fascia, each containing muscles. These compartments use the femur as an axis, and are separated by connective tissue membranes. Each of these compartments has its own blood and nerve supply, posterior compartment muscles of the thigh are the hamstring muscles, which include semimembranosus, semitendinosus, and biceps femoris. Medial compartment muscles are adductor magnus, adductor longus and adductor brevis, because the major muscles of the thigh are the largest muscles of the body, resistance exercises of them stimulate blood flow more than any other localized activity. The arterial supply is by the artery and the obturator artery. The lymphatic drainage closely follows the arterial supply and drains to the lumbar lymphatic trunks on the corresponding side, which in turn drains to the cisterna chyli. The deep venous system of the consists of the femoral vein, the proximal part of the popliteal vein, and various smaller vessels. The venae perfortantes connect the deep and the system, which consists of the saphenous veins. Thigh weakness can result in a positive Gowers sign on physical examination
Thigh
–
Front and medial aspect of a male right thigh
38.
Arrow
–
An arrow is a shafted projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures, an arrow usually consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other. The oldest evidence of stone-tipped projectiles, which may or may not have been propelled by a bow, dating to c.64,000 years ago, were found in Sibudu Cave, South Africa. The oldest evidence of the use of bows to shoot arrows dates to about 10,000 years ago and they had shallow grooves on the base, indicating that they were shot from a bow. The oldest bow so far recovered is about 8,000 years old, archery seems to have arrived in the Americas with the Arctic small tool tradition, about 4,500 years ago. Arrow sizes vary greatly across cultures, ranging from eighteen inches to five feet, however, most modern arrows are 75 centimetres to 96 centimetres, most war arrows from an English ship sunk in 1545 were 76 centimetres. Very short arrows have been used, shot through a guide attached either to the bow or to the archers wrist and these may fly farther than heavier arrows, and an enemy without suitable equipment may find himself unable to return them. The shaft is the structural element of the arrow, to which the other components are attached. Traditional arrow shafts are made from wood, bamboo or reeds, while modern shafts may be made from aluminium, carbon fibre reinforced plastic. Such shafts are made from an aluminium core wrapped with a carbon fibre outer. The stiffness of the shaft is known as its spine, referring to how little the shaft bends when compressed, hence, an arrow which bends less is said to have more spine. In order to strike consistently, a group of arrows must be similarly spined, center-shot bows, in which the arrow passes through the central vertical axis of the bow riser, may obtain consistent results from arrows with a wide range of spines. Higher draw-weight bows will generally require stiffer arrows, with more spine to give the amount of flex when shot. The weight of a shaft can be expressed in GPI. The length of a shaft in inches multiplied by its GPI rating gives the weight of the shaft in grains, for example, a shaft that is 30 inches long and has a GPI of 9.5 weighs 285 grains, or about 18 grams. This does not include the elements of a finished arrow. Sometimes a shaft will be made of two different types of wood fastened together, resulting in what is known as a footed arrow, known by some as the finest of wood arrows, footed arrows were used both by early Europeans and Native Americans. Footed arrows will typically consist of a length of hardwood near the head of the arrow
Arrow
–
Traditional target arrow (top) and replica medieval arrow.
Arrow
–
A
Shoshone man using a shaft straightener in traditional arrow construction.
Arrow
–
Modern arrow with plastic
fletchings and nock.
Arrow
–
Obsidian broadhead
39.
William Smith (lexicographer)
–
Sir William Smith was an English lexicographer. Smith was born in Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents and he attended the Madras House school of John Allen in Hackney. Originally destined for a career, he instead was articled to a solicitor. In his spare time he taught classics, and when he entered University College London he carried off both the Greek and Latin prizes. He was entered at Grays Inn in 1830, but gave up his studies for a post at University College School. Smith next turned his attention to lexicography and his first attempt was A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, which appeared in 1842, the greater part being written by him. Then followed the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology in 1849, a parallel Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography appeared in 1857, with some leading scholars of the day associated with the task. In 1867, he became editor of the Quarterly Review, a post he held until his death. Meanwhile, he published the first of several school dictionaries in 1850, and in 1853 he began the Principia series, then came the Students Manuals of History and Literature, of which the English literature volume went into 13 editions. He himself wrote the Greek history volume and he was joined in the venture by the publisher John Murray when the original publishing partner met difficulties. Murray was the publisher of the 1214-page Latin–English Dictionary based upon the works of Forcellini and this was periodically reissued over the next thirty-five years. It goes beyond classical Latin to include many entries not found in dictionaries of the period, including Lewis. Perhaps the most important of the books Smith edited were those that dealt with ecclesiastical subjects, the Atlas, on which Sir George Grove collaborated, appeared in 1875. From 1853 to 1869 Smith was classical examiner to the University of London and he sat on the Committee to inquire into questions of copyright, and was for several years registrar of the Royal Literary Fund. He edited Gibbon, with Guizots and Milmans notes, in 1854–1855, Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology Smith was created a DCL by Oxford and Dublin, and the honour of a knighthood was conferred on him in 1892. He died on 7 October 1893 in London and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed. Works by William Smith at Project Gutenberg Works by or about William Smith at Internet Archive Smith, a Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature
William Smith (lexicographer)
–
Sir William Smith.
40.
Xenophanes
–
Xenophanes of Colophon was a Greek philosopher, theologian, poet, and social and religious critic. Xenophanes lived a life of travel, having left Ionia at the age of 25, some scholars say he lived in exile in Sicily. Knowledge of his views comes from fragments of his poetry, surviving as quotations by later Greek writers. He is the earliest Greek poet who claims explicitly to be writing for future generations, creating fame that will all of Greece. Xenophanes was a native of Colophon, a city in Ionia, some say he was the son of Orthomenes, others the son of Dexius. He is said to have flourished during the 60th Olympiad and his surviving work refers to Thales, Epimenides, and Pythagoras, and he himself is mentioned in the writings of Heraclitus and Epicharmus. In a fragment of his elegies, he describes the Median invasion as an event that took place in his time and he left his native land as a fugitive or exile and went to the Ionian colonies in Sicily, Zancle and Catana. He probably lived for time in Elea, since he wrote about the foundation of that colony. According an elegy reputedly composed when he was 92 years old, he left his land at the age of 25. According to biographer Diogenes Laërtius, Xenophanes wrote in hexameters and also composed elegies and iambics against Homer, laertius also mentions two historical poems concerning the founding of Colophon and Elea, but of these, only the titles have been preserved. There is no authority that says that Xenophanes wrote a philosophical poem. The Neoplatonist philosopher Simplicius tells us he had never met with the verses about the earth stretching infinitely downwards, several of the philosophical fragments are derived from commentators on Homer. It is thus likely that the remarks of Xenophanes were expressed incidentally in his satires. Xenophanes surviving writings display a skepticism that more commonly expressed during the fourth century. He satirized traditional religious views of his time as human projections, sextus Empiricus reported that such observations were appreciated by Christian apologists. Ethiopians say that their gods are snub–nosed and blackThracians that they are pale and red-haired. But mortals think that the gods are born and have the mortals own clothes and voice, regarding Xenophanes theology five key concepts about God can be formed. God is, beyond human morality, does not resemble human form, cannot die or be born, no divine hierarchy exists, and God does not intervene in human affairs. While Xenophanes is rejecting Homeric theology, he is not questioning the presence of an entity, rather his philosophy is a critique on Ancient Greek writers
Xenophanes
–
Xenophanes, 17th-century engraving
41.
Heraclitus
–
Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, and a native of the city of Ephesus, then part of the Persian Empire. Little is known about his life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught. Heraclitus was famous for his insistence on ever-present change as being the essence of the universe, as stated in the famous saying. This position was complemented by his commitment to a unity of opposites in the world, stating that the path up and down are one. Through these doctrines Heraclitus characterized all existing entities by pairs of contrary properties and this, along with his cryptic utterance that all entities come to be in accordance with this Logos has been the subject of numerous interpretations. Diogenes said that Heraclitus flourished in the 69th Olympiad, 504–501 BC, All the rest of the evidence — the people Heraclitus is said to have known, or the people who were familiar with his work — confirms the floruit. His dates of birth and death are based on a span of 60 years. Heraclitus was born to a family in Ephesus, in the Persian Empire, in what is now called present-day Efes. His father was named either Blosôn or Herakôn, how much power the king had is another question. Ephesus had been part of the Persian Empire since 547 and was ruled by a satrap, two extant letters between Heraclitus and Darius I, quoted by Diogenes, are undoubtedly later forgeries. With regard to education, Diogenes says that Heraclitus was wondrous from childhood, Diogenes relates that Sotion said he was a hearer of Xenophanes, which contradicts Heraclitus statement that he had taught himself by questioning himself. Burnet states in any case that, Xenophanes left Ionia before Herakleitos was born. Diogenes relates that as a boy Heraclitus had said he knew nothing and his statement that he heard no one but questioned himself, can be placed alongside his statement that the things that can be seen, heard and learned are what I prize the most. Diogenes relates that Heraclitus had an opinion of human affairs. He believed that Hesiod and Pythagoras lacked understanding though learned and that Homer, laws needed to be defended as though they were city walls. Timon is said to have called him a mob-reviler, Heraclitus hated the Athenians and his fellow Ephesians, wishing the latter wealth in punishment for their wicked ways. Says Diogenes, Finally, he became a hater of his kind, making his diet of grass and herbs. Heraclitus life as a philosopher was interrupted by dropsy, the physicians he consulted were unable to prescribe a cure
Heraclitus
–
Heraclitus by
Johannes Moreelse. The image depicts him as "the weeping philosopher" wringing his hands over the world, and as "the obscure" dressed in dark clothing—both traditional motifs
Heraclitus
–
Ephesus on the coast of
Asia Minor, birthplace of Heraclitus
Heraclitus
–
Heraclitus (with the face and in the style of
Michelangelo) sits apart from the other philosophers in
Raphael 's
School of Athens.
Heraclitus
–
Bust of Heraclitus, 'The Weeping Philosopher' by Johann Christoph Ludwig Lücke ca. 1757.
42.
Herodotus
–
Herodotus was a Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus in the Persian Empire and lived in the fifth century BC, a contemporary of Socrates. The Histories is the work which he is known to have produced. Despite Herodotus historical significance, little is known of his personal life and his place in history and his significance may be understood according to the traditions within which he worked. His work is the earliest Greek prose to have survived intact, of these only fragments of Hecataeuss work survive yet they allow us glimpses into the kind of tradition within which Herodotus wrote his own Histories. In his introduction to Hecataeus’s work, Genealogies, This points forward to the ‘folksy’ yet ‘international’ outlook typical of Herodotus. Yet, one scholar has described the work of Hecataeus as “a curious false start to history” since despite his critical spirit. It is possible that Herodotus borrowed much material from Hecataeus, as stated by Porphyry in a recorded by Eusebius. But Hecataeus did not record events that had occurred in living memory, unlike Herodotus, Herodotus claims to be better informed than his predecessors by relying on empirical observation to correct their excessive schematism. For example, He argues for continental asymmetry as opposed to the theory of a perfectly circular earth with Europe. Yet, he retains idealizing tendencies, as in his notions of the Danube. His debt to previous authors of prose ‘histories’ might be questionable, however, this point is one of the most contentious issues in modern scholarship. It is on account of the strange stories and the folk-tales he reported that his critics in early modern times branded him “The Father of Lies”. Even his own contemporaries found reason to scoff at his achievement, similarly, the Athenian historian Thucydides dismissed Herodotus as a “logos-writer”. Moreover, Thucydides developed a historical topic more in keeping with the Greek world-view, the interplay of civilizations was more relevant to Greeks living in Anatolia, such as Herodotus himself, for whom life within a foreign civilization was a recent memory. Modern scholars generally turn to Herodotus’s own writing for reliable information about his life, supplemented with ancient yet much later sources, modern accounts of his life typically go something like this, Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus around 484 BC. His name is not mentioned later in the tribute list of the Athenian Delian League, the epic poet Panyassis – a relative of Herodotus – is reported to have taken part in a failed uprising. Herodotus expresses affection for the island of Samos, and this is an indication that he might have lived there in his youth. So it is possible that his family was involved in an uprising against Lygdamis, leading to a period of exile on Samos, Herodotus wrote his Histories in the Ionian dialect, yet he was born in Halicarnassus, which was a Dorian settlement
Herodotus
–
A Roman copy (2nd century AD) of a Greek
bust of Herodotus from the first half of the 4th century BC
Herodotus
–
Fragment from the Histories VIII on
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 2099, early 2nd century AD
Herodotus
–
Relief of Herodotus by
Jean-Guillaume Moitte (1806),
Louvre, Paris
Herodotus
–
The statue of Herodotus in his hometown of
Halicarnassus, modern
Bodrum, Turkey.
43.
Aristotle
–
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, at seventeen or eighteen years of age, he joined Platos Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books and he believed all peoples concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception. Aristotles views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works, Aristotles views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, some of Aristotles zoological observations, such as on the hectocotyl arm of the octopus, were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as The First Teacher and his ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotles philosophy continue to be the object of academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues – Cicero described his style as a river of gold – it is thought that only around a third of his original output has survived. Aristotle, whose means the best purpose, was born in 384 BC in Stagira, Chalcidice. His father Nicomachus was the physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Aristotle was orphaned at a young age, although there is little information on Aristotles childhood, he probably spent some time within the Macedonian palace, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Platos Academy and he remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving Athens in 348/47 BC. Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor, there, he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married Pythias, either Hermiass adoptive daughter or niece and she bore him a daughter, whom they also named Pythias. Soon after Hermias death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander in 343 BC, Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave not only to Alexander
Aristotle
–
Roman copy in marble of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by
Lysippus,
c. 330 BC. The
alabaster mantle is modern.
Aristotle
–
Aristotelianism
Aristotle
–
School of Aristotle in
Mieza,
Macedonia, Greece
Aristotle
–
"Aristotle" by
Francesco Hayez (1791–1882)
44.
Isocrates
–
Isocrates, an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. Among the most influential Greek rhetoricians of his time, Isocrates made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching, Greek rhetoric is commonly traced to Corax of Syracuse, who first formulated a set of rhetorical rules in the fifth century BC. His pupil Tisias was influential in the development of the rhetoric of the courtroom, within two generations, rhetoric had become an important art, its growth driven by social and political changes such as democracy and courts of law. Isocrates was born to a family in Athens and received a first-rate education. He was greatly influenced by his sophist teachers, Prodicus and Gorgias, after the Peloponnesian War, his family lost its wealth, and Isocrates was forced to earn a living. His professional career is said to have begun with logography, he was a hired courtroom speechwriter, Athenian citizens did not hire lawyers, legal procedure required self-representation. Instead, they would hire people like Isocrates to write speeches for them, Isocrates had a great talent for this since he lacked confidence in public speaking. Around 392 BC he set up his own school of rhetoric, and proved to be not only an influential teacher and his fees were unusually high, and he accepted no more than nine pupils at a time. Many of them went on to be philosophers, legislators and historians, as a consequence, he amassed a considerable fortune. According to Pliny the Elder he could sell a single oration for twenty talents, according to George Norlin, Isocrates defined rhetoric as outward feeling and inward thought of not merely expression, but reason, feeling, and imagination. Like most who studied rhetoric before and after him, Isocrates believed it was used to persuade ourselves and others, Isocrates described rhetoric as that endowment of our human nature which raises us above mere animality and enables us to live the civilized life. Isocrates unambiguously defined his approach in the treatise Against the Sophists and this polemic was written to explain and advertise the reasoning and educational principles behind his new school. Also, while Isocrates is viewed by many as being a rhetor and practicing rhetoric, against the Sophists is Isocrates first published work where he gives an account of philosophia. His principal method is to contrast his ways of teaching with Sophistry, while Isocrates does not go against the Sophist method of teaching as a whole, he emphasizes his disagreement with bad Sophistry practices. Isocrates program of rhetorical education stressed the ability to use language to address practical problems and he emphasized that students needed three things to learn, a natural aptitude which was inborn, knowledge training granted by teachers and textbooks, and applied practices designed by educators. He also stressed civic education, training students to serve the state, students would practice composing and delivering speeches on various subjects. He considered natural ability and practice to be more important than rules or principles of rhetoric, rather than delineating static rules, Isocrates stressed fitness for the occasion, or kairos. His school lasted for fifty years, in many ways establishing the core of liberal arts education as we know it today, including oratory, composition, history, citizenship, culture
Isocrates
–
Bust of Isocrates; plaster cast in the
Pushkin Museum of the bust formerly at
Villa Albani, Rome
Isocrates
–
P. Oxy. 1183, late-1st-century-AD papyrus containing Isocrates's Trapeziticus 44–48.
45.
Porphyry (philosopher)
–
Porphyry of Tyre was a Neoplatonic philosopher who was born in Tyre, in the Roman Empire. He edited and published the Enneads, the collection of the work of his teacher Plotinus. His commentary on Euclids Elements was used as a source by Pappus of Alexandria and he also wrote many works himself on a wide variety of topics. His Isagoge, or Introduction, is an introduction to logic and philosophy, under Longinus he studied grammar and rhetoric. In 262 he went to Rome, attracted by the reputation of Plotinus, at one point he became suicidal. On the advice of Plotinus he went to live in Sicily for five years to recover his mental health, on returning to Rome, he lectured on philosophy and completed an edition of the writings of Plotinus together with a biography of his teacher. Iamblichus is mentioned in ancient Neoplatonic writings as his pupil, the two men differed publicly on the issue of theurgy. In his later years, he married Marcella, a widow with seven children, little more is known of his life, and the date of his death is uncertain. Porphyry is best known for his contributions to philosophy, in medieval textbooks, the all-important Arbor porphyriana illustrates his logical classification of substance. To this day, taxonomy benefits from concepts in Porphyrys Tree, the Introduction was translated into Arabic by Abd-Allāh Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ from a Syriac version. With the Arabicized name Isāghūjī it long remained the standard introductory text in the Muslim world and influenced the study of theology, philosophy, grammar. Besides the adaptations and epitomes of this work, many independent works on logic by Muslim philosophers have been entitled Isāghūjī, Porphyrys discussion of accident sparked a long-running debate on the application of accident and essence. There is debate as to whether it was written in his youth or closer in time to the persecutions of Christians under Diocletian, whether or not Porphyry was the pagan philosopher opponent in Lactantius Divine Institutes, written at the time of the persecutions, has long been discussed. The fragments of the Philosophy from Oracles are only quoted by Christians, especially Eusebius, Theodoret, Augustine, the fragments contain oracles identifying proper sacrificial procedure, the nature of astrological fate, and other topics relevant for Greek and Roman religion in the third century. Whether this work contradicts his treatise defending vegetarianism, which warned the philosopher to avoid animal sacrifice, is disputed among scholars. During his retirement in Sicily, Porphyry wrote Against the Christians which consisted of fifteen books, Porphyry acknowledged Jesus Christ only as an outstanding philosopher. Some thirty Christian apologists, such as Methodius, Eusebius, Apollinaris, Augustine, Jerome, in fact, everything known about Porphyry’s arguments is found in these refutations, largely because Theodosius II ordered every copy burned in A. D.435 and again in 448. Porphyry became one of the most able pagan adversaries of Christianity of his day and his aim was not to disprove the substance of Christianity’s teachings but rather the records within which the teachings are communicated
Porphyry (philosopher)
–
Porphire Sophiste, in a French 16th-century engraving
Porphyry (philosopher)
–
Imaginary debate between
Averroes (1126–1198 AD) and Porphyry (234–c. 305 AD). Monfredo de Monte Imperiali Liber de herbis, 14th century.
46.
Iamblichus
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Iamblichus, also known as Iamblichus Chalcidensis, or Iamblichus of Apamea, was a Syrian Neoplatonist philosopher who determined the direction taken by later Neoplatonic philosophy. Iamblichus was the representative of Syrian Neoplatonism, though his influence spread over much of the ancient world. The events of his life and his religious beliefs are not entirely known, according to the Suda, and his biographer Eunapius, he was born at Chalcis in Syria. He was the son of a rich and illustrious family, and he initially studied under Anatolius of Laodicea, and later went on to study under Porphyry, a pupil of Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism. He disagreed with Porphyry over the practice of theurgy, Iamblichus responds to Porphyrys criticisms of theurgy in a book attributed to him, around 304, he returned to Syria to found his own school at Apameia, a city famous for its Neoplatonic philosophers. Here he designed a curriculum for studying Plato and Aristotle, still, for Iamblichus, Pythagoras was the supreme authority. He is known to have written the Collection of Pythagorean Doctrines, only the first four books, and fragments of the fifth, survive. Scholars noted that the Exhortation to Philosophy of Iamblichus was composed in Apamea in the early 4th c, Iamblichus was said to have been a man of great culture and learning. He was also renowned for his charity and self-denial, many students gathered around him, and he lived with them in genial friendship. According to Fabricius, he died during the reign of Constantine, only a fraction of Iamblichus books have survived. For our knowledge of his system, we are indebted partly to the fragments of writings preserved by Stobaeus and others. The notes of his successors, especially Proclus, as well as his five extant books, besides these, Proclus seems to have ascribed to him the authorship of the celebrated treatise Theurgia, or On the Egyptian Mysteries. However, the differences between this book and Iamblichus other works in style and in points of doctrine have led some to question whether Iamblichus was the actual author. As a speculative theory, Neoplatonism had received its highest development from Plotinus, unlike Plotinus who broke from Platonic tradition and asserted an undescended soul, Iamblichus re-affirmed the souls embodiment in matter believing matter to be as divine as the rest of the cosmos. It is most likely on account that lamblichus was venerated. Iamblichus was highly praised by those who followed his thought, by his contemporaries, Iamblichus was accredited with miraculous powers. During the revival of interest in his philosophy in the 15th and 16th centuries, at the head of his system, Iamblichus placed the transcendent incommunicable One, the monad, whose first principle is intellect, nous. Immediately after the absolute One, lamblichus introduced a second superexistent One to stand between it and the many as the producer of intellect, or soul, psyche and these three entities, the psyche, and the nous split into the intelligible and the intellective, form a triad
Iamblichus
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Iamblichus
47.
Aristoxenus
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Aristoxenus of Tarentum was a Greek Peripatetic philosopher, and a pupil of Aristotle. The Elements is the source of our knowledge of ancient Greek music. Aristoxenus was born at Tarentum, and was the son of a musician named Spintharus. This story is, however, contradicted by Aristocles, who asserts that he never mentioned Aristotle, nothing is known of his life after the time of Aristotles departure, apart from a comment in Elementa Harmonica concerning his works. His writings, said to have consisted of four hundred and fifty-three books, were in the style of Aristotle, the only work of his that has come down to us is the three books of the Elements of Harmony, an incomplete musical treatise. Aristoxenus theory had a tendency, in music he held that the notes of the scale are to be judged, not as the Pythagoreans held, by mathematical ratio. Vitruvius in his De architectura paraphrases the writings of Aristoxenus on music, the theory that the soul is a harmony of the four elements composing the body, and therefore mortal, was ascribed to Aristoxenus and Dicaearchus. This theory is comparable to the one offered by Simmias in Platos Phaedo, in his Elements of Harmony, Aristoxenus attempted a complete and systematic exposition of music. In the second book Aristoxenus divides music into seven parts, which he takes to be, the genera, intervals, sounds, systems, tones or modes, mutations, and melopoeia. The remainder of the work is taken up with a discussion of the parts of music according to the order which he had himself prescribed. In his second book he asserted that by the hearing we judge of the magnitude of an interval, however, this should not be construed as meaning that he postulated a simplistic system of harmony resembling that of modern twelve tone theory, and especially not an equally tempered system. As he urges us to consider, fter all, with which of the people who argue about the shades of the genera should one agree. Not everyone looks to the division when tuning the chromatic or the enharmonic. It is sometimes claimed that the nature of Aristoxenus scales and genera deviated sharply from his predecessors, another way of stating this, however perhaps less accurate, is that instead of using discrete ratios to place intervals, he used continuously variable quantities. Aristoxenus himself held that two things must not be overlooked, first, that people have mistakenly supposed us to be saying that a tone can be divided into three equal parts in a melody. They made this mistake because they did not realise that it is one thing to employ the third part of a tone, secondly we accept that from a purely abstract point of view there is no least interval. In book three Aristoxenus goes on to describe twenty eight laws of succession, which are of great interest to those concerned with classical Greek melodic structure. Part of the book of a work on rhythmics and metrics
Aristoxenus
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A modern imagining of the appearance of Aristoxenus.
48.
Protrepticus (Aristotle)
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Protrepticus is a philosophical work by Aristotle that encouraged the young to study philosophy. It survives only in fragments and is considered a lost work, since the 19th century, when inquiry was initiated by Jakob Bernays, several scholars have attempted to reconstruct the work. But Stobaeus, pp.59,61 infra, and Athenaeus, p.61 infra, a book review of Exhortations to Philosophy, mentioned Philosophers of fourth-century BCE Athens developed the emerging genre of the protreptic. Simply put, protreptic discourse uses a rhetoric of conversion that urges a young person to adopt a specific philosophy in order to live a good life, clark, mentioned Throughout Iamblichuss lifetime Christianity was making converts, even in the philosophical schools and among his own friends. We may also reason as Aristotle does in his Protrepticus, in which he encourages young men to philosophize. He says this, If we ought to philosophize we ought to philosophize, therefore in every case you should do philosophy. For if philosophy exists, then positively we are obliged to do philosophy, but if it does not truly exist, even so we are obliged to investigate how it is that philosophy does not truly exist. But by investigating we would be doing philosophy, since to investigate is the cause of philosophy, but also the power of the science established it more clearly by its own arguments in the demonstrations about them. Now then, mathematical philosophy has helped us, both for many of the necessities for life, and also for those things that are worthwhile in themselves, for even among the industrial arts, in quite a few cases we would find that mathematics has come to their assistance. Clement of Alexandria Elias Hortensius Downloadable reconstruction of Protrepticus
Protrepticus (Aristotle)
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Aristotelianism
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Villa of the Papyri
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The Villa of the Papyri, is named after its unique library of papyri, but is also one of the most luxurious houses in all of Herculaneum and in the Roman world. It is located in the current commune of Ercolano, southern Italy and it was situated on the ancient coastline below the volcano Vesuvius with nothing to obstruct the view of the sea. It was perhaps owned by Julius Caesars father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, in AD79, the eruption of Vesuvius covered all of Herculaneum with some 30 m of volcanic ash. Herculaneum was first excavated in the years between 1750 and 1765 by Karl Weber by means of underground tunnels, the villas name derives from the discovery of its library, the only surviving library from the Graeco-Roman world that exists in its entirety. It contained over 1,800 papyrus scrolls, now carbonised by the heat of the eruption, most of the villa is still underground, but parts have been cleared of volcanic deposits. Many of the finds are displayed in the Naples National Archaeological Museum, the Getty Villa is a reproduction of the Villa of the Papyri. Sited a few hundred metres from the nearest house in Herculaneum and it was surrounded by a garden closed off by porticoes, but with an ample stretch of gardens, vineyards and woods down to a small harbour. The villas layout is faithful to, but enlarges upon, the scheme of suburban villas in the country around Pompeii. The atrium functioned as a hall and a means of communication with the various parts of the house. The entrance opened with a portico on the sea side. The first peristyle had 10 columns on each side and a pool in the centre. In this enclosure were found the bronze herma of Doryphorus, a replica of Polykleitos athlete, the large second peristyle could be reached by passing through a large tablinum in which, under a propylaeum, was the archaic statue of Athena Promachos. A collection of bronze busts were in the interior of the tablinum and these included the head of Scipio Africanus. The living and reception quarters were grouped around the porticoes and terraces, giving occupants ample sunlight, the grounds included a large area of covered and uncovered gardens for walks in the shade or in the warmth of the sun. The gardens included a gallery of busts, hermae and small marble and these were laid out between columns amid the open part of the garden and on the edges of the large swimming bath. The luxury of the villa is evidenced not only by the works of art. The villa housed a collection of at least 80 sculptures of magnificent quality, among them is the bronze Seated Hermes, found at the villa in 1758. Around the bowl of the atrium impluvium were 11 bronze fountain statues depicting Satyrs pouring water from a pitcher, other statues and busts were found in the corners around the atrium walls
Villa of the Papyri
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Villa of the Papyri
Villa of the Papyri
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Pan copulating with a Goat, among the preserved
Greek cultural artifacts
Villa of the Papyri
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Papyrus recovered from Villa of the Papyri.
Villa of the Papyri
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Province of Avellino
50.
Platonic Academy
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The Academy was founded by Plato in ca.387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years before founding his own school, the Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC. Among the religious observances that took place at the Akademeia was a night race from altars within the city to Prometheus altar in the Akademeia. Funeral games also took place in the area as well as a Dionysiac procession from Athens to the Hekademeia, the road to Akademeia was lined with the gravestones of Athenians. The site of the Academy is located near Colonus, approximately,1.5 km north of Athens Dipylon gates, the site was rediscovered in the 20th century, in modern Akadimia Platonos neighbourhood, considerable excavation has been accomplished and visiting the site is free. Visitors today can visit the site of the Academy located on either side of the Cratylus street in the area of Colonos and Platos Academy. According to Debra Nails, Speusippus joined the group in about 390 BC and she claims, It is not until Eudoxus of Cnidos arrives in the mid-380s BC that Eudemus recognizes a formal Academy. Originally, the location of the meetings was on Platos property as often as it was the nearby Academy gymnasium, though the Academic club was exclusive, not open to the public, it did not, during at least Platos time, charge fees for membership. Therefore, there was not at that time a school in the sense of a clear distinction between teachers and students, or even a formal curriculum. There was, however, a distinction between senior and junior members, Two women are known to have studied with Plato at the Academy, Axiothea of Phlius and Lasthenia of Mantinea. In at least Platos time, the school did not have any doctrine to teach, rather. There is evidence of lectures given, most notably Platos lecture On the Good, according to an unverifiable story, dated of some 700 years after the founding of the school, above the entrance to the Academy was inscribed the phrase Let None But Geometers Enter Here. Many have imagined that the Academic curriculum would have resembled the one canvassed in Platos Republic. Others, however, have argued such a picture ignores the obvious peculiar arrangements of the ideal society envisioned in that dialogue. The subjects of study almost certainly included mathematics as well as the topics with which the Platonic dialogues deal. Platos Academy is often said to have been a school for politicians in the ancient world. Diogenes Laërtius divided the history of the Academy into three, the Old, the Middle, and the New, at the head of the Old he put Plato, at the head of the Middle Academy, Arcesilaus, and of the New, Lacydes. Sextus Empiricus enumerated five divisions of the followers of Plato and he made Plato founder of the first Academy, Arcesilaus of the second, Carneades of the third, Philo and Charmadas of the fourth, Antiochus of the fifth
Platonic Academy
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Plato from
The School of Athens by
Raphael, 1509
Platonic Academy
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Ancient road to the Academy.
Platonic Academy
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Map of
Ancient Athens. The Academy is north of Athens.
Platonic Academy
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The School of Athens by
Raphael (1509–1510), fresco at the
Apostolic Palace,
Vatican City.
Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Philola'us". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. p. 305 col 2.
Laërtius, Diogenes (1925). "Pythagoreans: Pythagoras". Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. 2:8. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library.
