Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor and existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia during the late Byzantine Empire. Extending inland from the southeastern coast of modern Turkey, Cilicia is due north and northeast of the island of Cyprus and corresponds to the modern region of Çukurova in Turkey. Cilicia extended along the Mediterranean coast east from Pamphylia, to the Nur Mountains, which separated it from Syria. North and east of Cilicia lie the rugged Taurus Mountains that separate it from the high central plateau of Anatolia, which are pierced by a narrow gorge, called in antiquity the Cilician Gates. Ancient Cilicia was divided into Cilicia Trachaea and Cilicia Pedias by the Limonlu River. Salamis, the city on the east coast of Cyprus, was included in its administrative jurisdiction; the Greeks invented for Cilicia an eponymous Hellene founder in the purely mythical Cilix, but the historic founder of the dynasty that ruled Cilicia Pedias was Mopsus, identifiable in Phoenician sources as Mpš, the founder of Mopsuestia who gave his name to an oracle nearby.
Homer mentions the people of Mopsus, identified as Cilices, as from the Troad in the northernwesternmost part of Anatolia. The English spelling Cilicia is the same as the Latin, as it was transliterated directly from the Greek form Κιλικία; the palatalization of c occurring in the west in Vulgar Latin accounts for its modern pronunciation in English. Cilicia Trachea is a rugged mountain district formed by the spurs of Taurus, which terminate in rocky headlands with small sheltered harbors, a feature which, in classical times, made the coast a string of havens for pirates and, in the Middle Ages, outposts for Genoese and Venetian traders; the district is watered by the Calycadnus and was covered in ancient times by forests that supplied timber to Phoenicia and Egypt. Cilicia lacked large cities. Cilicia Pedias, to the east, included the rugged spurs of Taurus and a large coastal plain, with rich loamy soil, known to the Greeks such as Xenophon, who passed through with his mercenary group of the Ten Thousand, for its abundance, filled with sesame and millet and olives and pasturage for the horses imported by Solomon.
Many of its high places were fortified. The plain is watered by the three great rivers, the Cydnus, the Sarus and the Pyramus, each of which brings down much silt from the deforested interior and which fed extensive wetlands; the Sarus now enters the sea due south of Tarsus, but there are clear indications that at one period it joined the Pyramus, that the united rivers ran to the sea west of Kara-tash. Through the rich plain of Issus ran the great highway that linked east and west, on which stood the cities of Tarsus on the Cydnus, Adana on the Sarus, Mopsuestia on the Pyramus. Cilicia was settled from the Neolithic period onwards. Dating of the ancient settlements of the region from Neolithic to Bronze Age is as follows: Aceramic/Neolithic: 8th and 7th millennia BC. 5400–4500 BC. 3400 BC. The area had been known as Kizzuwatna in the earlier Hittite era; the region was divided into two parts, Uru Adaniya, a well-watered plain, "rough" Cilicia, in the mountainous west. The Cilicians appear as Hilikku in Assyrian inscriptions, in the early part of the first millennium BC were one of the four chief powers of Western Asia.
Homer mentions the plain as the "Aleian plain" in which Bellerophon wandered, but he transferred the Cilicians far to the west and north and made them allies of Troy. The Cilician cities unknown to Homer bore their pre-Greek names: Tarzu, Danuna-Adana, which retains its ancient name, Pahri and Azatiwataya. There exists evidence that circa 1650 BC both Hittite kings Hattusili I and Mursili I enjoyed freedom of movement along the Pyramus River, proving they exerted strong control over Cilicia in their battles with Syria. After the death of Murshili around 1595 BC, Hurrians wrested control from the Hitties, Cilicia was free for two centuries; the first king of free Cilicia, Išputahšu, son of Pariyawatri, was recorded as a "great king" in both cuneiform and Hittite hieroglyphs. Another record of Hittite origins, a treaty between Išputahšu and Telipinu, king of the Hittites, is recorded in both Hittite and Akkadian. In the next century, Cilician king Pilliya finalized treaties with both King Zidanta II of the Hittites and Idrimi of Alalakh, in which Idrimi mentions that he had assaulted several military targets throughout Eastern Cilicia.
Niqmepa, who succeeded Idrimi as king of Alalakh, went so far as to ask for help from a Hurrian rival, Shaushtatar of Mitanni, to try and reduce Cilicia's power in the region. It was soon apparent, that increased Hittite power would soon prove Niqmepa's efforts to be futile, as the city of Kizzuwatna soon fell to the Hittites, threatening all of Cilicia. Soon after, King Sunassura II was forced to accept vassalization under the Hittites, becoming the last king of ancient Cilicia. In the 13th century BC a major population shift occurred as the Sea Peoples overran Cilicia; the Hurrians that resided there deserted the area and moved northeast towards the Taurus Mountains, where
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. While Stoic physics are drawn from the teachings of the philosopher Heraclitus, they are influenced by certain teachings of Socrates. Stoicism is predominantly a philosophy of personal ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world. According to its teachings, as social beings, the path to happiness for humans is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, by using one's mind to understand the world and to do one's part in nature's plan, by working together and treating others and justly; the Stoics are known for teaching that "virtue is the only good" for human beings, that external things—such as health and pleasure—are not good or bad in themselves, but have value as "material for virtue to act upon". Alongside Aristotelian ethics, the Stoic tradition forms one of the major founding approaches to Western virtue ethics.
The Stoics held that certain destructive emotions resulted from errors of judgment, they believed people should aim to maintain a will, "in accord with nature". Because of this, the Stoics thought the best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said, but how a person behaved. To live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order since they thought everything was rooted in nature. Many Stoics—such as Seneca and Epictetus—emphasized that because "virtue is sufficient for happiness", a sage would be resilient to misfortune; this belief is similar to the meaning of the phrase "stoic calm", though the phrase does not include the "radical ethical" Stoic views that only a sage can be considered free, that all moral corruptions are vicious. Stoicism flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD, among its adherents was Emperor Marcus Aurelius, it experienced a decline after Christianity became the state religion in the 4th century AD.
Since it has seen revivals, notably in the Renaissance and in the contemporary era. Stoic comes from the Greek stōïkos, meaning "of the stoa ". This, in turn, refers to the Stoa Poikile, or "Painted Stoa," in Athens, where the influential Stoic Zeno of Citium taught. In laymen's terms stoicism is sometimes referred to as "suffering in silence", the ethics associated with that; the Stoics provided a unified account of the world, consisting of formal logic, monistic physics and naturalistic ethics. Of these, they emphasized ethics as the main focus of human knowledge, though their logical theories were of more interest for philosophers. Stoicism teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions. A primary aspect of Stoicism involves improving the individual's ethical and moral well-being: "Virtue consists in a will, in agreement with Nature." This principle applies to the realm of interpersonal relationships. The Stoic ethic espouses a deterministic perspective.
A Stoic of virtue, by contrast, would amend his will to suit the world and remain, in the words of Epictetus, "sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy," thus positing a "completely autonomous" individual will, at the same time a universe, "a rigidly deterministic single whole". This viewpoint was described as "Classical Pantheism". Stoicism became the foremost popular philosophy among the educated elite in the Hellenistic world and the Roman Empire, to the point where, in the words of Gilbert Murray "nearly all the successors of Alexander professed themselves Stoics."Beginning around 301 BC, Zeno taught philosophy at the Stoa Poikile, from which his philosophy got its name. Unlike the other schools of philosophy, such as the Epicureans, Zeno chose to teach his philosophy in a public space, a colonnade overlooking the central gathering place of Athens, the Agora. Zeno's ideas developed from those of the Cynics, whose founding father, had been a disciple of Socrates.
Zeno's most influential follower was Chrysippus, responsible for the molding of what is now called Stoicism. Roman Stoics focused on promoting a life in harmony within the universe, over which one has no direct control. Scholars divide the history of Stoicism into three phases: Early Stoa, from the founding of the school by Zeno to Antipater. Middle Stoa, including Panaetius and Posidonius. Late Stoa, including Musonius Rufus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. No complete work by any Stoic philosopher survives from the first two phases of Stoicism. Only Roman texts from the Late Stoa survive. Diodorus Cronus, one of Zeno's teachers, is considered the philosopher who first introduced and developed an approach to logic now known as propositional logic, based on statements or propositions, rather than terms, making it different from Aristotle's term logic. Chrysippus developed a system that became known as Stoic logic and included a deductive system, Stoic Syllogistic, considered a rival to Aristotle's Syllogistic.
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Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, as described in the New Testament. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and savior of all people, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Depending on the specific denomination of Christianity, practices may include baptism, prayer, confirmation, burial rites, marriage rites and the religious education of children. Most denominations hold regular group worship services. Christianity developed during the 1st century CE as a Jewish Christian sect of Second Temple Judaism, it soon attracted Gentile God-fearers, which lead to a departure from Jewish customs, the establishment of Christianity as an independent religion. During the first centuries of its existence Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire, to Ethiopia and some parts of Asia. Constantine the Great decriminalized it via the Edict of Milan; the First Council of Nicaea established a uniform set of beliefs across the Roman Empire.
By 380, the Roman Empire designated Christianity as the state religion. The period of the first seven ecumenical councils is sometimes referred to as the Great Church, the united full communion of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, before their schisms. Oriental Orthodoxy split after the Council of Chalcedon over differences in Christology; the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church separated in the East–West Schism over the authority of the Pope. In 1521, Protestants split from the Catholic Church in the Protestant Reformation over Papal primacy, the nature of salvation, other ecclesiological and theological disputes. Following the Age of Discovery, Christianity was spread into the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, the rest of the world via missionary work and colonization. There are 2.3 billion Christians in the world, or 31.4% of the global population. Today, the four largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy.
Christianity and Christian ethics have played a prominent role in the development of Western civilization around Europe during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the New Testament, the names by which the disciples were known among themselves were "brethren", "the faithful", "elect", "saints" and "believers". Early Jewish Christians referred to themselves as'The Way' coming from Isaiah 40:3, "prepare the way of the Lord." According to Acts 11:26, the term "Christian" was first used in reference to Jesus's disciples in the city of Antioch, meaning "followers of Christ," by the non-Jewish inhabitants of Antioch. The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" was by Ignatius of Antioch, in around 100 AD. While Christians worldwide share basic convcitions, there are differences of interpretations and opinions of the Bible and sacred traditions on which Christianity is based. Concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds, they began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith.
The Apostles' Creed is the most accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is used by a number of Christian denominations for both liturgical and catechetical purposes, most visibly by liturgical churches of Western Christian tradition, including the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, Lutheranism and Western Rite Orthodoxy, it is used by Presbyterians and Congregationalists. This particular creed was developed between the 9th centuries, its central doctrines are those of God the Creator. Each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period; the creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Its main points include: Belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Holy Spirit The death, descent into hell and ascension of Christ The holiness of the Church and the communion of saints Christ's second coming, the Day of Judgement and salvation of the faithful; the Nicene Creed was formulated in response to Arianism, at the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople in 325 and 381 and ratified as the universal creed of Christendom by the First Council of Ephesus in 431.
The Chalcedonian Definition, or Creed of Chalcedon, developed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, though rejected by the Oriental Orthodox churches, taught Christ "to be acknowledged in two natures, unchangeably, inseparably": one divine and one human, that both natures, while perfect in themselves, are also united into one person. The Athanasian Creed, received in the Western Church as having the same status as the Nicene and Chalcedonian, says: "We worship one God in Trinity, Trinity in Unity. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith while agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. Most Baptists do not use creeds "in that they have not sought to establish binding
Orphism (religion)
Orphism is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, as well as from the Thracians, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, who descended into the Greek underworld and returned. Orphics revered Persephone and Dionysus or Bacchus. Orpheus was said to have invented the Mysteries of Dionysus. Poetry containing distinctly Orphic beliefs has been traced back to the 6th century BC or at least 5th century BC, graffiti of the 5th century BC refers to "Orphics". Classical sources, such as Plato, refer to "Orpheus-initiators", associated rites, although how far "Orphic" literature in general related to these rites is not certain; as in the Eleusinian mysteries, initiation into Orphic mysteries promised advantages in the afterlife. The Orphic theogonies are genealogical works similar to the Theogony of Hesiod, but the details are different; the theogonies are symbolically similar to Near Eastern models. The main story has it that Dionysus is the son of Persephone.
Dionysus is tricked with a mirror and children's toys by the Titans, who murder and consume him. Athena tells Zeus of the crime, who in turn hurls a thunderbolt on the Titans; the resulting soot, from which sinful mankind is born, contains the bodies of the Titans and Dionysus. The soul of man is therefore divine. Thus, it was declared. There are two Orphic stories of the rebirth of Dionysus: in one it is the heart of Dionysus, implanted into the thigh of Zeus. Many of these details differ from accounts in the classical authors. Firmicus Maternus, a Christian author, gives a different account with the book On the Error of Profane Religions, he says that Jupiter was a king of Crete—a concept of Euhemerus—and Dionysos was his son. Dionysos was murdered, cannibalized. Only his heart was salvaged by Athena. A statue of gypsum was made to look like Dionysos, the heart placed within; the Orphic theogonies include: The "Protogonos Theogony", composed c. 500 BC, known through the commentary in the Derveni papyrus and references in classical authors.
The "Eudemian Theogony", composed in the 5th century BC. It is the product of a syncretic Bacchic-Kouretic cult; the "Rhapsodic Theogony", composed in the Hellenistic age, incorporating earlier works. It is known through summaries in neo-Platonist authors. Orphic Hymns. 87 hexametric poems of a shorter length composed in the late Hellenistic or early Roman Imperial age. Surviving written fragments show a number of beliefs about the afterlife similar to those in the "Orphic" mythology about Dionysus' death and resurrection. Bone tablets found in Olbia carry short and enigmatic inscriptions like: "Life. Death. Life. Truth. Dio. Orphics." The function of these bone tablets is unknown. Gold-leaf tablets found in graves from Thurii, Hipponium and Crete give instructions to the dead. Although these thin tablets are highly fragmentary, collectively they present a shared scenario of the passage into the afterlife; when the deceased arrives in the underworld, he is expected to confront obstacles. He must take care not of the pool of Mnemosyne.
He is provided with formulaic expressions with which to present himself to the guardians of the afterlife. I am a son of starry sky. I am dying. Other gold leaves offer instructions for addressing the rulers of the underworld: Now you have died and now you have come into being, O thrice happy one, on this same day. Tell Persephone that the Bacchic One himself released you. Orphic views and practices have parallels to elements of Pythagoreanism. There is, too little evidence to determine the extent to which one movement may have influenced the other. In the fifteenth century, the Neoplatonic Greek scholar Constantine Lascaris considered a Pythagorean Orpheus; the book The works of Aristotle mentioned Aristotle says the poet Orpheus never existed. Bertrand Russell noted; the intoxication that they sought was that of "enthusiasm," of union with the god. They believed themselves, in this way; this mystical element entered into Greek philosophy with Pythagoras, a reformer of Orphism as Orpheus was a reformer of the religion of Dionysus.
From Pythagoras Orphic elements entered into the philosophy of Plato, from Plato into most philosophy, in any degree religious. Bertrand Russell pointed out about Socrates He is not an orthodox Orphic.
Aristotle
Aristotle was a philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, the founder of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic school of philosophy and Aristotelian tradition. Along with his teacher Plato, he is considered the "Father of Western Philosophy", his writings cover many subjects – including physics, zoology, logic, aesthetics, theatre, rhetoric, linguistics, economics and government. Aristotle provided a complex synthesis of the various philosophies existing prior to him, it was above all from his teachings that the West inherited its intellectual lexicon, as well as problems and methods of inquiry; as a result, his philosophy has exerted a unique influence on every form of knowledge in the West and it continues to be a subject of contemporary philosophical discussion. Little is known about his life. Aristotle was born in the city of Stagira in Northern Greece, his father, died when Aristotle was a child, he was brought up by a guardian. At seventeen or eighteen years of age, he joined Plato's 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, tutored Alexander the Great beginning in 343 BC. He established a library in the Lyceum which helped him to produce many of his hundreds of books on papyrus scrolls. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues for publication, only around a third of his original output has survived, none of it intended for publication; the fact that Aristotle was a pupil of Plato contributed to his former views of Platonism, following Plato's death, Aristotle developed an increased interest in natural sciences and adopted the position of immanent realism. Aristotle's views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, were not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics. Some of Aristotle's zoological observations found in his biology, such as on the hectocotyl arm of the octopus, were disbelieved until the 19th century.
His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, studied by medieval scholars such as Peter Abelard and John Buridan. Aristotle's influence on logic continued well into the 19th century He influenced Islamic thought during the Middle Ages, as well as Christian theology the Neoplatonism of the Early Church and the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. Aristotle was revered among medieval Muslim scholars as "The First Teacher" and among medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas as "The Philosopher", his ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics, such as in the thinking of Alasdair MacIntyre and Philippa Foot. In general, the details of Aristotle's life are not well-established; the biographies written in ancient times are speculative and historians only agree on a few salient points. Aristotle, whose name means "the best purpose" in Ancient Greek, was born in 384 BC in Stagira, about 55 km east of modern-day Thessaloniki.
His father Nicomachus was the personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Both of Aristotle's parents died when he was about thirteen, Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. Although little information about Aristotle's childhood has survived, he 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 Plato's Academy, he remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving Athens in 348/47 BC. The traditional story about his departure records that he was disappointed with the Academy's direction after control passed to Plato's nephew Speusippus, although it is possible that he feared the anti-Macedonian sentiments in Athens at that time and left before Plato died. Aristotle accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor. After the death of Hermias, Aristotle travelled with his pupil Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island and its sheltered lagoon.
While in Lesbos, Aristotle married Hermias's adoptive daughter or niece. She bore him a daughter, whom they named Pythias. In 343 BC, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander. Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During Aristotle's time in the Macedonian court, he gave lessons not only to Alexander, but to two other future kings: Ptolemy and Cassander. Aristotle encouraged Alexander toward eastern conquest and Aristotle's own attitude towards Persia was unabashedly ethnocentric. In one famous example, he counsels Alexander to be "a leader to the Greeks and a despot to the barbarians, to look after the former as after friends and relatives, to deal with the latter as with beasts or plants". By 335 BC, Aristotle had returned to Athens. Aristotle conducted courses at the school for the next twelve years. While in Athens, his wife Pythias died and Aristotle became involved with Herpyllis of Stagira, who bore him a son whom he named after his father, Nicomachus.
According to the Suda, he had an erômenos, Palaephatus of Abydus. This period in Athens, between 335 and 323 BC, is when Aristotle is believed to have composed many of his works, he wrote many dialogues. Those works that have survived are in treatise form and were not
Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Born in Clazomenae at a time when Asia Minor was under the control of the Persian Empire, Anaxagoras came to Athens. According to Diogenes Laërtius and Plutarch, in life he was charged with impiety and went into exile in Lampsacus. Responding to the claims of Parmenides on the impossibility of change, Anaxagoras described the world as a mixture of primary imperishable ingredients, where material variation was never caused by an absolute presence of a particular ingredient, but rather by its relative preponderance over the other ingredients, he introduced the concept of Nous as an ordering force, which moved and separated out the original mixture, homogeneous, or nearly so. He gave a number of novel scientific accounts of natural phenomena, he produced a correct explanation for eclipses and described the sun as a fiery mass larger than the Peloponnese, as well as attempting to explain rainbows and meteors. Anaxagoras is believed to have enjoyed some wealth and political influence in his native town of Clazomenae.
However, he surrendered this out of a fear that they would hinder his search for knowledge. The Roman author Valerius Maximus preserves a different tradition: Anaxagoras, coming home from a long voyage, found his property in ruin, said: "If this had not perished, I would have"—a sentence described by Valerius as being "possessed of sought-after wisdom!"Anaxagoras was a Greek citizen of the Persian Empire and had served in the Persian army. Though this remains uncertain, "it would explain why he came to Athens in the year of Salamis, 480/79 B. C." Anaxagoras is said to have remained in Athens for thirty years. Pericles learned to love and admire him, the poet Euripides derived from him an enthusiasm for science and humanity. Anaxagoras brought the spirit of scientific inquiry from Ionia to Athens, his observations of the celestial bodies and the fall of meteorites led him to form new theories of the universal order, to a putative prediction of the impact of a meteorite in 467. He attempted to give a scientific account of eclipses, meteors and the sun, which he described as a mass of blazing metal, larger than the Peloponnese.
The heavenly bodies, he asserted, were masses of stone torn from the earth and ignited by rapid rotation. He was the first to give a correct explanation of eclipses, was both famous and notorious for his scientific theories, including the claims that the sun is a mass of red-hot metal, that the moon is earthy, that the stars are fiery stones, he thought the earth was flat and floated supported by'strong' air under it and disturbances in this air sometimes caused earthquakes. These speculations made him vulnerable in Athens to a charge of impiety. Diogenes Laërtius reports the story that he was prosecuted by Cleon for impiety, but Plutarch says that Pericles sent his former tutor, Anaxagoras, to Lampsacus for his own safety after the Athenians began to blame him for the Peloponnesian war. According to Laërtius, Pericles spoke in defense of Anaxagoras at his trial, c. 450. So, Anaxagoras was forced to retire from Athens to Lampsacus in Troad, he died there in around the year 428. Citizens of Lampsacus erected an altar to Mind and Truth in his memory, observed the anniversary of his death for many years.
Anaxagoras wrote a book of philosophy, but only fragments of the first part of this have survived, through preservation in work of Simplicius of Cilicia in the 6th century AD. According to Anaxagoras all things have existed in some way from the beginning, but they existed in infinitesimally small fragments of themselves, endless in number and inextricably combined throughout the universe. All things existed in a confused and indistinguishable form. There was an infinite number of homogeneous parts as well as heterogeneous ones; the work of arrangement, the segregation of like from unlike and the summation of the whole into totals of the same name, was the work of Mind or Reason. Mind is no less unlimited than the chaotic mass, but it stood pure and independent, a thing of finer texture, alike in all its manifestations and everywhere the same; this subtle agent, possessed of all knowledge and power, is seen ruling in all the forms of life. Its first appearance, the only manifestation of it which Anaxagoras describes, is Motion.
It gave distinctness and reality to the aggregates of like parts. Decease and growth represent a new disruption. However, the original intermixture of things is never wholly overcome; each thing contains in itself parts of other things or heterogeneous elements, is what it is, only on account of the preponderance of certain homogeneous parts which constitute its character. Out of this process arise the things. Anaxagoras is mentioned by Socrates during his trial in Plato's "Apology". In the Phaedo, Plato portrays Socrates saying of Anaxagoras that as a young man:'I eagerly acquired his books and read them as as I could'. In a quote chosen to begin Nathanael West's first book "The Dream Life of Balso Snell", Marcel Proust's character Bergotte says, "After all, my dear fellow, Anaxagoras has said, is a journey." Anaxagoras appears as a character in Part II by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Anaxagoras appears as a cha
Epictetus
Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was born a slave at Hierapolis and lived in Rome until his banishment, when he went to Nicopolis in northwestern Greece for the rest of his life, his teachings were published by his pupil Arrian in his Discourses and Enchiridion. Epictetus taught that philosophy is not just a theoretical discipline. To Epictetus, all external events are beyond our control. However, individuals are responsible for their own actions, which they can examine and control through rigorous self-discipline. Epictetus was born c. 55 A. D. at Hierapolis, Phrygia. The name his parents gave, he spent his youth as a slave in Rome to a wealthy freedman and secretary to Nero. Early in life, Epictetus acquired a passion for philosophy and, with the permission of his wealthy owner, he studied Stoic philosophy under Musonius Rufus, which allowed him to rise in respectability as he grew more educated. Somehow, he became crippled. Origen stated. Simplicius stated. Epictetus obtained his freedom sometime after the death of Nero in 68 A.
D. and he began to teach philosophy in Rome. About 93 A. D. Emperor Domitian banished all philosophers from the city, Epictetus went to Nicopolis in Epirus, where he founded a philosophical school, his most famous pupil, studied under him when a young man and claimed to have written the famous Discourses from his lecture notes, which he argued should be considered comparable to the Socratic literature. Arrian describes Epictetus as being a powerful speaker who could "induce his listener to feel just what Epictetus wanted him to feel." Many eminent figures sought conversations with him. Emperor Hadrian was friendly with him, may have listened to him speak at his school in Nicopolis, he lived a life of great simplicity, with few possessions. He lived alone for a long time, but in his old age he adopted a friend's child who otherwise would have been left to die, raised him with the aid of a woman, it is unclear. He died sometime around 135 A. D. After his death, according to Lucian, his oil lamp was purchased by an admirer for 3,000 drachmae.
No writings by Epictetus are known. His discourses were compiled by his pupil Arrian; the main work is four books of which have been preserved. Arrian compiled a popular digest, entitled the Enchiridion, or Handbook. In a preface to the Discourses, addressed to Lucius Gellius, Arrian states that "whatever I heard him say I used to write down, word for word, as best I could, endeavouring to preserve it as a memorial, for my own future use, of his way of thinking and the frankness of his speech."Epictetus maintains that the foundation of all philosophy is self-knowledge, that is, the conviction of our ignorance and gullibility ought to be the first subject of our study. Logic provides valid reasoning and certainty in judgment; the first and most necessary part of philosophy concerns the application of doctrine, for example, that people should not lie. The second concerns reasons, e.g. why people should not lie. While the third, lastly and establishes the reasons; this is the logical part, which finds reasons, shows what is a reason, that a given reason is a correct one.
This last part is necessary, but only on account of the second, which again is rendered necessary by the first. Both the Discourses and the Enchiridion begin by distinguishing between those things in our power and those things not in our power; that alone is in our power, our own work. What, on the contrary, is not in our power, are our bodies, possessions and power. Any delusion on this point leads to the greatest errors and troubles, to the slavery of the soul. We have no power over external things, the good that ought to be the object of our earnest pursuit, is to be found only within ourselves; the determination between what is good and what is not good is made by the capacity for choice. Prohairesis allows us to act, gives us the kind of freedom that only rational animals have, it is determined by our reason, which of all our faculties and tests itself and everything else. It is the correct use of the impressions that bombard the mind, in our power:Practice from the start to say to every harsh impression, "You are an impression, not at all the thing you appear to be."
Examine it and test it by these rules you have, firstly, chiefly, by this: whether the impression has to do with the things that are up to us, or those that are not. We will not be troubled at any loss, but will say to ourselves on such an occasion: "I have lost nothing that belongs to me. Nothing beyond the use of our opinion is properly ours; every possession rests on opinion. What is to cry and to weep? An opinion. What is misfortune, or a quarrel, or a complaint? All these things are opinions.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Simplicius". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
