Philosopher · Iron Age · Turkey

Thales of Miletus

c. 624–c. 546 BC

Greek thinker from Miletus, on the coast of modern Turkey, counted as the first philosopher in the Western tradition. He looked for one underlying stuff behind all things and named it water. He lived about 624 to 546 BC, and almost nothing certain survives about his life.

Facts

Born: About 624 BC, Miletus, on the coast of what is now Turkey.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Thales of Miletus
Died: About 546 BC. The dates are traditional, not records.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Thales of Miletus
School: Milesian school, the first of the Presocratic natural philosophers.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Thales of Miletus
Known for: Naming water as the first principle of all things. Herodotus reports that he predicted the solar eclipse of 585 BC.; Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Thales of Miletus

Images

Marble head of Thales, Roman copy (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA)

Connected

CountryGreece1830–

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