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Life
The first philosopher. He looked at the world and asked what it was made of.
Number is the language of the cosmos. He built a life around that belief.
Connection
Thales inspired Pythagoras — Thales may have encouraged the young Pythagoras to travel to Egypt. The Milesian tradition of natural inquiry set the stage for Pythagoras’ mathematical cosmology.
Ideas
Words
“Water is the first principle of all things.”
“Know thyself.”
“Number is the ruler of forms and ideas, and the cause of gods and daemons.”
“There is geometry in the humming of the strings. There is music in the spacing of the spheres.”
Key Moments
c. 624 BCE
Born in Miletus
c. 624 BCE
Born in Miletus
c. 610 BCE
Travels Abroad
c. 600 BCE
Studies Geometry in Egypt
c. 570 BCE
Born on Samos
c. 570 BCE
Born in Samos
c. 535 BCE
Travels to Egypt and Babylon
c. 532 BCE
Leaving Samos
Works
On the Eclipse and Other Predictions
Fragments & Testimonies
The Life & Doctrines
The Golden Verses