Brewer's: Ionic School

or Ionic Philosophers. Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitos, and Anaxagoras were all natives of Ionia, and were the earliest of the Greek philosophers. They tried to prove that all created things spring from one principle; Thales said it was water, Anaximenes thought it was air or gas, Anaxagoras that it was atoms, Heraclitos maintained that it was fire or caloric, while Anaximander insisted that the elements of all things are eternal, for ex nihilo nihil fit.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content