Editing Anaximander (section)

== Biography ==

{{further|Arche#Ionian school}}

[[File:Anaximander Mosaic (cropped, with sundial).jpg|thumb|left|Ancient Roman mosaic from Johannisstraße, [[Trier]], dating to the early third century AD, showing Anaximander holding a sundial<ref>{{cite web|last1=Zühmer|first1=T. H.|title=Roman Mosaic Depicting Anaximander with Sundial|url=http://isaw.nyu.edu/exhibitions/time-cosmos/objects/roman-mosaic-anaximander|department=Institute for the Study of the Ancient World|date=19 October 2016|publisher=New York University}}</ref>]]

Anaximander, son of Praxiades, was born in the third year of the 42nd [[Olympiad]] (610 BC).<ref name="Refutation">[[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]] (?), ''[[Refutation of All Heresies]]'' (I, 5)</ref> According to [[Apollodorus of Athens]], Greek grammarian of the 2nd century BC, he was sixty-four years old during the second year of the 58th Olympiad (547–546&nbsp;BC) and died shortly afterwards.<ref>In his ''Chronicles'', as reported by [[Diogenes Laërtius]], ''[[Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers]]'' (II, 2).</ref>

Establishing a timeline of his work is impossible, since no document provides chronological references. [[Themistius]], a 4th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[rhetoric]]ian, 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]], at least in the Western world. By the time of [[Plato]], his philosophy was almost forgotten, and [[Aristotle]], his successor [[Theophrastus]], and a few [[Doxography|doxographers]] provide us with the little information that remains. However, we know from Aristotle that Thales, also from Miletus, precedes Anaximander. 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. One thing that is not debatable is that even the ancient Greeks considered Anaximander to be from the [[Monist]] school which began in Miletus, with Thales followed by Anaximander and which ended with [[Anaximenes of Miletus|Anaximenes]].<ref>{{cite book |last=McKirahan |first=Richard D. |title=Philosophy before Socrates |chapter=Anaximander of Miletus |pages=32–34 |isbn=978-1603841832}}</ref> 3rd-century [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] rhetorician [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]] depicts Anaximander as leader of the Milesian colony to [[Sozopol|Apollonia]] on the [[Black Sea]] coast, and hence some have inferred that he was a prominent citizen.<ref name="Chisholm1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Anaximander|volume=1|page=944}}</ref> Indeed, ''Various History'' (III, 17) 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.

Anaximander lived the final few years of his life as a subject of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Achaemenid Empire]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dandamaev |first1=M. A. |author-link1=Muhammad Dandamayev |title=A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire |date=1989 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004091726 |page=153 |quote=During the period of Achaemenid rule in Miletus, which was the most important city of Ionia, there lived the eminent philosopher Anaximander and the geographer and historian Hecataeus.}}</ref>