Editing Thales of Miletus (section)

===== Olive presses =====
[[File:Capernaum roman olive press by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|An olive mill and an olive press dating from Roman times in [[Capernaum, Israel]].]]

A story, with different versions, recounts how Thales achieved riches from an olive harvest by [[Weather forecasting#Ancient forecasting|prediction of the weather]]. In one version, he bought all the [[Olive oil extraction#Traditional method: olive press|olive presses]] in Miletus after predicting the weather and a good harvest for a particular year. Another version of the story has Aristotle explain that Thales had reserved presses in advance, at a discount, and could rent them out at a high price when demand peaked, following his [[derivative (finance)|prediction]] of a particularly good harvest. This first version of the story would constitute the first historically known creation and use of [[Futures contract|futures]], whereas the second version would be the first historically known creation and use of [[Option (finance)|options]].<ref>George Crawford, Bidyut Sen – ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NIIVeirctosC&pg=PA7 Derivatives for Decision Makers: Strategic Management Issues]'', John Wiley & Sons, 1996 {{isbn|978-0471129943}}</ref>

Aristotle explains that Thales's objective in doing this was not to enrich himself but to prove to his fellow Milesians that philosophy could be useful, contrary to what they thought,<ref>Aristotle, [[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]] 1259a [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Aristot.+Pol.+1.1259a]</ref> or alternatively, Thales had made his foray into enterprise because of a personal challenge put to him by an individual who had asked why, if Thales was an intelligent famous philosopher, he had yet to attain wealth.