Editing Evolution (section)

=== Classical antiquity ===

The proposal that one type of organism could descend from another type goes back to some of the first [[pre-Socratic]] Greek philosophers, such as [[Anaximander#Origin of humankind|Anaximander]] and [[Empedocles#Cosmogony|Empedocles]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1983|pp=100–142, 280–321}}</ref> Such proposals survived into Roman times. The poet and philosopher [[Lucretius]] followed Empedocles in his masterwork ''[[De rerum natura]]'' ({{lit|On the Nature of Things}}).<ref>{{harvnb|Lucretius}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sedley |first=David |author-link=David Sedley |year=2003 |title=Lucretius and the New Empedocles |url=http://lics.leeds.ac.uk/2003/200304.pdf |journal=Leeds International Classical Studies |volume=2 |issue=4 |issn=1477-3643 |access-date=25 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823062637/http://lics.leeds.ac.uk/2003/200304.pdf |archive-date=23 August 2014}}</ref>