Editing Anaximander (section)

== Other accomplishments ==

=== Cartography ===

[[File:Anaximander world map (mul).svg|thumb|right|280px|Possible rendering of Anaximander's world map<ref>According to John Mansley Robinson, ''An Introduction to Early Greek Philosophy'', Houghton and Mifflin, 1968.</ref>]]

Both [[Strabo]] and [[Agathemerus]] (later Greek geographers) claim that, according to the geographer [[Eratosthenes]], Anaximander was the first to publish a [[World map|map of the world]]. The map probably inspired the Greek historian [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] to draw a more accurate version. Strabo viewed both as the first geographers after [[Homer]].

Maps were produced in ancient times, also notably in [[Egypt]], [[Lydia]], the [[Middle East]], and [[Babylon]]. Only some small examples survived until today. The unique example of a world map comes from the late [[Babylonian Map of the World]] later than 9th century BC but is based probably on a much older map. These maps indicated directions, roads, towns, borders, and geological features. Anaximander's innovation was to represent the entire inhabited land known to the ancient Greeks.

Such an accomplishment is more significant than it at first appears. Anaximander most likely drew this map for three reasons.<ref>As established by Marcel Conche, ''Anaximandre. Fragments et témoignages'', introduction (p.&nbsp;43–47).</ref> First, it could be used to improve navigation and trade between [[Miletus]]'s colonies and other colonies around the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Second, [[Thales]] would probably have found it easier to convince the Ionian [[Polis|city-states]] to join in a federation in order to push the [[Medes|Median]] threat away if he possessed such a tool. Finally, the philosophical idea of a global representation of the world simply for the sake of knowledge was reason enough to design one.

Surely aware of the sea's convexity, he may have designed his map on a slightly rounded metal surface. The centre or "navel" of the world ({{lang|grc|ὀμφαλός γῆς}} ''omphalós gẽs'') could have been [[Delphi]], but is more likely in Anaximander's time to have been located near Miletus. The [[Aegean Sea]] was near the map's centre and enclosed by three continents, themselves located in the middle of the ocean and isolated like islands by sea and rivers. [[Europe]] was bordered on the south by the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and was separated from [[Asia]] by the Black Sea, the [[Sea of Azov|Lake Maeotis]], and, further east, either by the [[Rioni River|Phasis River]] (now called the [[Rioni]] in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]) or the [[Tanais]]. The [[Nile]] flowed south into the ocean, separating [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] (which was the name for the part of the then-known [[Africa]]n continent) from Asia.

=== Gnomon ===

The ''[[Suda]]'' relates that Anaximander explained some basic notions of geometry. It also mentions his interest in the measurement of time and associates him with the introduction in [[Greece]] of the gnomon. In [[Lacedaemon]], he participated in the construction, or at least in the adjustment, of [[sundial]]s to indicate [[solstice]]s and [[equinox]]es.<ref>These accomplishments are often attributed to him, notably by Diogenes Laertius (II, 1) and by the Roman historian [[Eusebius of Caesarea]], ''[[Preparation for the Gospel]]'' (X, 14, 11).</ref> Indeed, a [[gnomon]] required adjustments from a place to another because of the difference in [[latitude]].

In his time, the gnomon was simply a vertical pillar or rod mounted on a horizontal plane. The position of its shadow on the plane indicated the time of day. As it moves through its apparent course, the Sun draws a curve with the tip of the projected shadow, which is shortest at noon, when pointing due south. The variation in the tip's position at noon indicates the solar time and the seasons; the shadow is longest on the winter solstice and shortest on the summer solstice.

The invention of the gnomon itself cannot be attributed to Anaximander because its use, as well as the division of days into twelve parts, came from the [[Babylonia]]ns. It is they, according to [[Herodotus]]' [[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]] (II, 109), who gave the Greeks the art of time measurement. It is likely that he was not the first to determine the solstices, because no calculation is necessary. On the other hand, equinoxes do not correspond to the middle point between the positions during solstices, as the Babylonians thought. As the ''Suda'' seems to suggest, it is very likely that with his knowledge of geometry, he became the first Greek to determine accurately the equinoxes.

=== Prediction of an earthquake ===

In his philosophical work ''[[De Divinatione]]'' (I, 50, 112), Cicero states that Anaximander convinced the inhabitants of [[Lacedaemon]] to abandon their city and spend the night in the country with their weapons because an earthquake was near.<ref>[http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/divinatione1.shtml ''Da Divinatione'' (in Latin)]</ref> The city collapsed when the top of the [[Taygetus]] split like the stern of a ship. Pliny the Elder also mentions this anecdote (II, 81), suggesting that it came from an "admirable inspiration", as opposed to Cicero, who did not associate the prediction with divination.

=== Scientific method ===

Rovelli credits Anaximander with pioneering the "first great scientific revolution in history" by introducing the [[naturalism (philosophy)|naturalistic]] approach to understanding the universe, according to which the universe operates by inviolable laws, without recourse to supernatural explanations. According to Rovelli, Anaximander not only paved the way for modern science, but revolutionized the process for how we form our worldview, by constantly questioning and rejecting certainty. Rovelli further states that Anaximander has not been given his due credit, largely because his naturalistic approach was strongly opposed in antiquity (among others by Aristotle) and had yet to yield the tangible benefits it has today.{{sfn|Rovelli|2023|pp=xii–xiii, 38–39, 120, 130}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ Anaximander's transformation of method{{sfn|Rovelli|2023|pp=77, 80–81}}
|-
! Situation || Practice
|-
| Earlier method<br/>Different school || Unqualified criticism 
|-
| Earlier method<br/>Same school || Unqualified acceptance
|-
| Anaximander's method || Detailed appreciation of teaching<br/>Then, teaching is questioned and improved
|-
| Example || Thales: "World is made of water"<br/> &nbsp; &nbsp;– Anaximander: "Not so"<br/>Thales: "Earth floats on water"<br/> &nbsp; &nbsp;– Anaximander: "Earth floats in the infinite"<br/>Thales: "Earthquakes due to wobbles in Ocean"<br/> &nbsp; &nbsp;– Anaximander: "No, due to Earth splitting open"
|}