Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

...of memory, it is no longer the time to speak. Hieronymus of Rhodes also says, in the second book of his Scattered Notes, that Thales once wished to show how easy it is to grow rich. Foreseeing that there would be an abundant harvest of olives, he took an option on the lease of the oil presses original: "ἐλαιουργεῖα" (elaiourgeia) — this is a famous anecdote intended to prove that philosophers could be wealthy if they chose, but their interests lie elsewhere and collected a vast amount of money. He proposed that water was the first principle first principle: original "ἀρχὴν" (archēn) — the fundamental substance or "stuff" from which everything else is made of all things, and that the world is alive and full of spirits original: "δαιμόνων" (daimonōn) — in this context, these are not "demons" in the modern sense, but divine guiding spirits or forces. They say he also discovered the seasons of the year and divided it into three hundred and sixty-five days. No one was his teacher, except that he went to Egypt and lived among the priests. Hieronymus also says that he measured the pyramids by observing their shadow at the exact moment when our own shadow is equal to our height. He also lived with Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, as Minyes reports. The story of the tripod found by the fishermen is well known, which was sent to the wise men by the people of Miletus. For they say that certain Ionian youths bought a "catch" of the net in advance from Milesian fishermen; but when the tripod was hauled up, a dispute arose. Eventually, the Milesians sent to Delphi to consult the oracle, and the god gave this response:

Offspring of Miletus, do you ask Phoebus about the tripod?
Who is first of all in wisdom? To him I award the tripod.

Accordingly, they gave it to Thales. He gave it to another, and that one to another, until it came to Solon. He, however, declared that God was first in wisdom, and so he sent it to Delphi. But Callimachus A celebrated scholar-poet of the Library of Alexandria tells the story differently in his Iambics, having taken it from Leandrius of Miletus. He says that a certain Bathycles of Arcadia left a bowl original: "φιάλην" (phialēn) — a shallow ceramic or metal bowl used for libations at his death, with instructions that it be given to whichever of the wise men was the best. It was given to Thales, and after going the rounds, it came back to Thales again. He then dedicated it to Didymaean Apollo, with this inscription, according to Callimachus:

Thales gives me to the ruler of the people of Neleus,
Having received this prize twice for his excellence.

But the prose version of the inscription is as follows: Thales, son of Examyas, a Milesian, to Delphinian Apollo.