1. THALES OF MILETUS

A. TESTIMONIES OF LIFE, WRITINGS, AND DOCTRINE

LIFE

1. DIOGENES LAERTIUS I 22—44.

22 Thales, as Herodotus [I 170], Duris [fr. 52, FHG II 482], and Democritus say, was the son of Examyes and Cleobuline, of the Thelidae, who are Phoenicians, the most noble of those descended from Cadmus and Agenor The text contains a lacuna here; the compiler likely omitted the beginning of the passage.—just as Plato [Protagoras 343 A] also says. He was the first to be called sophos wise during the archonship of Damasias [582 BCE], under whom the Seven Sages were also named, as Demetrios of Phaleron says in his Register of the Archons [fr. 1, FHG II 362]. He was granted citizenship in Miletus when he arrived with Nileos, who had been exiled from Phoenicia. But most say he was a native Milesian of illustrious family. After political life, he turned to the study of nature. According to some, he left no writings behind, for the Nautical Astrology attributed to him is said to be by Phocus of Samos. But Callimachus knows him as the discoverer of the Little Bear, saying in his Iambics [fr. 94, II 259 Schneid.] thus: