Background

Thales was the earliest known Greek philosopher and was born in Miletus in Asia Minor. He is considered to be on of the Seven Wise Men of Ancient Greece. Thales left no writings so all that we know about him was passed down by other well known Greek philosophers. Aristotle discussed Thales' influence in his book entitled "Metaphysics". According to Aristotle, Thales was the first philosopher to attempt to discover the underlying material and source for all things. He believed that the material everything came from and would return to was water. Thales looked at the strange phenomena of the universe using philosophy and reason instead of trying to explain it with mythology and supernatural stories. He founded the Greek science of astronomy and became very well known when he predicted the eclipse of the sun that occurred on May 28, 585 B.C.