Thales of Miletus

E85706

Milesian philosopher ancient Greek philosopher astronomer mathematician natural philosopher person pre-Socratic philosopher

Thales of Miletus was an early Greek philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer often regarded as the founder of Western philosophy and the first to seek natural explanations for phenomena.

Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form	As subject	As object
Thales	0	1

Statements (66)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Milesian philosopher → ancient Greek philosopher → astronomer → mathematician → natural philosopher → person → pre-Socratic philosopher →
associatedWith	Seven Sages of Greece →
attributedAchievement	diverting the Halys River for military purposes → measuring the height of pyramids using shadows → predicting a solar eclipse in 585 BCE →
attributedDiscovery	Thales’ theorem → surface form: Thales’ theorem in geometry inscribed angle theorem for a diameter →
citizenship	Miletus →
countryOfOrigin	Ionia →
dateOfBirth	circa 624 BCE →
dateOfDeath	circa 546 BCE →
describedBySource	Aristotle → Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers → surface form: Diogenes Laërtius Herodotus →
era	Archaic Greece → pre-Socratic philosophy →
ethnicGroup	Greek →
floruit	6th century BCE →
givenName	Thales of Miletus self-linksurface differs → surface form: Thales
influenced	Anaximander → Anaximenes of Miletus → Aristotle → Heraclitus → Pythagoras → Western philosophy →
influencedBy	Babylonian astronomy → Egyptian mathematics →
knownFor	Thales’ theorem → early work in geometry → founder of Milesian school → founder of Western philosophy → prediction of a solar eclipse → seeking natural explanations for phenomena → water as arche →
legacy	considered the first philosopher in Western tradition → pioneer of scientific reasoning in Greece →
mainInterest	astronomy → cosmology → geometry → metaphysics → natural philosophy →
memberOf	Seven Sages of Greece →
name	Thales of Miletus self-link →
nativeLanguage	Ancient Greek →
notableIdea	all things are full of gods → use of geometry to solve practical problems → use of rational explanation instead of myth → water is the fundamental principle (arche) of all things →
occupation	astronomer → engineer → mathematician → merchant → philosopher → statesman →
partOf	Ionian school → surface form: Milesian school
philosophicalSchool	Ionian school → surface form: Milesian school
placeOfBirth	Miletus →
placeOfDeath	Miletus →
region	Asia Minor →
religion	ancient Greek religion →

Referenced by (10)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Ionia → associatedWith → Thales of Miletus →

Ionian school → foundedBy → Thales of Miletus →

Thales of Miletus → givenName → Thales of Miletus self-linksurface differs →

this entity surface form: Thales

Miletus → hasNotableCitizen → Thales of Miletus →

Ionian school → hasNotablePhilosopher → Thales of Miletus →

Presocratic philosophers → includes → Thales of Miletus →

Miletus → isBirthplaceOf → Thales of Miletus →

Thales of Miletus → name → Thales of Miletus self-link →

Thales Group → namedAfter → Thales of Miletus →

Diogenes Laertius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers → philosophersCovered → Thales of Miletus →