Anaximander's Greek Contributions

Anaximander, active between 611-547 BC, apprenticed under Thales. Despite the absence of his writings, he is acknowledged for introducing numerous revolutionary ideas. Anaximander took a pioneering role in formulating a cosmological system, crafting a map, and constructing a globe—accomplishments that distinguished him among the Greeks.

He presented a more intricate representation of the world, suggesting that the Earth was centrally positioned, hanging freely without support—a departure from Thales' idea of it resting on water. With minimal error, he accurately determined the Sun's size and its distance from the Earth. In contrast to the belief in Zeus's thunderbolts, he contended that thunder and lightning were caused by blasts of wind.

Anaximander theorized that the world operates under the influence of opposing forces such as hot and cold, wet and dry, signifying that these opposites govern the world's processes.

Furthermore, Anaximander is acknowledged as the first Greek to employ a sundial. Through its application, he ascertained the dates of the two solstices (shortest and longest days) and the equinoxes (the two annual events when day and night have equal duration).
Anaximander's Greek Contributions