The archaic era of Greek history was very important for the evolution of Greek and European culture. The main reason is that then the foundations of philosophical thought were laid. The general social and political conditions in the life of the Greeks contributed in this direction. In the 6th century BC the kingdom and the aristocracy were set aside. New social classes, such as those of the merchants and artisans, emerged between the ranks of the wealthy landowners and the poor workers. In the context of social change, the way of thinking has changed. Belief in myth ceased and the human mind began to wonder about nature, spirit, knowledge, practice, society and the law. A special field of intellectual creation that is a testimony to the new spiritual interests of the Greeks of the archaic period is their lyric poetry.
Until the 6th century BC the Greeks tried to attribute the creation of the world to anthropomorphic deities, for whom they had created a rich set of myths. The first steps of philosophy were based on these myths. So the first perception of the series of events that gave birth to the world was this:
1) Initially there was a chaotic situation.
2) The chaotic state was fertilized by some sperm.
3) The produced material result was divided into parts.
4) Then the celestial bodies and the phenomena were formed.
5) Life was born.
The first important philosopher to attempt to interpret the world was Thales (625-546). He considered water as the beginning of the world. After traveling to the east gaining rich knowledge, he systematically engaged in astronomy, mathematics, geography and engineering. In place of the mythical deities of the seas and rivers, he put the natural element of water as part of the world, arguing that it has life in it and favors its development.
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In 610 - 546 BC the philosopher Anaximander also lived. He set "Infinity" as the beginning of the world, which expressed the physical existence of the mythical entities Chaos, Night, Air, Ocean. Beginning with infinity, Anaximander proceeded to formulate the concept of the Incorruptibility of Matter.
Anaximander's version of the creation of the world is interesting. He considered that from "infinity" was secreted the "fertile", that is, the sperm of the hot and the cold. Thus a cold nucleus that eventually formed the earth's mass was surrounded by warm material, which exploded creating the rest of the celestial bodies. Anaximander considered temperature transitions as a mechanism for the creation of life. Finally, Anaximander was the first to claim that man came from other species of animals.
Anaximenes (585-525 BC) considered air as a basic element of the world and believed that all material bodies and natural phenomena are created by its thickening and dilution. By air he meant matter and energy together. He also taught that the air was before the birth of the universe and remains forever its basic essence, advancing the issue of cosmogony in cosmology. Considering hot, cold, wet and dry as states of the air, he tried to understand the qualities of matter and the explanations of quantities.
Heraclitus (540-480 BC) was the fourth and most important materialist philosopher of the archaic era. This philosopher considered the universe as a fire that transforms into various forms. He also taught that "Τhis world, the same for all in general, neither god nor man made it but it has always been and is will be an eternal fire, which lights up in moderation and goes out in moderation."
Explaining the structure of the world, the philosopher formulated the notion that fire first turns into sea and half of it into land while the other half into currents. All this becomes fire again.
One of the well-known views of Heraclitus was that "Everything changes and nothing remains constant."
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