Metrodorus of Chios
Metrodorus of Chios (Greek: Μητρόδωρος ὁ Χῖος; fl. 4th century BC) was a Greek philosopher, belonging to the school of Democritus, and an important forerunner of Epicurus.
Metrodorus was a pupil of Nessus of Chios, or, as some accounts prefer, of Democritus himself.[1] He is said to have taught Diogenes of Smyrna, who, in turn, taught Anaxarchus.[1]
Metrodorus was a complete
The following quote is attributed to him. If accurate, it demonstrates that Metrodorus had a cosmological philosophy that was advanced for the ancient world: "A single ear of wheat in a large field is as strange as a single world in infinite space."[4][5]
References
- ^ Diogenes Laërtius, ix. 58
- ISBN 978-0415340205.
... On Nature (Περὶ φύσεως) combined skeptical views about the possibility of knowledge with an atomic analysis of the nature of reality. Following Demokritos, he taught that everything was made up of atoms and the void, and that there are an infinite number of worlds (κόσμοι).
Includes references. - ^ Cicero, Academica, ii. 23 § 73; Cf. Diogenes Laërtius, ix. 58
- ^ Aëtius, Placita Philosophorum i.5.4
- ISBN 0-521-29421-5.
As a follower of Democritus picturesquely expressed it, it is as unlikely that a single world should arise in the infinite as that one single ear of corn should grow on a large plain. [footnote 2 text: Metrodorus of Chios, as reported by Aëtius (DK, 70A6.)]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Metrodorus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 300. Metrodorus, Volume 18, p. 300.
