[German version] Although we do not know in what manner the first three natural philosopher - Thales, Anaximandros and Anaximenes [1] (end of the 7/6 cent. BC.) - interacted and collaborated with each other, it is remarkable that they originated from and were active in the same town, Miletus [2], on the coast of Asia Minor. However, they do not constitute a ‘school proper (despite [4], cf. [2]). Each of them specified a basic stuff or ἀρχή ( archḗ), of which all the phenomena of the natural world are modifications only. The three archaí - water, the ‘unlimited (ἄπειρον/ ápeiron) and air respe…

[German version] A. Meaning of the word Teachings regarding the order of the world, from Greek kósmos (κόσμος) and lógos (λόγος). Kósmos: the alignment, the regulated interrelationship of things in a whole, order. Originally the word was used for a military, institutional or governmental order (Homer, Hesiod). Herodotes and Thucydides used kósmos for the constitution of a state, Democritus and Aristotle for the type of state, and the Pre-Socratics for the world order. Plato frequently used kósmos as a synonym for the firmament, the universe and the ‘whole’. Lógos: ‘word, speech, li…

[German version] A. Concept The concept of causality does not begin to take shape until the Middle Ages (Lat. causalitas), and is not attested in ancient literature. But, from the beginning, the philosophers and scientists of antiquity reflected on the forms that can be taken by the chain of events (causality in its broadest sense). A particular topic of discussion was the extent to which events in the cosmos are causally linked (principle of causality). Detel, Wolfgang (Frankfurt/Main) [German version] B. Pre-Socratics In early Greek thought, material objects and things are …

[German version] For the whole of antiquity there are numerous reports of natural catastrophes (NC). Especially in the eastern Mediterranean, but also in Italy, tectonic conditions resulted in an extraordinary susceptibility for frequently disastrous seismic activity (earthquakes and resulting tsunami, volcanic eruptions). The ancient perception was that phenomena such as storms, epidemics, rains of stones, comets (Cic. Nat. deor. 2,14) and solar and lunar eclipses (e.g. Plut. Nicias 23; Eclipses) were also in the category of NC. Earthquakes (cf. map) …

[German version] A. Systematic Perspective Ancient TL is defined 1. by its object, 2. by its literary form, and 3. by its function. Sallmann, Klaus (Mainz) [German version] 1. Objects TL includes general and specialized presentations of ancient science, arts, and techniques. TL dealing with manual work is seldom transmitted, except, for instance, for the cookbook by Caelius [II 10] Apicius and the works of the Roman Surveyors. Technology is also not represented until late; practical transmission must have been usual. Rhetori…

(Greek ὕλη/ hýlē, Lat. materia). [German version] A. Definition of the term Cicero translates hýlē (ὕλη), used by Aristotle and the Stoics, as materia. Aristotle uses hýlē for his own material cause ( Principle) as well as for the principles (ἀρχαί/ archaí) of the Presocratics and for Plato's concept of ‘space’ (χώρα/ chṓra). Hýlē and materia originally denote timber, the ‘material’ from which something can be constructed (thus still in Plato). The concept does not become a technical term until Aristotle; it is fully developed in the ‘Physics where …

[German version] I. Ancient Orient Meteorology in the sense of a systematic study of the weather is found in Babylon in the form of omens, for instance in the omen collection Enūma Anu Enlil ( Astrology). Thunder (‘the call of the god Adad’) and lightning were particularly important; for instance, the date, time of day, direction, and number of their occurrence were observed. For rain, the time and the way it appeared were considered ominous, as were rainbows, the colour and position of the clouds in the sky, as well as twiligh…

[German version] A. Definition Derived from Greek ἀκούειν ( akoúein), ‘to hear’, acoustics in modern language use generally means the physics of sound phenomena (physical acoustics) and furthermore the totality of the physiological processes during hearing (physiological acoustics) as well as the subjective hearing phenomena occurring in consciousness and in artistic experience (psychological acoustics). In Greek and Roman antiquity too all three areas were known even if, as a rule, they were separated n…

(ὧραι, hôrai; tempora anni). [German version] I. Asia Minor/ Egypt The definition of seasons and of a year as a unit of time was largely governed by regularly recurring natural events, such as the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia (a short vegetation period and summer drought, the topic of the Sumerian poem about the dispute between summer and winter, see Kindler 19, 604) and of the Nile in Egypt (Nile inundation, vegetation period, summer heat, each lasting for four months). The prevalent…

[German version] I. Preliminary remark Physics in the ancient sense, as developed by Aristoteles [6], differs from modern physics in its subject and the scope of its questions. Here it is presented without basing it on modern notions. Heinemann, Gottfried (Kassel) [German version] II. Concept and assumptions The expressions 'physics' (φυσική/ physikḗ sc. ἐπιστήμη/ epistḗmē or φιλοσοφία/ philosophía, synonymous with περὶ φύσεως ἐπιστήμη/ perì phýseōs epistḗmē, that is, the 'science of nature' or 'philosophy of nature') and 'physicist' (φυσικός/ physikós) were first introdu…