Anaxagoras

Timeline

1. c. -500–-470Clazomenae · IoniaAnaxagoras was born in the Ionian coastal city of Clazomenae, heir to the Greek tradition of natural explanation. In his youth he studied astronomy and natural phenomena, forming a philosophical approach that explained cosmic order through material and rational principles.
2. c. -470–-450Athens · AtticaAnaxagoras moved to Athens and taught publicly with the support of statesmen such as Pericles. He lectured on natural philosophy, explained eclipses and meteorites, and proposed that all things are composed of countless 'seeds' arranged in order by 'Nous', profoundly influencing Athenian intellectual life.
3. c. -450–-434Athens · AtticaFor claiming that the sun was a hot stone and the moon borrowed its light, Anaxagoras was accused of impiety and pro-Persian sympathies, tried in Athens, and sentenced to exile and a fine. The case became an important example of the limits of religious tolerance and philosophical freedom in classical Athens.
4. c. -434–-428Lampsacus · HellespontAfter his exile Anaxagoras settled at Lampsacus in Asia Minor, where he continued teaching and was held in local regard. Only fragments of his late works survive, but his concept of 'Nous', discussed by Plato and Aristotle, became an important category in Western philosophy.