Anaximander in Context: New Studies in the Origins of Greek Philosophy

by Couprie, Dirk L.; Hahn, Robert; Naddaf, Gerard

• ISBN13: 9780791455388
• ISBN10: 0791455386
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

Promoting a new, broadly interdisciplinary horizon for future studies in early Greek philosophy. Dirk L. Couprie, Robert Hahn, and Gerard Naddaf establish the cultural context in which Anaximander's thought developed and in which the origins of Greek philosophy unfolded in its earliest stages. In order to better understand Anaximander's achievement, the authors call our attention to the historical, social, political, technological, cosmological, astronomical, and observational contexts of his thought. Anaximander in Context brings to the forefront of modern debates the importance of cultural context, and the indispensability of images to clarify ancient ideologies.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
List of Tables	xiii
Introduction	1	(8)
Anthropogony and Politogony in Anaximander of Miletus
Gerard Naddaf
Prologue	9	(1)
The Origin of Humanity in Traditional (or Mythical) Thought	10	(3)
The Origin of Animals and Humanity According to Anaximander	13	(4)
The Origin of Society According to Mythical Accounts	17	(2)
Some Reflections on the Evolution of the Polis before Anaximander	19	(1)
The Emergence of the Polis and the Invention of Politics	20	(12)
The Origin and Development of Society in Anaximander	32	(11)
The Legend of Danaus, the Danaides, and History	43	(2)
Danaus and the Alphabet	45	(3)
Anaximander's Map: The Canvas of the Oikoumene	48	(8)
Notes	56	(17)
Proportions and Numbers in Anaximander and Early Greek Thought
Robert Hahn
Prologue	73	(5)
Proportionality in Anaximander's Cosmic Architecture	78	(12)
Proportionality and Numbers in Archaic Architecture	90	(31)
The Number ``3'' and Architectural Trisecting	90	(8)
The Idea of Organic Growth in Sacred Architecture	98	(2)
Metrological Studies of Ancient Buildings	100	(5)
Wesenberg's Case for the Canon of Ionic Proportions: 1:9 not 1:10	105	(4)
Schaber's Case Study of the Archaic Artemision: Proportion, Numbers, and Organic Growth	109	(9)
The Temple's Inner Built Structure is Usually 3:1---The Metrologies of the Archaic Temples in Samos and Didyma	118	(3)
Literary Formulas and Proportionalities	121	(4)
Sculptural Formulas and Polykleitos' Canon	125	(5)
Anaximander's Cosmic Formula Revisited	130	(19)
The Architect's Design Formula	130	(5)
The Architect's Design Formula and the Cosmic Meaning of the Roof	135	(14)
Epilogue	149	(3)
Notes	152	(15)
The Discovery of Space: Anaximander's Astronomy
Dirk L. Couprie
Prologue	167	(6)
First Exercises in Early Greek Astronomy: The Anachronistic Fallacy	173	(7)
More Exercises in Early Greek Astronomy: Looking at the Heavens with the Naked Eye	180	(3)
A Further Exercise in Early Greek Astronomy: Looking at the Heavens with the Help of a Gnomon	183	(11)
A Last Exercise in Early Greek Astronomy: Anaximander's Map of the World	194	(7)
Anaximander's Big Achievement: The Discovery of Space	201	(10)
The Celestial Bodies Make Full Circles around the Earth	201	(1)
The Earth Floats Unsupported in Space	202	(6)
The Celestial Bodies Lie behind One Another	208	(3)
Anaximander's Numbers and a Map of His Universe	211	(7)
Wheels in Space: A Three-Dimensional Visualization of Anaximander's Universe	218	(10)
Anaximander and the Representation of the Heavens in Ptolemaic Egyptian Art	228	(9)
Conclusion	237	(4)
Notes	241	(14)
Bibliography	255	(18)
Index of Concepts and Proper Names	273	(12)
Index of Classical Passages Cited	285