Anaxagoras
Born in Asia Minor (i.e. modern day Turkey), Anaxagoras became the first
philosopher to settle in Athens (in 480/479
B.C.E. ). About thirty years after having emigrated to Athens he was brought to trial by the political
opponents of one of his pupils, Pericles, who was too powerful at the time
to attack directly. Plato tells us that he was
charged with impiety for teaching that the sun is a red-hot stone and the
moon made of earth. He was convicted and imprisoned for a time until
Pericles, himself, apparently got him out, after which Anaxagorus returned
to Asia Minor and founded a school where he was much better received.
Picture: Anaxagoras depicted on a coin
Runes, Pictoral History of Philosophy