How Well Do You Know the Ancient Greek Philosophers?

The word “peripatetic” in Greek roughly translates to “given to walking about.” This name describes Aristotle and his followers, as the famous philosopher was known to walk while lecturing in the Lyceum, a school he founded in Athens. Well-known philosophers such as Theophrastus, Eudemus of Rhodes, and Aristoxenus were all Peripatetics.

Painted between 1509 and 1511, “The School of Athens” is Raphael’s masterwork meticulously detailing the history of Greek philosophy. At its center stands an elderly Plato and his most famous student, Aristotle, who are flanked by other great thinkers such as Socrates, Pythagoras (who’s busy making calculations), and Euclid, who holds a compass in hand.

Around 250 BCE, the Greek philosopher Eratosthenes used shadows created by the sun’s rays during the summer solstice to determine that the Earth’s circumference was 220,000 stades (about 25,000 miles). Today, we know the Earth is actually 24,855 miles around, a remarkable calculation considering ancient Greece’s limited technological capabilities.

Aristotle wrote world-changing treatises that still influence modern philosophy today, especially “Nicomachean Ethics,” which explores his famous concept of the golden mean. However, “The Analects” contains the sayings of Chinese philosopher Confucius, and has been the most widely read book in China for the past 2,000 years.

Picture ancient Greece, and togas likely come to mind. However, no Greek philosophers — or any ancient Greeks for that matter — wore togas. Instead, Socrates and Plato likely wore chitons, which were sleeveless tunics cinched at the waist. Togas were the de facto uniform of the Roman Republic, so it’s no wonder that Rome’s depictions of ancient Greek culture often came cloaked in togas.

The golden mean is the idea that morality exists between two extremes — excess and deficiency. For example, the most moral acts occurred in the middle ground between wasteful and stingy, or between cowardly and rash. Although the idea was expressed by other great thinkers (including the Buddha), it was Aristotle who analyzed the golden mean in depth, and is most often associated with the philosophy.

Earth, air, fire, water, and aether were the five classical elements of ancient Greece, which according to Greek philosophy explained all the phenomena of the natural world. While four of the elements are self-explanatory, aether was an invisible element believed to fill the celestial space. Miasma, meanwhile, refers to a foul-smelling vapor or gas that ancient Greeks believed was a cause of disease.

Although Socrates lived an “examined life,” the famous philosopher made a few enemies along the way. In 399 BCE, Socrates was charged with impiety and the corruption of Athens’ youth, which carried the punishment of death. Although his followers offered Socrates a means of escape, he refused and drank poisoned hemlock the following day. His death was depicted in a famous painting by Jacques-Louis David.

Plato’s famous “Allegory of the Cave,” presented in his dialogue “The Republic,” is framed as a conversation between Plato’s brother Glaucon and Socrates, Plato’s mentor. The allegory describes prisoners chained in a cave who only perceive shadows dancing on the wall. While these shadows are the prisoner’s reality, it is enlightened philosophers who break their chains and venture out into the “real” world.

Pythagoras (circa 570-490 BCE) was deeply concerned with how mathematics related to the real world. His followers lived together, performing mathematical investigations while also considering religious matters. A core Pythagorean belief was that souls are reincarnated after death. Once, upon seeing an animal being beaten, he defended it, claiming he recognized the soul of an old friend.

Diogenes of Sinope (circa 404-323 BCE) was among the most eccentric of all the ancient Greek philosophers. He looked at the behavior of his fellow citizens and realized most societal conventions were just arbitrary rules. So, he performed extreme acts to show how silly some rules were. Instead of forming a school in a grand house, for example, he lived in a barrel that he rolled around Athens.

In ancient Greece — particularly the city of Athens — there was no skill more sought after than the ability to speak well in public. A good citizen had to be able to argue persuasively to help guide their community, pursue political success, and defend themselves. Philosophers known as Sophists traveled from city to city, earning large fees from young people who wanted to learn oratory skills.

Most Greek philosophers believed that virtue or duty were the goals of a well-lived life. Epicurus took a simpler view. He believed all things were made up by the random collision of atoms, and that after death, humans simply disappeared. He concluded that fear was irrational and should be eliminated, leaving pleasure and peace as the things that should be pursued for a happy life.

Watch enough medical dramas and eventually you’re likely to hear about the Hippocratic Oath. The famous pledge originated around 400 BCE with Hippocrates, a Greek physician and philosopher who is often credited with founding the study of medicine. His eponymous creed states that a physician must never intentionally harm patients. The rule has been passed down for millennia and some doctors still take a modified oath today.

Aristotle was one of Plato’s most accomplished students, so when the powerful King of Macedon, Philip II, needed a tutor for his son, he summoned Aristotle. Aristotle worked with the young prince for seven years, training him until he came to the throne. The prince grew up to be the famous conqueror known as Alexander the Great.

A student of Socrates, Plato was foundational to Western philosophy; in fact, it’s been said that all of European philosophy is just a series of footnotes to the works of Plato. The range of topics covered in the 35 dialogues written by Plato is phenomenal — however, while Plato used the Socratic method of asking questions to reach the truth, he never composed a dialogue named after it.

When the first Greek philosophers began questioning the world around them, there was no term yet for what they were doing. As philosophy came to take center stage in education and public debate, it needed a name. It’s believed the famous philosopher Pythagoras (570-490 BCE) first coined the term “philosophia” — a combination of the Greek words “philo” (love) and “sophia” (wisdom).

One of the questions that vexed the early philosophers was what the natural world was made of. Because water can exist as a liquid, solid, and gas, Thales of Miletus (circa 624-546 BCE) believed that in the beginning, everything was made of water, which he considered the “primal element.”

The Athenian philosopher Socrates was one of the most influential teachers in all of ancient Greece. He taught his students to question and examine everything, using reason and logic to uncover the truth. This approach made him the namesake of the Socratic method, a questioning tactic still used today. Socrates’ students ranged from great philosophers such as Plato to politicians such as Alcibiades.

More than 2,500 years ago, great thinkers in ancient Greece laid the foundations of Western philosophy. Socrates (470-399 BCE), Plato (427-347 BCE), and Aristotle (384-322 BCE) were three of the most famous philosophers, whose works greatly influenced modern thought. The Egyptian scholar Ptolemy (circa 100-170 CE), while also famous, lived centuries later within the Roman Empire.