From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher
Hippo
(
;
Greek
:
?ππων
,
Hippon
; fl. 5th century BC) was a
Pre-Socratic
Greek philosopher. He is variously described as coming from
Rhegium
,
[1]
Metapontum
,
[2]
Samos
,
[3]
and
Croton
,
[4]
and it is possible that there was more than one philosopher with this name.
Although he was a
natural philosopher
,
Aristotle
refused to place him among the other great
Pre-Socratic philosophers
"because of the paltriness of his thought."
[5]
At some point Hippo was accused of
atheism
,
[6]
but since his works have perished, we cannot be certain why. He was accused of
impiety
by the comic poet
Cratinus
in his
Panoptae
,
[7]
and, according to
Clement of Alexandria
, Hippo supposedly ordered the following couplet to be inscribed on his tomb:
[8]
Behold the tomb of Hippo, whom in death
Fate made an equal of the immortal gods.
According to
Hippolytus
, Hippo held
water
and
fire
to be the
primary elements
, with fire originating from water, and then developing itself by generating the
universe
.
Simplicius
, too, says that Hippo thought that water was the principle of all things.
[9]
Most of the accounts of his philosophy suggest that he was interested in
biological
matters. He thought that there is an appropriate level of moisture in all living things, and
disease
is caused when the moisture is out of balance.
[4]
He also viewed the
soul
as arising from both mind and water.
[1]
A medieval
scholium
on
Aristophanes
'
The Clouds
attributes to Hippo the view that the
heavens
were like the dome (
πνιγε??
) of an
oven
covering the
Earth
.
[10]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Hippolytus, i.16
- ^
Censorinus; Claudius Mamertinus
- ^
Iamblichus
[
full citation needed
]
- ^
a
b
Medical Writings
,
London Papyrus 137
, col. xi. 22?42
- ^
Aristotle,
Metaphys
. i.3.984a3
- ^
Simplicius,
in Physics
, 23.21?29: "Hippo, who is actually thought to have been an atheist"
- ^
PCG
F 167 Kassel?Austin =
DK
38 A 2
- ^
Clement of Alexandria,
Exhortation to the Greeks
, iv. 55 (DK 38 B 2)
- ^
Simplicius,
in Physics
, 23.21?29
- ^
Douglas M. MacDowell
, (1995),
Aristophanes and Athens: An Introduction to the Plays
, page 120. Oxford University Press.
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|