Early Greek Cosmology: A Historiographical Review

Abstract

Early Greek cosmology has attracted much attention from classicists, historians, philosophers, and scientists, with each group bringing to the subject its own interests and biases. Purportedly authoritative reconstructions and analyses of ancient Greek cosmology exist in abundance, even though no philosophical writings of the Presocratic period, circa 600 to 400 BC, have survived. The Greeks’ attempt to explain celestial phenomena in natural terms and to avoid supernatural or divine intervention is a common theme linking many otherwise disparate scholarly studies. A frequent point of dispute involves the degree to which ancient ideas are to be judged in the context of modern science.