A compilation of the key teachings of the ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, Anaximenes (c 585-525 BC), pupil of Anaximander of Miletus. Adapted from the ancient sources.

1. c. 585 – 525 BC
Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, pupil of Anaximander of Miletus
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ANAXIMENES

2. The principle of all things
is limitless air.

4. All things that come into being,
past, present and future,
and gods and divinities too,
come into being from limitless air.
From these things, its offspring,
comes everything else.

5. When most uniform, air is invisible.
It is made apparent by the actions
of hot and cold, moist and moving.
It is always in motion,
for it is always changing.
As it is condensed and rarefied
it changes appearance.
Rarefied as fire, it condenses into
wind, then cloud, and then water;
denser still forms earth, then stones.

6. The earth is flat and rides on air,
motionless in a mass below,
as under a lid.
Heavenly bodies form
as mist rises from the earth
and is rarefied into fire.
The sun and moon are flat and ride
the air, not under the earth, but
circle like a felt cap on a head.

7. Winds come from condensed air
driven along;
further thickened,
clouds are formed then water.
Water solidifies into hail
and snow.

8. Lightning occurs when winds
force the clouds to part;
rainbows when sunrays
fall on compacted air;
earthquakes when the earth
is changed through heat and cold.

9. Heat and cold are only properties
of matter, caused by change,
as breath from the mouth is cool
when compressed by the lips,
and hot when the mouth is open.

10. We come into being from an
outflowing of air.
Our souls being air,
hold us together.
Breath and air encompass the
whole world.

12. Text adapted from:
• Aristotle – On the Heavens
• Plutarch – The Primary Cold & Opinions
of the Philosophers on Nature
• Olympiodorus – On the Divine and
Sacred Art of the Philosopher’s Stone
As presented in:
• Jonathan Barnes
– Early Greek Philosophy
Compiled by Jason Beale, 2019