Thales

Thales, an early Greek philosopher, founder of the Ionic or physical school of philosophy, and one of the Seven Wise Men, was a native of Miletus, in Asia Minor, and flourished towards the close of the 7th century B.C. He is said to have recommended the Ionians, who were menaced by the Persians, to form a federation against their powerful enemy, and to select Teos as the capital, and later we are told he induced the Milesians to withdraw from a union with Croesus against Cyrus. He is also said to have predicted the eclipse of the sun which happened in the reign of Alyattes. Thales is regarded by some as the first Greek that speculated on the constitution of the universe. According to him the original principle of all things is water, from which everything proceeds, and into which everything is again resolved. In connection with this doctrine he had, it seems, some idea of a soul or force in water productive of all the phenomena we see.