“He introduced the gnomon, the upright sundial, into Greece and marked the solstices and equinoxes.”
— AnaximanderTestimony in Herodotus 2.109 and Diogenes Laertius 2.1-2; paraphrase, not verbatim
Commentary
This report, found in later Greek writers, credits Anaximander with introducing the gnomon, a vertical pointer used to measure the sun's altitude and to mark seasonal points of the year. The attribution, if correct, shows an early interest in observational astronomy in Miletus. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield caution that the report belongs to the doxographical tradition and is not contemporary evidence. Charles Kahn argues that the observational interest is consistent with Anaximander's cosmology, though the link between the gnomon and his theory is not explicit. Jonathan Barnes notes that the attribution of technical discoveries to the early Milesians was common and that its reliability is uncertain. Guthrie treats the report as an early indication of the Greek adoption of Babylonian astronomical techniques. The sentence is a paraphrase of a secondary testimony and should be labelled as a traditional attribution.
Commentary
This report, found in later Greek writers, credits Anaximander with introducing the gnomon, a vertical pointer used to measure the sun's altitude and to mark seasonal points of the year. The attribution, if correct, shows an early interest in observational astronomy in Miletus. Kirk, Raven, and Schofield caution that the report belongs to the doxographical tradition and is not contemporary evidence. Charles Kahn argues that the observational interest is consistent with Anaximander's cosmology, though the link between the gnomon and his theory is not explicit. Jonathan Barnes notes that the attribution of technical discoveries to the early Milesians was common and that its reliability is uncertain. Guthrie treats the report as an early indication of the Greek adoption of Babylonian astronomical techniques. The sentence is a paraphrase of a secondary testimony and should be labelled as a traditional attribution.