Commentary

This remark, attributed to Thales in later geometric and doxographic writing, praises the sphere as the most beautiful of figures, reflecting an early Greek admiration for geometric form in the study of the heavens. The attribution fits Thales' reputation as a pioneer of geometry, though the evidence for specific theorems is weak. G. S. Kirk, J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield observe that the traditional credit given to Thales for geometric discoveries is largely retrospective and should be treated with caution. Charles Kahn argues that the sphere's prominence in later astronomy suggests why such a remark would be assigned to an early astronomer. Jonathan Barnes notes that the attribution is uncertain, and that the paraphrase may reflect later Platonic and Pythagorean preoccupations with the sphere. W. K. C. Guthrie treats the remark as an illustration of how Greek writers retrospectively credited early thinkers with later ideas. The sentence is a paraphrase and should be labelled accordingly, with the primary doxography consulted before quotation.