7 a.m. Coffee in hand, I begin. The goal is to find out more about Simonides, Thales, Anaximander and Pythagorus.

Simonides goes into a search engine. He was a poet who wrote about the heroes of the Persian war. One of the sites is about a book called "The Praise Singer" by Mary Renault. I don't recognize the title of the book, but I do recognize the author as being well known for her historical novels about ancient Greece. This is another lead worth following up. A rich historical novel can leave a lasting impression about the way of life of an era. The book receives high praise from amazon.com, but it is listed as out of print. A quick check indicates that it is not in the University Library. This is at least consistent with the historical fact that little of Simonides poetry exists today.

Thales. Fascinating. There is no record of his writings or of his contemporaries. Yet he is generally given credit as being the first philosopher, as well as an eminent astronomer and mathematician. This would appear to be a classic case of "If there was no Thales, it would have been necessary to invent him". Much of what we credit to him is due to the writings of Aristotle (who has high credibility). He is said to have estimated the height of the pyramids by measuing shadows and using the principle of similar triangles (impressive!), predicted an eclipse (also impressive) and is the first to have suggested that the natural world is understandable, rather than just due to the whymsical actions of the gods. This is considered to be the beginning of science and of philosophy. I used the online version of Encyclopedia Brittanica as a resource.

Anaximander. Believed to be a pupil of Thales. No record of his writing exists either. He is considered to be the father of astronomy.

Pythagorus. Here is a name I recognize. Pythagorus's Theorem is well known to me, and I have even proved it myself on various occasions. I also seem to recall that he lived on an island off the shore of Italy in his later years. The web site in the March References is an excellent source for more information.

Staying with Durant, chapters 8 (The Gods of Greece) and 9 (The Common Culture of Early Greece) appear to be a nice way to round out my background reading of Greece before the Battle of Marathon and the Persian Wars. I am beginning to piece together the names of many early Greeks, the names of many geographic locations and am developing a broad sense of the culture. I still want to return to reading some of the early writings from Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Sophocles. (I have read Aeschylus). Perhaps a few more names will come to mind as I continue my studies.