Sophia Scriptura

Miscellanies 1.14.65

Clement of Alexandria · Miscellanies · ca. 198–203 · Alexandria · Read in context

Summary: The dates of the early philosophers are fixed by events: Thales' eclipse about the fiftieth Olympiad, Pythagoras about the sixty-second, Solon about the forty-sixth, Heraclitus in the time of Darius.

Greek text · Stählin 2:41

καὶ περὶ μὲν Ξενοφάνους εἴρηται, ὃς τῆς Ἐλεατικῆς ἦρξε φιλοσοφίας, Θαλῆν δὲ Εὔδημος ἐν ταῖς Ἀστρολογικαῖς ἱστορίαις τὴν γενομένην ἔκλειψιν τοῦ ἡλίου προειπεῖν φησι καθʼ οὓς χρόνους συνῆψαν μάχην πρὸς ἀλλήλους Μῆδοί τε καὶ Λυδοὶ βασιλεύοντος Κυαξάρους μὲν τοῦ Ἀστυάγους πατρὸς Μήδων, Ἀλυάττου δὲ τοῦ Κροίσου Λυδῶν. συνᾴδει δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Ἡρόδοτος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ. εἰσὶ δὲ οἱ χρόνοι ἀμφὶ τὴν πεντηκοστὴν ὀλυμπιάδα. Πυθαγόρας δὲ κατὰ Πολυκράτη τὸν τύραννον περὶ τὴν ἑξηκοστὴν δευτέραν ὀλυμπιάδα εὑρίσκεται. Σόλωνος δὲ ζηλωτὴς Μνησίφιλος ἀναγράφεται, ᾧ Θεμιστοκλῆς συνδιέτριψεν. ἤκμασεν οὖν ὁ Σόλων κατὰ τὴν τεσσαρακοστὴν ἕκτην ὀλυμπιάδα. Ἡράκλειτος γὰρ ὁ Βλύσωνος Μελαγκόμαν τὸν τύραννον ἔπεισεν ἀποθέσθαι τὴν ἀρχήν. οὗτος βασιλέα Δαρεῖον παρακαλοῦντα ἥκειν εἰς Πέρσας ὑπερεῖδεν.

English · Claude translation

Xenophanes, who began the Eleatic philosophy, has been discussed. Eudemus in his Astronomical Histories says that Thales foretold the eclipse of the sun that occurred at the time when the Medes and Lydians joined battle with each other, when Cyaxares, father of Astyages, ruled the Medes and Alyattes, father of Croesus, the Lydians. Herodotus too agrees with him in his first book. These times are about the fiftieth Olympiad. Pythagoras is found to be in the time of Polycrates the tyrant, about the sixty-second Olympiad. Mnesiphilus is recorded as a follower of Solon, and Themistocles spent time with him; Solon therefore flourished about the forty-sixth Olympiad. Heraclitus, son of Bloson, persuaded Melancomas the tyrant to lay down his rule. He disdained King Darius when he invited him to come to Persia.

About this passage

Source
Stählin 2:41 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Herodotus, Hist. 1.74 (Herodotus, Histories) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • Herodotus 1.74. The fiftieth Olympiad began in 580 BC.

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.14.65 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/14/65/).

Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.14.65 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/14/65/).

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