Th e ancestors of the Greek philosophers had lived by hunting game and gathering wild plants. Parties of hunters used to leave their families for days or even weeks at a time to seek food in the forests and other wildernesses. Th ere they faced many dangers, not least from wild animals that were more than capable of killing them. Th e beasts they hunted for food were elusive, fl eet of foot, and fi erce if wounded or cornered. Probably the hunters believed that the spirits of all of these animals were united in a single goddess known as the Mother of the Animals. Later this goddess came to be known to the Greeks as Artemis and to the Romans as Diana. She carried a bow, quiver, and arrows, or sometimes a spear, she was accompanied by dogs or stags, and her powers were formidable. She killed mortals who off ended her. At the same time, she protected children as well as animals. In Asia Minor (now Turkey), Artemis was worshipped as the mother-goddess. In killing game animals, hunters were taking them
from their supernatural protector. Th at was a dangerous thing to do, and the best way to appease the enraged goddess was to return part of what they had taken. So they sacrifi ced animals to their goddess.
Th at is the origin of religious sacrifi ces.
Th e pre-Socratic philosophers were brought up in this tradition.
It colored their attitude toward animals, but it did not explain where animals came from. Empedocles had a theory. He believed that por- tions of the four primary elements mix to form physical objects, and that the characteristics of an object result from the ratio of the pri- mary elements composing it. Th e coming together and dissolution of the elements are driven by two opposing forces: love and strife. Th e relative infl uences of each of these grow and decline in a cycle that Empedocles called the vortex. At one time, love (which Empedocles associated with goodness) was totally dominant and the four ele- ments were joined in a sphere, each element occupying one quarter of the sphere. But then strife (associated with evil) slowly made the sphere disintegrate, scattering the elements randomly throughout the universe. Th en love began to reassert itself, drawing the elements together into clusters that formed living organisms. Th ese organisms did not start out as the animals seen in the world today, but as “spare parts.” Fingers, toes, knees, heads, and other body parts all formed at random in the ground. Th ey were alive and moved around, and the force of love made them join with such other body parts as they chanced to meet. Th is process produced animals, but most of them were either grotesquely deformed and incapable of living or unable to reproduce, so they died out. Th e survivors, possessing bodies that functioned eff ectively and were capable of reproduction, were the ancestors of all living animals. Life results from love, but in time the continuance of the cycle will make strife more prominent. Th en everything will dissolve into a chaotic mix of the primary elements, a state in which everything remains until love becomes reassertive and the organization of matter recommences.
It is tempting to see an early theory of evolution in this, but there are profound diff erences. Empedocles saw the formation of animals as an evolutionary process, but one that occurred over a particular period in the past. In his philosophy, animals were not still forming or changing their forms.
Th e philosophical interpretation of reality was slowly changing.
At fi rst, there was a single original substance from which everything
developed. Th en the single substance became the four elements.
With Empedocles, the ascendancy of strife destroyed all structure, so there was an infi nite number of parts that gradually assembled themselves under the infl uence of love. Th is fragmentation led to the theory advanced by Democritus (ca. – ...), which held that the universe is composed of atoms. Th ese are indivisible particles—the Greek word atomos means indivisible—separated by empty space, and they move downward. Physical forces make atoms move randomly and bring them together to form structures. Th ese structures are temporary, however, and eventually they disintegrate.
Th e philosophers holding this view were called atomists. Th eir cen- tral point was that the universe and everything it contains are formed by natural forces and not by supernatural beings.
Epicurus (– ...) developed the ideas of Democritus into a major school of atheist philosophy. His followers, the Epicureans, believed that all material things are made from atoms that move downward, but Epicurus diff ered from Democritus in believing that the falling atoms sometimes swerved to the side. Swerving increased the probability of collisions, and this randomness meant the process of formation was not predetermined. Th e Epicureans also held that the gods have no infl uence on human lives, and that the purpose of life was the pursuit of tranquillity. Tranquillity could be found by limiting desires—Epicurus ate only bread, with a little cheese on feast days—and ridding oneself of the fear of gods and death.
If all material things result from atoms joining together, how did the fi rst animals arise? Epicurus believed that the Earth is a mother and that animals arose spontaneously from the ground. When sun- shine warmed the ground and showers of rain moistened it, wombs developed, attached to the ground by roots, and when the embryos they contained were suffi ciently developed they emerged, rejecting the water in which they had grown and seeking the air.
Epicurus was probably born in an Athenian colony on the island of Samos, in the Aegean Sea. Th at is where his father lived and where Epicurus was raised. He began to study philosophy when he was about . When he was , Epicurus moved to Athens, possibly in order to establish his right to Athenian citizenship. In ..., while he was in Athens, the Athenians were expelled from Samos.
His family settled as refugees in Asia Minor, where Epicurus joined them and resumed his studies under the followers of Democritus and
Plato. He founded his fi rst school in Asia Minor in ... and in
... he moved it to Athens, where he died.