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PHILOSOPHER

Thales of Miletus

623 BC - 546 BC

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Thales of Miletus ( THAY-leez; Greek: Θαλῆς; c. 626/623 – c. 548/545 BC) was an Ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages, founding figures of Ancient Greece, and credited with the saying "know thyself" which was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Many regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, breaking from the prior use of mythology to explain the world and instead using natural philosophy. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Thales of Miletus has received more than 2,861,319 page views. His biography is available in 106 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 102 in 2019). Thales of Miletus is the 16th most popular philosopher (up from 25th in 2019), the 4th most popular biography from Turkey (up from 7th in 2019) and the most popular Turkish Philosopher.

Thales of Miletus is most famous for his belief that everything in the world is made up of water, air, earth, and fire.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.9M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 87.23

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 106

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 16.91

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.25

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Thales of Miletuses by language


Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Thales of Miletus ranks 16 out of 1,081. Before him are Avicenna, John Locke, Niccolò Machiavelli, Friedrich Nietzsche, Francis Bacon, and Augustine of Hippo. After him are Thomas Aquinas, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Montesquieu, Thomas Hobbes, Democritus, and Arthur Schopenhauer.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 623 BC, Thales of Miletus ranks 1.  Among people deceased in 546 BC, Thales of Miletus ranks 1. After him are Anaximander and Croesus.

Others Born in 623 BC

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Others Deceased in 546 BC

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In Turkey

Among people born in Turkey, Thales of Miletus ranks 4 out of 1,301. Before him are Herodotus (-484), Paul the Apostle (5), and Suleiman the Magnificent (1494). After him are Saint Nicholas (270), Osman I (1254), Selim II (1524), Saint George (280), Ahmed I (1590), Mehmed the Conqueror (1432), Heraclitus (-535), and Murad III (1546).

Others born in Turkey

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Among PHILOSOPHERS In Turkey

Among philosophers born in Turkey, Thales of Miletus ranks 1. After him are Heraclitus (-535), Anaximander (-610), Diogenes (-404), Anaxagoras (-500), Epictetus (50), Xenophanes (-570), Gregory of Nazianzus (329), Anaximenes of Miletus (-585), Ibn Taymiyyah (1263), Chrysippus (-281), and Posidonius (-135).

Turkish born Philosophers

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