ABSTRACT
For we hear that Anaximander taught that 'The Earth is aloft. It is held up by nothing. It continues in its place because of its equal distance from
This theory of an unsupported and freely suspended Earth, kept in its place by the equilibrium of forces that act on it at a distance, is breathtaking in its boldness. It is the first step in the direction of Newton's theory; and in my opinion one might say that without Anaximander's bold theory there might never have been the development of scientific thought that led to Newton, and beyond him. Yet this breathtaking step on the way to modern science was not based upon observation, as so many empiricists have it, but rather upon a critical revision of the mythical poetry of Homer's Iliad and of Hesiod's Theogony with their imaginative stories of the origin of the Earth and the intrigues of the Olympian gods.
