Anaxagoras

an-aks-ag'o-ras, a Grecian philosopher. He lived about 500-428 B. C. He was born in Clazomenae, a city of Ionia on the coast of Asia Minor. Anaxagoras was a friend of Pericles, and a constant visitor in his home. He was an admirer of Aspasia. He taught the doctrine that the ruling principle in the universe was a world-ordering mind. "In the beginning all things were chaos. Then came intelligence and set all in order." He inquired into the nature of comets, and tried to explain other natural phenomena. He held to the notion that the miraculous is simple enough and natural enough, if one can only get at the real facts in the case. Anaxagoras lived in Athens thirty years. Like Socrates, he was accused by his political opponents of impiety. He sought safety in Lampsacus, where his death took place. Although, at first thought, the gropings of the old philosopher may seem elementary, as a matter of fact Anaxagoras was a man of powerful mind, a leader of thought in an age of no little intellectuality. He was first of all an honest, determined investigator.