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| | Thales of Miletus [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] |
 | | Recent opinion is that, as early as 650 BCE the Assyrian astronomers seem to have recognized the six months-five months period by which they could isolate eclipse possibilities (Steele, "Eclipse Prediction", 429). |
 | | Britton believes that the Saros cycle was known before 525 BCE (Britton, "Scientific Astronomy", 62) but, although the text identifies a particular Saros cycle, and graphically depicts the number of eclipse possibilities, the ancient commentary of Text S does not attest to an actual observation (Britton, "An Early Function", 32). |
 | | In about 547 BCE late in his life, Thales travelled into Cappadocia with Croesus, and, according to some belief, devised a scheme by which the army of Croesus was able to cross the River Halys. |
| www.iep.utm.edu /t/thales.htm (9340 words) |
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