Ancient Greek philosophers show a very distinct evolution between the time of the pre-Socratics and Socrates himself. At the western end of the Royal highway Miletus gave birth to the early philosophers, the pre-Socratics. They were called this because they came before the philosopher Socrates and shared very differing ideas. They pondered on questions of the relations of man to nature and the gods themselves. Many tossed out the ideas that most Greeks followed of how everyday occurrences happened because the gods willed them so. This disbelief in the divine gave way to speculation and criticism from other Greeks. Amongst the pre-Socrates three emerged ahead of the rest; Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. The ideas that these men and others had began to put a gap between “religious belief and philosophical speculation”, and this was to much for some in a time where worship to the gods was present in every aspect of daily life. This revolution of thought was slowed greatly around 546 B.C.E. when the Persians conquered the area and forced many students and philosophers alike to spread(Western Civilizations 116-117).
This conquest pushed many away from the area to start new schools in other parts of the world. A major area was Sicily and southern Italy where many philosophers continued to do just that, philosophize. A man by the name of Pythagoras started a cult that was a mixture of philosophy and mysticism. They focused greatly on math, because they thought everything was made of numbers and they were the essences of all things. Another group called the Sophists, the wise ones or “the wise guys” , sprang up from the study of philosophy. They unlike others sold their knowledge to others to make their living. One of the greatest amongst them w ...