Historical beliefs · Documented tradition
Anaxagoras: the Sun is a red-hot stone
In fifth-century BCE Athens, the philosopher Anaxagoras taught that the Sun, traditionally a god, was a red-hot stone, bigger than the Peloponnese.
The record
- Who
- Anaxagoras of Clazomenae
- Where
- Athens
- When
- about 500–428 BCE
- Kind of evidence
- Philosophical teaching, known from later writers (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
- A living tradition?
- No
A physical Sun
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy reports that Anaxagoras claimed the Sun, traditionally considered to be a god, is a red-hot stone, and that the Sun is larger than the Moon, which he thought as large as the Peloponnese. He was the first Greek to propose that eclipses happen when one body screens another.
The cost
He was charged with impiety in Athens, in 430 BCE on the Stanford Encyclopedia's dating, and left for Lampsacus, where he was buried with honours. His size estimate was far too small, but the idea that the Sun is a physical body that can be reasoned about is the one this site's Science lens is built on.
Sources
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Anaxagoras (opens in a new tab) for the Sun a red-hot stone; eclipses by screening; impiety charge · checked 2 October 2026