Melissus of Samos c. 470 BC – c. 400 BC
Melissus of Samos was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and the last great representative of the Eleatic school founded by Parmenides. Active in the mid-fifth century BC, he commanded the Samian fleet that defeated the Athenians under Pericles in 441 BC. His treatise On Nature, partly preserved by Simplicius, defends Parmenidean monism in carefully argued prose, holding that what is must be ungenerated, eternal, unlimited, and one. His arguments for the indivisibility and immobility of being shaped later atomist replies and left a lasting mark on the Greek dialectical tradition.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Greek
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Pre-Socratic, Ancient Greek
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Melissus of Samos:
“What is, has always been and will always be.”
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Attributed to Melissus of Samos:
“Nothing can come from what is not.”
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Attributed to Melissus of Samos:
“What is is one and the same throughout.”
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Attributed to Melissus of Samos:
“Being is unlimited; it has neither beginning nor end.”
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Attributed to Melissus of Samos:
“If there were many things, each would have to be such as I say the one is.”