Ancient Greek philosophy spans 100 years and was based on the thinking of Greco-Romans of the period. It began from the 6th century BC with the Presocratic philosophers like Anaximander and Thales to the later day commentaries of Philoponus and Simplicius.

Ancient Greek Philosophy

Philosophers abounded all across the Greek isles and even in Italy and the Mediterranean region, Egypt, Asia Minor, and North Africa. Greek philosophers and thinkers had questions in their minds about the universe and its existence and wanted to get at the bottom of reason and common perceptions and find out the truth.

They realized the need to find out the hidden reality of existence and what is being seen with the naked eye. The search for truth did not deviate from the need to look for some ethical parameters for good life.

Logic, cosmology, ethics, aesthetics, and metaphysics was delved into to find the answers to several questions posed by people. But Christianity which was already there and gaining popularity never accepted early Greek thought and had little regard and patience for ancient Greek philosophy.

Different schools of thought

Considered pagans, ancient Greek philosophy was not in tandem with what was being preached in the Christian religion. Athens was the epicenter of Greek philosophy and the last director of the Platonic Academy was Damascus.

Not much of the ancient philosophical treatises are available today as only some Hellenistic writings have survived over time. Basically, ancient Greek philosophy evolved over time and it flourished over the ages.During the 6th to the 5th BC, Presocratic philosophy was the order of the day with well-known names like Ionians, the Eleatic school, pluralists and atomists and the Pythagorean School.

Greek philosophers Socrates Plato Aristotle

Classical philosophy was characterized by the writings of Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates and in late 4th century BC to 1 AD, Hellenistic philosophy ruled. Sceptics, Stoics, and Epicureans were different schools of thought during the period followed by imperial philosophy from 1AD to 6 AD leading to enrichment of philosophy in Ancient Greece.