>On 27 Aug 1999, Lisa Gardner <JudyGardnr@aol.com> asked for
>a source about the names of Thales' parents.
>
>These names were referred to by Diogenes Laertius:
>
> Thales, as Herodotus and Douris and Democritus say, was the
> son of Examyes as father and Cleobuline as mother, from the
> descendants of Theleus, who are Phoenician nobles from the
> line of Cadmus and Agenor ...
The above quotation is found in an on-line lecture on Thales, namely:
Eiichi Shimomisse: THE MILETIAN PHILOSOPHERS
http://www.csudh.edu/phenom_studies/greekphil/greek02.htm
Let's quote a bigger part from that lecture:
<q>
According to Herodotus I 170 in Diels-Kranz, This philosopher from Miletus
was a "Phoenecian by ultimate descent..., although Herodotus implied
further that almost all Miletians are racial mixtures of Greek and Carian.
Further to see the elaborated by Diogenes Laertius I, 22.
Now Thales, as Herodotus and Douris and Democritus say, was the
son of Examyes as father and Cleobuline as mother, from the
descendans of Theleus, who are Phoenilcian nobles from the line of
Cadmus and Agenor... And he[Agenor] was enrolled as a citizen in
Miletus when he came with Neileos, when the latter was exiledd
from Phenicia.
However, it was generally contended by European classic philologists that
Thales was a pure Greek.
</q>
This is a good example how all those revisionists are quoting the classical
sources: in half part!
Diogenes Laertius writes:
H=)n toi/nun o( Qalh=s, w(s me\n H(ro/dotos kai\ Dou=ris kai\ Dhmo/krito/s
fasi, patro\s me\n E)camu/ou, mhtro\s de\ Kleobouli/nhs, e)k tw=n Qhlidw=n,
oi(/ eisi Foi/nikes, eu)gene/statoi tw=n a)po\ Ka/dmou kai\ A)gh/noros.
<h=)n de\ tw=n e(pta\ sofw=n,> kaqa\ kai\ Pla/twn fhsi/, kai\ prw=tos sofo\s
w)noma/sqh a)/rxontos A)qh/nhsi Damasi/ou, kaq' o(\n kai\ oi( e(pta\ sofoi\
e)klh/qhsan, w(/s fhsi Dhmh/trios Falhreu\s e)n th=| tw=n A)rxo/ntwn
a)nagrafh=|. e)politografh/qh de\ e)n Milh/tw|, o(/te h=)lqe su\n Nei/lew|
e)kpeso/nti Foini/khs, w(s d' oi( plei/ous fasi/n, Milh/sios h=)n kai\
ge/nous lamprou=.
Unfortunately, I have not an English translation of the passage, so I will
try to explain it (since my English is not good enough to give out a good
translation).
In this part:
H=)n toi/nun o( Qalh=s, w(s me\n H(ro/dotos kai\ Dou=ris kai\ Dhmo/krito/s
fasi, patro\s me\n E)camu/ou, mhtro\s de\ Kleobouli/nhs, e)k tw=n Qhlidw=n,
oi(/ eisi Foi/nikes, eu)gene/statoi tw=n a)po\ Ka/dmou kai\ A)gh/noros.
Diogenes writes that Thales was of Phoenician descent, according to
Herodotus, Douris, and Demokritus.
In this part:
<h=)n de\ tw=n e(pta\ sofw=n,> kaqa\ kai\ Pla/twn fhsi/, kai\ prw=tos sofo\s
w)noma/sqh a)/rxontos A)qh/nhsi Damasi/ou, kaq' o(\n kai\ oi( e(pta\ sofoi\
e)klh/qhsan, w(/s fhsi Dhmh/trios Falhreu\s e)n th=| tw=n A)rxo/ntwn
a)nagrafh=|.
writes that Thales was one of the seven wise men of Ancient Greece.
in this part:
e)politografh/qh de\ e)n Milh/tw|, o(/te h=)lqe su\n Nei/lew|
e)kpeso/nti Foini/khs,
writes that Thales (not Agenor, as in the translation above) and Neileos became
citizens of Miletus
and in this part:
w(s d' oi( plei/ous fasi/n, Milh/sios h=)n kai\ ge/nous lamprou=.
Diogenes writes:
But as most [of the authors] say, he was native Milesian and of a noble family.
That's why the "European philologists" (those GREAT Germans of Leipzig and
British of Oxford) "want" Thales to be a pure Greek!
Because MOST of the ancient authors say that.
Antreas