Heracleitus of Ephesus

Amongst the great Ionian who concerned themselves exclusively with philosophy was Heracleitus of Ephesus. He was the son of Blyson, or as some say, of Heraceon.

Almost nothing is known of Heracleitus’ life. He was aid lived during the period spanning the end of the sixth century and the beginning of the fifth century BC.

He grew up in one of the richest and most splendid cities in Asia Minor, Ephesus, at a time when it flourished under Persian rule. The city was founded about 1000 BC by colonists from Athens, it prospered by tapping the trade of both the Cayster and the Maeander.

He is specially remembered for his view that ‘everything is in a state of flux’. Fire, the most changeful of elements, is the origin and image of all things. Living creatures are formed of a mixture of the changeful essences of which fire and are types.

Heracleitus had definite ideas as to the question of diet, for he lived on herbs and abstained from meat. When he suffered from dropsy for instance, and held a consultation with most important physician in Ephesus, he suggested to them that his condition was like one after a heavy rain and a drought was needed to disperse the accumulation of water.
Heracleitus of Ephesus