December 7, 2023 | Kyle Climans

Seriously Weird Facts About Ancient Greek Philosophers


To the best of our ability, let’s picture a “Greek philosopher". Most will imagine an erudite man in robes, one who spends all day advising his students and state leaders in important matters, and the rest of his nights in thought and deep writing. These ideas formed the basis of much Western thought, and we’ll for sure cover them here. However, when put against the facts, what lacks in this image of the Greek philosopher?

For starters, where is the chicken-plucking? Or the public urination? When it comes to men of so many ancient ideas, not each one can be a gem. Don’t just settle for their ideas—learn about the weird lives of history’s great minds with these 42 shocking facts about Ancient Greek philosophers.


1. Featherless Friends

The ancient philosopher Diogenes once delivered Plato a plucked chicken and called it a “man". You see, Plato had argued that man was nothing but “a featherless biped". To show Plato what an assumption that was, Diogenes secured the live poultry pal and had it plucked. His bravado forced Plato to amend that definition of “man” to include “with broad flat nails".

greek philosophers

2. Alone Time Isn’t Fun Time For Everyone

We imagine it was hard to offend those Ancient Greeks, but the quirky Diogenes put that to the test by satisfy himself while inside of a barrel. Frequently. And in public. Diogenes defended his behavior by saying how he wished it was “as easy to relieve hunger by rubbing an empty stomach,” as if that counts as a defense.

Ancient Greek Philosophers facts Picryl

3. Wash Your Brain and Your Hands

Adding to the list of Diogenes’ social faux pas, the philosopher was also (allegedly) known for pooping in public theatres and urinating on “annoying” people. Well, it takes one to know one, Diogenes.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsFlickr, Slices of Light

4. Where’s a Flyswatter When You Need It?

Socrates questioned the social norms of his people so much, he was known as “the gadfly of Athens". Ouch.

Socrates FactsPicryl

5. You’re Welcome

We all know Socrates was famously sentenced to capital punishment for “corrupting the young” with his ideas. What’s less known is that when he was asked how he ought to be punished, he suggested “free maintenance by the state,” i.e. be given free food and wages because his constant questioning had done such a service to their society. Naturally, the government didn't exactly agree with his sentiment, and they instead gave him the hemlock.

Martyrs factsFlickr, Ben Sutherland

6. School’s Out

We mostly hear about the philosophers who thrived and went on to write big books and found big academies. But what about the thinkers who failed? Greek philosopher Alexinus was so sure of his greatness, he moved from Elis to Olympia just because his idea for a school named the “Olympian” wouldn’t make sense without the locale change. Unfortunately, he was a bad administrator; the school ran out of supplies, leaving him with no students. I'm not sure that counts as a school anymore?

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

7. The Demonax Diet

Demonax as a Greek philosopher who was so chill, he gained a reputation for being an expert peace-maker for politicians, brothers, and couples. Eventually, he got so chill, he stopped eating; aged almost 100 years old, he could no longer take care of himself and starved to the end.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

8. Talk the Walk

Aristotle was literally a step ahead of his students; the philosopher loved to stroll while teaching at the Lyceum campus, so students were forced to walk behind him. As a result, the students were known as “Peripatetics,” derived from the word for “people who travel about". Way to burn calories as you learn, guys.

Ancient Greece factsWikipedia

9. High of Birth and Intelligence

Aristotle descended from the courtly aristocracy of Macedonia. His own father, Nicomachus, was the court doctor for King Amyntas II.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

10. Star Pupil

“Big thinking” by itself can’t pay the bills; the great Aristotle also served as the tutor for the young son of Macedon's King Phillip II. This boy would grow up to be none other than Alexander the Great. Guess he was a pretty good teacher!

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsPicryl

11. Behind the Laughter

In some retellings, Chrysippus passed after a donkey ate his figs, which caused the philosopher to laugh so hard at his own joke (“Now give the donkey a drink of pure booze to wash down the figs”) that he was gone.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

12. Get Ready to Learn

What philosopher list would be complete without reference to Plato’s Academy? Founded in 385 BCE, the school would go down as one of the first institutions of higher learning in Western civilization. Plato led the Academy for the rest of his life and it would continue for centuries until 529 CE.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

13. So Close, Yet So Far

In 560 BCE, the Greek philosopher Anaximander became one of the first people to realize the Earth could not be flat. But he didn’t get everything right: he thought that it was shaped like a cylinder. Baby steps...

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsFlickr, Steven Zucker, Smarthistor

14. I Got Beef With Those Figures

One-hundred oxen were sacrificed to celebrate Ancient Greek mathematicians proving that the root of two is an irrational number.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsFlickr, Slices of Light

15. Never Out of Print

The Greek philosopher Euclid is the most successful textbook writer of all time. In around 300 BCE, he wrote Elements, which has gone on to be republished in more than 1,000 editions since the advent of modern printing. Today’s publishers can only salivate at those figures.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

16. Brains Over Beauty

Socrates was known for a lot of things, but it was not his sense of style. It’s said he always wore the same ratty old coat and didn’t even wear shoes. And it’s not like he was going minimalist to enhance his natural good looks; it’s also said Socrates was quite ugly.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsPicryl

17. The Sun Will Rise Again

When it comes to heliocentric models of the solar system, don’t let those pesky early-modern philosophers like Copernicus take all the credit. Aristarchus of Samos was the first Ancient Greek philosopher to suggest that the Earth revolved around the Sun, in about 290 BCE. Of course, practically no one took him seriously. We only know about him through the Archimedes, who held Aristarchus as ridiculous for his beliefs. Look who’s laughing now.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikimedia Commons

18. Brainy in the Buff

In one of the most famous stories in science history, Archimedes is said to have discovered how to measure the buoyancy of an object while fully undressed. While the philosopher was settling down into a hot bath to ponder the problem, he noticed that the water rose as he became submerged. He realized that by measuring the displaced water, he could determine how buoyant he was. He was so excited by the revelation that he immediately jumped out of the tub and ran through the streets in his birthday suit crying "Eureka!", or "I have found it!"

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

19. Ladies Last

Hypatia was the most famous female scholar of this period of antiquity. A figure of both intelligence and eloquence, she was the last recorded member of the Library of Alexandria. But she was also a pagan, which triggered the rage of a Christian mob. ended in 415 AD, it’s said she was sliced to the end by oyster shells (though the word used in ancient sources could also be translated as "roofing tiles," which is still pretty weird).

Female Scientists factsAgora (2009), Mod Producciones

20. The Uncuttable Democritus

Democritus is the first Greek philosopher to suggest that everything in our universe comes down to atoms. His reasoning? You can cut an object in half, over and over again, until each half is tinier than even a grain until eventually, you reach something that cannot be cut in half. These stubborn fractions of our universe would be knowns as “atoms,” so named after the Greek word for “atomos” for “uncuttable".

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsPicryl

21. Taking a Swim

Before we tossed words like “migration” to refer to birds in the wintertime, Aristotle taught that swallows spent the winter months in the bottom of rivers. Presumably, they rested in large heaps, waiting for spring.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

22. When Life Gives You Philosophy, Make Olive Oil

If Thales of Miletus hadn’t been born in Ancient Greece, he could have worked for the futures market: the philosopher applied his vast knowledge to predict when olive harvests would be at their best. He then acquired all the olive presses well in advance to squeeze extra profit when demand peaked among the masses. However, he didn’t do so to get rich—he did this to prove that philosophical reasoning did have “real world” application. In other words, philosophers defending the “practical” existence of their field is nothing new.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

23. Are My Ideas Too Hot For You?

According to a highly disputable legend, the Greek philosopher Empedocles was worshipped as god for saving the people of Selinus from a water crisis. Of course, he bought too much into his own legend. To show off his divine supremacy, Empedocles jumped into a live volcano and never emerged. I wonder what happened to him...

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

24. Are Utilities Included?

Pythagoras took the “simple” life to another level. His philosophy of Pythagoreanism revolved around disciplined and frugal living. Denying himself any kind of luxury, he was content to live alone in a cave on Samos, where he could study in peace. Hey, good real estate is hard to find.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

25. When I’m Gone, Just Throw Me In Throw Trash

Demonax had so much chill, he had no problem with the idea of being eaten by fish, birds, or dogs. During a winter voyage, when asked how he thought about the ship sinking and him becoming fish food, he just responded with “'I should be very unreasonable to mind giving them a meal, considering how many they have given me". When asked about his burial, Demonax told them "Oh, do not trouble; scent will summon my undertakers,” aka just let dogs and birds come for him, because there was “no harm in making oneself useful in passing to anything that lives".

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikimedia Commons

26. What’s Mine Is Yours

While Pythagoras was all about ascetism, he was also about sharing. The philosopher demanded that his followers also share all they had with each other, which gave his school a very “commune” type of feel. The Pythagorians followed the motto of “Koinà tà phílōn” for “All things in common among friends".

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

27. Does This Theory Hold Water?

Before Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, there was Thales of Miletus with his “water theory”—the belief that all life in this world came from the sea. Most scandalously, Miletus believed that water had nothing to do with the gods or other spiritual forces, but it instead operated by its own reason and logic.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

28. Girls Allowed

It’s not controversial to say that Ancient Greece was a bro-fest. That’s what made Pythagoras so (in)famous: he argued that women were equal to men and his Pythagorean school included female students.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

29. To Serve and Educate

Socrates served as a hoplite soldier, fighting in the Peloponnesian Battle. He even saved the life of acclaimed general Alcibiades, who commended his bravery in the Symposium. Not bad for a nerd who couldn’t dress cool.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsFlickr, Alan

30. It’s Him or Nothing

Long before the popularity of Christianity, the Greek philosopher Xenophanes held theological beliefs that strongly echo in Christianity, such as the belief in one God who resembles His mortals in form. He thus argued against the popular Hesiodic Greek practice of anthropomorphizing their gods.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

31. Ready, Aim, Do Nothing

Zeno of Elea believed all motion in the universe was but a mirage. To prove it, he put forth “Zeno’s paradoxes,” of which the most famous includes a thought experiment known as the Arrow paradox: if one inspects an arrow at any given moment in time, it would only appear to stand in the air. By his logic, this means movement is an illusion.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

32. I’m On An All-Aristotle Diet

Aristotle’s fame has only risen with his passing. In his life, he was known as “the man who knew everything". After his life, Thomas Aquinas would refer to Aristotle as just “The Philosopher” because he was the only thinker that he needed.

Medieval Beliefs factsWikipedia

33. Don’t Call Me Baby

Before Darwin, there was Anaximander, who believed humans beings must have evolved from some other animal. His reasoning? If the first humans were infants, we would have passed because babies are so helpless. We must have come from some other species with babies tougher than us, right?

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

34. Family is Fleeting, Philosophy is Forever

It’s hard to find info on the personal lives of most Ancient Greek philosophers. But in the case of Aristotle, we at least know he was married to a woman named Pythias. We also know that when Pythias passed, Aristotle fathered a son with a slave named Herpyllis. The son, named Nicomachus after Aristotle’s own father, was also a philosopher, but he probably was ended in battle when he was still young. Aristotle’s only solid legacy, then, would be his ideas.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

35. I Want To Wake Up Now

According to the 2nd-century Greek thinker Artemidorus, adult dreams could predict the future. Don’t laugh, there was a very specific logic to it. For instance, are you dreaming about intercourse with your son on a trip? Prepare for good news! Are you a woman who is dreaming about having a good time with another woman? Wake up to widowhood, girlfriend.

In fairness, that might seem absurd, but we're still working out the science of dreaming today.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikimedia Commons

36. Fair Enough

Aristotle believed only “fair-skinned” ladies could achieve a climax during intimacy.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

37. Raw Deal

The profound (and unhygienic) life of Diogenes the Cynic came to an end thanks to undercooked seafood. Either ate a raw octopus and passed  or he tried to feed an octopus to some dogs, for which he was promptly bitten and bled to the end.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

38. Take My Breath Away

Not all accounts of Diogenes’s end are so dramatic and food-filled. According to one account, the philosopher passed after holding his breath too long in an act of self-immolation. Now that's commitment!

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

39. The Philosopher Formally Known as Plato

Despite his prolific status in the annals of philosophical history, “Plato” might not even be the man's real name. Some historians put forth that “Plato” was merely a nickname, and that he was really called Aristocles. That doesn’t have the same ring to it, so we get the change. Even crazier, the word “Plato” actually translates to mean “broad,” and one source says that he was given the name by his wrestling coach because he had such a huge figure. In this case, calling him "Plato" was essentially the Ancient Greek version of calling Terry Bollea "Hulk Hogan".

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipeida

40. Resume Lifehack

Sold into slavery by pirates, the philosopher Diogenes was ordered to detail his trade. His answer: he had no trade but governing men, and so he should be sent to a man who needed a master. His witty response impressed a Corinthian named Xeniades, who promptly hired Diogenes to tutor his sons.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

41. What a Waste

The dung-filled passing of Heraclitus goes to show that even philosophers can make mistakes. Unable to get rid of his dropsy (edema) by regular means, Heraclitus allegedly buried himself in manure to “absurd” the excess water of his body. In one account, the philosopher found himself trapped in the doody-pile, where he was promptly eaten by dogs.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsWikipedia

42. Lend Me An Ear?

When he wasn’t arguing that motion is an illusion, Zeno of Elea worked to rebel against his ruler, Nearchus. The rebellion didn’t work, of course, and Zeno was promptly kidnapped and brutally beaten. But before his passing, he did manage to lure Nearchus close for a whisper... before biting his captor’s ear off.

Ancient Greek Philosophers factsGetty Images

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20


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