stenudd.COM
Stefan Stenudd           Author, Artist, Aikido instructor
MYTH
Myth of Creation
The Logics of Myth
Psychoanalysis of Myth
Genesis 1: The first creation of the Bible
Enuma Elish: Babylonian Creation
Cosmos of the Ancients
Aristotle - life and work
Aristotle's Poetics
Ideas and learning
The Taoist source
About the writer

ANCIENT GREECE
Introduction
Thales
Anaximander
Anaximenes
Pherecydes of Syros
Pythagoras
Xenophanes
Theagenes
Hecataeus
Heraclitus
Pindar
Parmenides
Anaxagoras
Empedocles
Herodotus
Gorgias
Melissus
Protagoras
Euripides
Prodicus of Ceos
Leucippus
Democritus
Critias
Antisthenes
Diagoras of Melos
Plato
Aristotle
Epicurus
Euhemerus
Table of the Greek Philosophers
Literature

Aristotle - life and work
Aristotle's Poetics

Books by Stefan Stenudd:
Cosmos of the Ancients, by Stefan Stenudd.
COSMOS OF THE ANCIENTS
The Greek philosophers' theories about the gods, the myths, and cosmology.
More about the book here.


Murder, by Stefan Stenudd.
MURDER
Thoughts on life, death, and the meaning of it all - by Stefan Stenudd.
More about the book here.


All's End, by Stefan Stenudd.
ALL'S END
A science fiction novel by Stefan Stenudd, about the quest for a perfect world.
More about the book here.


QI - increase your life energy.
QI
Increase your life energy
The book about the life energy qi, with exercises on how to awaken and use it.
More about the book here.

Aikido - the book by Stefan Stenudd.
AIKIDO
The Peaceful Martial Art
The book about aikido principles, philosophy and basic concepts.
More about the book here.

Aikibatto - the book.
AIKIBATTO
The book about the aikibatto sword and staff exercises, practical and spiritual aspects of the sword arts, equip­ment for training, etc.
More about the book here.



Parthenon

Cosmos of the Ancients

The Greek Philosophers
on Myth and Cosmology


Protagoras


W here most of those mentioned above may have had critical comments on how Homer and Hesiod portrayed the gods, but still insisted on their glorious existence, one way or another, or avoided exploring the issue, the sophist Protagoras (circa 481-411 BC) is said to have been driven out of Athens for doubting the very existence of the gods or, to be more precise, human ability to confirm it. His book On the gods (Peritheon) started with this statement:
     As to the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or that they do not exist. For many are the obstacles that impede knowledge, both the obscurity of the question and the shortness of human life.
     For this he was in the year 411 BC accused of impiety, resulting in the burning of his book. According to some sources he was also banished for life from Athens. This fate of his makes it clear that it was not without risk, in his time, to question the gods, so there is a possibility that he had refrained from denying the existence of the gods completely, out of fear of judicial consequences – if so, a futile attempt.
     This is not very likely, though, since his view on truth in general was, that nothing is certain beyond the cognition of the individual mind, expressed in his famous saying: "Man is the measure of all things; of what is, that it is; of what is not, that it is not." The world is really, what it is to the person perceiving it – though only to that one. To another one, the world is another. This principle, refuted by Plato in his book Theaetetus, makes it equally impossible to deny as to confirm the existence of the gods – outside of the impression or conviction of the individual. In the book Plato named after Protagoras, he and Socrates debate questions on virtue, its unity and adaptability, where they take turns in winning arguments, in a way that clearly shows Plato's respect for the sophist, although their fundamental views are irreconcilable. As sort of a peace offering, they digress into the analysis of an old poem by Simonides.
     Apart from the reaction to On the gods, Protagoras was uniquely successful as a lecturer for some 40 years, being able to charge as much as 100 minae for his lecturing and Plato says that he made more money than Phidias and ten other sculptors. The burning of books must have been done thoroughly, and not restricted only to On the gods, since only fragments remain of his writing, although it was voluminous. Diogenes Laertius makes him the student of Democritus, but this is very likely a mistake, considering that Protagoras was his senior with about 20 years.

Literature
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, translated by R. D. Hicks, volume II, Loeb, London 1950.
Plato, Theaetetus.

© Stefan Stenudd 2000

How to get the book
An edited and extended version of the texts on this website was published in 2007.
     If you want to buy the book, you can do so at most international web based bookstores, such as Amazon and the like. Here are links to the book on Amazon US and Amazon UK. Use the latter if you are European - then you get the book cheaper and quicker. Otherwise, you may want to buy it at Amazon US.

At Amazon US:
Cosmos of the Ancients, by Stefan Stenudd - at Amazon US.
At Amazon UK:
Cosmos of the Ancients, by Stefan Stenudd - at Amazon UK.


Search Amazon for books about Protagoras:




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Tao Te Ching - the Taoist source.
TAOIST SOURCE
The Taoist source. The complete Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu.


More on this website:
Aikido
Aikibatto sword exercises
Myth
Greek Philosophers
Aristotle and his Poetics
The Taoist source
Qi - life energy
Fiction by Stenudd
Art by Stenudd
Astrology and horoscopes