Mochus
Mochus (Greek: Μωχός), also known as Mochus of Sidon and Mochus the Phoenician, is listed by Diogenes Laërtius along with Zalmoxis the Thracian and Atlas of Mauretania, as a proto-philosopher.[1] Athenaeus claimed that he authored a work on the history of Phoenicia.[2] Strabo, on the authority of Posidonius,[3] speaks of one Mochus or Moschus of Sidon as the author of the atomic theory and says that he was more ancient than the Trojan war.[4] He is also referred to by Josephus,[5] Tatian,[6] and Eusebius.[7]
According to Robert Boyle, the father of modern chemistry, "‘Learned men attribute the devising of the atomical hypothesis to one Moschus a Phenician".[8] Isaac Newton, Isaac Causabon, John Selden, , Henry More, and Ralph Cudworth also credit Mochus of Sidon as the author of the atomic theory and some of them tried to identify Mochus with Moses the Israelite lawbringer.[9]
Notes[]
- ^ Diogenes Laërtius, i. 1; cf. the Suda, ω 283, which calls him Ochus
- ^ Athenaeus, iii. 126
- ^ Gruen, Erich S. (16 September 2012). Rethinking the Other in Antiquity. ISBN 978-0691156354.
- ^ Strabo, Geographica, xvi.
- ^ Josephus, Ant. Jud. i. 107
- ^ Tatian, adv. Gent.
- ^ Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, x.
- ^ "Mochus". The Oxford Companion to Philosophy.
- ^ [1] Archived June 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
 | This article about Phoenicia, its colonies and people is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by . |
- History stubs
- Phoenicia stubs
- 13th-century BC Phoenician people
- Phoenician philosophers
- Historians of Phoenicia