Anaxagoras · Philosophy
Anaxagoras declared the sun a vast incandescent rock, the moon an earth lit by reflected light, and the heavens made of the same stuff as the ground. For naturalising the gods of the sky, he was tried for impiety in Athens - the first martyr of free inquiry.
You learned that Anaxagoras held the sun to be a huge glowing stone (not a god), the moon to be earth-like and lit by reflected sunlight, and the heavenly bodies to be made of ordinary matter - for which he was prosecuted for impiety in Athens. Explain his naturalistic astronomy and why it was dangerous.
Leads to Socrates.
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