Pherecydes the Syriot
Excerpts from the book by Evangelos N. Roussos, about the philosopher Pherecydes who was born in Syros in the 6th century BC.
“The tradition of heliotrope in Syros as a work of Pherecydes must be based on the description of Homer Syris (Syros) in Odyssey, which is located
Above of Ortyia (Delos), in the turn of the Sun
Here the zeal of some to bestow Pythagoras’ teacher with titles of discoveries and inventions, in the spirit of his time, was facilitated by a misinterpretation: the geographical definition of the position of the island to the west from Delos, higher, where the sun turns, was confused with the construction of the sun dial (heliotrope, from helio=sun and trope=turn) which is, of course, attributed to a contemporary of Pherecydes, a pioneer of science, the philosopher Anaximandros, testimonies 1.2 and 4. But also the Syriot theologian himself keeps the illusion that he goes along with his revolutionary era when, by imitating the map of Anaximandros, who first dared to put the world on a board, testimony 6, presents the god of the sky to create the veil of the earth and to draw upon it the stories and seas (see 20.2) “page 93, 9.1.”
On page 95 of the book Pherecydes the Syriot, E.N. Roussos reports that in the ancient sources there is no evidence of Pherecydes caves, as opposed to the local tradition that speaks of two caves of the philosopher in Syros, one in the Alithini and one in Richopo, where there are traces of ancient habitation.
Translated by Constantine Hatziadoniu
