Birth of Heraclitus

Heraclitus was born in 535 BCE in Ephesus. A Greek philosopher from Ephesus, Heraclitus is known for his doctrine that everything is in flux and that conflict and change are the basis of the world, as summed up in later sayings such as that one cannot step into the same river twice. He regarded fire as the fundamental element and spoke of a rational order, the logos, that governs the universe. His work survives only in fragments quoted by later writers, and his cryptic, aphoristic style earned him the nickname the Obscure. He influenced Plato, the Stoics and many later thinkers, including Hegel and Nietzsche.

Open on the timeline