Anaximander
He proposed an infinite, undefined substance called the 'apeiron' as the origin of the cosmos and a geocentric model.
Quotes by Anaximander
The boundless is the origin of things. From it, all things arise and to it, they return according to necessity; for they pay penalty and retribution to each other for their injustice in accordance with the ordering of time.
The apeiron (the boundless) is the origin and element of existing things. He was the first to use this name for the principle.
The earth is cylindrical in shape, its depth being one-third of its width. We walk on one of its flat surfaces, and the other is opposite.
The earth is suspended in the middle, not supported by anything, but remaining in place because of its equal distance from all parts of the heaven.
The sun is a circle twenty-eight times the size of the earth, like a chariot wheel, having a hollow felloe full of fire, and showing the fire at a certain point through an opening as through the nozzle of a bellows.
The stars are compressed air, full of fire, and they emit flames through openings.
Eclipses of the sun occur when the opening for the emission of fire is closed.
Thunder and lightning are caused by the wind, when it is enclosed in a thick cloud and then bursts out, producing the noise by its escape, and the flash by the rending of the cloud.
The first animals were born in moisture, enclosed in thorny barks. When they grew older, they came out onto the drier land, and their bark broke off.
Man was born from animals of a different species, because other animals quickly find food for themselves, and man alone needs a long period of suckling. If he had been originally as he is now, he would not have survived.
The boundless is eternal and ageless and encompasses all the worlds.
The boundless is divine, for it is immortal and imperishable.
From the boundless, the heavens and all the worlds within them were separated off.
The boundless is the source of generation and destruction.
The earth is like a stone column.
The stars are carried around by the circles on which they are fixed.
The moon is a circle nineteen times the size of the earth, like a chariot wheel, having a hollow felloe full of fire, and showing the fire at a certain point through an opening.
The phases of the moon are due to the turning of its opening.
The sea is the residue of the primeval moisture, which has been evaporated by the sun.
The winds are the flow of air.