Leodamas of Thasos
Encyclopedia
Leodamas of Thasos
(c. 380 BC) was a Greek
mathematician and a contemporary of Plato
, about whom little is known.
There are two references to Leodamas in Proclus
's Commentary on Euclid:
and one in Diogenes Laertius
' Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
, Book 3 (Plato):
Thasos
Thasos or Thassos is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea, close to the coast of Thrace and the plain of the river Nestos but geographically part of Macedonia. It is the northernmost Greek island, and 12th largest by area...
(c. 380 BC) was a Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
mathematician and a contemporary of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, about whom little is known.
There are two references to Leodamas in Proclus
Proclus
Proclus Lycaeus , called "The Successor" or "Diadochos" , was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major Classical philosophers . He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism...
's Commentary on Euclid:
"At this time [Plato's time] also lived Leodamas of Thasos, Archytas of Tarentum, and Theaetetus of Athens, by whom the
theorems [of geometry] were increased in number and brought into a more scientific arrangement. Younger than Leodamas was
Neoclides and his pupil Leon, who added many discoveries."
"Plato, it is said, taught this method [analysis] to Leodamas, who is also reported to have made many discoveries in geometry by
means of it."
and one in Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius
Diogenes Laertius was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is known about his life, but his surviving Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is one of the principal surviving sources for the history of Greek philosophy.-Life:Nothing is definitively known about his life...
' Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is a biography of the Greek philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius, written in Greek, perhaps in the first half of the third century AD.-Overview:...
, Book 3 (Plato):
"He [Plato] was the first to explain to Leodamas of Thasos the
method of solving problems by analysis."