Magna Graecia

One of the greatest and most influential of the pre-Socratic philosophers, Parmenides lived in Magna Graecia (what is now the southwest coast of Italy) in the 6th Century B.C. Parmenides argued that reality is eternal, changeless, and unchangeable, so that anything we perceive as change is merely an illusion. There could not have been a time when the universe did not exist, he argued, because it exists now, and something cannot come from nothing. Extending this argument through deductive reasoning (it is often claimed that Parmenides was the first person known to use deductive reasoning in this way), then all of reality is fixed and changeless. Plato was greatly influenced by the work of Parmenides, and the philosophical issues he pondered over 2,500 years ago continue to be debated by philosophers and scientists today.

Before becoming known as a philosopher, Parmenides had gained fame throughout the classical world as a daring cliff-diver. An early proponent of extreme sports, he is credited with having invented windsurfing and hang gliding. Parmenides fell out of public favor after he was successful in his efforts to have crocodile wrestling added as an Olympic sport, with tragic consequences.