sanctuary of the goddess of wisdom. To him it was that an old Egyptian priest, who was his friend, addressed the memorable words—'O Solon! Solon! you Greeks are ever children; having no ancient opinion nor any discipline of long standing.' The earliest Greek philosophers, Pythagoras of Samos, and Thales of Miletus, were believed to have visited Egypt, and no doubt their eager restless inquiries also seemed to the Egyptians like those of 'children,' who can so easily ask more than the wisest man can ever answer.
Nothing could be more natural, or indeed inevitable, than that the awakening intellectual and artistic life of Greece should be strongly attracted towards the ancient wisdom and civilisation of Egypt.[1] Geometric and other scientific ideas they certainly carried home from the Land of the Pyramids, and the rudiments of their own civilisation and learning were always said by the Greeks to have come from Egypt.
Persia had conquered Egypt, and was
- ↑ 'All intellectual Greeks,' says Grote, 'were naturally attracted to go and visit the wonders on the banks of the Nile.'
