Son of Examyas and Kleobouline; Milesian, but as Herodotos [says] Phoenician.[1] He lived before the time of Kroisos, in the 35th Olympiad,[2] but according to Phlegon he was already known in the 7th.[3] He wrote on astronomical phenomena in hexameters, On the Equinox, and many other works. He died an old man, while watching a sports event, being squeezed by the crowd and fainting from the heat. Thales was the first to have the name of Sage, and first proclaimed the soul immortal, and understood eclipses and equinoxes.[4] His apophthegms are very numerous: "Know thyself" is the one constantly repeated.[5] For "make a pledge and suffer for it" belongs rather to Chilon, who appropriated it.[6] Also[7] "Nothing in excess."