Page 58 - STOLEN LEGACY By George G. M. James

Here, it is easy to see the tie between Democritus and Anaxarchus for these men were all
Ionians, and members of the same school and were alive at the time of Alexander's Conquest of
Egypt. (Zeller's Hist. of Phil. p. 83; Diogenes Laertius Bk. 2, p. 471).

On the other hand, Aristotle's contact with Alexander the Great is well known, since he was a
tutor of the young prince, at the Macedonian palace. Roger's Student Hist. of Phil. p. 104).
(vii) Circumstantial evidence points to the fact that the books of Democritus were not written by
him, nor did they contain his teachings. This is so, for the following reasons:

(a) Leucippus, whom the Ionians did not know, and whose existence has been questioned, has
been given credit by Aristotle for the origin of the doctrine of the atom. (Zeller's Hist. of Phil. p.
77; Burnet, op. cit. p. 350) (Wm. Turner's Hist. of Phil. P. 65; Diogenes Bk. X, 13).

(b) Apart from what was written on the Atom, the name of Democritus is, associated with a
large list of books, dealing with over sixty different subjects, and covering all the branches of
science known to the ancient world. In addition to this vast field of knowledge, the list also
contains books on Military Science, Law and Magic. Clearly, the accumulation of such a vast
range of knowledge, by a single individual, written in a single lifetime is impossible both
physically and mentally. The method among the ancients of imparting knowledge was by gradual
stages, followed by evidence of proficiency, which in turn was also followed by initiations,
which marked every step in the progress of the Neophyte.

The progress of training was slow and no Neophyte could accomplish such knowledge in his life
time as took the Egyptians over five thousand years to accumulate. These human limitations are
as true today as they were among the ancients; for our great scientists of the Modern World are
specialists only in single subjects.

(c) The question now remains: how did Democritus accumulate those books if he did not write
them? We believe we have the answer because it has been noticed in the history of Greek
philosophy that (a) wherever a Greek philosopher has had association, direct or indirect, with
Alexander the Great, there was also the possession of a large collection of scientific books, and
(b) this is true in the cases of Democritus and Aristotle. (c) Anaxarchus and Democritus were
Ionians, who belonged to the same school and (d) Anaxarchus accompanied Alexander the Great
on his campaign against Egypt. (the indirect association between Democritus and Alexander the
Great now becomes obvious.) (e) It follows that since Alexander's conquest of Egypt had
brought the Greeks their long hoped for opportunity, i.e., access to the Egyptian Library and
Museum, we would naturally expect Alexander and his friends, and the invading armies to have
helped themselves with the Egyptian books.

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Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy by George G. M. James
The Journal of Pan African Studies 2009 eBook