Herodotus tells us that Thales of Miletus had foretold to the Ionians this eclipse of the sun, fixing for it the very year in which it took place. When the Medes and Lydians saw the day turned to night during battle, they ceased fighting and were eager to have terms of peace agreed on.
Plutarch relates that Thales, when asked by Solon how he could measure the height of the pyramids in Egypt, placed his staff at the end of the shadow cast by the pyramid, and having thus made two triangles by the impact of the sun's rays, showed that the pyramid bore the same ratio to the staff as their respective shadows.
Aristotle says that Thales, being reproached for his poverty, foresaw by studying the stars that there would be a great harvest of olives, and so he rented all the olive presses in Miletus, then made a fortune when the harvest came.
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