Anaxagoras, a physiologoi, was a pioneer in scientific inquiry. His naturalistic theories of explanation were considered a danger to public religion and civic culture, making him an enemy of the polis. He was indicted on charges of impiety for asserting that the sun is a mass of incandescent, red-hot metal, the moon is an earthy sphere, and that the stars are fiery stones.

The fire of the sun, the glow of the moon, and the twinkle of flaming-white stars eclipsed by temple incense and scorched olive leaf: Tunisian amber, Italian bergamot, and blue and white musks blanketed in styrax, libanon, and myrron.

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