The Multiverse In Greek Cosmology

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00:00Our scientific understanding of nature is limited to one universe, the observable one,

00:06which makes up everything we can see in the cosmos surrounding us.

00:10In recent decades, though, experts have wondered if we could extend our scientific theories

00:14past this reality and explore the possibility of a multiverse beyond the stars.

00:20And despite this seeming like a modern concept, it dates back centuries and even thousands

00:26of years.

00:28This is Unveiled, and today we're taking a closer look at what ancient Greek cosmologists

00:33knew about the multiverse.

00:35Do you need the big questions answered?

00:37Are you constantly curious?

00:39Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?

00:42And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!

00:45Greece is undoubtedly one of the cradles of civilization.

00:48It's a region that humans have lived in since as early as the Paleolithic Era, otherwise

00:52known as the Old Stone Age, which started 3.3 million years ago, running all the way

00:58up roughly to the end of the last Ice Age.

01:02Agricultural societies developed on the land in and around Greece from about 7,000 BCE,

01:07turning the area into a hotspot for Bronze Age civilizations.

01:11This all came to a harsh end during the Late Bronze Age Collapse, however, which happened

01:16in roughly the twelfth century BCE.

01:18The reasons why aren't exactly clear, but it was around this time that Greece entered

01:22into a three-century-long Dark Age.

01:26It was a period of struggle, but it came to an end, and ultimately, what the world now

01:30chiefly thinks of as Ancient Greece emerged and began to flourish, becoming the dominant

01:36Mediterranean culture during the time of Antiquity.

01:39The power of Greece perhaps peaked under the rule of Alexander the Great, whose empire

01:44completely transformed the world at the time.

01:47But after his death, infighting broke out, and Greece endured some of its most tumultuous

01:52years.

01:53Soon came the Roman conquest of Greece, and while the historic lands would continue to

01:58blossom under Roman rule, the wheel of history had turned.

02:02Nevertheless, Greece had had a huge and lasting impact on the human story.

02:07For many, it is the birthplace of modern civilization.

02:10What's not tied together quite so often, however, is the Ancient Greeks and the multiverse.

02:16But actually, there's a good argument to say that the idea of the multiverse was born

02:20in Greece.

02:21So, how do we get there?

02:22In the earliest Greek myths, the cosmos emerged from chaos, an undefined, primordial state.

02:29Chaos perhaps mirrors our modern concept of reality before the Big Bang, when all matter

02:34was confined to a singularity of infinite density.

02:38For the Greeks, however, it was from chaos that the first deities emerged.

02:42In particular, Gaia and Ouranos, the Earth and Sky gods.

02:46Along with a select few other gods, they shaped the universe into an ordered system.

02:51The concept of chaos evolving into structure is a central theme in Greek cosmology, and

02:56a still-popular viewpoint in the modern day, even if contemporary explanations are usually

03:01less divine in nature.

03:03Because of the inherent unknowableness of chaos, though, it's little wonder that some

03:07started to push for further, more rational explanations.

03:11The iconic philosopher Anaximander was one of the first.

03:15He claimed reality was more specifically born from the Apeiron, an infinite, boundless substance.

03:21The Apeiron was the origin of all things, an abstract concept that sought to make sense

03:27of the underlying mechanics of reality.

03:29The problem was that Anaximander's boundless realm actually wasn't all that specific

03:34at all, and so it never really caught on.

03:36But, the search for something other than chaos had begun.

03:41The next great shift came with Empedocles, a century after Anaximander, who established

03:46the four classical elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

03:50They were considered to be the building blocks of existence, constantly interacting to form

03:55the material world.

03:57Empedocles' view is in many ways reflective of modern chemistry, albeit with far fewer

04:02elements to play with.

04:03Elsewhere, and the Greeks also believed, in general, in a structured, hierarchical solar

04:08system.

04:09He popularized this geocentric model, with a fixed Earth at the centre, and it went on

04:14to dominate cosmology for centuries.

04:17All these ideas combined to form the basis of our modern, mainstream understanding of

04:22the universe.

04:23This isn't and wasn't where Greek cosmology ends, though.

04:27Some did go further, and proposed a theory that included the possibility of multiple

04:32worlds.

04:33The atomists, chiefly Leucippus and his disciple, Democritus, were some of the most influential

04:39in this field.

04:40As the name of their school implies, they pioneered the concept of the atom.

04:45Their ideas, which were radical at the time, said that everything in the universe was made

04:49up of tiny, indivisible particles.

04:52These particles, the atoms, then moved through an infinite void, combining in countless ways

04:58to form various objects, beings and all the phenomena of reality.

05:04Crucially, though, from the atomists' perspective, there was no one, singular, unique universe.

05:09Instead, Leucippus, Democritus and their followers believed that the vastness of the void, and

05:15the limitless nature of atoms, should lead to infinite worlds.

05:19The nature of these alternate realities varied, with some mimicking our own, and others appearing

05:25completely different.

05:26The worlds could vary in size, composition and presence of life.

05:31Some might be deemed physically better for life than ours, others would be physically

05:36worse.

05:37All manner of combinations and conditions were possible.

05:40Again, this was groundbreaking at the time.

05:43It was a theory of infinite worlds in constant flux, and it challenged the overriding Ptolemaic

05:48notion of a singular, ordered universe centred around the Earth.

05:53Interestingly, though, it was first laid out centuries before Ptolemy was even alive.

05:58The atomists were seemingly far, far ahead of the curve.

06:01They were challenging the status quo before the status quo had even been set.

06:07Epicurus was another key atomist figure.

06:09He lived in the early Hellenistic period, during the era that immediately followed the

06:13death of Alexander the Great.

06:15He founded his own school in Athens, where he continued teaching atomism for a new generation,

06:20in the third century BCE.

06:23Among other things, Epicurus asserted that because atoms moved randomly, colliding in

06:28various ways, the formation of multiple worlds was not only possible, but inevitable.

06:34This idea of spontaneous creation fuelled much of the Epicurean worldview, but it also

06:39closely parallels even the most modern concepts of a multiverse.

06:44Alongside this universe, there are others, and endlessly so.

06:48Importantly, while Epicurus wasn't alone, views like his still weren't the norm.

06:54As today, talk of multiple worlds was met with suspicion and scepticism by many of his

06:58contemporaries.

07:00Most believed in a finite and closed universe, but we can see that the seeds were being sown

07:05for something more.

07:06And, ultimately, perhaps the emerging shoots of this new idea were most famously discussed

07:12a few years before Epicurus.

07:15Anaxacus was another famous atomist, a generation before Epicurus' time, and noteworthy for

07:20his travels with Alexander the Great.

07:23One interaction between him and Alexander went down in history, when Anaxacus is said

07:28to have told the Great King that there were many worlds beyond our own.

07:32Upon hearing this, it's then said that Alexander wept, crestfallen to realize that even though

07:38there were many worlds, he had yet to fully conquer even one.

07:42It's one of the most famous chapters in atomist history, and, as well as demonstrating just

07:48how huge the ego of Alexander must have been, it reveals just how ancient and embedded belief

07:54in the multiverse really is.

07:56Unsurprisingly, and famously, there were always other worldviews along the horizon of ancient

08:01Greek thought.

08:02Notably, Stoicism emerged to rival atomism.

08:06Stoic cosmology instead proposed a cyclic universe, an idea that followers called eternal

08:12occurrence.

08:13It suggests that the cosmos will experience a continued cycle of birth and destruction,

08:18repeating forever.

08:19Clearly, there are modern comparisons to be made here, as well, including in relation

08:23to the Big Crunch and Big Bounce alternatives to the Big Bang Theory.

08:27But the many worlds of an atomist inclination were never disproven or discarded.

08:33Lucretius, for example, was a Roman poet and Epicurean philosopher, who lived in the first

08:38century BCE, and one of his poems, On the Nature of Things, describes a universe teeming

08:45with endless worlds, all shaped by the chaotic movement of atoms.

08:50With today's research, our greater understanding of science fact, and our wide variety of science

08:56fiction, it can all feel like the multiverse is an entirely new and exciting phenomenon.

09:01But clearly it isn't, and our greatest minds have long pondered the possibility of other

09:07worlds and realms, somewhere distant from here.

09:11What do you think?

09:12Is there anything we missed?

09:14Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you

09:18subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.

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