Ancient origins of a modern anthropic argument against cosmologies involvinginfinite series of past events are considered. It is shown that this argument -which in modern times has been put forward by distinguished cosmologists likePaul C. W. Davies and Frank J. Tipler - originates in pre-Socratic times and isimplicitly present in the cyclical cosmology of Empedocles. There are traces ofthe same line of reasoning throughout the ancient history of ideas, and thecase of a provocative statement of Thucydides is briefly analyzed. Moreover,the anthropic argument has been fully formulated in the epic of Lucretius,confirming it as the summit of ancient cosmology. This is not only ofhistorical significance but presents an important topic for the philosophy ofcosmology provided some of the contemporary inflationary models, particularlyLinde's chaotic inflation, turn out to be correct.
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