Copy from the original by O. Marinali. Early 18th century

The portraits of the famous philosophers and scientists of antiquity Heraclitus, Aristotle, Aesculapius and Seneca, placed in the alleys of the Summer Garden, testified to the adherence to the principles of enlightened government, to the union of power with wisdom and knowledge.

Heraclitus of Ephesus (544 – 483 BC) – ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher. The founder of the original form of dialectics, he was known as the Grim (or Dark) and his philosophical system contrasted with the ideas of Democritus, which was noticed by subsequent generations.

His only work, from which only a few dozen fragments-citations have been preserved, is the book “On Nature”, which consisted of three parts (“On Nature”, “On the State”, “On God”).

Heraclitus is credited with the authorship of the famous phrase “Everything flows, everything changes.” However, the exact translation from Greek means: “Everything flows and moves, and nothing remains.”