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Didactylos
From Discworld & Pratchett Wiki
| DIDACTYLOS | |
 | |
| Name | Didactylos |
| Age | elderly |
| Race | Human |
| Occupation | Ephebian Philosopher |
| Looks | Elderly, wearing a loincloth, blind |
| Residence | Ephebe |
| Death | {{{death}}} |
| Parents | {{{parents}}} |
| Relatives | {{{relatives}}} |
| Children | {{{children}}} |
| Marital Status | {{{marital status}}} |
| Books | Small Gods |
| Cameos | {{{cameos}}} |
Didactylos was (or possibly still is, according to Thief of Time) one of the most notorious philosophers in Ephebe. Unlike most Ephebian philosophers, he did not spend his days lying around in the bath. Indeed, washing in general seemed to completely elude him. He did employ certain other philosophical trappings, such as living in a barrel and carrying a lamp with no oil (as he was blind). He was the uncle of Urn.
His most famous piece of philosophy was the heretical tract De Chelonian Mobile, or "The Turtle Moves", which formed the basis of an underground movement in Omnia. However, Didactylos himself argued that it wasn't philosophy, as it was entirely factual.
He assisted Brutha and Om on their visit to the country.
Didactylos' name literally mean "two fingers". He resembles various Roundworld philosophers, notably Diogenes, who also lived in a barrel and carried an oil-less lantern. TP also alludes to Plato, Archimedes and Aristotle in his description of Didactylos.
When approached by Omnian soldiers he irritably asks they don't disturb his circles - a reference to the final moments of the brilliant (and real) Archimedes who asked very much the same thing of the invading Romans in Syracuse but was killed by an equally irritable soldier.
Annotation
"Two fingers" make a V-sign: the two fingered English insult "Piss Off". So Didactylos is well-named.
