Mochus

Who is Mochus?

Mochus a Phoenician, is listed, along with Zalmoxis and Atlas, by Diogenes Laërtius as a proto-philosopher. Athenaeus claimed that he authored a work on the history of Phoenicia. Strabo, on the authority of Posidonius, speaks of one Mochus or Moschus of Sidon as the author of the atomic theory and says that he was more ancient than the Trojan war. He is also referred to by Josephus, Tatian, and Eusebius.

Isaac Causabon, John Selden, Johannes Arcerius, Henry More, Ralph Cudworth, Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton identified Mochus with Moses the Israelite lawbringer.