Empirical thinking was prevalent under Greek and Roman rule, where scientists were more commonly called "natural philosophers" because they practiced specialized professions such as medicine, or followers of religious theories such as temple healers. A pre-Socratic philosopher named Thales (640-546 BCE) was nicknamed the "father of science" because he was the first to postulate that there was a natural response to otherwise supernatural phenomena such as the earth floating on the water and that earthquakes were caused by the agitation of this water by underwater movements or currents rather than the religious view that earthquakes were caused by the god Poseidon (Arieti, 2005). Further advances in scientific thought and procedures were made during these years by Anaximander (610-546 BCE), Pythagoras (570-500 BCE), Xenophanes (570-478 BCE), and Heraclitus (535-475 BCE). While each man had a different interest in science and the areas they studied included mathematics, astronomy, geometry, theology and metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics and cosmology; they have all had a significant impact on modern science. The advance of Aristotelian science was stopped by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Comnenus who reigned from 1081 until his death in 1118 due to