more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
In the old days people regarded the sun, the moon, rivers, springs, and everything else which is helpful for life as gods, because we are helped by them, just as the Egyptians regard the Nile as a god.
Gist of Idea
People used to think anything helpful to life was a god, as the Egyptians think the Nile a god
Source
Prodicus (fragments/reports [c.423 BCE], B05), quoted by Sextus Empiricus - Against the Professors (six books) 9.18
Book Ref
'The First Philosophers', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 2000], p.249