[say what]

as far as we know, the first person to propound a theory of light was the greek philosopher and mystic pythagoras, who around 540 b.c. said that objects gave off small particles which in some way resembled their source. when these particles struck the eye, they produced vision. a hundred years later empedocles suggested that the reverse took place, that sight was the result of something which emanated from the eye, striking objects in the field of vision.

richard morris, light
1979

it's funny how fond we still are of those oddly-named greeks, no matter how wrong they were.