Background to Anyte
Anyte.net was started in 2009, as a project to document and celebrate those who's enthusiasm for learning has spanned boundaries, rather than the more conventional approach of sticking to a particular discipline. You may call them polymaths or the "multi-skilled", perhaps masters of left brain and right brain thinking, or in less flattering terms jacks-of-all-trades. The biographies in this website seek to focus as much on those accomplishments which led to fame or fortune, as on those which did not.In ancient times, the divisions between various professions was much less distinct than it is today. In today's world, a doctor is expected to specialise in medicine; an engineer in stuctural, electrical or perhaps electronic engineering and a lawyer must be expert in their chosen legal specialism. Try to cross boundaries and you risk being seen as a "jack of all trades".
From Ancient Greece to Adam Smith
It wasn't always so. In ancient Greece, you might have been as well respected for medicine and healing, as for your art and poetry. One such individual was Anyte of Tegea, a woman from the 3rd century BC who is mostly associated with poetry, yet is also mentioned in various historical documents as a healer. Click to visit a more complete biography of Anyte of Tegea.Perhaps Adam Smith is to blame? Back in 1776, when he published The Wealth of Nations and promoted the economic value of specialism, he started a philosophy that led to both the creation of Henry Ford's production lines and affordable motoring, as well as the decline of the traditional artisan, who owned his own tools and could craft a product from start to finish.
