 In 1877, Tannéry argued that Zeno of Elea’s arguments about divisibility would make most sense if formulated in response to an atomist theory supposedly held by some early Pythagoreans. Tannéry’s thesis has been thoroughly challenged since then: most scholars instead consider atomism to be one of a number of positions formulated in response to the arguments of Parmenides and Zeno (first half of the fifth century).