Empedoclea

text and translation of selected fragments of empedocles

In my study of Empedocles’ use of φύσις, I’ve developed somewhat unusual interpretations of two key fragments, frr. 8 and 9 (in the Diels-Kranz numbering). I won’t go into all the details here, but I’d like to share some of the more concrete and philological results of my study. Here are the texts as I (tentatively) print them now in my dissertation, along with my (provisional) translations.

8

9

And now some more lighthearted suggestions:

Empedocles channelled through Bosch?

AN EMPEDOCLEAN VISION OF TWO DIVINE PAINTERS?

See fr. 23, the famous “painters simile,” where the use of the dual number for three participles that modify the painters has recently been taken to mean that Empedocles had precisely two painters in mind, and that those painters stand allegorically for Love and (perhaps) Strife! (I am currently preparing a rebuttal of such interpretations of the dual participles, but still find the interpretations stimulating for the imagination at least!)