Frammenti e testimonianze: Origini - Purificazioni. Con i frammenti del Papiro di Strasburgo

by Empedocles, Angelo Tonelli (Editor), Ilaria Ramelli (Translator)

Liberato da recenti interpretazioni che lo riducevano ad antesignano della scienza occidentale, Empedocle, recupera la sua indole originaria di poeta, sciamano e "physikòs", ovvero interprete della "physis", che è al tempo stesso origine e squadramento di tutte le cose. Misticismo, sapienza ed empirismo si intrecciano nella figura del sapiente di Agrigento, del V secolo a. C., che si offre come modello di una possibile unione tra pensiero scientifico e folgorazione intuitiva, tra mondo degli dei e mondo degli uomini.

Genres: Philosophy, Poetry, Greece, Nonfiction, Classics, Literature

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

"Empedocles (c. 490 – c. 430 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the originator of the cosmogenic theory of the four Classical elements. He also proposed powers called Love and Strife which would act as forces to bring about the mixture and separation of the elements. These physical speculations were part of a history of the universe which also dealt with the origin and development of life. Influenced by the Pythagoreans, he supported the doctrine of reincarnation. Empedocles is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to record his ideas in verse. Some of his work survives, more than in the case of any other Presocratic philosopher. Empedocles' death was mythologized by ancient writers, and has been the subject of a number of literary treatments.

Empedocles is considered the last Greek philosopher to write in verse and the surviving fragments of his teaching are from two poems, Purifications and On Nature."

-- Wikipedia

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely wish there were more extant fragments or collections of his work.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having recently been introduced to Empedocles by Peter Kingsley, I decided to read Empedocles' works myself - or what we have of them.

I have two major problems with this book. The first is that there is absolutely no context for where these fragments originate, or how they relate to each other. There is literally one short paragraph of introduction to the whole book.

Secondly, the King James language of the translation is unhelpful. I'm already trying to navigate a translation from ancient Greek (right?) into English of a very fragmentary work. I don't need the extra burden of translating from antiquated English into my natural language in my head.

It seems that the Poem of Empedocles is the book I was really looking for. This book, published in 1992, has the advantage of containing fragments discovered since the John Burnet translation was published in 1920.

Thankfully, at less than thirty pages and maybe 200 words on a page, the Burnet translation was quite a small malinvestment.

[Per · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://history.hanover.edu/texts/pre...

[Parker Gonzalez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Channel the Avatar with the most lengthy and poetic of all the Ancient Greek fragments! The fragments of Empedocles are perhaps the most lyrical of all the Ancient Greek texts, this is however, due to the Early Modern English translation presented here. However, Bible reminiscence aside, this book discusses such themes as the importance of knowledge, the assertion of the theory of relativity, and the finiteness of the Earth and the infinity of the universe. Compared to the fragments of Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, or Parmenides, this exceeds them all in length and is perhaps the most gorgeously written. Highly recommended for a quick and knowledgeable read.

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really the best for the poetry of Empedocles’ poetry, but it does include a slender and helpful notes section detailing thoughts and ideas about most of the fragments from pre1908 scholars. If you’ve read other versions of Empedocles in translation the notes section is, I think, what’s unique and kinda nice about this volume.

[poslyn rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't read this edition, mine had context for all fragments, exceedingly interesting and fun to contrast with Aristophanes speech in the Symposium. Beautiful ideas, wish they were true.

[Adrián P. C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐ OK/Good.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Empedocles' philosophy of opposites, elemental cosmology, and reincarnation make him feel more akin to Eastern philosophy, yet his work is undeniably an essential part of the Western tradition. On a purely poetic level, his fragments seem more interesting for their influence (i.e. how they were interpreted by later writers) than for how they read alone. But that's surely because so little remains of the original text.

[bella]

the awful heights of air... love and strife behind the universe's intermingling with itself....