Empedocles of Acragas

Feb 12
2 min read

Updated: Mar 11

Ancient Greek philosopher, poet, and healer (5th century BC). Described as a student of Parmenides who later switched to Anaxagoras’ teachings and Pythagoreanism. Known for two signature works, On Nature and the Purifications (katharmoi). He claimed to be an “exiled god” sentenced to live among mortals until the wrongs he had committed are redressed. Empedocles insisted that the source of people’s suffering is their misguided belief that they live only once, and that corporal death signifies an end to their existence. He argued instead that we return again and again until we have fulfilled the very obligations that have necessitated our earthly sojourn. Part of our responsibilities is to purify ourselves, including our physical abode, the limbs, and so on.

Empedocles alluded to his divinity unabashedly, as even his greetings attest, without being accused of impiety. Apparently, after saving a city from the plague, the grateful citizens began to deify him:

“Friends, you who dwell in the great city beside the yellow Acragas

On the lofty citadel and who care for good deeds,

Respectful harbors for strangers, inexperienced in wickedness,

I greet you! I, who for you am an immortal god, no longer mortal,

I go among you, honored, as I am seen,

Crowned with ribbons and with blooming garlands.”

Empedocles later expanded upon the fate deities would suffer if they transgressed divine law:

“There is an oracle of Necessity, an ancient decree of the gods,

Eternal, sealed by broad oaths:

Whenever by crimes some one [scil. of them] pollutes his limbs, by murder

<…> whoever commits a fault by perjuring himself on oath,

The divinities (daimones) who have received as lot a long life,

Must wander thrice ten thousand seasons far from the blessed ones,

Growing during this time in the different forms of mortal beings,

Exchanging the painful paths of life.”

Empedocles’ exile from godhood has great significance for Kayin, who remembers having been Pausanias, the philosopher’s disciple and friend, as well as the person Empedocles often addresses in his teachings. According to Pausanias, Empedocles used his medical knowledge to bring a woman back to life. This feat is said to have shortened the thinker’s sentence on Earth, leading to the restoration of his godhood.

Empedocles’ philosophy is noteworthy as it had much influence on subsequent thinkers. Plato and Aristotle regularly refer to Empedocles. Of special interest are his teachings on the Four Elements (roots): Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, which make up all things and are subject to workings of the two cosmic forces, Love and Strife, which regulate the cyclic expansion and contraction of the universe.