Empedocles: The Enigmatic Life of the Ancient Greek Philosopher

Empedocles was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, as well as poet and politician, who left an indelible mark on Western thought. However, he is mostly overshadowed by other more famous and popular Greek philosophers. He is, thus, not widely known to the broader public.

Living in the 5th century BC in the city of Acragas, a Greek colony in Sicily, Italy, he is best known for having identified the four classical elements, namely earth, air, fire, and water. The cosmic forces of Love and Strife were also part of his broader worldview.

Much about his life remains unknown, but he became relatively famous as a result of a legendary death. He supposedly threw himself into the crater of Mount Etna for various reasons (to be further explored below).

Early life of Empedocles and sources of inspiration

Born around 494 BC, Empedocles was the son of a wealthy aristocratic family in Acragas. His grandfather, also named Empedocles, had won a horse race at the Olympic Games. The younger Empedocles was drawn to philosophy from an early age. He studied with the Pythagoreans and was influenced by the ideas of Parmenides, who taught that reality is unchanging, and Heraclitus, who saw the world as being in a state of constant flux.

Empedocles was not happy to remain limited in the realm of abstract thought. He became involved in the political life of Acragas, supporting the cause of democracy and fighting against inequality. Known for his flamboyant dress style, he was often seen in public wearing purple robes and bronze sandals, setting him apart from the crowd.

Philosophical ideas of Greek philosopher Empedocles

One of the few things that we know about Empedocles is that he tried throughout his life to reconcile the seemingly contradictory ideas of Parmenides and Heraclitus.

He believed all matter is composed of four fundamental “roots” or elements: earth, air, fire, and water.

These elements, Empedocles argued, are eternal and unchanging in their nature and in line with the thoughts and beliefs of Parmenides. However, Empedocles claimed that they were constantly being mixed and separated by two cosmic forces, namely Love and Strife. This element is what mainly accounts for the appearance of change Heraclitus observed in his work.

In the cosmology of Empedocles, the universe goes through the same endless cycles in which the elements are alternately drawn together by Love but also pulled apart by Strife. When Love dominates, Empedocles argued, the elements are perfectly harmoniously blended into a sphere. However, when Strife gets the upper hand, the elements remain distinct and in discord. Thus, the world as we know it exists in a state of perfect balance between these two extremes, creating the living world as we humans know it.

Another element crucial to the study of Empedocles is his belief in the transmigration of souls.

He was a firm believer in the idea that the soul is not confined to humans but is truly immortal as it passes through numerous incarnations. During these incarnations, the soul lives in the bodies of humans, animals, and even plants, complicating things even further. This led him to become an early proponent of vegetarianism and to speak out against the practice of animal sacrifice, something that was so widely practiced and accepted in the ancient world. According to his view, all living beings—humans, animals, and plants—are kin, and to harm another is to risk harming someone who was once a friend or family member in a past life.

Other pursuits and abilities of Empedocles

Empedocles, like many other prominent ancient Greek personalities, was also a man of many talents. He was highly regarded by his contemporaries for the breadth of his knowledge. Aristotle, in his Poetics, actually referred to Empedocles. He said that he was the inventor of rhetoric, the art of persuasive speaking in public.

Empedocles was also said to be a particularly skilled orator, capable of swaying crowds with his words and convincing people to change their minds on issues he argued about. He was also a distinguished poet. Currently, we know that he composed two major works. The first one was probably called “On Nature.” Here, he mentioned his cosmological theories. The other was “Purifications” in which he dealt primarily with religious themes and the transmigration of souls, as formerly mentioned.

In addition to his rich and influential philosophical and literary pursuits, Empedocles was believed to possess almost magical abilities by his contemporaries.

He was said to have been able to control the winds and rain and even bring the dead back to life. Of course, such claims are bizarre and at the very least seem mythical. While these stories are undoubtedly exaggerated, they do point to his great reputation as a man of extraordinary powers and knowledge.

It is also possible that Empedocles studied medicine in Egypt at some point in his life and went on to establish a medical school in his native Sicily. This also contributed to his reputation on the island as a wonder worker.

Despite his brilliant intellectual pursuits, Empedocles chose to remain engaged in the everyday political life of his hometown, Acragas. He is credited with helping to institute democratic reforms in the city. He boosted citizen participation in public life through his exemplary oratorical skills. In his speeches, he advocated for greater equality and participation in the government by all men.

Legendary death

The most fascinating aspect of Empedocles’ life is actually one that allegedly came about at the very end of his life. There is a legend about Empedocles and the way he approached his own death. According to this tale, the philosopher decided to throw himself into the crater of the famous Mount Etna, a volcano in Sicily that is active to this day. His motive, allegedly, was to convince people he was immortal and that, following his death, within the volcano, he would vanish from the earth and become a god. However, according to this myth, the volcano supposedly threw back one of his bronze sandals, revealing the truth of his demise and the fact that people never actually believed him.

This dramatic story was very widely circulated in ancient times and became what we’d call today an urban legend. It was broadly mentioned by writers such as Diogenes Laertius and Horace, among others. However, as is understandable, the validity of this story cannot be verified. A more plausible account suggests Empedocles didn’t actually die on Sicily but in the Peloponnese region of Greece around the age of sixty.

Nonetheless, this legend of his death, while probably largely fictitious, is evidence of the aura of mystery and wonder that surrounded him and his abilities in antiquity.

Legacy and influence of Greek philosopher Empedocles

The ideas of Empedocles had a truly profound impact on many subsequent generations of philosophers across the ancient Greek world.

Plato, for example, in his Timaeus, actually borrowed the concept of the four elements that Empedocles had proposed. On the other hand, Aristotle engaged critically with the theories of Empedocles in his own work, proving the impact he had on these two great Greek thinkers. The Stoics, too, were influenced by Empedocles’ cosmology, as they adapted his ideas accordingly to fit their own philosophical framework and thoughts.

Beyond his influence on ancient thought, however, Empedocles continued to inspire writers and thinkers across generations and ages well into modern times. The Romantic poets were particularly drawn to the fascinating myth about his spectacular death on Mount Etna. Matthew Arnold and Friedrich Hölderlin, two important 19th-century poets from England and Germany respectively, both wrote beautiful poems, titled Empedocles on Etna, using the legendary end of the Greek philosopher as a symbol for the romantic ideal of the tortured genius on this planet.

Today, Empedocles is recognized by experts and those who simply know his work as a major figure in the overall development of Western science and philosophy. His fascinating theory of the four elements, while obviously not scientifically accurate, represented a crucial step towards a much more systematic way of researching and understanding the natural world. His conception of the universe as a real battleground between opposing forces of Love and Strife can also be seen as a precursor to modern ideas on the dynamic relationship of attractive and repulsive forces in physics.

Moreover, the truly holistic worldview of Empedocles, in which all things are interconnected and souls transmigrate between different forms of life, including humans, animals, and plants, has a distinctly modern resonance and is actually believed by many people around the world. It also suggests a more pluralistic and non-mechanistic way of understanding the cosmos, one that has found supporters and proponents in contemporary ecological and spiritual thought and other movements of similar ideology.

It is safe to say Empedocles was a truly remarkable figure, a real polymath whose ideas and even his legends continued to inspire and captivate us for over two millennia after his death.