Empedocles (around 495 - 435 BC) Greek philosopher and prophet
Born in Acragas (present Agrigento on Sicily, Italy), Empedocles was doctor, prophet, wise man, philosopher and politician. He was leader of the democrats in Acragas. When he was offered the crown, he refused. A twist in political fortunes drove Empedocles and his followers into exile.
The politician Empedocles however is less significant than the thinker and miracle worker Empedocles. Heracleides Pontikos, one of Plato's students, wrote a story on how Empedocles resurrected his own wife. As a natural philosopher, he was highly rated by Aristotle. In his poem Peri physeos ('About nature') he situated the universe in four roots or elements:
According to Empedocles, continuously changing combinations of these elements caused the existence of different substances and materials. In this process, hate and love were decisive factors, being both joining and separating forces. In his largely destroyed poetic work Katharmoi ('Cleansings') he shows his thoughts on his development as a human being:
- boy
- girl
- bird
- fish
- human
Thanks to Diogenes Laërtios we also know how Empedocles came to his end. The prophet wanted his followers to believe he would rise to heaven as a God. To mask his human death, he jumped into the Etna crater when he felt his time was near. There, Laërtios shows us, Empedocles fell terribly short posthumously: the Etna spit out one of his sandals.