Empedocles
Pre-Socratic
Four roots: earth, water, air, fire. Two forces: love draws together, strife tears apart. He jumped into a volcano to prove he was a god.
Empedocles was a poet, healer, and self-proclaimed miracle worker from Acragas in Sicily. He proposed that all matter is composed of four eternal elements mixed and separated by two cosmic forces. Love unites, Strife divides, and the universe cycles between their dominance. He wrote in verse, performed public healings, and according to legend threw himself into Mount Etna. His sandal was found at the rim.
Places
Ideas
Words
“There is only mixing and exchange of what is mixed. 'Nature' is only a name given to these things by men.”
Works
Life & Moments
Born in Acragas, Sicily
Born into a wealthy family in Acragas (modern Agrigento), a Greek colony on Sicily's southern coast.
The Four Roots
Proposed that all matter is composed of four eternal elements (earth, water, air, fire) mixed by Love and separated by Strife.
Death at Mount Etna
Legend says he leapt into the crater of Mount Etna, either to prove he was a god or simply because he chose to leave. A bronze sandal was found at the rim.