Editing Empedocles (section)

==Life==
[[File:Empedocles in Thomas Stanley History of Philosophy.jpg|thumb|Empedocles, 17th-century engraving]]

The exact dates of Empedocles' birth and death are unknown, and ancient accounts of his life conflict on the exact details. However, they agree that he was born in the early 5th century BC in the Greek city of [[Akragas]] in [[Magna Graecia]], present-day [[Sicily]].{{sfn |Kingsley |Parry |2020 |loc=§1}} Modern scholars believe the accuracy of the accounts that he came from a rich and noble family and that his grandfather, also named Empedocles, had won a victory in the horse race at Olympia in the 71st [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympiad]] (496–495 BC).{{efn |Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 51}} Little else can be determined with accuracy.{{sfn |Kingsley |Parry |2020 |loc=§1}}

Primary sources of information on the life of Empedocles come from the [[Hellenistic period]], several centuries after his own death and long after any reliable evidence about his life would have perished.{{sfn|Inwood|2001|pp=6–8}} Modern scholarship generally believes that these biographical details, including [[Aristotle]]'s assertion that he was the "father of [[rhetoric]]",{{efn|Aristotle, ''Poetics'', 1, ap. Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 57.}} his chronologically impossible tutelage under [[Pythagoras]], and his employment as a doctor and miracle worker, were fabricated from interpretations of Empedocles' poetry, as was common practice for the biographies written during this time.{{sfn|Inwood|2001|pp=6–8}}

===Death and legacy===
[[File:The Death of Empedocles by Salvator Rosa.jpg|right|thumb|''The Death of Empedocles'' by [[Salvator Rosa]] (1615–1673), depicting the legendary alleged suicide of Empedocles jumping into [[Mount Etna]] in [[Sicily]]]]

According to [[Aristotle]], Empedocles died at the age of 60 ({{circa|430&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}), but other writers have him living as long as 109 years.{{efn|Apollonius, ap. Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 52, comp. 74, 73}} Likewise, myths survive about his death: a tradition traced to [[Heraclides Ponticus]] posits that some force removed him from Earth somehow, while another tradition had him die in the flames of Sicily’s [[Mount Etna]].{{efn|Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 67, 69, 70, 71; Horace, ''ad Pison''. 464, etc.}} [[Diogenes Laërtius]] records the legend that Empedocles threw himself into Mount Etna so people would believe his body had vanished and he had turned into an immortal god;{{efn|Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 69}} the volcano, however, threw back one of his bronze sandals, revealing the deceit. Another legend maintains that he jumped into the volcano to prove to his disciples that he was immortal: he believed he would come back as a god after being consumed by the fire. In ''{{interlanguage link|Icaro-Menippus|it|Icaromenippo}}'', a comedic dialogue written by the second-century satirist [[Lucian of Samosata]], Empedocles's final fate is re-imagined. Rather than being incinerated in Mount Etna, one of its eruptions carries him up into the heavens. Although singed by the ordeal, Empedocles survives and continues his life on the Moon, surviving on dew.

Burnet states that, although Empedocles likely did not die in Sicily, both general versions of the story (one in which he kills himself, the other in which he discovers he’s the first man to survive leaving Earth) could be easily accepted by ancient writers, as there was no local tradition to contradict them.{{sfn|Burnet|1892|pp=202–203}}

Empedocles's death is the subject of [[Friedrich Hölderlin]]'s play ''Tod des Empedokles'' (''[[The Death of Empedocles]]'') as well as [[Matthew Arnold]]'s poem ''[[Empedocles on Etna]]''.

[[Lucretius]] speaks of him enthusiastically, evidently viewing him as his model.{{efn|See especially Lucretius, i. 716, etc.{{sfn|Sedley|2003}}}} [[Horace]] also refers to the death of Empedocles in his work ''[[Ars Poetica (Horace)|Ars Poetica]]'' and admits poets have the [[right to die|right to destroy themselves]].{{efn|Horace ''[[Ars Poetica (Horace)|Ars Poetica]]''}}