Editing Parmenides (section)

==== B10-15: Cosmology ====
[[File:Milky_Way_Night_Sky_Black_Rock_Desert_Nevada.jpg|thumb|The milky way features in Parmenides' cosmology]]
Although the second half of the poem is less well preserved, a rough outline of Parmenides' cosmology can still be tentatively reconstructed on the basis of the surviving fragments along with testimony of his philosophical theories from ancient doxographers, especially [[Aetius (philosopher)|Aetius]] and [[Plutarch]]. [[Plutarch]] says in ''adv. Colotem'' 1114b (A10) that, from the original opposites, Parmenides elaborates an order in which the [[Earth]], the [[heaven]], the [[Sun]], the [[Moon]], the origin of man, and that he "did not fail to discuss any of the important questions." Simplicius,<ref>in ''de Caelo'' 559, 26 (A11)</ref> says that Parmenides also dealt with the parts of animals. Plato places him alongside [[Hesiod]] as the creator of a [[theogony]],<ref>(''Symposium'' 195c)</ref> and Cicero<ref>(''de Natura Deorum'' I, 11, 28 = A37)</ref> reports that the poem contained certain Hesiodic abstract divinities,<ref>(''Theogony'' 223– 232)</ref> such as Love, War and Discord.{{sfn|Guthrie|1979|p=74}}

Fragments 10 and 11, which are introductory to cosmology, confirm what is expressed by the testimonies, at least with regard to the Sun, the Moon, and the sky, although it also includes the [[Aether (classical element)|aether]], the stars, the constellations (n.b.: the word σήματα used by Parmenides can mean both "constellations" and "signs"){{sfn|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1982}} and the Milky Way, and mythical elements such as [[Mount Olympus]]. The Parmenidean goddess presents a cosmic order in fr. B12<ref>Simplicius in his ''Physics'', 39, 14 and 31, 13</ref> and the summary of Aetius<ref>II, 7, 1 = fr. A 37</ref> that is extremely difficult to reconstruct, due to the scarcity and obscurity of the fragments.{{sfn|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1982}}{{sfn|Guthrie|1979|p=76}}{{sfn|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1982}} The beginning of fragment 12 and the testimony of Aetius <ref>(II, 7, 1 = A37)</ref> introduce into cosmology certain "rings"<ref>(στεφάναι ''stephánai'', which should be translated by «rings» and not by «crowns», as does [[Cicero]], ''De nat. deor.'' I 11, 28 = A37</ref>) The existence of concentric rings of a diverse nature is postulated as the structure of the cosmos: some rings were of pure fire and others of a mixture of fire and darkness, the rings closer to the center participated more in fire, while those further from the center were more filled with night. There are also rarified and dense ones. Surrounding everything is a solid wall. The doctrine of the rings seems to be the influence of [[Anaximander]]<ref>(12 A 11 and Aetius, II, 20, 1; 21, 1 and 16, 5)</ref> and of [[Hesiod]],<ref>''Theogony'' 382</ref> who speaks of the "crowned" sky and the stars. At the center of the system, an unnamed [[daimon]]<ref>(δαίμων "dáimōn", "goddess" or "demon")</ref> coordinates all the cosmological elements, both sensible opposites and Necessity, and presides over the mixture and attraction of the sexes, and the "abhorrent" birth.<ref>(B 12, 3-6)</ref> [[Plutarch]]<ref>('' Amat. '' 756e–f)</ref> calls her [[Aphrodite]], before citing fragment 13 of her, which marks her as the mother of [[Eros]], while Aetius identifies her with Ananke and also Dike, Δίκη, present in the proem, here presiding over movement and birth. 
[[File:Ananka i Mojre.JPG|thumb|Modern illustration of Ananke, the personification of Necessity, above the Moirai, the Fates in the [[Myth of Er]] of Plato's ''Republic'']]
Fragment 10 gives a predominant role to [[Ananke]](Ἀνάγκη, ''Anánkē''), the personification of Necessity, which obliges Heaven to keep the stars within its limits (πεῖρατα).{{sfn|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1982}} The role of Necessity in this system has been compared to the one Plato gives it in the [[Myth of Er]].<ref>''Republic'' 616b–621d</ref> There Plato places it in the center of certain concentrically arranged turrets, each one representing the celestial spheres that support the fixed stars, the nearby heavenly bodies, the planets, the Moon and the Sun.<ref>Morrison, «Parmenides and Er», in: ''[[The Journal of Hellenic Studies]]'' 75 (1955).</ref>{{sfn|Guthrie|1979|p=76-77}}{{sfn|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1982}} Both this cosmology and the Myth of Er  also have similarities with Pythagorean cosmology, where the center of the universe was generally identified with [[Hestia]] (in non-geocentric Pythagorean systems such as [[Philolaus]]) and with Mother Earth (in geocentric Pythagorean systems).{{sfn|Guthrie|1979|p=77}} Diogenes Laertius claims that to Parmenides was the first to state idea that the Earth has a spherical shape and that it is located in the center,<ref>(''Lives'', IX 21)</ref> but he also cites testimonies that affirm that it was [[Pythagoras]] and not Parmenides who held these ideas<ref>(''Lives'', VIII, 48)</ref> and also that it was [[Anaximander]].<ref>(''Lives'' II, 1)</ref> Beyond the evident doubts that these contradictory affirmations generate, Guthrie believes that in this Parmenides followed Pythagoras in the general lines of the description of the physical world.{{sfn|Guthrie|1979|p=79}}

Various reconstructions of the concentric annular strata and their identification with the substantial elements of the cosmos have been attempted: 
* The solid wall that surrounds everything is sometimes identified with the [[Aether (mythology)|ether]],<ref name="MorrC">Morrison, «Parmenides and Er», p. 64.</ref><ref name="UntC">Untersteiner, ''Parmenide'', p. 83.</ref> or as distinct from all other elements.<ref name="FC">Finkelberg, «The Cosmology of Parmenides», p. 313ff.</ref>
* The ethereal ring of pure fire is where the morning star is located.<ref name="FC"/>
* Rings of mixed nature. The upper ring of these is the sky proper where the Sun is, and a little lower down, the stars, the Milky Way and, closer to the dense rings, the Moon.<ref name="UntC"/><ref name="FC"/>
* The dense rings, whose substance is night, are usually identified with the Earth.<ref name="UntC"/><ref name="MorrC"/><ref name="FC"/>

Fragments 14 and 15 refer to the [[Moon]]: alien light (ἀλλότριον φώς) shining around the Earth» and always looking at the Sun, which has been interpreted as the observation that the Moon reflects the rays of the Sun.{{sfn|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1982}} Aetius attributes this view Parmenides,<ref>(II, 26, 2 = A 42)</ref> but claims that Thales had already said it, and later Parmenides and [[Pythagoras]] added to this,<ref>(II, 28, 5 = A42)</ref> On the other hand, [[Plato]] attributes the idea to [[Anaxagoras]], and elsewhere Aetius says that Parmenides thought that the Moon was made of fire (A 43) —implying that he thought he had his own light.{{sfn|Guthrie|1979|p=80}} In the Homeric poems,<ref>(''Il''. V, 214; ''Od''. XVIII, 219)</ref> "alien light" simply means "foreigner", without reference to light.{{sfn|Guthrie|1979|p=80}}

In fragment 15a there is only one word: ὑδατόριζον:(''hydatórizon'', “rooted in water”) an adjective referring, according to its transmitter ([[Basil of Caesarea]]), to [[Earth]]. This idea has been compared to the Homeric tradition that conceived of [[Ocean (mythology)|Ocean]] as the origin of all things,<ref>(''Iliad'' XIV, 246)</ref><ref>Sapphiropulus, ''L'Ecole eleate'', p. 124.</ref> as a more general allusion to the Homeric world, which located various rivers in [[Hades]],<ref>(v. ''Od.'' X, 513)</ref>{{sfn|Guthrie|1979|p=79}} to the roots of the Earth mentioned by [[Hesiod]]<ref>(''Theogony'', 728)</ref> and [[Xenophanes]],<ref>(21 A 41)</ref> or to [[Thales of Miletus]]'s view that the Earth floated on water.<ref>Joge Pérez Tudela, ''Poema'', pp. 216-217.</ref>