Editing Empedocles

{{Short description|5th century BC Greek philosopher}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|region   = [[Western philosophy]]
|era      = [[Pre-Socratic philosophy]]
|image    = Empedokles.jpeg
|caption  = Empedocles of Agrigentum
|name     = Empedocles
|birth_date  = {{circa|494 BC}}
|birth_place = [[Akragas]], [[Sicily]]
|death_date  = {{circa|434 BC|lk=no}}
|main_interests = [[Cosmogony]], [[Biology]]
|notable_ideas = [[Classical element|Classical four elements]]: [[fire (classical element)|fire]], [[air (classical element)|air]], [[earth (classical element)|earth]] and [[water (classical element)|water]] <br>''[[Philotes (mythology)|Love]]'' and ''[[Neikea|Strife]]'' as opposing physical forces
}}

'''Empedocles''' ({{IPAc-en|ɛ|m|ˈ|p|ɛ|d|ə|k|l|iː|z|}}; {{langx|grc|[[wikt:Ἐμπεδοκλῆς|Ἐμπεδοκλῆς]]}}; {{circa|494|434&nbsp;BC}}, {{fl.}} 444–443 BC) was a [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] [[pre-Socratic philosopher]] and a native citizen of [[Akragas]], a Greek city in [[Sicily]]. Empedocles' philosophy is known best for originating the [[Cosmogony|cosmogonic]] theory of the four [[classical element]]s. He also proposed forces he called Love and Strife which would mix and separate the elements, respectively.

Empedocles challenged the practice of animal sacrifice and killing animals for food. He developed a distinctive doctrine of [[reincarnation]]. He is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to have recorded his ideas in verse. Some of his work survives, more than is the case for any other pre-Socratic philosopher. Empedocles' death was mythologized by ancient writers, and has been the subject of a number of literary treatments.

==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]]''}}

==Philosophy==
{{See also|Classical element#Hellenistic philosophy}}
Based on the surviving fragments of his work, modern scholars generally believe that Empedocles was directly responding to [[Parmenides]]' doctrine of [[monism]] and was likely acquainted with the work of [[Anaxagoras]], although it is unlikely he was aware of either the later [[Eleatics]] or the doctrines of the [[Atomists]].{{sfn|Inwood|2001|p=6-8}} Many later accounts of his life claim that Empedocles studied with the [[Pythagoreans]] on the basis of his doctrine of reincarnation, although he may have instead learned this from a local tradition rather than directly from the [[Pythagoreans]].{{sfn|Inwood|2001|p=6-8}}

===Cosmogony===
[[File:Empedocles_four_elements.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Empedocles' theory four elements (fire, air, water and earth), woodcut from a 1472 edition of Lucretius' [[De rerum natura|''De rerum natura'']]]]

Empedocles established four ultimate [[classical element|elements]] which make all the structures in the world—[[Fire (classical element)|fire]], [[Air (classical element)|air]], [[Water (classical element)|water]], [[Earth (classical element)|earth]].{{sfn|Wallace|1911}}{{efn|Frag. B17 ([[Simplicius of Cilicia|Simplicius]], ''Physics'', 157–159)}} Empedocles called these four elements "roots",<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ströker |first=E. |date=September 1968 |title=Element and Compound. On the Scientific History of Two Fundamental Chemical Concepts |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.196807181 |journal=Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English |language=en |volume=7 |issue=9 |pages=718–724 |doi=10.1002/anie.196807181 |issn=0570-0833}}</ref> which he also identified with the mythical names of [[Zeus]], [[Hera]], [[Persephone|Nestis]], and [[Aidoneus]]{{efn|Frag. B6 (Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Mathematicians'', x, 315)}} (e.g., "Now hear the fourfold roots of everything: enlivening Hera, Hades, shining Zeus. And Nestis, moistening mortal springs with tears").{{sfn|Kingsley|1995}} Empedocles never used the term "element" ({{lang|grc|στοιχεῖον}}, ''stoicheion''), which seems to have been first used by [[Plato]].{{efn|Plato, ''Timaeus'', 48b–c}}{{better source needed|date=September 2022}} According to the different proportions in which these four indestructible and unchangeable elements are combined with each other the difference of the structure is produced.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} It is in the aggregation and segregation of elements thus arising, that Empedocles, like the atomists, found the real process which corresponds to what is popularly termed growth, increase or decrease. One interpreter describes his philosophy as asserting that "Nothing new comes or can come into being; the only change that can occur is a change in the juxtaposition of element with element."{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} This theory of the four elements became the standard [[dogma]] for the next two thousand years.

The four elements, however, are simple, eternal, and unalterable, and as change is the consequence of their mixture and separation, it was also necessary to suppose the existence of moving powers that bring about mixture and separation. The four elements are both eternally brought into union and parted from one another by two divine powers, [[Love]] and [[Wikt:strife|Strife]] (''[[Philotes (mythology)|Philotes]]'' and ''[[Neikea|Neikos]]'').{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} Love ({{lang|grc|φιλότης}}) is responsible for the attraction of different forms of what we now call [[matter]], and Strife ({{lang|grc|νεῖκος}}) is the cause of their separation.{{efn|Frag. B35, B26 (Simplicius, ''Physics'', 31–34)}} If the four elements make up the universe, then Love and Strife explain their variation and harmony. Love and Strife are attractive and repulsive forces, respectively, which are plainly observable in human behavior, but also pervade the universe. The two forces wax and wane in their dominance, but neither force ever wholly escapes the imposition of the other.

[[File:Empedocles cosmic cycle concept map.svg|upright=1.75<!--format for readability of diagram text-->|left|thumb|Empedocles' cosmic cycle is based on the conflict between love and strife.]]

As the best and original state, there was a time when the pure elements and the two powers co-existed in a condition of rest and inertness in the form of a sphere.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} The elements existed together in their purity, without mixture and separation, and the uniting power of Love predominated in the sphere: the separating power of Strife guarded the extreme edges of the sphere.{{efn|Frag. B35 (Simplicius, ''Physics'', 31–34; ''On the Heavens'', 528–530)}} Since that time, strife gained more sway{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} and the bond which kept the pure elementary substances together in the [[sphere]] was dissolved. The elements became the world of phenomena we see today, full of contrasts and oppositions, operated on by both Love and Strife.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} Empedocles assumed a cyclical universe whereby the elements return and prepare the formation of the sphere for the next period of the universe.

Empedocles attempted to explain the separation of elements, the formation of earth and sea, of Sun and Moon, of atmosphere.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} He also dealt with the first origin of plants and animals, and with the [[physiology]] of humans.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} As the elements entered into combinations, there appeared strange results—heads without necks, arms without shoulders.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}}{{efn|Frag. B57 (Simplicius, ''On the Heavens'', 586)}} Then as these fragmentary structures met, there were seen horned heads on human bodies, bodies of oxen with human heads, and figures of [[intersexuality|double sex]].{{sfn|Wallace|1911}}{{efn|Frag. B61 (Aelian, ''On Animals'', xvi 29)}} But most of these products of natural forces disappeared as suddenly as they arose; only in those rare cases where the parts were found to be adapted to each other did the complex structures last.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} Thus the organic universe sprang from spontaneous aggregations that suited each other as if this had been intended.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}} Soon various influences reduced creatures of double sex to a male and a female, and the world was replenished with organic life.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}}

===Psychology===
Like [[Pythagoras]], Empedocles believed in the [[transmigration of the soul]] or [[metempsychosis]], that souls can be reincarnated between humans, animals and even plants.{{efn|Frag. B127 (Aelian, ''On Animals'', xii. 7); Frag. B117 (Hippolytus, i. 3.2)}} According to him, all humans, or maybe only a selected few among them,{{sfn|Inwood|2001|pp=55–68}} were originally long-lived [[daimon]]s who dwelt in a state of bliss until committing an unspecified crime, possibly bloodshed or perjury.{{sfn|Inwood|2001|pp=55–68}}{{sfn|Primavesi|2008|pp=261–268}} As a consequence, they fell to Earth, where they would be forced to spend 30,000 cycles of metempsychosis through different bodies before being able to return to the sphere of [[divinity]].{{sfn|Inwood|2001|pp=55–68}}{{sfn|Primavesi|2008|pp=261–268}} One's behavior during his lifetime would also determine his next incarnation.{{sfn|Inwood|2001|pp=55–68}} Wise people, who have learned the secret of life, are closer to the divine,{{sfn|Wallace|1911}}{{efn|Clement of Alexandria, ''Miscellanies'', iv. 23.150}} while their souls similarly are closer to the freedom from the cycle of reincarnations, after which they are able to rest in happiness for eternity.{{efn|Clement of Alexandria, ''Miscellanies'', v. 14.122}} This cycle of mortal incarnation seems to have been inspired by the god [[Apollo]]'s punishment as a servant to [[Admetus of Pherae|Admetus]].{{sfn|Primavesi|2008|pp=261–268}}

[[File:AGMA Clepsydre.jpg|thumb|right|A display of two 5th century BCE clepsydras, or "water clocks" from the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens]]

Empedocles was a [[vegetarianism|vegetarian]]{{efn|Plato, Meno}}{{better source needed|date=September 2022}} and advocated vegetarianism, since the bodies of animals are also dwelling places of punished souls.{{efn|Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Mathematicians'', ix. 127; Hippolytus, vii. 21}} For Empedocles, all living things were on the same spiritual plane; plants and animals are links in a chain where humans are a link too.{{sfn|Wallace|1911}}

Empedocles is credited with the first comprehensive theory of light and vision. Historian [[Will Durant]] noted that "Empedocles suggested that light takes time to pass from one point to another."<ref>Durant, Will. ''[[The Story of Civilization]]'', Volume 2: ''The Life of Greece'' (New York; Simon & Schuster) 1939, p. 339.</ref>{{better source needed|date=September 2022}} He put forward the idea that we see objects because light streams out of our eyes and touches them. While flawed, this became the fundamental basis on which later Greek philosophers and mathematicians like [[Euclid]] would construct some of the most important theories of light, vision, and optics.<ref name = Ep1>''[[Light Fantastic (TV series)|Let There be Light]]'' 7 August 2006 01:50 BBC Four</ref>{{better source needed|date=September 2022}}

Knowledge is explained by the principle that elements in the things outside us are perceived by the corresponding elements in ourselves.{{efn|Frag. B109 (Aristotle, ''On the Soul'', 404b11–15)}} Like is known by like. The whole body is full of [[Sweat gland|pores]] and hence [[Cellular respiration|respiration]] takes place over the whole frame. In the organs of sense these pores are specially adapted to receive the effluences which are continually rising from bodies around us; thus [[perception]] occurs.{{efn|Frag. B100 (Aristotle, ''On Respiration'', 473b1–474a6)}} In vision, certain particles go forth from the eye to meet similar particles given forth from the object, and the resultant contact constitutes vision.{{efn|Frag. B84 (Aristotle, ''On the Senses and their Objects'', 437b23–438a5)}} Perception is not merely a passive reflection of external objects.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theodora.com/encyclopedia/e/empedocles.html|title=Empedocles – Encyclopedia}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=September 2022}}

Empedocles also attempted to explain the phenomenon of [[Respiration (physiology)|respiration]] by means of an elaborate analogy with the [[Water clock|clepsydra]], an ancient device for conveying liquids from one vessel to another.{{efn| Aristotle, On Respiration 13}}{{sfn|Barnes|2002|p=313}} This fragment has sometimes been connected to a passage{{efn|Aristotle, ''Physics'', 213a24–7}} in [[Aristotle]]'s ''[[Physics (Aristotle)|Physics]]'' where Aristotle refers to people who twisted wineskins and captured air in clepsydras to demonstrate that [[Vacuum|void]] does not exist. The fragment certainly implies that Empedocles knew about the [[Matter|corporeality]] of air, but he says nothing whatever about the void, and there is no evidence that Empedocles performed any experiment with clepsydras.{{sfn|Barnes|2002|p=313}}

==Writings==

[[File:Empedokles fragment Physika I 262–300.jpg|thumb|The Strasbourg Empedocles papyrus contained over 50 lines from Empedocles' work ''On Nature'' that were not published until 1999.{{sfn|Martin|Primavesi|1999}}]]

According to Diogenes Laertius,{{efn|Diogenes Laërtius, viii. 77}} Empedocles wrote two poems, "On Nature" and "On Purifications", which together comprised 5000 lines. However, only some 550 lines of his poetry survive, quoted in fragments by later ancient sources.

In old editions of Empedocles, about 450 lines were ascribed to "On Nature" which outlined his philosophical system, and explains not only the nature and history of the universe, including his theory of the four [[classical element]]s, but also theories on causation, perception, and thought, as well as explanations of terrestrial phenomena and biological processes. The other 100 lines were typically ascribed to his "Purifications", which was taken to be a poem about ritual purification, or the poem that contained all his religious and ethical thought, which early editors supposed that it was a poem that offered a mythical account of the world which may, nevertheless, have been part of Empedocles' philosophical system.

A late 20th century discovery has changed this situation. The Strasbourg papyrus{{sfn|Martin|Primavesi|1999}}{{efn|Not to be confused with The [[Strasbourg papyrus]]}} contains a large section of "On Nature", including many lines formerly attributed to "On Purifications".{{sfn|Kingsley|Parry|2020}} This has raised considerable debate{{sfn|Inwood|2001|pp=8–21}}{{sfn|Trépanier|2004}} about whether the surviving fragments of his teaching should be attributed to two separate poems, with different subject matter; whether they may all derive from one poem with two titles;{{sfn|Osborne|1987|pages=24–31, 108}} or whether one title refers to part of the whole poem.

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
=== Ancient Testimony ===
*{{cite LotEP |chapter=Empedocles}}

=== References ===
*{{cite book |last1=Barnes |first1=Jonathan |title=The Presocratic Philosophers |date=11 September 2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-96512-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eR9-z-3hcjAC |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last1=Burnet |first1=John |title=Early Greek Philosophy |date=1892 |publisher=Adam and Charles Black |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AXsRAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last1=Inwood |first1=Brad |title=The Poem of Empedocles: A Text and Translation with an Introduction |date=2001 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-8353-1 |edition=Revised |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dctQvnw38YC |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last1=Guthrie |first1=W. K. C. |title=A History of Greek Philosophy: Volume 2, The Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus |date=1962 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-29421-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__sIfvwqVWwC |language=en}}
*{{cite SEP |url-id=empedocles |title=Empedocles |date=2020 |author-last1=Kingsley  |author-first1=K. Scarlett | author-last2=Parry |author-first2=Richard}}
*{{cite book |last=Kingsley |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Kingsley |title=Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition |year=1995 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-814988-3}}
*{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Alain |last2=Primavesi |first2=Oliver |title=L'Empédocle de Strasbourg: (P. Strasb. gr. Inv. 1665-1666) |date=1999 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-015129-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C6MDAQAAIAAJ |language=fr}}
*{{cite encyclopedia |title=Empedocles: Physical and Mythical Divinity |last1=Primavesi |first1=Oliver |editor-last1=Curd |editor-first1=Patricia |editor-last2=Graham |editor-first2=Daniel W. |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of Presocratic Philosophy |date=27 October 2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press, US |isbn=978-0-19-514687-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=14muxtEiBG0C |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last1=Osborne |first1=Catherine |title=Rethinking early Greek philosophy : Hippolytus of Rome and the Presocratics |date=1987 |publisher=Duckworth |location=London |isbn=0-7156-1975-6}}
*{{cite book |last1=Sedley |first1=D. N. |title=Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-54214-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ct9K-x61CH0C |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last1=Trépanier |first1=Simon |title=Empedocles: An Interpretation |date=2004 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-96700-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lc0DAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Empedocles | volume= 9 |last= Wallace |first= William |author-link= William Wallace |pages = 344–345 |short= 1}}
*{{cite book |last=Wright |first=M. R. |title=Empedocles: The Extant Fragments |year=1995 |edition=new |publisher=Bristol Classical Press |location=London |isbn=1-85399-482-0}}

===Further reading===
*{{cite book |last1=Chitwood |first1=Ava |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJ6_jlsj0yQC |title=Death by philosophy : the biographical tradition in the life and death of the archaic philosophers Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Democritus |date=2004 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor |isbn=9780472113880}}
*{{cite IEP |url-id=empedocl |title=Empedocles |last=Campbell |first=Gordon}}
*{{cite book |last1=Freeman |first1=Kathleen |title=Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers: A Complete Translation of the Fragments in Diels Fragmente Der Vorsokratiker |date=1948 |publisher=Forgotten Books |isbn=978-1-60680-256-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASijqFryr5IC |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last=Gottlieb |first=Anthony |title=The Dream of Reason: A History of Western Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance |year=2000 |publisher=Allen Lane |location=London |isbn=0-7139-9143-7}}
*{{cite book |last1=Kirk |first1=G. S. |author-link=Geoffrey Kirk |last2=Raven |first2=J.E. |author2-link=John Raven |last3=Schofield |first3=M. |title=The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History |year=1983 |edition=2nd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-25444-2}}
*{{cite book |last=Lambridis |first=Helle |title=Empedocles : a philosophical investigation |year=1976 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa, AL |isbn=0-8173-6615-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/empedocles00hell }}
*{{cite book |last=Long |first=A. A. |title=The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-44122-6}}
*{{cite book |last1=Saetta Cottone |first1=Rossella |title=Soleil et connaissance. Empédocle avant Platon |date=2023 |publisher=Les Belles Lettres |location=Paris |isbn=9782350882031}}
*{{cite book |last1=Stamatellos |first1=Giannis |title=Plotinus and the Presocratics: A Philosophical Study of Presocratic Influences in Plotinus' Enneads. |date=2007 |publisher=SUNY Press |location=Albany}}
*{{cite book |last1=Stamatellos |first1=Giannis |title=Introduction to Presocratics: A Thematic Approach to Early Greek Philosophy with Key Readings |date=2012 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell}}
*{{cite book |last=Wellmann|first=Tom|title=Die Entstehung der Welt. Studien zum Straßburger Empedokles-Papyrus|year=2020|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|location=Berlin/Boston|isbn=978-3-11-063372-6}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource author}}
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Empedocles
  |viaf= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
*[http://history.hanover.edu/texts/presoc/emp.html#book1 Empedokles: Fragments], translated by Arthur Fairbanks, 1898.
*[https://sites.google.com/site/empedoclesacragas/Home Empedocles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909215802/https://sites.google.com/site/empedoclesacragas/Home |date=9 September 2020 }} by Jean-Claude Picot with an extended and updated bibliography
*[http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=text:empedocles_fragments Empedocles: Fragments] at [http://demonax.info/ demonax.info]
*{{MacTutor Biography|id=Empedocles}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Empedocles}}
*{{Librivox author |id=8591}}

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