Empedocles

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History & Society

Empedocles

Greek philosopher and scholar

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Feb 29, 2024 • Article History

Category: History & Society

Born:: c. 490 bc, Acragas, Sicily

Died:: 430, the Peloponnese, Greece

Subjects Of Study:: cosmology; element; reincarnation; strife

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Empedocles (born c. 490 bc, Acragas, Sicily—died 430, the Peloponnese, Greece) was a Greek philosopher, statesman, poet, religious teacher, and physiologist. According to legend only, Empedocles was a self-styled god who brought about his own death, as dramatized by the English poet Matthew Arnold in “Empedocles on Etna,” by flinging himself into the volcanic crater atop Mount Etna to convince followers of his divinity. To his contemporaries he did indeed seem more than a mere mortal; Aristotle reputedly hailed him as the inventor of rhetoric, and Galen regarded him as the founder of Italian medicine. Lucretius admired his hexametric poetry. ...(100 of 340 words)

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