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Chapter 4 - Divine Beings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2024

Chiara Ferella
Affiliation:
Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
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Summary

Chapter 4 deals with several concepts, most of them introduced in the proemial fragments, that translate Empedocles’ idea of the divine. In order both to address the disputed question of what can be considered true gods in Empedocles’ physical system and to explore some of the details of his belief in rebirth by defining what the final promise of divine reward entails, I analyze the entities Empedocles explicitly refers to as gods. Several entities are made equally divine, yet each of them is divine for different reasons, although some of them also share common qualities that allow us to delineate a notion of the divine. In this regard, as far as living beings are concerned, we can conclude that for them to be (or become) gods means having a divine status that is modelled on the divine characteristics of Sphairos, the perfect form of the universe and cosmic god. These characteristics are associated with Love as opposed to Strife and include purity, stability (continuity), symmetry and beauty, bliss and perfect knowledge. In this sense, the divine nature of Sphairos represents Empedocles’ paradigm of godhood in the cosmos to which all living beings aspire.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Divine Beings
  • Chiara Ferella, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
  • Book: Reconstructing Empedocles' Thought
  • Online publication: 01 February 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009392600.005
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  • Divine Beings
  • Chiara Ferella, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
  • Book: Reconstructing Empedocles' Thought
  • Online publication: 01 February 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009392600.005
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Divine Beings
  • Chiara Ferella, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany
  • Book: Reconstructing Empedocles' Thought
  • Online publication: 01 February 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009392600.005
Available formats
×