Extract

A philosopher from *Acragas in Sicily. Most details of his life are uncertain. Book 8 of *Diogenes (6) Laertius provides the largest selection of legends. Much of our biographical information (especially the manner of his death and claims that he was a doctor and prophet and considered himself a god) may have been extrapolated from his poetry. There is no reason to doubt his aristocratic background, that his family participated in the *Olympian Games, that he was involved in political life, or that he was active in both the religious and the philosophical spheres. He apparently travelled to mainland Greece to recite at the Olympian Games and visited *Thurii soon after its foundation in 443 bce. Pythagoreanism was clearly a philosophical inspiration. Equally important was *Parmenides, whose thought shaped the basic ideas underlying Empedocles' philosophy. There is no evidence that he was familiar with the work of *Zeno (1), *Melissus, or the atomists; he probably knew the work of *Anaxagoras, certainly that of *Xenophanes.