Empedocles was a Sicilian philosopher, poet, and physician. He had different reputations among contemporaries. He was regarded as a mystic, a scientist, a healer, and even as a living god. He, along with Pythagoras, is said to have invented the four-element theory of matter (earth, air, fire, and water) that Hippocrates took up later as a structure around which to develop his humor theory of bodily functions. Aristotle credited Empedocles with inventing rhetoric, and with the idea that light moves at a finite speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Empedocles\u2019 saw the world as being made up of a cycle of eternal change, growth and decay in which two personified cosmic forces, love and strife, fight out an eternal battle for supremacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a follower of Pythagoras, Empedocles adopted the Pythagorean view of the transmigration of souls, and Pythagoras\u2019s vegetarianism and pacifism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As can be seen in the following fragment of his writings, Empedocles claimed to be immortal, to be able to control the wind and rain, and to bring back the dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nCures for evils whatever there are, and protection against old age shalt thou learn, since for thee alone will I accomplish all these things. Thou shalt break the power of untiring gales which rising against the earth blow down the crops and destroy them; and, again, whenever thou wilt, thou shalt bring their blasts back; and thou shalt bring seasonable drought out of dark storm for men, and out of summer drought thou shalt bring streams pouring down from heaven to nurture the trees; and thou shalt lead out of Hades the spirit of a man that is dead. (Fairbanks, 1898, p. 159)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Empedocles methods for healing included sacred incantations and ritual purifications. Through these he is said to have overthrown a plague and restored a contaminated water supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more on Empedocles, see:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Empedocies (2010) http:\/\/history.hanover.edu\/texts\/presoc\/emp.htm<\/p>\n\n\n\n