DiotimosReading Desk

Elements and matter

Atom

ἄτομος

atomos

The adjective means uncut or indivisible; its neuter plural can designate atoms.

From the book

Stobaeus, Volume I

John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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At a Glance

  • The wordThe adjective means uncut or indivisible; its neuter plural can designate atoms.
  • In StobaeusIn the reports on shape, the followers of Leucippus assign many shapes to atoms.
  • In this edition“Atoms” is used where the noun is intended.
  • A place to beginAtoms of many shapes are assigned to the followers of Leucippus.
English renderings
atom; indivisible

Meaning

The adjective means uncut or indivisible; its neuter plural can designate atoms. The philosophical use identifies bodies treated as indivisible, without implying the structure or properties of the atom in modern science.

Use in the book

In the reports on shape, the followers of Leucippus assign many shapes to atoms. In the discussion of void, Democritus and other atomists are credited with infinitely many atoms and a void infinite in extent. These are different claims about number and magnitude.

Places to read

  1. I.15.6a.2Atoms of many shapes are assigned to the followers of Leucippus.
  2. I.18.1a.3The multitude of atoms is infinite; the extent of void is infinite.

Translation in this edition

“Atoms” is used where the noun is intended. Their indivisibility is part of the ancient theory reported, not a claim about the particles described by present-day physics.

Source note

Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 146, 155–156. At I.15.6a.2 Wachsmuth exchanges the transmitted objects of the reports under Anaxagoras and Leucippus. The facing edition follows that printed correction and explains it in its note.