From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Compaction
πίλησις
pilēsisPilēsis is compression or packing together.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPilēsis is compression or packing together.
- In StobaeusThe cosmological report explains air as a separation from earth vaporized through earth’s more violent compression.
- In this edition“Compression” is natural; “compaction” emphasizes the pressing together of material.
- A place to beginCompression of earth is invoked to explain the separation of air.
- English renderings
- compaction; compression
Meaning
Pilēsis is compression or packing together. It names a process rather than merely a dense resulting state.
Use in the book
The cosmological report explains air as a separation from earth vaporized through earth’s more violent compression. Compression and separation therefore belong to the same proposed process: material pressed together yields something that passes out. The account should not be simplified into the claim that compression always produces only denser matter.
Places to read
- I.22.1a.3Compression of earth is invoked to explain the separation of air.
Translation in this edition
“Compression” is natural; “compaction” emphasizes the pressing together of material.
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 195. The passage distinguishes aether from the fiery heaven below it, unlike other cosmic arrangements in the anthology.
From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Compaction
πιληθῆναι (pilēthēnai); πιληθεῖσα (pilētheisa); πίλημα (pilēma); συμπαγέντος (sympagentos)
The πιλεῖν-family evokes pressing or felting together; πίλημα is a felted or compacted mass.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe πιλεῖν-family evokes pressing or felting together; πίλημα is a felted or compacted mass.
- In this workA49 says the terrestrial things are compacted from the remaining materials after the principal separations.
- In this editionThe Greek participle in the Philo notice is an explanatory addition to the Latin transmission.
- A place to readDescribes terrestrial materials and central earth as compacted after separation.
Meaning
The πιλεῖν-family evokes pressing or felting together; πίλημα is a felted or compacted mass. Συμπαγέντος describes being compacted or solidified together. These terms mark material concentration, and need not all designate one process with the precision of modern phase-transition language.
Use in the book
A49 says the terrestrial things are compacted from the remaining materials after the principal separations. Philo’s Latin account includes a Greek explanatory participle for the earth compacted by necessity and settled centrally. A51 then applies related imagery to heaven: Aëtius has air compacted by fire in a crystalline manner, while the scholion on Basil has a water-compacted heaven likened to crystalline felting.
The imagery matters because it preserves the sense of constituents crowded into a coherent structure rather than created from nothing. But it cannot erase disagreements about which material is compacted. The air of Aëtius and water of the Basil scholion are genuinely different reports, even if both evoke crystalline solidity.
Nor should “condensation” be read as a confirmed account of modern gases turning into liquids or solids. The ancient vocabulary draws on familiar processes of pressing, freezing and making coherent masses; the lexicon records those analogies and their attribution.
Places to read
- A 49 (testimony)Aëtius II 6,3; Philo, De providentia II 60. Describes terrestrial materials and central earth as compacted after separation.
- A 51 (testimony)Aëtius II 11,2; Scholia on Basil. Applies compaction and felting imagery to heaven, with differing air and water materials.
Translation in this edition
The Greek participle in the Philo notice is an explanatory addition to the Latin transmission. Diels records πίλημα against ἐπείλημα in the heaven material; preserve the textile image without claiming an Empedoclean quotation.