From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordΧαλκῖτιν is the printed inflected form, rendered “copper-flower” by this edition.
- In this workIn Galen’s A34 illustration, this is one of four substances ground into a fine powder before mixing.
- In this edition“Copper-flower” is the edition’s choice, not an analysis supplied by Galen in this excerpt.
- A place to readLists χαλκῖτις among four pulverized ingredients in an analogy for mixed but persistent constituents.
Meaning
Χαλκῖτιν is the printed inflected form, rendered “copper-flower” by this edition. The Greek name associates the ingredient with copper terminology, but the excerpt does not specify a preparation method or establish an exact modern mineral species.
Use in the book
In Galen’s A34 illustration, this is one of four substances ground into a fine powder before mixing. Its lexical identity matters because it is a named ingredient, not simply a generic bit of copper metal. The comparison concerns how distinct initial materials can form an intimately mingled preparation while remaining unchangeable as ingredients in the illustrative model.
The source does not say that Empedocles selected this material, knew a particular metallurgical recipe, or used the copper-flower image in verse. Galen supplies the illustration in a medical commentary. That authorship is especially important for readers tracing practical technical vocabulary into philosophy: the technical analogy is evidence for reception and explanation, not automatically for the poet’s own workshop experience.
Keeping chalcitis as an alternative lookup label preserves access to the Greek term while avoiding excessive confidence in the English rendering’s apparent chemical specificity.
Places to read
- A 34 (testimony)Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K. Lists χαλκῖτις among four pulverized ingredients in an analogy for mixed but persistent constituents.
Translation in this edition
“Copper-flower” is the edition’s choice, not an analysis supplied by Galen in this excerpt. A modern identification would require separate mineralogical evidence not present here.