From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe right-hand and left-hand sides of the cosmos are defined in relation to the summer and winter tropics.
- In this workAëtius’ short A50 notice assigns the right side to the summer tropic and the left side to the winter tropic.
- In this editionThe pronoun “its” is clarified editorially as the cosmos in the Greek brackets.
- A place to readAssigns cosmic right to the summer tropic and left to the winter tropic.
Meaning
The right-hand and left-hand sides of the cosmos are defined in relation to the summer and winter tropics. Τροπικός identifies the turning region of the sun’s course; the paired adjectives specify summer and winter.
Use in the book
Aëtius’ short A50 notice assigns the right side to the summer tropic and the left side to the winter tropic. This is a directional or orientation scheme, not a detailed explanation of why the world possesses a right and a left. Its context among shape and boundary reports makes it part of the doxographic description of the cosmic arrangement.
The sentence should not be translated mechanically into modern map directions without the missing viewpoint and orientation conventions. Nor does the organic resonance of right and left establish that Empedocles explicitly regarded the world as an animal. The report gives the paired designations and their solar reference points; the interpretative rationale remains unstated.
Keeping this as a small independent headword preserves a substantive detail easily lost in a broad cosmology article while avoiding an unsupported reconstruction of the entire celestial coordinate system.
Places to read
- A 50 (testimony)Aëtius II 10,2. Assigns cosmic right to the summer tropic and left to the winter tropic.
Translation in this edition
The pronoun “its” is clarified editorially as the cosmos in the Greek brackets. The excerpt does not itself give a terrestrial observer’s orientation or authorize a simple north/south substitution.