From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordἸόν is the inflected mineral term translated “rust” in this passage.
- In this workGalen at A34 lists rust with copper-flower, cadmia and misy as materials that might be finely ground and mixed.
- In this editionThe mineral list and illustration belong to Galen.
- A place to readNames rust as the first ingredient of the pulverized-mineral mixture illustrating preserved constituents.
Meaning
Ἰόν is the inflected mineral term translated “rust” in this passage. The word’s broader historical range should not be used to import a particular modern oxide or corrosion formula absent from the source.
Use in the book
Galen at A34 lists rust with copper-flower, cadmia and misy as materials that might be finely ground and mixed. Their role is illustrative: he compares such a preparation with the formation of composite bodies from four unchangeable elements. Rust is not a fifth root and is not being assigned as the terrestrial equivalent of one particular divine name.
The fine grinding is essential to the comparison. It gives a mixture whose ingredients remain the explanatory starting points while no ingredient can readily be taken apart from the others. The rust example is therefore about persistence and practical inseparability, rather than an account of the substance’s own production.
An independent lookup entry is useful because the familiar English translation can tempt a reader to imagine an exact modern material. In this source the secure identification is the ancient ingredient as named by Galen and translated by the edition; the mineral’s full chemistry is outside the testimony.
Places to read
- A 34 (testimony)Galen, In Hippocratis De natura hominis XV 32 K. Names rust as the first ingredient of the pulverized-mineral mixture illustrating preserved constituents.
Translation in this edition
The mineral list and illustration belong to Galen. The passage supplies no elemental allocation or chemical formula for ἰός.