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Cosmology and cycle

First plants

πρῶτα τὰ δένδρα τῶν ζώιων (prōta ta dendra tōn zōiōn); πρὶν ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα διακριθῆναι (prin hēmeran kai nykta diakrithēnai)

Dendra are trees; prōta gives them priority among living things.

From the book

Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II

Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordDendra are trees; prōta gives them priority among living things.
  • In this workAëtius says that trees first sprang from earth before the sun had been spread round and before day and night separated.
  • In this editionThe editorial sentence that plants are “older than the sun” suppresses the ambiguity of periaplōthēnai.
  • A place to readPlaces the first trees before the sun's spreading round and the separation of day and night.

Meaning

Dendra are trees; prōta gives them priority among living things. The second phrase places their emergence before day and night were distinguished. The priority concerns a narrated order of formation, not a dated geological period.

Use in the book

Aëtius says that trees first sprang from earth before the sun had been spread round and before day and night separated. The sun's “spreading round” is an obscure expression, as the apparatus acknowledges. It should therefore not become an unqualified statement that plants existed before any sun existed. The notice associates plant growth with the heat within earth, providing a possible local source of growth in this early setting without explicitly describing illumination or photosynthesis. Nicolaus similarly puts plant generation in a world not yet complete and animal generation after its completion. That parallel supports a broad ordering but does not prove a shared exact chronology, especially given the mediated text and possible shifts in the meaning of living things versus animals. A722's four generations also includes both animals and plants in its opening stage; it does not straightforwardly turn A702 into a single linear evolutionary timetable.

Places to read

  1. A 70 (testimony)2Aëtius. Places the first trees before the sun's spreading round and the separation of day and night.
  2. A 70 (testimony)2Nicolaus of Damascus, On Plants. Places plant generation in an incomplete world before animal generation.
  3. A 72 (testimony)2Aëtius. Includes plants in the initially disjointed generations of living things.

Translation in this edition

The editorial sentence that plants are “older than the sun” suppresses the ambiguity of periaplōthēnai. Reiske's alternative reading, reported in the apparatus, is itself conjectural.

Source note

The category zōia in the opening sentence includes trees. Translating it as living things avoids making the sentence say that trees are the first animals in a narrower modern sense.