From the book
Stobaeus, Volume I
John Stobaeus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Homogeneous parts
ὁμοιομερής; ὁμοιομέρεια
homoiomerēs; homoiomereiaHomoiomerēs means having parts like the whole or like one another in the relevant respect.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordHomoiomerēs means having parts like the whole or like one another in the relevant respect.
- In StobaeusThe report about Anaxagoras argues from nourishment: bread and water sustain flesh, bones, sinews, and other bodily structures, so the appropriate constituents must already be present in food.
- In this edition“Like-parted constituents” is more informative here than the bare transliteration “homoeomeries.”
- A place to beginThe composition of food explains the growth of different tissues.
- English renderings
- like-parted; homogeneous; like-parted constituents
Meaning
Homoiomerēs means having parts like the whole or like one another in the relevant respect. Homoiomereia names the condition or a constituent described in those terms.
Use in the book
The report about Anaxagoras argues from nourishment: bread and water sustain flesh, bones, sinews, and other bodily structures, so the appropriate constituents must already be present in food. Reason discerns what sight cannot pick out. Intellect is then distinguished as an arranging cause from these material constituents.
Places to read
- I.10.12.6The composition of food explains the growth of different tissues.
Translation in this edition
“Like-parted constituents” is more informative here than the bare transliteration “homoeomeries.”
Source note
Wachsmuth, volume I, printed pp. 123–124. This is the terminology of the transmitted report. Its vocabulary should not automatically be attributed to Anaxagoras as his own surviving wording.
From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Homogeneity
ὁμοιομερῆ (homoiomerē); ὁμοιομερείας (homoiomereias)
The adjective means like-parted or uniform in parts.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe adjective means like-parted or uniform in parts.
- In this workThe Aëtius report makes the least fragments before the four elements ὁμοιομερῆ.
- In this editionThe compressed pronouns at A46 must be read through the comparison: not everything predicated of “the one” thinker belongs to Empedocles.
- A place to readDescribes the hypothetical smallest fragments as uniform throughout.
Meaning
The adjective means like-parted or uniform in parts. In A43 it characterizes the smallest fragments assigned to Empedocles; in A46 it belongs to Aristotle’s comparison involving Anaxagoras. It should not be used as an undifferentiated label for all Presocratic matter.
Use in the book
The Aëtius report makes the least fragments before the four elements ὁμοιομερῆ. This suggests uniformity at the level of their own parts or kind, but the passage does not supply a full account of how such fragments compose the four. Aristotle’s A46 contrasts a theory with indefinitely many uniform constituents and opposites against Empedocles’ limited set of so-called elements. The comparison is important because homogeneity-language can appear in a discussion of Empedocles without every occurrence describing his own basic inventory.
The “uniform” Sphairos is another matter again. A32 uses μονοειδές, single in form, for that cosmic state. It would be misleading to infer from the English overlap that least fragments and the Sphairos instantiate exactly the same property. This headword preserves the technical distinction between likeness of parts, a limited or unlimited inventory of constituents, and the undifferentiated appearance or form of a whole.
A702 gives a further functional use: different plants draw like-parted stuffs differently from nourishing soil, helping account for differences of flavor. That is a statement about selective uptake in a compound environment, not necessarily a claim that the plant feeds on the hypothetical smallest fragments of A43.
Places to read
- A 43 (testimony)Aëtius I 13,1. Describes the hypothetical smallest fragments as uniform throughout.
- A 46 (testimony)Aristotle, Physics A 4, 187a20. Uses the term in a comparison that distinguishes Anaxagoras’ many constituents from Empedocles’ elements.
- A 70 (testimony)2Aëtius, plant notice. Uses like-parted stuffs for what different plants selectively draw from their nourishing soil.
Translation in this edition
The compressed pronouns at A46 must be read through the comparison: not everything predicated of “the one” thinker belongs to Empedocles. “Homoeomeries” should not be introduced as a named Empedoclean doctrine here.