From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe participle hippotrophēkotos denotes having kept or reared horses.
- In this workThe horse-rearing grandfather is one of the Life’s signs of family distinction.
- In this editionThe apparatus itself warns that Athenaeus may have transferred the grandfather’s or son’s victory to Empedocles.
- A place to readAssociates horse-rearing and a single-horse victory with the grandfather.
Meaning
The participle hippotrophēkotos denotes having kept or reared horses. Kelēti refers here to the single racehorse, distinguishing a particular victory from the more general “with horses” in Athenaeus.
Use in the book
The horse-rearing grandfather is one of the Life’s signs of family distinction. Diogenes’ initial authorities place the Olympic victory in that grandfather’s generation; Satyrus supplies a different family scheme and pairs equestrian success with a son’s athletic victory. Athenaeus subsequently makes Empedocles himself the victorious competitor and attaches the aromatic ox offering to that occasion. The same festive setting thus carries both a status claim and an ethical exemplum. It would be misleading to turn this evidence into an uncomplicated sporting biography of the philosopher. What is relatively stable within the tradition is the representation of substantial family resources, which helps explain the plausibility, within later narratives, of dowries and civic benefactions. Whether every particular victory belongs to the same household member is precisely what the sources dispute.
Places to read
- A 1 §§ 51–52 (biography)Diogenes Laertius VIII 51–52. Associates horse-rearing and a single-horse victory with the grandfather.
- A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography)2Diogenes Laertius VIII 53, reporting Satyrus and Heraclides. Provides a competing distribution of equestrian and athletic victories.
- A 11–A 12 (biography)Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters. Transfers equestrian victory into the occasion of the bloodless ox.
Translation in this edition
The apparatus itself warns that Athenaeus may have transferred the grandfather’s or son’s victory to Empedocles. The different Greek horse expressions should not be standardized into a single securely identified race.