From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordDiskoeidēs means disc-shaped; phakoeidēs means lentil-shaped.
- In this workThe isolated Aëtian predicate says only that the moon is disc-shaped.
- In this editionThe editorial gloss that the moon simply “is the shape it looks” usefully highlights the ontological claim but simplifies Plutarch's wording about the half-moon.
- A place to readPreserves the bare predicate “disc-shaped.”
Meaning
Diskoeidēs means disc-shaped; phakoeidēs means lentil-shaped. Plutarch contrasts an apparent shape with to hypokeimenon, the underlying thing. These are his analytical terms for explaining an attributed view, not demonstrably Empedocles' own distinction.
Use in the book
The isolated Aëtian predicate says only that the moon is disc-shaped. Plutarch's Roman Questions gives the assertion more substance: the shape visible when the moon is at the half is described as lentil-like and disc-like rather than spherical, and Empedocles is said to hold that the underlying body has that shape too. The testimony therefore resists treating the disc as merely a conventional description of a circular appearance. Even so, it does not yield a technical reconstruction of lunar thickness or orientation. “Lentil-like” itself allows a thicker body than the flat disc modern readers may imagine. The report belongs beside, but does not follow from, the statement that lunar light is solar: borrowed illumination and bodily shape are logically separable claims.
Places to read
- A 60 (testimony)Aëtius, second notice. Preserves the bare predicate “disc-shaped.”
- A 60 (testimony)Plutarch, Roman Questions. Distinguishes the moon's appearance from its underlying body while attributing the same shape to both.
Translation in this edition
The editorial gloss that the moon simply “is the shape it looks” usefully highlights the ontological claim but simplifies Plutarch's wording about the half-moon. Preserve both shape comparisons rather than replacing them with a modern geometrical model.