From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA rhapsode is a performer of verse; the related verbs mean to recite in that capacity.
- In this workDiogenes and Athenaeus preserve a tradition that the Purifications were recited at Olympia.
- In this editionMultiple transmitting witnesses do not establish independent knowledge of the original event.
- A place to readNames Cleomenes and Olympia in the recital tradition.
Meaning
A rhapsode is a performer of verse; the related verbs mean to recite in that capacity. In these notices Cleomenes is the named performer and the Purifications the named work. The terminology establishes a performance setting without describing melody, gestures, or the extent of the recital.
Use in the book
Diogenes and Athenaeus preserve a tradition that the Purifications were recited at Olympia. Athenaeus identifies Dicaearchus’ Olympic Discourse as his source; Diogenes also names Favorinus. The report gives the poem a public festival life, which is important beside the Pythagorean tale that Empedocles disclosed restricted teachings through poetry. Public performance and alleged secrecy are not mutually exclusive facts about one securely reconstructed event, but competing emphases in the reception of the same author. The existence of a professional reciter also separates the poem’s speaking voice from the historical author’s physical presence: a first-person declaration could be performed by another person. The passage does not say that all the Purifications were recited in one sitting, or that Empedocles attended the performance. Its significance lies in the reported circulation of his words through a recognizable poetic institution.
Places to read
- A 1 §§ 61–63 (testimony)Diogenes Laertius VIII 63, reporting Favorinus, Memoirs. Names Cleomenes and Olympia in the recital tradition.
- A 11–A 12 (testimony)Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters, reporting Dicaearchus, Olympic Discourse. Preserves the same performance with a different named intermediary.
Translation in this edition
Multiple transmitting witnesses do not establish independent knowledge of the original event. The edition’s claim that the whole Greek world could hear it is an interpretation of Olympia’s public setting, not a quoted audience count.