From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe Latin phrases mean from the right-hand and left-hand parts.
- In this workCensorinus groups Anaxagoras and Empedocles in saying that seed poured from right-hand parts produces males and from left-hand parts females.
- In this editionThe unspecified “parts” are not named testes, ovaries, or compartments in the printed text.
- A place to readAttributes male and female generation to seed from right-hand and left-hand parts.
Meaning
The Latin phrases mean from the right-hand and left-hand parts. Dexioi are right-side parts or positions; euōnymoi, literally favourably named, conventionally denotes the left. The testimony does not use these spatial contrasts as a modern map of reproductive anatomy.
Use in the book
Censorinus groups Anaxagoras and Empedocles in saying that seed poured from right-hand parts produces males and from left-hand parts females. He does not identify those parts more precisely in the excerpt. Oribasius, reporting Athenaeus, attributes to Empedocles the view that male embryos form faster than female, and parts on the right faster than those on the left. These are different laterality claims: one concerns the origin of generative material and sex, the other the timing of differentiation. They should not be conflated with the twins notice's hot and cold locations or with Aristotle's hot and cold womb as if a complete right-hot-male chain were explicitly preserved. A8123's geographical east/south versus north division of primordial sexes is likewise a separate spatial analogy.
Places to read
- A 81 (testimony)23Censorinus, On the Birthday. Attributes male and female generation to seed from right-hand and left-hand parts.
- A 83 (testimony)Oribasius, from Athenaeus. Attributes faster differentiation to males and to right-side parts.
Translation in this edition
The unspecified “parts” are not named testes, ovaries, or compartments in the printed text. Expanding them into a precise anatomical claim would exceed the witness.