From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordTheōroi are sacred envoys or festival delegates in this context.
- In this workThe honey-ox notice directs the offering to sacred envoys, while Athenaeus’ aromatic version distributes the shaped ox to people attending the festival.
- In this editionTheōroi should not be weakened into generic spectators when the translation identifies sacred envoys.
- A place to readNames sacred envoys as recipients of the honey ox.
Meaning
Theōroi are sacred envoys or festival delegates in this context. Panēgyris is a public festival gathering, and Olympiasi means at Olympia. These words locate ritual and poetry within shared civic and inter-civic occasions.
Use in the book
The honey-ox notice directs the offering to sacred envoys, while Athenaeus’ aromatic version distributes the shaped ox to people attending the festival. The distinction matters: a designated group and the wider gathering are not identical recipients. Olympia also appears in the report of Cleomenes’ recital of the Purifications. Together the notices show the tradition placing Empedoclean ethical practice and poetry in publicly recognizable festival settings. They do not demonstrate that the offering and recitation occurred at the same festival or in the author’s presence. The Olympic association likewise cannot settle which member of the family won the horse-race. The terminology is useful because it reveals channels of audience and reputation without requiring a reconstructed single event.
Places to read
- A 1 §§ 53–55 (biography)2Diogenes Laertius VIII 53, reporting Favorinus. Names sacred envoys as recipients of the honey ox.
- A 11–A 12 (biography)Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters. Gives festival distribution and, in a separate notice, the Olympia recital.
Translation in this edition
Theōroi should not be weakened into generic spectators when the translation identifies sacred envoys. Conversely, the broader festival audience in Athenaeus should not be restricted to a named delegation absent from his wording.