From the book
Empedocles’ Complete Fragments, Volume I
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordHēliopē is a feminine solar name.
- In EmpedoclesIn B122/123 Sun-Maid stands beside Earth-Maid in the catalogue's first line.
- In this editionThe translation preserves the feminine character of Hēliopē through “Maid.”
- A place to readFar-glancing Sun-Maid accompanies Earth-Maid at the catalogue’s opening.
Meaning
Hēliopē is a feminine solar name. The attached epithet tanaōpis is rendered “far-glancing,” emphasizing a long-reaching look. The English “Sun-Maid” interprets the name transparently instead of simply transliterating it.
Use in the book
In B122/123 Sun-Maid stands beside Earth-Maid in the catalogue's first line. Her epithet adds a visual characteristic to a list whose figures are often named only. The association of the sun with wide-ranging sight is appropriate to this language, but the fragment does not describe an actual act of seeing or a theory of vision.
The name belongs to a personified scene, while other solar fragments discuss heat, light, rays, and the visible heavenly body. These can be compared without assuming that every solar expression is the same divine individual under an alternative name. In particular, the fragment does not identify Sun-Maid with the masculine sun of other verses or with a specific root deity. It supplies a paired image, not an independently elaborated solar theology.
Places to read
- B 122/123.1Far-glancing Sun-Maid accompanies Earth-Maid at the catalogue’s opening.
Translation in this edition
The translation preserves the feminine character of Hēliopē through “Maid.” It should not be used as evidence that a separate word for maiden occurs in this line, or that the solar body has a fixed female gender throughout the poem.