From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordTaphos is a tomb, mnēmeion a memorial, agalmation a small statue or image, and sēkos an enclosure or shrine.
- In this workTimaeus argues that Pausanias, a wealthy friend, would have set up some memorial, statue, or divine shrine if the deification report had circulated as claimed.
- In this editionThe spelling of the diminutive is retained from the source’s inflected form.
- A place to readUses missing cultic commemoration against deification while refusing an argument from a missing tomb.
Meaning
Taphos is a tomb, mnēmeion a memorial, agalmation a small statue or image, and sēkos an enclosure or shrine. The distinctions matter because a place of burial and a cultic monument answer different claims about the missing philosopher.
Use in the book
Timaeus argues that Pausanias, a wealthy friend, would have set up some memorial, statue, or divine shrine if the deification report had circulated as claimed. The argument is counterfactual: expected commemoration is absent, so the narrative is suspect. He separately observes that the lack of a visible tomb is not strange, since many other people also have none known. The later accident account nevertheless reports a tomb at Megara. These notices cannot be combined into a secure burial itinerary. They display different uses of monuments as evidence: a hypothetical shrine tests a claim of divinity, an absent grave does not prove miraculous disappearance, and a reported grave anchors an alternative mortal ending. The earlier Acron episode also shows that erecting a memorial was a matter of civic permission and status, not merely private remembrance.
Places to read
- A 1 §§ 71–72 (biography)Diogenes Laertius VIII 71–72, reporting Timaeus. Uses missing cultic commemoration against deification while refusing an argument from a missing tomb.
- A 1 §§ 73–74 (biography)2Diogenes Laertius VIII 73–74. Reports a tomb at Megara with an alternative death account.
- A 1 §§ 64–66 (biography)2Diogenes Laertius VIII 65. Presents a separate civic dispute over Acron’s family memorial.
Translation in this edition
The spelling of the diminutive is retained from the source’s inflected form. The reported Megara is not geographically specified further in the excerpt; selecting one Megara would exceed the evidence.