From the book
Empedocles’ The Testimonia, Volume II
Empedocles of Acragas · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordAngeia are vessels or receptacles.
- In this workThe A79 excerpt numbers the umbilical vessels as four, divided into two venous and two arterial, through which nutritive blood-like and breath-like material reaches embryos.
- In this editionArtēriōdōn is Schoene's correction of the manuscript artēriōn.
- A place to readDescribes four nutritive vessels and separately assigns their liver implantation to Empedocles.
Meaning
Angeia are vessels or receptacles. Phlebōdēs and artēriōdēs mean venous and arterial in character, while pneumatikē qualifies a conveyed material as breath-like. These are Soranus' medical terms in an exposition that includes an Empedoclean attribution.
Use in the book
The A79 excerpt numbers the umbilical vessels as four, divided into two venous and two arterial, through which nutritive blood-like and breath-like material reaches embryos. It then identifies Empedocles' position as insertion into the liver and contrasts a heart-directed account attributed to Phaedrus. The count and classification belong grammatically to Soranus' introductory description. They may give the framework within which he understood the older theory, but the excerpt does not independently establish that Empedocles himself used precisely those categories. A74's opened vessels in first breathing provide a related word, yet their bodily location and role differ. One should not infer that every vessel in Empedoclean testimony is an umbilical vessel or a modern artery or vein.
Places to read
- A 79 (testimony)Soranus, Gynaecology. Describes four nutritive vessels and separately assigns their liver implantation to Empedocles.
- A 74 (testimony)Aëtius. Uses vessel-language for the openings admitting air at the first breath.
Translation in this edition
Artēriōdōn is Schoene's correction of the manuscript artēriōn. The technical shape of the medical classification is therefore partly editorial, in addition to the uncertainty about how much of Soranus' setup belongs to the earlier thinker.