Empedocles was a Greek citizen of Agri-Gentum, a Greek city founded on a plateau overlooking the Sea, with 2 nearby rivers, and a ridge to the North offering a degree of natural fortification, in the southern coast of Sicily, the largest island in the Central Mediterranean Sea. It grew rapidly, becoming one of the richest and most famous leading cities of Magna Graecia during the golden age of ancient Greece with a population estimated in the range 200,000-800,000 before 406 BC. Sicily is separated from the Italian peninsula by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Edna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently 3,329m/10,922ft high, and one of the most active in the world. The earliest evidence of human activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC.
The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the North East of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, and include Stromboli that is a small island off the North coast of Sicily. The 3 volcanoes: Vulcano, Vulcanero and Lipari are still active. As an example of how the work of the elements were a philosophical theme in the past we present the myth about Vulcano.
Vulcano (Greek: Thermessa=Source of Heat) is located about 25 km North of Sicily: 21km2/8 sq mi in area, 499m/1,637ft above sea level. It appeared in the Greek myths as the private workshop of Hephaestus, an Olympian God, protector of the blacksmiths. He owned another two at Etna and Olympus. Similarly the Romans believed that Vulcano was the chimney of the god Vulcan's workshop and therefore named the island after him. The island had grown due to his periodic and supernatural clearing of cinders and ashes from his forge. The earthquakes that either preceded or accompanied the explosions of ash were considered to be due to Vulcan making weapons for Mars and his armies to wage his supernatural wars. Then the island use was mainly for raw materials, harvesting wood and mining alum and sulfur, being the principal activity on the island until the end of the 19th century. When the Bour-Bon rule collapsed in 1860 a British man bought the Northern part of the island, built a villa, reopened the local mines and planted vineyards for a sweet variety of grapes to make wine. He lived in Vulcano until the last and major eruption in 1888. It lasted two years, by which time he sold his property to the locals and never returned to the island. The villa is still intact.
Empe-doc-les' philosophy is best known for originating the Cosmos-Genetic Theory of the Four Classical Elements. The 4 elements were simple, eternal and unalterable and a change in any of them was the consequence of their mixture and separation. The existence of moving powers were also responsible for its mixture and separation. The 4 elements, in the beginning, were eternally brought into union. At their best in their originally state, they were able to coexist in a condition of rest in the form of a sphere. They existed together in their purity, without mixture and separation, and the united power of Love predominated in the sphere. The separating power of Strife guarded the extreme edges of the sphere. Since that time, Strife gained little by little more sway and the bond which kept the pure elementary substances together was dissolved. Then they were transformed into the world of phenomena we see today, full of contrasts and oppositions, operated by both Love and Strife. Then Empedocles assumed the existence of a cyclical universe whereby the elements return and prepare the formation of the sphere for the next period in the universe.
He is credited with the first comprehensive theory of light and vision. He put forward the idea that we see objects because light streams out of our eyes and touches them. Knowledge was explained by the principle that the elements (fire, air, water, earth) in the things outside us are perceived by the corresponding elements in ourselves. Our whole body is full of pores and hence respiration takes place over the whole frame. In the organs of sense these pores are specially adapted to receive the environmental messages which are continually rising from bodies around us; and in this way perception is explained. Thus in vision, certain particles go forth from the eye to meet similar particles given forth from the object, and the resultant contact constituted the personal vision. Perception was not merely a passive reflection of external objects.
Empe-doc-les noted the limitation and narrowness of human perceptions. We see only a part, but it fancy and make us believe that we grasped the whole. Then the senses were not able to lead the individual to Truth. Thought and Reflection must be taken from the insight to look at the thing on every side. It is our responsibility to lead our soul to a higher level, while laying bare the roots that make the elements so different in displaying the identity that exist between what seem unconnected parts of the universe.
Empedocles knew about the corporeality of Air able to resist liquid. He attempted to explain the phenomena by means of an elaborated analogy with the water clock (clepsydra), an ancient device for transmitting liquids from one vessel to another. Although a simple wine skin sufficed to demonstrate a partial vacuum, in principle, more advanced suction pumps were developed in Roman Pompeii.
Empe-doc-les believed in the transmigration of the soul, that souls can be moved in between humans, animals and even plants. All living things, according to him, belonged to the same spiritual realm. Plants and animals were links in a chain where humans were a link too. He urged a vegetarian lifestyle, since the body of animals were the dwelling places of punished souls. Wise people, who have learned the secret of life, were next to the divine, and their souls were free from the cycle of transmigration, and able to rest in happiness for eternity.
A legend was recorded that Empedocles died by being taken or carried up into the sky by a volcanic eruption from Mount Edna in Sicily, so that the people would believe his body had vanished and his soul turned into an immortal entity. However, the volcano threw back one of his bronze sandals, revealing that he survived the fate and continues his life on the Moon by being fed on dew.
In 2006, a massive underwater volcano off the coast of Sicily was named Empedocles.
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