Abstract
Empedocles posits six fundamental principles of the world: Love, Strife and the four elements (rhizōmata). On the cosmic level, he describes the interaction of the principles as an eternal recurrence of the same, i.e. as a cosmic cycle. The cycle is subject to a time-table the evidence for which was discovered by Marwan Rashed and has been edited by him in 2001 and 2014. The purpose of the present paper is to show that this timetable is based on the numerical ratios of the Pythagorean tetractys.
Article Note:
The present paper, previous versions of which were read at the International Conference on Empedocles’ Metaphysics (Oxford, 4th of July 2013) and at the 4th Biennial Conference of the International Association for Presocratic Studies (Thessaloniki, 30th of June 2014), draws on a much longer German essay, see Primavesi (forthcoming). My thanks are due to the late Friedrich Kittler (Berlin), who suggested to rethink the relationship between the Pythagorean tetractys and Empedoclean physics, and, for most helpful discussions, to Anna Marmodoro (Oxford), Jean-Claude Picot (Paris), and especially to Marwan Rashed (Paris).
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