Xenophanes
c. 570 - c. 478 BCE · Greek (Ionian, of Colophon) · Presocratic philosophy, theology, epistemology
The gods have not indicated all things to mortals from the beginning, but in time, by searching, they find something more that is better.
When the Persians conquered Colophon in 546 BCE, Xenophanes was exiled and spent the next sixty-seven years wandering the Greek world — he counted those years himself, in verse — performing his poems at symposia from Sicily to Italy. He lived into his nineties and produced work that cuts against almost everything his contemporaries assumed: that Homer told the truth about the gods, that athletic victory was the highest human achievement, that certainty about divine things was possible.
Topics Xenophanes addresses
- the one god of fragment 23
- anti-anthropomorphism polemic
- the oxen-and-lions argument
- cultural relativism of god-images
- critique of Homer and Hesiod
- divine cognitive activity
- divine immobility
- no man knows the clear truth
- reliable opinion resembling the truth
- by seeking they find out better in time
- the episteme/doxa distinction
- sophie over athletic arete
- earth and water as basic principles
- the earth extends downward without limit
- the sea as source of all moisture
- fossils as evidence of past sea-on-land
- the rainbow as cloud
- sun and stars as clouds lit by exhalations
- proper conduct at the symposium
- piety in thought and deed
- moderation in wealth and luxury
- service to the city
- anti-Pythagorean satire
- the silloi as literary genre
Questions to put to Xenophanes
The One God and the Critique of Homer
- What do you mean when you say there is one god greatest among gods and men?
- How is your god different from the gods Homer and Hesiod describe?
- If oxen could draw, why would they draw their gods like oxen?
- What's wrong with saying the gods were born or have human bodies?
- How does your god shake all things by the thought of his mind?
Inquiry and the Limits of Knowledge
- Why can't anyone know the clear truth about the gods?
- What do you mean when you say opinion is woven over all things?
- How do we find out better by seeking over time?
- What makes an opinion resemble the truth if we can't know the truth for certain?
- Did the gods reveal anything to us from the beginning?
Earth, Water, and the Natural Cosmos
- Why do you say all things come from earth and water?
- How far down does the earth extend?
- What are the sun and stars actually made of?
- How does the sea produce all moisture and clouds?
- What did you learn from the fossils of sea creatures found inland?
Wisdom and the Life of the City
- Why is wisdom more valuable to the city than athletic victory?
- What should we praise at the symposium instead of battles and giants?
- How should wealthy citizens conduct themselves?
- What does it mean to serve the city in piety and moderation?
- Why did you spend sixty-seven years wandering the Greek world?
Converse with Xenophanes on Simposeum. Replies are grounded in the surviving fragments and reports of Xenophanes, cited to the page.