Empedocles
5th century BC Greek philosopher
Empedocles (; Ancient Greek: Ἐμπεδοκλῆς; c. 494 – c. 434 BC, fl. 444–443 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is known best for originating the cosmogonic theory of the four classical elements. He also proposed forces he called Love and Strife which would mix and separate the elements, respectively.
Empedocles challenged the practice of animal sacrifice and killing animals for food. He developed a distinctive doctrine of reincarnation. He is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to have recorded his ideas in verse. Some of his work survives, more than is the case for any other pre-Socratic philosopher. Empedocles' death was mythologized by ancient writers, and has been the subject of a number of literary treatments.
Galen regarded him as the founder of the Sicilian school of medicine.
The public source identifies “Empedocles” as 5th century BC Greek philosopher. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Empedocles, century and Greek.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q83375. VIAF identifies the subject as 297576907. The Library of Congress control number is n79134944. 5 of 13 selected statements include explicit references; 4 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Empedocles” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.