XENOPHANES: BIOGRAPHY, PHILOSOPHY AND WORKS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Xenophanes of Colophon (approx. 570 - 478 BC) was a philosopher and poet of the pre-Socratic era. In addition to developing and synthesizing the works of two great philosophers (Anaximander and Anaximenes), his most important contribution was his arguments that there was only one eternal being, and that he did not share attributes with human beings.

In this sense, the prevailing belief of the time was that there were many gods who looked and behaved like mortal beings. In the representations of the poets, they exhibited bad behavior: theft, deception and adultery. Xenophanes considered this behavior reprehensible, and it should not be attributable to the divine.

See page for author, via Wikimedia Commons

On the other hand, this philosopher was a reflective observer of the human condition, practicing the special form of inquiry used by the Milesian philosopher-scientists. Also, he was a civic advisor who encouraged his fellow citizens to respect the gods and work to safeguard the well-being of their city.

Biography

The biographers of Xenophanes place his birth in Colophon, a Greek Ionian city in Asia Minor, in the year 560 B.C. However, other scholars have located this date sometime around 570 B.C. What all researchers agree is that he had a long and fruitful life.

Historical evidence shows that Xenophanes kept making poetry until around his 90s. This evidence places the date of his death at some point around 478 BC.

According to specialists, Xenophanes may have left his home possibly around 548 BC, when the city was taken by the Medes (a tribe native to the west of ancient Thrace).

From there, he spent most of his life wandering all over Greece before settling in Sicily for a time and then settling in Elea, in southern Italy.

Philosophy of Xenophanes

Even today the debate persists as to whether Xenophanes should be included in the philosophical field or not. Even in his time he was excluded from the groups of philosophers of ancient Greece. Many scholars have classified him as a poet or a theologian, or even an irrational mystic.

Furthermore, it is claimed that Xenophanes did not attract a large number of followers or disciples to his philosophy. On the other hand, he was not treated favorably by other philosophers such as Plato or Aristotle.

Similarly, many specialists consider that Xenophanes did not leave anything resembling a rational justification or argument for some of his claims, as any other philosopher would.

However, they agree that ignoring Xenophanes as a philosophical figure would be a mistake. They also consider that he left some contributions in his fragments that, although they do not fit within the philosophical style, deserve serious philosophical consideration. Below are several of his teachings.

Social moral

An image of Xenophanes that is recurrent in many of its fragments is that of social criticism. Despite the fact that on many occasions he declaimed his poetry during celebrations and feasts, he always reserved a comment about the debauchery that characterized them.

Also, many of the fragments suggest that Xenophanes was welcome in the circles of people who had access to the finer things in life. However, he felt it was his duty to encourage them to behave with mercy and restraint.

Similarly, in the writings Xenophanes is observed criticizing ostentation. In them he makes a connection between the fall of his hometown and the excessive displays of wealth of its citizens.

In other of his fragments of social criticism, Xenophanes stated that he did not agree with the excess of rewards and reverence offered to the champion athletes. In his opinion, these distinctions were made to the detriment of scholars and poets, who were not taken into account or appreciated.

The divine conception

Xenophanes dedicated a group of passages, in an argumentative style, to criticize the human propensity to create gods in their image and likeness. In their opinion, mortals assumed that gods dressed, had voices, and had bodies.

He also ironized, exemplifying the gods of the Ethiopians, who, according to this custom, would all be brown and black. Following the same line of reasoning, the Thracian gods would be blue-eyed and red-haired. In addition, it attacked the tendency of religious to privilege their belief system over others without having solid reasons on which to base themselves.

In the end, the divine conception that he proclaimed was one more based on rationality than on traditional values. The coincidence that in some cases the gods of two different peoples were the same but with different names and presentations, gave an argument to his philosophical position.

Divine goodness and the nature of the divine

Xenophanes, while criticizing the anthropomorphization of the gods, was opposed to assigning evil to them. According to his scholars, this was due to his desire to maintain divine perfection and goodness. This position was shared by many philosophers of his time, who shared the thesis of the inherent goodness of the gods.

Similarly, many of his statements made other philosophers think that Xenophanes advocated a monotheistic god. On the other hand, other philosophers claimed that he openly supported Olympic polytheism.

For that reason, some have attributed a pantheistic qualification (universe, nature and god are equivalent) to Xenophanes, while others have maintained that he was essentially an atheist or materialist.

Plays

Elegies

From the point of view of the metric used and the theme, the specialists affirm that Xenophanes wrote elegies. The subjects treated with preference in his works were the symposium, the critique of the greed of the rich, the true virtue and some autobiographical features.

Satires

Also certain works with characteristics of satires are attributed to him. These were directed mainly against the poets Homer, Hesiod and also against some Greek philosophers.

Epic

Two epic poems are attributed to Xenophanes: Foundation of Colophon and Colonization of Elea in Italy. According to the Greek historian of classical philosophy, Diogenes Laertius, the two works were made up of 2,000 verses in total.

Didactic poem about nature

Xenophanes is also credited with writing a poem entitled On Nature, which was influenced by the philosophers Empedocles and Parmenides. On the other hand, specialists assure that in its content and metrics much of Ionian philosophy can be observed.

References

1. Lesher, J. (2018). Xenophanes. In Edward N. Zalta (editor), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Taken from plato.stanford.edu.
2. Mark, JJ (2009, September 02). Xenophanes of Colophon. Taken from ancient.eu.
3. New World Encyclopedia. (s / f). History of Xenophanes. Taken from newworldencyclopedia.org.
4. Starkey LH and Calogero, G. (2011, February 17). Eleaticism. Taken from britannica.com.
5. Encyclopædia Britannica. (2008, November 12). Xenophanes. Taken from britannica.com.
6. Patzia, M. (s / f). Xenophanes (c. 570-c. 478 BCE). Taken from iep.utm.edu.
7. James, L. (2018, January 24). Xenophanes. Taken from plato.stanford.edu.