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Bollack, J. (1965–9) Empédocle, Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 4 vols. (An edition of fragments of On Nature and associated testimonia, with Greek text, French translation and commentary; champions the interpretation of the cosmic cycle adopted here; sometimes eccentric, but contains a wealth of insight, particularly on Empedocles’ vocabulary.) |
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Empedocles (c.
495–c.
435) Fragments, in H.
Diels and W.
Kranz (eds) Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Fragments of the Presocratics), Berlin: Weidemann, 6th edn, 1952, vol. 1, 276–375. (The standard collection of the ancient sources, both fragments and testimonia, the latter designated by ‘A’; includes Greek text of the fragments with translations in German.) |
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Guthrie, W.K.C. (1962–78) A History of Greek Philosophy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 6 vols. (The most detailed and comprehensive English-language history of early Greek thought; the long and sympathetic account of Empedocles, in volume 2 pages 122–265, is still the best treatment in English.) |
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Kahn, C.H. (1960) ‘Religion and Natural Philosophy in Empedocles’ Doctrine of the Soul’, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie
42: 3–35; repr. in A.P.D.
Mourelatos (ed.) The Pre-Socratics, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974, 397–425. (A seminal article on the coherence of Empedocles’ thought.) |
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Kirk, G.S., Raven, J.E. and Schofield, M. (1983) The Presocratic Philosophers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2nd edn. (A valuable survey of Presocratic philosophy, including texts and translations; the account of Empedocles presented in the biographical entry largely follows its interpretations.) |
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Kingsley, P. (1995) Ancient Philosophy, Mystery and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (On Empedocles’ physical system and its connection with Pythagorean traditions.) |
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Martin, A. and Primaveri, O. (1997) L’Empédocle de Strasbourg, Berlin: de Gruyter. (An edition of papyrus fragments of Empedocles in the possession of the library of the University of Strasbourg.) |
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Sedley, D.N. (1989) ‘The Proems of Empedocles and Lucretius’, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
30: 269–296. (An attractive reconstruction of the proem to On Nature; revises the allocation of fragments between On Nature and Purifications.) |
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Solmsen, F. (1965) ‘Love and Strife in Empedocles’ Cosmology’, Phronesis
10: 123–145; repr. in R.E.
Allen and D.J.
Furley (eds), Studies in Presocratic Philosophy, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, vol. 2, 221–264. (The best argument for the single-cosmogony interpretation.) |
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Wright, M.R. (1981) Empedocles: The Extant Fragments, New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press. (An edition with translations, commentary and glossary; an indispensable aid to deeper study; contains a useful statement of the double-cosmogony interpretation.) |
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Zuntz, G. (1971) Persephone, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (A study of western Greek mystery religion; part 2 pages 181–274 re-edits Purifications and offers a powerfully suggestive interpretation.) |