Xenophanes

thumb|Mortals deem that the gods are begotten as they are,and have clothes like theirs, and voice and form. Xenophanes of Colophon (Greek Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος, Xenophánes; 570 – 480 BC) was a Greek philosopher, poet, and social and religious critic. Our knowledge of his views comes from his surviving poetry, all of which are fragments passed down as quotations by later Greek writers. Quotes ἀλλ᾽οἱ βροτοὶ δοκέουσι γεννᾶσθαι θεοὺς,τὴν σφετέρην δ᾽ἐσθῆτα ἔχειν φωνήν τε δέμας τε. Mortals deem that the gods are begotten as they are,and have clothes like theirs, and voice and form. Diels-Kranz (D-K), fragment 14 ἀλλ᾽ εἰ χεῖρας ἔχον βόες <ἵπποι τ᾽> ἠὲ λέοντεςἢ γράψαι χείρεσσι καὶ ἔργα τελεῖν ἅπερ ἄνδρες,ἵπποι μέν θ᾽ ἵπποισι βόες δέ τε βουσὶν ὁμοίαςκαί <κε> θεῶν ἰδέας ἔγραφον καὶ σώματ᾽ ἐποίουντοιαῦθ᾽ οἷόν περ καὐτοὶ δέμας εἶχον <ἕκαστοι>. But if cattle and horses and lions had handsor could paint with their hands and create works such as men do,horses like horses and cattle like cattlealso would depict the gods' shapes and make their bodiesof such a sort as the form they themselves have. Fragment 15 (D-K) Αἰθίοπές τε <θεοὺς σφετέρους> σιμοὺς μέλανάς τεΘρῇκἐς τε γλαυκοὺς καὶ πυρρούς <φασι πέλεσθαι>. Ethiopians say that their gods are snubnosed and blackThracians that they are pale and red-haired. Fragment 16 (D-K) There is one god, greatest among gods and men, similar to mortals neither in shape nor in thought. Fragment 23, as quoted in Notes on Greek Philosophy by Anthony Preus (Global Academic Publishing, 1996), p. 10 For all things are from the earth and to the earth all things come in the end. Fragment 27, as quoted in Xenophanes of Colophon: Fragments, trans. J. H. Lesher (University of Toronto Press, 2001), p. 124 External links Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry Article at Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy "Xenophanes of Colophon" by Giannis Stamatellos Category:Philosophers from Greece Category:Poets from Greece Category:BCE births Category:BCE deaths Category:Natural philosophers Category:Deists Category:Presocratic philosophers