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greek-cosmologyfeatured in 23 works

Love & Strife

Two cosmic powers — Love that draws all things together, Strife that tears them apart — drive the universe endlessly between unity and chaos.

Love (Philotes) and Strife (Neikos) are the two opposing forces in the cosmology of Empedocles of Acragas (5th c. BCE). He taught that the four "roots" — earth, water, air, and fire — are mixed and pulled apart by these powers in an eternal cycle: under Love everything blends into a single harmonious sphere, while under Strife everything flies apart. This was one of the first attempts to explain change through impersonal forces acting on permanent elements, and it deeply influenced Aristotle's account of efficient causation.

How it traveled

  1. Theogony
    Ascra · -650
    explains
  2. Works and Days
    Ascra · -650
    explains
  3. Symposium
    Athens · -385
    explains
  4. Metaphysics
    Chalcis · -322
    explains
  5. Allegoriae (= Quaestiones Homericae)
    — · 75
    explains
  6. De primo frigido
    Chaeronea · 120
    explains
  7. De Iside et Osiride
    Chaeronea · 120
    explains
  8. Adversus Mathematicos
    Alexandria · 190
    explains
  9. Vitae philosophorum
    — · 240
    explains
  10. Zohar
    Guadalajara · 1280
  11. Pardes Rimmonim
    Tzfat · 1548
  12. Ketem Paz on Zohar
    Tzfat · 1561
  13. Reshit Chokhmah
    Tzfat · 1575
  14. Ohr HaChammah on Zohar
    Tzfat · 1620
  15. Mikdash Melekh on Zohar
    Tzfat · 1750
  16. Maor VaShemesh
    Krakow (Cracow) · 1817
  17. Likutei Halakhot
    Breslov (Ukraine) · 1840
  18. BePardes HaChasidut VeHakabbalah
    Warsaw · 1910
  19. Talmud Eser HaSefirot
    Jerusalem · 1939
  20. Sulam on Zohar
    Jerusalem · 1945
  21. Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena)
    —
    explains
  22. Placita Philosophorum
    —
    explains
  23. Praeparatio Evangelica
    —
    explains

Key passages(20)

Aristotle, Metaphysics 1.4.3↗explains

Metaphysics · Aristotle

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Aristotle, Metaphysics 1.4.6↗explains

Metaphysics · Aristotle

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Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum 8.2.76↗explains

Vitae philosophorum · Diogenes Laertius

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Empedocles, Testimonia 1↗defines

Empedocles: Fragments & Testimonia · Empedocles

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Hesiod, Theogony 225↗explains

Theogony · Hesiod

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 1.3.1↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 10.7.5↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 6.25.3↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 7.29.10↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 7.29.14↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 7.29.22↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 7.29.23↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 7.31.3↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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Oppian, Halieutica 4↗explains

Halieutica · Oppian

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Plato, Symposium 188↗explains

Symposium · Plato

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Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 48↗explains

De Iside et Osiride · Plutarch

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Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Mathematicos 10.317↗explains

Adversus Mathematicos · Sextus Empiricus

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Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Mathematicos 9.10↗explains

Adversus Mathematicos · Sextus Empiricus

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Aristotle, De generatione et corruptione 2.6↗explains

De generatione et corruptione · Aristotle

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Eusebius of Caesarea, Praeparatio Evangelica 14.14.6↗explains

Praeparatio Evangelica · Eusebius of Caesarea

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