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7 results for: Xenophanes

Dictionary Entries (2 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Cite This Source
Xe·noph·a·nes    Audio Help   [zuh-nof-uh-neez] Pronunciation Key
–noun
c570–c480 b.c., Greek philosopher and poet.
—Related forms
Xe·noph·a·ne·an, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopedia Articles (3 more entries. View all »)
Columbia Electronic EncyclopediaCite This Source


Xenophanes, c.570-c.480 B.C., pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of Colophon. Although thought by some to be the founder of the Eleatic school, his thought is only superficially similar to that of Parmenides. Xenophanes opposed the anthropomorphic representation of the gods common to the Greeks since Homer and Hesiod. Instead he asserted there is only one god, eternal and immutable but intimately connected with the world. Although interpretations of his thought vary, it was probably a form of pantheism. He was a singer of elegies, a poet, and a satirist who exhorted his hearers to virtue.

See G. S. Kirk and J. E. Raven, The Presocratic Philosophers (1957).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press




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