EMPEDQCLES AND THE PLAGUE AT SELINUS: A COCK AND BULL STORY ?

James Longrigg*
Empedocles' colourful personality, like that of Heraclitus, stimulated
biographical invention and attracted a particularIy wide range of anecdotes. The
best known of theSe, of course, is the story of his death by leaping nto Etna. In the
case of both philosophers these tales appear, in many instances, to have been based
upon surviving fragments. We are told, for example, that 'Heraclitus finally became
a misanthrope, withdrew from the world, and lived in the mountains feeding on
grasses and plants. However, having fallen into a dropsy, he carne down to town and
asked the doctors in a riddling manner if they could make a drought out of rainy
weather. When they did not understand, he buried himself in a cowstall in the hope
that the dropsy would be evaporated by the heat of the manure; but even so he
failed to effecl anything and died at the age of sixty'.l These details are most
probably the malicious inventions of Hellenistic biographers irritated by
Heraclitus' arrogant manner. The misanthropy, for example, seems to have been
derived from his criticisms of the majority of men2 his vegetarianism from the
mention of blood- pollution;3 his fatal dropsy from his assertion that 'it is death for
souls to become water'.4 His fondness for a riddling, oracular style is here
represented as having cost him his IHe: the doctors, who are apparentIy criticised
by him in fr. 58, faH to understand and do nothing to save him. The tale that he
buried himself in manure in an attempt to cure himself seems to have been based
upon fr. 96, where he declares that 'corpses are more fit to be cast out than dung'.
Several of the anecdotes conceming Empedocles purport to supply details of his
medical activity or describe his exploits in the Held of public-health-engineering.
It would be wise to exercise the utrnost caution when assessing these tales. According
to Heraclides Ponticus,5 Empedocles kept alive and then revived a woman who had
been without breath or pulse for thirty days. Hermippus adds the circumstantial
information that the woman was a native of Acragas called Pantheia, who had been
given up by the doctors. 6 The story is subsequently repeated by Pliny7 and by Galen,B
neither of whom, however, link it specifically with Empedocles. According to Pliny,
the woman had been lifeless (exanimis) for seven days due to a retro verted womb
(conuersio uuluae), while Galen says she resembled a corpse 'except for somebreath
at the centre of her body'. Heraclides is not the most reliable of sources and the
whole story is probably nothing more than an embroidery9 upon Empedocles's boast
in fr. 111 that, under his tuition, Pausanias will be able to bring back the dead from
Hades. However, it is just conceivable that Empedocles might have been successful
in reviving a woman from a cataleptic fit and then made his confident boast upon
the basis of this success.
"What does one offer as a contribution to a Festschrift in honour of aman who himself writes about

Greek octopuses? 1 hope that what fullows is pitched right. With it go my very best wishes fur a

long, happy and productive retrrement. A version of this paper was given at a seminar at Durham on

30 April 1990.

1 Diogenes LaerHus 9. 3 (22A1 D. K.).

2 Sextus, Adu. math. 7. 133 (22Bl D. K).

3 Aristocritus, Theosophia 68 (22B5 D. K).

4 Oement, Strom. 6. 16 (22B36 D. K).

5 D. L. 8. 61 &67 (31Al D. K.).

6 D. L. 8. 69 (31A1 D. K).

7 N H7. 175.
.

8 De loeis affectis 6. 5 (VIII 415 1<:).

,

9 Cf. Timaeus' criticism of Heraclides as a 'writer of marvels' (D: L. 8. 72 [31AI D. K.D.

'~

';.",

James Longrigg

30

According to another story,10 Empedocles employed soothing music to dissipate a

young man's murderous rage against bis host, Ancbitos, and so saved the latter from
death and the former from homicide. This young man, we leam, subsequentIy became
'the most t!tmous of Empedocles' pupils'. It is difficult to see any ulterior motive
underlying this story, other than, perhaps, a possible desire on the part of Iamblichus
to present Empedodes as a Pythagorean, who followed his master in employing music
for therapeutic purposes.1 1 It is strange, however, that we hear nothing more of this
'most famous pupil'. He canriot have been Pausanias to whom the physical poem is
addressed; for the latter is described in this work as the son of Anchitos. 12
Several sources present Empedocles as a resourceful innovator with the capacity for
ingenious practical solutions ior problems oi public health. For example, we leam from
Timaeus13 that when strong Etesian winds were darnaging the crops and (according to
Plutarch)14 bringing disease and (according to Clement)15 rnaking the women barren, he
checked the winds by stretching out bags made of asses' skins on the hill-tops and
headlands to catch them (Timaeus) or (according to Plutarch) he checked the wind by
blocking the defile through which it blew. While it is not impossible that Empedocles
couId have erec.ted a wind-break in the manner described by PIutarch, the
circumstantial detail supplied by Timaeus oi his catcbing the wind in skin-bags seems
suspiciousIy evocative oi the story of Aeolus confining the winds in a bag (Odyssey 10.
19f('), so that Odysseus couId make bis way safeIy home. The whoIe story looks like a
later embellishment upon his promise to Pausanias in fr. 111 that he will be able to
arrest the violence of the weariless winds that arise to sweep the earth and waste the
fields'. These suspicions are heightened when we find Philostratus 16 recording also a
story that Empedocles checked a cloud-burst threatening the people oi Acragas and we
then observe that in the very next tine of the aboye fragment Pausanias is told that he
will 'cause for men a seasonable drought after dark rains'.
One story, however, seems to stand out frorn the rest and has won more widespread
acceptance. Diogenes Laertius tells us, on the authority of a certain Diodorus of
Ephesus 17 that, when the neighbouring city of Selinils was afflicted by a pestilence,
caused by the pollution of its river, which killed its citizens and caused painful
childbirth, Ernpedocles, at his own expense, diverted a neighbouring stream into it and
by sweetening the waters put an end to the plague.
J

When a plague fell upon the city of Selinus, owing to the foul smells
from the neighbouring river, the people perishedand the wornen
suffered difficult childbirth, Empedoc1es conceived the plan of
bringing together two neighbouring rivers at his own expense and
having united their waters, he sweetened their flow. When the plague
had come to an end in this way and the people of Selinus were feasting
beside the river, Empedoc1es appeared. The people rose up and
worshipped and prayed to hirn as if to a godo He, wishing to confirm
their opinion, leapt into the fire.
The plague is evidently not caused by drinking the waters of the polluted river so a
water-borne disease like cholera may be direct1y ruled out. It seerns likely that we
10 Iamblichus, VP 113 (31A15 D. K.).

It may be noted that in the Suda Empedocles is said to have been the pupil ofTelauges, the son of

Pythagoras (31A2 D. K.). For the Pythagorean use of music in this fashion see Iambl. V PIlO and An.

Par. 1 172 Cramer (58D1 D. K).

12 D.L. 8. 60 (31Bl D. K.).

13 Ap. D.L. 8. 60 (31Al D. K).

14 Mor. 1 p. 515 e (31A14 D. K).

15 Strom. 6. 30 (31A14 D. K).

16 V. Apo". 8. 7. 8, p. 158 (31A14 D. K).,

17 D. L. 8. 70 (31A1 D. K).
.

11

Empedocles and the Plague at Selinus

31

have here a reference to the miasmatic theory of plague: the river, because of insuffident
flow, became stagnant and foul-smelling and corrupted the air.1 8 The masculine pronoun in
the first sentence (Kal arroi!;) should be interpreted general1y to cover both sexes
~twithstanding the mention of the particular effect of the plague upon women in the next
phrase. It is doubtful whether any disease would have been considered so gender- specific
that it killed (sorne) men and caused painful childbirth in (some) women. It may be noted
that gynaecological problems are a not uncommon feature of plague-descriptions in
antiquity19 and this "feature may have influenced the present account. Empedocles' leap
into the unspedfied fire in the last sentence presumably carries an implicit reference to his
celebrated leap into Etna, which is referred to earlier by Diogenes2 0 - at any rate, the
self-same motivation is cited in both contexts.
Since, unlike other anecdotes which describe Empedocles' practical feats, this
story is not obviously based upon fr. 111, where he claims to be able to teach one to
check the winds, change the weather, and even raise the dead; since the procedure
itself is perfectly feasible and we know that Empedocles carne from a wealthy family,
this story has been accepted by modem scholars. Guthrie, for example, describes it as 'a
perfectly credible story, in harmony with <Empedocles'> evident interest in the
application of science and technology to the amelioration of human conditions' .21
Moreover, both Selinus and its river derived their name from the word celery (ol}.L1/0V
apium graveolens) which grew in abundance in the area. Since this plant prefers a
marshy habitat22 the area could have become stagnant and a breeding-ground for
mosquitoes. Thus the plague might have been an outbreak of malaria as sorne scholars
have claimed.2 3 But difficulties in childbirth are not a usual feature of malaria.
In addition to this circumstantial evidence, it is claimed that contemporary
numismatic evidence confirms that the plague at Selinus was historical,24 and that the
coins of Selinus depict the deliverance of the city from pestilence caused by the
stagnation of the waters of its river. One of these coins, the silver tetradrachm, depicts
(obverse) Apollo and Artemis riding in a chariot (fig. 1). Artemis is driving, while
Apollo is shooting arrows from his bow. These arrows, it is claimed, symbolise the
healing rays of the sun which drive away the malarial mists. Artemis appropriately
accompanies her brother in her role as the goddess who eases the pangs of childbirth. 25
On the reverse (fig. 2) is the young river-god, Selinus himself, sacrificing with a
libation bowl over an altar, holding in his left hand a lustral branch. There is sorne
controversy as to whether the altar is that of Apollo or that of his son, Asclepius. Sorne
c1aim that the cock, which stands before the altar, is the sacred bird of Asclepius and
symbolises here the god of healing. Behind the god stand s what is presumably the
statue of a bull upon a pedestal. Above the bull is the celery leaf symbol of Selinus. The
significance of the buU has given rise to much speculation. While one scholar thinks it
represents 'the river in its former aspect asan untamed natural force',26 another opines
18 For thiswidespread belief in pollutOO air as a cause of disease see [Hippocrates], Breaths, VI
19ff.: 'whenever the air has been infected with such pollutions (lLdOllaoLv) as are hostile to the
human race, then men fall sick'; [Hippocratesl, Nature o{ Man, IX 44ff.: 'But whenever an epidemic of
a single disease is prevalent, it is clear that the cause is not regimen but what we breathe and that
this gives off sorne unhealthyexhalation'.
19 See, for example, Hesiod, Works and Days 238-245; Sophocles, OT 26 and 174.
20 8.69 (31A1 D. K.).

21 W. K. C. Guthrie. A History o{ Greek Phlosophy, Vol.lI (Cambridge, 1965), p. 133.

22 Cf. Iliad 2. 776 and Theophrastus, HP 4.8.1 and 9. 11. 10.

23 See O. Bernhard, 'Ueber Malariabekiimpfung im ldassischen Altertum', in Neuburger' s Festschrift

(Vienna, 1928), pp. 44-46 & M. D. Grmek, Diseases in the Ancient World, (Baltimore and London,

1989), pp. 240ft.

'

24 See, for example. B.V; Head, Historia Numorum, a Manual of Greek Numismatics, 2nd oo. (Oxford,

1911), p. 167; R. Crawford, Plague and Pestilence in Literature and Art (Oxford, 1914), p.38 and

Guthrie, op.dt. p. 133.

," .

25 See D. L. 8. 70 (31A1 D. K.).

26 Head, op. cit. p. 168.

32

James Longrigg

that it represents 'sorne monument, erected at the time as an offering in expiation of the
surnmary method which Empedocles had adopted with the cause of the pestilence'PThe
smaller coin, a didrachm, also of silver (fig. 3), depicts (obverse) Herakles fighting a bull
which, iy{s alleged, symbolises the struggle between health and strength on the one hand
and the power of the stagnant water on the other. On the reverse (fig. 4), is depicted
another river-god, this time identified as Hypsas, the god of the other Selinuntine river,
sacrificing with libation-bowl and lustral branch at an altar around which a serpent
twines. This altar, it is claimed is 'probably once more an altar of Asclepius'. Behind
Hypsas, appears a marsh bird 'which seems to stalk away in high disgust at the
disappearance of its favourite haunts'. 'These two cons', it is maintained, 'thus
complement each other, and in their curious fullness of detall form a most illuminating
cornmentary on the dry statement of the andent biography of Empedocles:28
Unfortunately, although many scholars ha ve been persuaded by this
interpretation and believe that these coins afford proof that the plague of Selinus was
an historical fact, there is, as A. H. Lloyd points out,29 a strong topographical reason
for rejecting this story of Empedocles' eradication of the plague from Selinus. The two
rivers of Selinus, the Hypsas and the Selinus, do not, actually, flow close to each other.
The former flows some miles east of the Selinus and there is hilly ground between
them. To divert the deeper Hypsas so that it flowed into the smaller stream would
have necessitated an engineering operation upon a very considerable scale and would
have been beyond the resources of a private individual. Being upon such a scale, traces
of the substantial works would have survived. There would also have been produced at
the seaward end of the Hypsas estuary the very conditions which these works were
seeking to alleviate at Selinus. There is no evidence in either case.
Accordingly, Uoyd puts forward a different interpretation of these coins. Tuming
first to the tetradrachm, he points out that the representation of Apollo and Artemis
(obverse) is entirely natural. Apollo was the tutelary deity of the city and there was a
huge temple dedcated to his worship on the city's eastern hill. He might have
mentioned in addition that Apollo and Artemis' were also the tutelary deities of
Megara, Selinus' mother-city. As for the reverse, he rejects the interpretation put
forward by Hill that 'the altar is sacred to Asclepius, the god of healing for a cock, his
sacred bird, stands before it' .30 He argues that the cod carries no allusion to Asclepius,
notwithstanding Socrates' dying request at the end of the Phaedo that a cock should be
paid to Asclepius on his behalf. (Certainly a snake or even a dog would have been more
appropriate as symbols of Asclepius.) Lloyd sees here poltical connotations and
ingeniously argues that the cock is seeking protection in front of the altar and
represents Himera, Selinus' neighbour and ally, whose motif it was (fig. 5), whle the
bull, w hich is rendered differently from die to die, represents Acragas, against whose
attacks Himera had appealed to Selinus for aid. Acragas, Lloyd maintains, is
appropriatelydepicted by the brazen bull of Phalaris, whose grim rule was kept alive
in Sicilian memory by the aggressive deeds of his successors.31 Thus, according to Lloyd,
Selinus has reproduced on her tetradrachms, her major coins, the proud story of her
friendship towards Himera.
Since the story of Selinus' aid to Himera is completed on the tetradrachm, Lloyd
maintains, it is not continued on the didrachm. He sees here in the portrayal of
Heracles subduing the Creta n Bull (obverse) a declaration - by the use of an entirely
apposite legend - that the coin is that of Heraclea Minoa, a colony of Selinus. The
27 G. F. Hill, Cains

al Andent Sidly (London, 1903), p. 85.

loe.cit. - quoted with approval by Guthrie, ~p.cit. p. 133, n.2.

29 The Coin Types of Selinus and the Legend of Empedoeles', N.e. 15 (1935), 77.

30 G. F. Hill, Cains al Andent Sicily, p. 84.

31 Lloyd refers to another reverse die (PI. V, 27) where the engraver inciicates that the bull stands

for Acragas by marking its pedestal with a large ltter A and by making the cock fare right, instead

of left, he represents him screaming <.lttiarire from the protecting altar of Selinus at the enemy whom

he now faces.
.
28 Hi1l,

Empedocles and the Plague at Selinus

33

reverse depicts a second river-god offering sacrifice before an altar. This time the god is
identified as Hypsas, the river whose flow Empedodes supposedly joined with that of
Selinus. The god is sacrificing at an altar around which a serpent is entwined.
ccording to Lloyd (op.cit. p. 90), the reference here is to 'an underworld deity; possibly
one connected with the celebrated mineral springs called Thermae Selinuntinae'. The
marsh bird probably some kind of heron -which because of its seemingly disdainful
stride had eamed for itself a reputation for conceit, is considered by Lloyd to carry an
allusion to the name Hyp~s.
Other interpretations of this numismatic evidence, however, are possible. Kraay,32
for example, sees in the depiction of Apollo and Artemis on the obverse of the
tetradrachm an illustration of the arrival of these tutelary deities of Megara, the mother
city of Selinus, in order lo protect the colony, while the reverse simply shows the young
river-god, Selinus, pouring a libation over an altar to secure the prosperity of the city
named after him. The presence of the buII upon the masonry base, he maintains, reveals
that this is no imaginary scene, but 'a cult-act taking place in the actual sanctuary of the
god at Selinus'. As for the didrachm, he, like Lloyd, believes that the obverse in ts
depiction of Herakles overcoming the Cretan Bulllinks the cutt of that hero at Selinus
with the foundation of its colony, HerakIes Minoa, on the south coast of Sici1y.
Although Lloyd rejects the widely accepted interpretation of these coins as
reflecting the story of Empedodes' engineering-works at Selinus, he is unwilling to
reject the story of the eradieation of the plague altogether. He suggests that the
episode may have taken place, not at Selinus, but at Acragas, where there is no sueh
geographical obstac1e. Aeragas has two small rivers whieh enter the sea nearby by a
common mouth over a stretch of land which could easily have become a stagnant
plague-area, such as Diodorus describes, should the waters have failed to flow in
sufficient volume. It would have been a simple and relatively inexpensive operation to
join their streams. One of these rivers coincidentalIy bears the name of Hypsas, the
same name as its larger counterpart at Selinus. Lloyd believes that this coincidence
may ha ve been responsible for the transferenee of the scene from Aeragas to Selinus.
Since these works would have been on a much smaller scale, they could have been
financed by a single wealthy mano It is more likely, too, Lloyd points out, that
Empedoc1es would have finaneed these works for the benefit of his own fellow citizens
rather than on behalf of those of what was an unfriendly state.
Are we to believe, then, with Lloyd, that Empedodes by diverting the rivers at
Acragas rid his native city of a plague? It is possible, 1 suppose. The scheme itself could
have worked and there are no major geographical obstacles at Acragas as there are at
Selinus. Nor is the story obviously based upon an existing fragmento But, before
accepting Lloyd's contention, it would be well to bear in mind that it was not uncommon
for practical feats of sueh a nature to be attributed to the Presocratic philosophers (and
Empedodes, as we have seen, has been eredited with many sueh exploits). Thales, for
example, in addtion to being credited wth the ability to measure the height of
pyramids33 and the distanee of ships out at sea,34 and to prediet eclipses and a glut in
the olive crop,35 is also said to have redueed the flow of the river Halys to enable
Croesus' army to eross.36 His alleged proeedure here, it may be noted, s the direct
antithesis of that allegedly adopted by Empedoc1es. Moreover, just as those Presocratic
philosophers who were believed to have achieved some eminence in astronomy are
credited with the ability to predict striking astronomical events which occurred during
their lifetime - Thales, for example, is he Id (erroneously) to have predicted the
eclipse of the sun on May 28th 585 B. c.,37 while Anaxagoras is credited with predicting
32 Archaic and Classical Greek Coins (Lond~n, 1976), p. 220.

33 Hieronymusap. D. L8. 27; Pliny, NH36,82 and Plutareh, Mor. 147a (11A21 D. K.).

34 Eudemus ap. Vroel. in Eud., p. 3S2, 14 (11 A20 D. K.).

35 Aristotle, Politics, All 1259a6(l1Al0 D. K.).

36 Herodotus

1. 75 (11A6 D:,K,).

74 OlAS D;K,).

37 Herodotus,1.

James Longrigg

34

the fall of the rneteorite at Aegospotami in 468 B.C.38 - so eminent doctors are credited
with the power to put a stop to a plague. Hippocrates, so the story goes, notidng that
blacksrniths were apparently irnmune to the Athenian plague, had huge bonfires kindled
all ovefthe stricken city to purify the air.39 Acron, a conternporary and fellow-citizen
and, according to sorne, a pupil of Ernpedocles, is aIso credited by Plutarch with having
also ernployed the self-sarne rnethod to counter the Athenian Plague.4o Furthermore,
there is sorne evidence to suggest that Empedoc1es himself was believed to have adopted
this very procedure since, according to Pliny, both he and Hippocrates pointed out in
different places in their writings (?) that fire has the power to alleviate pestilence.41
AH things considered, then, I, for rny part, am dubious that there was such a plague
at Selinus, and, even if there were, I do not believe the story that Ernpedocles
eradicated it in the rnanner here described.

Fig.4

Rg.5

L. 210 (S9Al D. K.); Mann. Par. 57; Pliny, NE., 2 149f and Eusebius, Chron. (59All D. K). On

the aboYe 'preclictions' see rnyartiele 'fhales' inthe Dictio11Jlry 01 Seientific Biography (New York, 1976),

38 See D.

Vol. XIII, pp. 295-298.

Actuanus, Method. md. 5.6. Cf., too, i:he earlier accounts in [Calen] Ad Pisonzm de theriaca liber 16

(16. 281K) and Aetius S, 94, 91. Thu9':dides significantly makes no menton of Hip~tes in his account
of the Athenian plague. On this tradltion~y see J. R Pinault, 'How Hippocrates Cured the Plague',
{~urnal of the Htstory o Jv!.edc;ine and the Allipl Seie;t~. 41, (1986), 52-75.
. .
Mor. $83d. Cf., too, OribaslUS.5. 23. 8.Raeder and AetlUS 5.94.91.
41 NH 36. 202 est et ipsis ignibus mediQ is;pestilentitle quae obscuratione solis contrahitur, ignes si fiant,
multilariam auxiliari certum est. Empedocles et Hippocrates id demonstrauere diuerSs loeis.
39