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Stefan Stenudd           Author, Artist, Aikido instructor
MYTH

Myths of Creation

The Logics of Myth

Psychoanalysis of Myth

Genesis 1: The first creation of the Bible

Enuma Elish: Babylonian Creation

Cosmos of the Ancients: Greek philosophers

Cosmos of the Ancients: The book

Aristotle - life and work

Aristotle's Poetics

Ideas and learning

Life Energy
Encyclopedia


The Taoist source

About the writer

ANCIENT GREECE
Introduction
Thales
Anaximander
Anaximenes
Pherecydes of Syros
Pythagoras
Xenophanes
Theagenes
Hecataeus
Heraclitus
Pindar
Parmenides
Anaxagoras
Empedocles
Herodotus
Gorgias
Melissus
Protagoras
Euripides
Prodicus of Ceos
Leucippus
Democritus
Critias
Antisthenes
Diagoras of Melos
Plato
Aristotle
Epicurus
Euhemerus
Table of the Greek Philosophers
Literature

Aristotle - life and work
Aristotle's Poetics

Books by Stefan Stenudd:
Cosmos of the Ancients, by Stefan Stenudd.
COSMOS OF THE ANCIENTS
by Stefan Stenudd. What the Greek philosophers thought about religion, cosmology, myth, and the gods.
Get the book at Amazon.


Life Energy Encyclopedia, by Stefan Stenudd.
LIFE ENERGY ENCYCLOPEDIA
by Stefan Stenudd. Qi, prana, spirit, and other life forces around the world explained and compared.
Get the book at Amazon.


Murder, by Stefan Stenudd.
MURDER
by Stefan Stenudd. Thoughts on life, death, and the meaning of it all.
Get the book at Amazon.


QI - increase your life energy.
QI
Increase your life energy
by Stefan Stenudd. The life energy qi (also chi or ki), with exercises on how to awaken, increase, and use it.
Get the book at Amazon.



Parthenon

Cosmos of the Ancients

The Greek Philosophers
on Myth and Cosmology


Xenophanes


X enophanes of Colophon (570-478 BC) was directly outspoken against the mythology of Homer and Hesiod, up to the point of being praised by Timon: "Xenophanes, not over-proud, perverter of Homer, castigator." Diogenes Laertes explains that he wrote, in three different metre, verses "attacking Hesiod and Homer and denouncing what they said about the gods." He blamed them for having "ascribed unto the Gods all that is reproach and blame in the world of men, stealing and adultery and deceit."
     Xenophanes had no patience with the concept of a multitude of gods, accredited with distinct and unsympathetic anthropomorphic features. To him it was clear that gods are given the countenance of their worshipers: "The Aethiop saith that his Gods are snub-nosed and black, the Thracian that his have blue eyes and red hair," and he finds it likely that if bulls or horses had hands and could paint, they would portray the gods with horse or bull features. Thereby it is evident that he regarded much of the gods as coming out of human imagination. To him there was only one god, lacking any human trait. According to Diogenes Laertius, Xenophanes claimed:
     The substance of God is spherical, in no way resembling man. He is all eye and all ear, but does not breathe; he is the totality of mind and thought, and is eternal.
     Except for this god, who is eternal, anything that has come into being is doomed to perish. The soul Xenophanes regarded as breath.

Literature
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, translated by R. D. Hicks, volume II, Loeb, London 1950.
Edmonds, J. M., Elegy and Iambus, volume I, Loeb, London, 1932.

© Stefan Stenudd 2000

How to get the book
An edited and extended version of the texts on this website was published in 2007.
     If you want to buy the book, you can do so at most international web based bookstores, such as Amazon and the like. Here are links to the book on Amazon US and Amazon UK. Use the latter if you are European - then you get the book cheaper and quicker. Otherwise, you may want to buy it at Amazon US.

At Amazon US:
Cosmos of the Ancients, by Stefan Stenudd - at Amazon US.
At Amazon UK:
Cosmos of the Ancients, by Stefan Stenudd - at Amazon UK.


Search Amazon for books about Xenophanes:




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Stefan Stenudd
Stefan Stenudd
is a Swedish author and historian of ideas, who researches the thought patterns in creation myths. He has also written books about Chinese and Japanese traditions.



Tao Te Ching - the Taoist source.
TAOIST SOURCE
The Taoist source. The complete Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu.


More on this website:
Aikido
Aikibatto sword exercises
Myth
Greek Philosophers
Aristotle and his Poetics
The Taoist source
Qi - life energy
Fiction by Stenudd
Art by Stenudd
Astrology and horoscopes