Xenophanes

[zuh-nof-uh-neez]

noun

1. c570–c480 b.c., Greek philosopher and poet.

Xenophanes

/ zɛˈnɒfəˌniːz /

noun

1. ?570–?480 _bc , Greek philosopher and poet, noted for his monotheism and regarded as a founder of the Eleatic school

Other Word Forms

• Xenophanean adjective

Example Sentences

A strikingly original thinker, Xenophanes knew that fossilized marine organisms had been found on Mediterranean islands like Malta, south of Italy, and Paros, near Athens.

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Pythagoras taught that God is a number; Xenophanes that it is a sphere, passionless and consubstantial with all things; Parmenides that it is but the confluence of earth and fire.

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Xenophanes of Colophon famously ridiculed the anthropomorphic projections of human religion: if every different ethnic society imagines the gods look like them, how can they all be right?

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All is but a woven web of guesses, the early philosopher of science, Xenophanes, wrote—but if the weaving is taut, the web holds water, or stars.

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Had such heresies been spoken in Athens, where the effects of a religious revival were still in force, the “secular arm” of the archons would probably have made short work of Xenophanes.

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