more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 408

[filed under theme 28. God / C. Attitudes to God / 5. Atheism ]

Full Idea

Ethiopians have gods with snub noses and black hair, Thracians have gods with grey eyes and red hair.

Gist of Idea

Ethiopian gods have black hair, and Thracian gods have red hair

Source

Xenophanes (fragments/reports [c.530 BCE], B16), quoted by Clement - Miscellanies 7.22.1

Book Ref

'Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers', ed/tr. Freeman,Kathleen [Harvard 1957], p.22


The 6 ideas from 'fragments/reports'

The basic Eleatic belief was that all things are one [Xenophanes, by Plato]
Xenophanes said the essence of God was spherical and utterly inhuman [Xenophanes, by Diog. Laertius]
Mortals believe gods are born, and have voices and clothes just like mortals [Xenophanes]
Ethiopian gods have black hair, and Thracian gods have red hair [Xenophanes]
If we succeed in speaking the truth, we cannot know we have done it [Xenophanes]
If God had not created honey, men would say figs are sweeter [Xenophanes]