Nestis
Nestis ( Greek Νῆστις ) is a Sicilian water goddess of Greek mythology .
The philosopher Empedocles assigns them to the element water in his four-element theory , while Zeus , Hera and Aidoneos correspond to the other three elements. Nestis donates water with her tears. In Empedocles it occurs in two places (fragments DK 31 B6 and DK 31 B96). The Byzantine scholar Eustathios of Thessalonica mentions Nestis as a Sicilian goddess in his commentary on Homer's Iliad .
Peter Kingsley thinks that Nestis is a name of Persephone , the wife of Hades (Aidoneos). This hypothesis, which Friedrich Wilhelm Sturz had already put forward in 1805, has found approval in research, but views differ widely on the details. The tears of Nestis are interpreted as the fertilizing rain.
literature
- Peter Kingsley: Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1995, pp. 348-358
- Jean-Claude Picot: L'Empédocle magique de P. Kingsley . In: Revue de Philosophie Ancienne 18, 2000, pp. 25–86, here: 39f., 48f., 60–68 (critical comment on Kingsley)
Remarks
- ↑ Empedocles, Fragment DK 31 B6: Text and German translation by Geoffrey S. Kirk, John E. Raven, Malcolm Schofield (eds.): Die vorsokratischen Philosophen. Introduction, texts and comments , Stuttgart 2001, p. 316. For the interpretation of the passage see Maureen Rosemary Wright (ed.): Empedocles: The Extant Fragments , New Haven 1981, p. 166. Fragment DK 31 B96: Jean Bollack (ed.) ): Empédocle , Volume 2: Les origines. Edition et traduction des fragments et des témoignages , Paris 1969, p. 164f.
- ↑ Eustathios, Ad Iliadem 1180, 14.