Heraclitus ( el, Ἡράκλειτος; fl. 1st century AD) was a grammarian and

rhetorician Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

, who wrote a Greek

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

which is still extant. Little is known about Heraclitus. It is generally accepted that he lived sometime around the 1st century AD.Donald Russell, "The Rhetoric of the Homeric Problems" in G. R. Boys-Stones (2003) ''Metaphor, allegory, and the classical tradition: ancient thought and modern'', page 217. Oxford University Press His one surviving work has variously been called ''Homeric Problems'', ''Homeric Questions'',Stephen Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet, (2004), ''Anthology of classical myth: primary sources in translation'', page 116. Hackett or ''Homeric Allegories''.Robert Lamberton, "Homer in Antiquity" in Ian Morris, Barry B. Powell, (1996), ''A new companion to Homer'', page 52. BRILL In his work, Heraclitus defended

against those who denounced him for his immoral portrayals of the

gods A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...

. Heraclitus based his defense of Homer on

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...

interpretation. He gives interpretations of major episodes from the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

'' and the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

'', particularly those that received the greatest criticism, such as the battles between the gods and the love affair between

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...

and Ares. Many of his allegories are physical, claiming that the poems represent elemental forces; or ethical, that they contain edifying concealed messages. An important example of physical allegory is Heraclitus' interpretation of the love affair between Aphrodite and Ares. He argues that Aphrodite and Ares represent Love and Strife, the forces responsible for the mixture and separation of the elements in Empedocles' philosophy, which were "united together after their ancient rivalry (''philoneikia'') in one accord".Stephen Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet, (2004), ''Anthology of classical myth: primary sources in translation'', page 118. Hackett Because "everything was joined together (''harmosthenai'') tranquilly and harmoniously", Heraclitus argues, " twas reasonable for all the gods to laugh and rejoice together at this because their individual inclinations were not at variance over immoral acts, but were enjoying peaceful accord". He also interprets the affair as an allegory for the art of

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scal ...

. His work contains a good deal of philosophical knowledge, especially Stoicism.

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