''The Death of Empedocles'' (german: Der Tod des Empedokles) is an unfinished drama by

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...

. It exists in three versions written from 1797 to 1800, the first of which is the most complete. The third version was published by itself in 1826, but all three did not appear in print together until 1846, three years after Hölderlin's death. The play is about the final days of

pre-Socratic Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of thes ...

Greek philosopher

Empedocles Empedocles (; grc-gre, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς; , 444–443 BC) was a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a native citizen of Akragas, a Greek city in Sicily. Empedocles' philosophy is best known for originating the cosmogonic theory of the fo ...

, who, according to legend, threw himself into

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( it, Etna or ; scn, Muncibbeḍḍu or ; la, Aetna; grc, Αἴτνα and ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina a ...

. Hölderlin's main source of the story was

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...

's ''

Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal sourc ...

''. The first act sees Empedocles take leave of

Agrigentum Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...

, and the second is set entirely at Etna.

In popular culture

In the 1979 film "A Little Romance" Daniel and Lauren discuss the philosopher Martin Heidegger's fascination with Hölderlin's drama, decrying it as "terrible in any language." Scottish musician Momus wrote and sung the song "The Death of Empedokles" for his 2016 album '' Scobberlotchers''. The 1987 film ''Der Tod des Empedokles'' by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, is a film adaptation of the Hölderlin play.

References

1826 plays 1846 plays 18th-century German literature Plays set in ancient Greece German-language plays Works by Friedrich Hölderlin {{19thC-play-stub