# Xenophanes — The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers character guide

> Xenophanes in The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Xenophanes the Colophonian

**First appearance:** 0082-xenophanes

## Snapshot

The wandering poet-philosopher who mocked the gods as projections of human vanity and insisted that mortals can never know the truth.

## Who they are

Xenophanes of Colophon was a traveling rhapsode who used verse to attack the anthropomorphic gods of Homer and Hesiod, arguing that if oxen could paint, their gods would look like oxen. He was also a serious epistemologist, insisting that certainty is beyond human reach and that even the best opinions are mere conjecture. His presence in the Lives shows the Pre-Socratic tradition at its most skeptical and most literary, a poet who made doubt itself a kind of wisdom.

## In the story

### [Epimenides](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/epimenides)

Mentioned as a source for Epimenides' age at death.

### [Book IX: The Skeptics and the Eleatic School](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/book-ix)

Founder of the Eleatic school; buried his sons with his own hands; flourished around the 60th Olympiad.

### [Heraclitus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/heraclitus)

Mentioned as a possible teacher of Heraclitus and as one criticized by him.

### [Xenophanes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/xenophanes)

Main subject of the chapter; a poet and philosopher from Colophon who criticized Homer and Hesiod, taught about the elements and god, and lived to extreme old age.

### [Parmenides](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/parmenides)

Mentioned as a teacher of Parmenides, though Parmenides did not follow his doctrines.

### [Timon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/chapters/timon)

Timon's Silloi represent him interrogating Xenophanes about philosophical matters.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/characters/xenophanes
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_lives_and_opinions_of_eminent_philosophers_se/characters