Xenophanes

Xenophanes of Colophon, c.570 – c.475 BC,^[1] was a Greek philosopher, poet, and social and religious critic.

Our knowledge of his views comes from fragments of his poetry, surviving as quotations by later Greek writers. To judge from these, his poetry criticized and satirized a wide range of ideas.^[2] This included Homer and Hesiod, the belief in the pantheon of anthropomorphic gods and the Greeks' love of athletics and athleticism. He is the earliest Greek poet who claims explicitly to be writing for future generations, creating "fame that will reach all of Greece, and never die while the Greek kind of songs survives".^[3]

1. ↑ Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
2. ↑ Barnes, Jonathan Early Greek philosophy. p40 ISBN 0140444610
3. ↑ See Dalby, Andrew (2006), Rediscovering Homer, New York, London: Norton, ISBN 0-393-05788-7 p123