Abstract
The focus of this essay is on Xenophanes’ criticism of anthropomorphic
representation of the gods, famously sounding like a declaration of war against
a constituent part of the Greek religion, and adopting terms and a tone that are
unequalled amongst “pre-Socratic” authors for their directness and explicitness.
While the main features of Xenophanes’ polemic are well known thanks
to some of the most studied fragments of the pre-Socratic tradition, a different
line of enquiry from the usual one is attempted by considering the multi-layered
background of the religious beliefs revolving around the idea that the gods have
human form as outlined in the tradition of epic poetry or represented in cult
statues: in the light of this consideration Xenophanes’ text can take on some new
characteristics.
In the second part of the article, emphasis is put on the importance of the correlation
Xenophanes established between the issue of the appearance of the gods and
that of the certainty of knowledge, in terms that have exerted tremendous influence
on later thought, most notably on Plato in the Timaeus.