PHILOSOPHER

Parmenides

501 BC - 470 BC

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Parmenides of Elea (; Greek: Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; fl. late sixth or early fifth century BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia (Southern Italy). Parmenides was born in the Greek colony of Elea, from a wealthy and illustrious family. His dates are uncertain; according to doxographer Diogenes Laërtius, he flourished just before 500 BC, which would put his year of birth near 540 BC, but in the dialogue Parmenides Plato has him visiting Athens at the age of 65, when Socrates was a young man, c. 450 BC, which, if true, suggests a year of birth of c. 515 BC. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Parmenides has received more than 1,898,941 page views. His biography is available in 86 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 85 in 2019). Parmenides is the 32nd most popular philosopher (down from 30th in 2019), the 33rd most popular biography from Italy and the 3rd most popular Italian Philosopher.

Parmenides is most famous for his poem, "On Nature," in which he argues that the world of our experience is an illusion and that the only thing that truly exists is a changeless, eternal, and perfect sphere.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.9M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 81.40

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 86

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 14.68

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.03

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Parmenides ranks 32 out of 1,267Before him are Averroes, Auguste Comte, Thomas Hobbes, Al-Ghazali, Erasmus, and Diogenes. After him are Baruch Spinoza, Anaximander, Al-Farabi, Martin Heidegger, Maria Montessori, and Plutarch.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 501 BC, Parmenides ranks 1After him are Exekias, and Corinna. Among people deceased in 470 BC, Parmenides ranks 2Before him is Heraclitus. After him is Euphronios.

Others Born in 501 BC

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Others Deceased in 470 BC

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In Italy

Among people born in Italy, Parmenides ranks 33 out of 5,161Before him are Giovanni Boccaccio (1313), Sandro Botticelli (1445), Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (1768), Caligula (12), Alessandro Volta (1745), and Horace (-65). After him are Giacomo Puccini (1858), Niccolò Paganini (1782), Maria Montessori (1870), Titian (1488), Lorenzo de' Medici (1449), and Silvio Berlusconi (1936).

Among PHILOSOPHERS In Italy

Among philosophers born in Italy, Parmenides ranks 3Before him are Niccolò Machiavelli (1469), and Thomas Aquinas (1225). After him are Maria Montessori (1870), Empedocles (-490), Lucretius (-94), Zeno of Elea (-490), Pliny the Elder (23), Antonio Gramsci (1891), Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463), Boethius (480), and Tommaso Campanella (1568).