Parmenides, at first, was considered but a reactionary (to Heraclitus). But, during the 20th century, thanks to Carl Reinert, who developed the idea that Parmenides developed his own school of thought and ideas, he was promoted to his current state.
He was in correspondence with a member of the Pythagorean school.
The people who founded Elea were first from a city that was occupied by the Persian empire, which nonetheless allowed its citizens to maintain some mask of autonomy, though many of them chose to move out, first to Corsica, then elsewhere.
Eros among the first, primordial gods.
Fr 12. He talks of an unnamed spirit that governs many things. Among them, “birth and conjunction”.
He makes references to Olympus and celestial sphere
Fr. 18 he makes a reference to the role of another goddess, Venus.
“So I say, according to man’s opinions [read as appearances / surface-level stuff], these things originated and now are in later times, having received their sustenance, will end”.
The chariot Parmenides is in moves between night and day. Many elements seen there too come from Orphic tradition. It’s a metaphor for personal transformation, with something that will change your life. The change here, however, is conducted through an (unnamed) goddess, and based on rational discussion - logos - rather than through magical or mystical means.
The gate still exists in Elea, “The Gate of Parmenides” (though it was significantly changed during the middle ages)
We get the concept of retributive justice (Dike). The goddess who governs justice and right.
Dike and Themis - the goddesses who govern justice and right.
Who is the unnamed goddess in the work?
According to one scholar. He uses many names to refer to one concept - absolute truth.
According to another, which is more connected to archeology, this refers to Mnemosyne.
The goddess meets Parmenides at the gate, and welcomes him.
The way of truth is not human, though humans may achieve it. She tells him that he should learn everything. “the unshaken heart of well-rounded truth, as the opinions of mortals, which comprise no genuine conviction:”
Alethia is sometimes defined as the negation of “remaining hidden”.
The speech may be divine, but the thinker is invited to realize the strength of the argument. Noema
Fr. 5. The task of knowledge isn’t accumulating knowledge but, rather, going back and reestablishing and bettering the foundations.
Fr. 7. Can be an anticipation of what we will see in Hume. Do not trust too much in your senses, and decide rather through discourse, through argument.
Being as a concept, rather than physical?