Abstract

BERRUECOS FRANK, Bernardo. The Daughters of the Sun in Parmenides' Proem. Diánoia [online]. 2015, vol.60, n.75, pp.55-84. ISSN 0185-2450.

This paper will outline several guiding principles concerning a comprehensive interpretation of Parmenides' proem through the analysis of one of its essential elements: the daughters of the Sun. After examining the actions they perform throughout the narrative and in order to defend an allegorical interpretation of them, some features of the archaic allegorical activity will be defined by the analysis of some examples. Finally, we will trace the foundations for a critical reappraisal of Sextus Empiricus' interpretation and we will argue that Plato's allegory of the "winged chariot" as a symbol of the ψυχή in the Phaedrus could well be closely recreating and evoking the Parmenidean myth of the proem. The hermeneutic disjunction (ἀνάβασις-κατάβασις) may be motivated by the intrinsic ambiguity of the narration, an ambiguity intended to show the real unity of apparent opposites by using the symbol of the daughters of the Sun.

Keywords : Parmenides; proem; allegory; enigma; insight; invisibility; unity of opposites.