Concordia discors

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Ian Gordon (Anglia Ruskin University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool)

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Literary Concept

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Date of occurrence -450-1750

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Ancient Greece (Location)

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The doctrine of

concordia discors

- the idea that the numerous conflicts between the four elements in nature (air, earth, fire and water) paradoxically create an overall harmony in the world - can be traced back to the Greek philosophers, Pythagoras (c. 580-500 B.C.), Heraclitus (c. 544-483 B.C.) and Empedocles (c. 490-430 B.C.). The Latin phrase which is used to encapsulate the idea was first used by Horace in the twelfth epistle of his first book (c. 20 B.C.) to describe Empedocles' philosophy that the world is explained and shaped by a perpetual strife between the four elements, ordered by love into a jarring unity, or, as the musical metaphor held it, a “discordant harmony”. This cosmology was given added prevalence a quarter of a century later through Ovid's account of Creation…

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763 words

Citation: Gordon, Ian. "Concordia discors". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 January 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1693, accessed 27 November 2024.]

Concordia discors

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