Presocratic philosophy · c. 540–480 BCE

Heraclitus

Listen for order within change.

Ephesus · Ionia

Portraits: artistic interpretations

Bibliography

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Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.

Bibliographic scope

No complete work survives. The fragment record gathers edited quotations; the other pages are testimonies by named authors, not books written by Heraclitus. Numbering, authenticity and context vary by edition. This is a selection of sources, not an exhaustive index of every fragment.

01

Testimony / transmissionc. 500 BCE / modern editions

Fragments and testimonies

Editorial reconstruction from ancient quotations; no complete manuscript survives.

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02

Testimony / transmission3rd century CE

Diogenes Laertius — Life of Heraclitus

A late ancient biography whose anecdotes and quotations require critical reading.

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03

Testimony / transmission4th century BCE

Plato — Cratylus: flux

Plato’s testimony about flux; a work by Plato, not a book by Heraclitus.

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04

Testimony / transmission4th century BCE

Aristotle — Metaphysics: opposites

Aristotle’s discussion of a reading of Heraclitus in book Gamma.

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Sources & reference points

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Heraclitus Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy