Heraclitus

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Heraclitus is mentioned by Dante in Inferno IV, 138, where the poet enumerates, among the great spirits gathered in Limbo, a series of figures of ancient learning: «Empedoclès, Eraclito e Zenone». The critical notes to the canto identify him with the 5th-century B.C. philosopher from Ephesus, celebrated for having theorized the perpetual becoming of all things. His placement in the first circle of Limbo, among the great spirits lacking baptismal grace, is consistent with Dante's catalogue of the sages of antiquity, although the verse does not directly specify his function. No other biographical or attributive data is supported by the verses-ancora or by the notes provided.