Πόλεμος πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν θεοὺς ἔδειξε τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους, τοὺς μὲν δούλους ἐποίησε τοὺς δὲ ἐλευθέρους.
1. War is the father and king of all: some he has made gods, and some men; some slaves and some free.
2. War is the father and king of all, and has produced some as gods and some as men, and has made some slaves and some free. (G. T. W. Patrick, 1889)
• Hippolytus, Ref. haer. ix. 9 (Fragment 53). Context: "And that the father of all created things is created and uncreated, the made and the maker, we hear him (Heraclitus) saying, 'War is the father and king of all,' etc."
• Plutarch, de Iside 48, p. 370. Context, see frag. 43.
• Proclus in Tim. 54 A (comp. 24 B).
• Compare Chrysippus from Philodem. P. eusebeias, vii. p. 81, Gomperz.
• Lucianus, Quomodo hist. conscrib. 2; Idem, Icaromen 8.
3. See also: πόλεμος πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι, πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς
4. Martin Heidegger, Parmenides (1942–1943)

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Πόλεμος πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν θεοὺς ἔδειξε τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους, τοὺς μὲν δούλους ἐποίησε τοὺς δὲ ἐλευθέρους.
1. War is the father and king of all: some he has made gods, and some men; some slaves and some free.
2. War is the father and king of all, and has produced some as gods and some as men, and has made some slaves and some free. (G. T. W. Patrick, 1889)
• Hippolytus, Ref. haer. ix. 9 (Fragment 53). Context: "And that the father of all created things is created and uncreated, the made and the maker, we hear him (Heraclitus) saying, 'War is the father and king of all,' etc."
• Plutarch, de Iside 48, p. 370. Context, see frag. 43.
• Proclus in Tim. 54 A (comp. 24 B).
• Compare Chrysippus from Philodem. P. eusebeias, vii. p. 81, Gomperz.
• Lucianus, Quomodo hist. conscrib. 2; Idem, Icaromen 8.
3. See also: πόλεμος πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι, πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς
4. Martin Heidegger, Parmenides (1942–1943)" in the context of "" to mean that wisdom is timeless.