Before there was Plato, Aristotle, or even Socrates, there was a group of Greek philosophers who imparted their wisdom onto others in the early 5th century BCE. One such scholar was Empedocles, who was said to have been influential and unique in many ways. (And that’s not just because, as rumor had it, he thrust himself into an active volcano as a sacrifice.) His use of hexameter verse, an impactful writing style which helped turn his philosophical thoughts into poetry, was especially appreciated by writers.

So when researchers in Cairo uncovered 30 unpublished poetic verses approximately 2,000 years after they were written, many took note. Until this discovery, much of his reputation had been built on the backs of historians who came after him. Finding actual additional verses from his work has been downright mind-blowing for many.

In a paper edited by scientific editor Stephanie Baum for University de Liege, they share that a “2,000-year-old papyrus fragment, discovered in the archives of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo, reveals 30 previously unpublished verses by Empedocles, a pre-Socratic philosopher of the fifth century BCE. This discovery offers researchers direct access to a body of thought previously known only through quotations from later authors.”

The article also eloquently notes what a huge achievement this is by comparing it to the hypothetical discovery of a more modern writer. “To grasp the significance of such a discovery, the authors offer an illuminating analogy: Imagine that in a few centuries’ time, all that remains of Victor Hugo are excerpts from Les Misérables in school textbooks, the musical Notre-Dame de Paris, and the program for a performance of the play Hernani. The discovery of a few pages from an original edition of Hugo’s work would then be a momentous event.”

Empedocles and his work were incredibly impactful. Britannica states that, “Although strongly influenced by Parmenides, who emphasized the unity of all things, Empedocles assumed instead that all matter was composed of four essential ingredients, fire, air, water, and earth, and that nothing either comes into being or is destroyed but that things are merely transformed, depending on the ratio of basic substances to one another.”

These ideas, centered around the basic elements, also helped shape his belief that the human struggle is centered around “love and strife.” “Like Heraclitus, he believed that two forces, Love and Strife, interact to bring together and to separate the four substances. Strife makes each of these elements withdraw itself from the others; Love makes them mingle together. The real world is at a stage in which neither force dominates.”

A famous quote thought to be attributed to Empedocles says, “The force that unites the elements to become all things is Love, also called Aphrodite; Love brings together dissimilar elements into a unity, to become a composite thing. Love is the same force that human beings find at work in themselves whenever they feel joy, love, and peace. Strife, on the other hand, is the force responsible for the dissolution of the one back into its many, the four elements of which it was composed”.

A predecessor to many great thinkers

Philosophy professor Graham Blackbourn, of the School of Philosophy and Economic Science in Edinburgh, is one of many who speak at length on the topic of Empedocles. On a podcast, he shared just how influential his work was.

“Many scholars think that Empedocles was the source of Plato’s myth of the soul’s journey in his dialogue Phaedrus, in addition to some of the themes in his Symposium, including Diotima’s teaching on love. Aristotle referenced Empedocles more often in his writings than anyone other than Plato himself.

So what do we know of Empedocles’ thinking?

Until recently, it was thought that Empedocles wrote two very different books, or poems, since he composed in hexameter verse. One poem was called “On Nature,” a bizarre but essentially materialist account of the evolution of the cosmos. The other was called “Purifications,” concerning religious ideas and practices which it was thought were rather at odds with Empedocles’s materialist cosmology. Neither poem was preserved in its entirety, being known only from quotations in later writings.”

Where can we find these uncovered verses?

Edited by Nathan Carlig, Alain Martin, and Olivier Primavesi, the works are translated with commentary in L’Empédocle du Caire.

The Liege University site directly confirms “It was at the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO) that Nathan Carlig, a papyrologist at the University of Liège, identified papyrus P.Fouad inv. 218 as an unknown fragment of the Physica, the great poem by the philosopher Empedocles of Agrigentum.”

While the text is not readily available (just yet), the university site gives a bit of insight into what the verses reveal. “The text that has come to light deals with the theory of particle effluvia and sensory perceptions, particularly vision.”

Furthermore, they explain how much the new verses seem to have influenced philosophers who came after him. “Analysis of the text has revealed unexpected connections, including the probable direct source of a passage by Plutarch (2nd century), as well as a dialogue by Plato and a text by Theophrastus, a disciple of Aristotle, both from the 4th century BCE.”

Music, community and joy drive real change

In a small village in Pwani, a district on Tanzania’s coast, a massive dance party is coming to a close. For the past two hours, locals have paraded through the village streets, singing and beating ngombe drums; now, in a large clearing, a woman named Sheilla motions for everyone to sit facing a large projector screen. A film premiere is about to begin. 

It’s an unusual way to kick off a film about gender bias, inequality, early marriage, and other barriers that prevent girls from accessing education in Tanzania. But in Pwani and beyond, local organizations supported by Malala Fund and funded by Pura are finding creative, culturally relevant ways like this one to capture people’s interest. 

The film ends and Sheilla, the Communications and Partnership Lead for Media for Development and Advocacy (MEDEA), stands in front of the crowd once again, asking the audience to reflect: What did you think about the film? How did it relate to your own experience? What can we learn? 

Sheilla explains that, once the community sees the film, “It brings out conversations within themselves, reflective conversations.” The resonance and immediate action create a ripple effect of change.

Across Tanzania, gender-based violence often forces adolescent girls out of the classroom. This and other barriers — including child marriage, poverty, conflict, and discrimination — prevent girls from completing their education around the world. 

Sheilla and her team are using film and radio programs to address the challenges girls face in their communities. MEDEA’s ultimate goal is to affirm education as a fundamental right for everyone, and to ensure that every member of a community understands how girls’ education contributes to a stronger whole and how to be an ally for their sisters, daughters, granddaughters, friends, nieces, and girlfriends. 

Sheilla’s story is one of many that inspired Heart on Fire, a new fragrance from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection that blends the warm, earthy spices of Tanzania with a playful, joyful twist. Here’s how Pura is using scent as a tool to connect the world and inspire action.

A partnership focused on local impact, on a global mission

Pura, a fragrance company that recognizes education as both freedom and a human right, has partnered with Malala Fund since 2022. In order to defend every girl’s right to access and complete 12 years of education, Malala Fund partners with local organizations in countries where the educational barriers are the greatest. They invest in locally-led solutions because they know that those who are closest to the problems are best equipped to solve and build durable solutions, like MEDEA, which works with communities to challenge discrimination against girls and change beliefs about their education. 

But local initiatives can thrive and scale more powerfully with global support, which is why Pura is using their own superpower, the power of scent, to connect people around the world with the women and girls in these local communities. 

The Pura x Malala Fund Collection incorporates ingredients naturally found in Tanzania, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Brazil: countries where Malala Fund operates to address systemic education barriers. Eight percent of net revenue from the Pura x Malala Fund Collection will be donated to Malala Fund directly, but beyond financial support, the Collection is also a love letter to each unique community, blending notes like lemon, jasmine, cedarwood, and clove to transport people, ignite their senses, and help them draw inspiration and hope from the global movement for girls’ education. Through scent, people can connect to the courage, joy, and tenacity of girls and local leaders, all while uniting in a shared commitment to education: the belief that supporting girls’ rights in one community benefits all of us, everywhere. 

You’ve already met Sheilla. Now see how Naiara and Mama Habiba are building unique solutions to ensure every girl can learn freely and dare to dream.

Naiara Leite is reimagining what’s possible in Brazil

In Brazil, where pear trees and coconut plantations cover the Northeastern Coast, girls like ten-year-old Julia experience a different kind of educational barrier than girls in Tanzania. Too often, racial discrimination contributes to high dropout rates among Black, quilombola and Indigenous girls in the country. 

“In the logic of Brazilian society, Black people don’t need to study,” says Naiara Leite, Executive Coordinator of Odara, a women-led organization and Malala Fund partner. Bahia, the state where Odara is based, was once one of the largest slave-receiving territories in the Americas, and because of that history, deeply-ingrained, anti-Black prejudice is still widespread. “Our role and the image constructed around us is one of manual labor,” Naiara says. 

But education can change that. In 2020, with assistance from a Malala Fund grant, Odara launched its first initiative for improving school completion rates among Black, quilombola, and Indigenous girls: “Ayomidê Odara”. The young girls mentored under the program, including Julia, are known as the Ayomidês. And like the Pura x Malala Fund Collection’s Brazil: Breath of Courage scent, the Ayomidês are fierce, determined, and bursting with energy.

Ayomidês take part in weekly educational sessions where they explore subjects like education and ethnic-racial relations. The girls are encouraged to find their own voices by producing Instagram lives, social media videos, and by participating in public panels. Already, the Ayomidês are rewriting the narrative on what’s possible for Afro-Brazilian girls to achieve. One of the earliest Ayomidês, a young woman named Debora, is now a communications intern. Another former Ayomidê, Francine, works at UNICEF, helping train the next generation of adolescent leaders. And Julia has already set her sights on becoming a math teacher or a model. 

“These are generations of Black women who did not have access to a school,” Naiara says. “These are generations of Black women robbed daily of their dreams. And we’re telling them that they could be the generation in their family to write a new story.” 

Mama Habiba is reframing the conversation in Nigeria 

In Mama Habiba’s home country of Nigeria, the scents of starfruit, ylang ylang and pineapple, all incorporated into the Pura x Malala Collection’s “Nigeria: Hope for Tomorrow,” can be found throughout the vibrant markets. Like these native scents, Mama Habiba says that the Nigerian girls are also bright and passionate, but too........

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