A 2,000-year-old papyrus fragment revealed previously unknown writing by a pre-Socratic philosopher.

Empedocles lived in the fifth century BC, and was repeatedly cited by later thinkers — Aristotle called him the “father of rhetoric.” But his writing only survives in brief quotes or summaries.

The 30 verses found in a Cairo archive suggest that he prefigured “atomist” philosophers such as Democritus who argued the universe consists of indivisible particles, researchers said, and inspired work by Plato and Plutarch. Greece had a thriving philosophical tradition before Socrates, but only fragments survive; almost all our knowledge stems from later accounts, a history written by the winners.

The school of sophism was criticized by Plato, hence “sophistry” still being a disparaging term.