On the eve of his final odes and hymns, Friedrich H lderlin composed three versions of a dramatic poem on the suicide of the early Greek thinker, Empedocles of Acragas. This book offers the first complete translation of the three versions, along with translations of H lderlin's essays on the theory of tragedy. David Farrell Krell gives readers a brief chronology of H lderlin's life, an introduction to the life and thought of Empedocles--including H lderlin's Empedocles--detailed explanatory notes, and an analysis of the play and the theoretical essays, allowing for a full appreciation of this classic of world literature and philosophy.