The Search for Truth

INSPIRED BY THE GODDESS
Parmenides' quest for truth is described as a spirited and adventurous chariot journey through which he was guided by an unnamed Goddess. Later in time, Plato uses similar imagery of the chariot race to represent the divided nature of the human soul. Freud too uses the charioteer image to illustrate his idea of the human ego trying to control the id. (Horses for courses?)

"The mares that carry me as far as my heart may aspire were my escorts: they guide and set me on the celebrated road of the god which carries the man of knowledge... There I was being carried: for there the wise mares were carrying me, straining at the chariot, and maidens were leading the way. The axle in the axle-box roared from its socket as it blazed - for it was driven by two whirling wheels on either side - while the maidens, daughters of the sun, hastened to escort it ..."