Xenophanes - A New Development in Presocratic Philosophy

Xinophanes represents a new development in presocratic philosophy because he is the first explicitly to attack the authority of the poets. He was motivated by respect for the gods and thought it appalling to say that they engaged in adultery and theft, or even wearing clothes. In what be the first joke in the history of philosophy, albeit a joke with a serious message, xenophanes sarcastically remarks that if cattle or horses could depict the gods, they would show them looking like cattle or horses.