The bilingual study edition offers the text of the transmitted fragments arranged according to the critical edition and translation by Uvo Hölscher, along with a new commentary introduction by Alfons Reckermann. The didactic poem of Parmenides on the nature of being (circa 515 BC) established ontology and thus Western philosophy. For this historical impact, it was crucial that Parmenides not only distinguished between what truly is and what is not, but also defined it as one, unchanging, self-complete, whole, and interconnected. Thus, Parmenides can impress a contemporary consciousness simply by providing the foundational distinction between what is truly real and what is not, yet appears to be true—an essential differentiation that we cannot navigate our reality without. Additionally, he presents an understanding of being that does not merely register the existence of something but expresses a force that can emanate from a work of art or the sensory presence of a person. We all live off such impressions while simultaneously being aware that they can also deceive and, in an increasingly media-saturated world, can often be deliberately feigned. Therefore, it remains important to have criteria at hand to convincingly distinguish real being from non-being. Perhaps it is also the case for us that what constitutes a truly existing entity is something enduring, which does not simply exist once and then not again, or take on this form and then that, but rather a continuum of perfection that oscillates equally in all directions from its center.