Theophrastus of Eresus Commentary Volume 8


Book Description

This volume is a commentary on the rhetorical and poetic texts collected in the second volume of Theophrastus of Eresus: Sources for His Life, Writings, Thought, and Influence. The commentary begins with a discussion of the ancient and medieval sources from which the texts are drawn. Next comes discussion of the titles of Theophrastus' works on rhetoric and poetics. After that each text is discussed individually. In sum, Theophrastus is shown to be an important, though sometimes seriously misunderstood, contributor to the development of Greek rhetorical and poetic theory. The commentary concludes with a bibliography of the modern scholary literature followed by several indices: important Greek and Latin words, titles of works (non-Theophrastean as well as Theophrastean), persons and places, and subjects discussed in earlier sections of the commentary.




Theophrastus of Eresus Commentary Volume 6.1


Book Description

Commenting on recently collected sources for Theophrastus' ethical views, this work relates Theophrastean doctrine to that of Aristotle and the rival Stoics. The focus is on topics like virtue and happiness, manners and moral virtues, innate character and the relation of animals to humans.




Theophrastus of Eresus, Commentary Volume 5: Sources on Biology (Human Physiology, Living Creatures, Botany: Texts 328-435)


Book Description

This is the first to appear of the projected volumes of commentary to accompany the texts and translations on Theophrastus of Eresus: Sources for his Life, Writings, Thought and Influence, edited by W.W. Fortenbaugh and others ("FHSG" (Philosophia Antiqua 54); Leiden, Brill, 1992). It covers the ancient secondary evidence for Theophrastus' views on physiology, zoology and botany; the transmission, reliability and doctrinal content of the reports in the text-and-translation volume are all discussed in detail, and general overviews are provided. The commentary is an indispensable accompaniment to the text-and-translation volume, and the two together will be an important resource for students of the history of the biological sciences in antiquity.




Theophrastus of Eresus, Commentary Volume 9.2


Book Description

This volume concerns Theophrastus, Aristotle's pupil and successor as head of the Peripatetic School. The focus is twofold. First, it deals with discoveries and inventions, both useful and pleasurable, and more generally changes that transformed the way people live. Theophrastus wrote a work entitled On Discoveries, which may be regarded as cultural history. Second, the volume focuses on proverbs: familiar sayings containing useful truths that have been observed by earlier generations and passed on in a form that is concise and attractive. Theophrastus wrote a work entitled On Proverbs and made use of proverbs in his writings on ethics, rhetoric and humor. He recognized their importance in educating the young and maintaining the traditions of an earlier age.




Theophrastus of Eresus: Commentary Volume 9.1


Book Description

Among the many subjects on which Theophrastus wrote, music is one of the most fascinating, as is testified by the sources discussed in this volume. Although scanty, the material we have—sixteen texts altogether, most of which are indirect testimonies—gives an idea of the originality and modernity of Theophrastus’ thought on music, and makes us regret that we do not know more. Our philosopher conceives of music as something that originates from a movement in the soul caused by passions and comes into existence through the body. Accordingly, he is interested in performance—i.e. the way in which musical expression is brought to the listener—and its effects on the soul and the body—e.g. musical therapy.




Theophrastus of Eresus: On Weather Signs


Book Description

On Weather Signs, traditionally ascribed to Theophrastus, contains the most complete list of such signs in antiquity and it was, in this or some very similar form, consulted by Aratus, Vergil (in Georgics I), and Pliny the Elder, as well as by many other authors throughout the Byzantine period. This edition is the first to take account of all the manuscripts and the commentary, the first in over a century, is on a far grander scale than earlier ones by Schneider (1818-21) and Wood (1894), listing almost all parallel texts for each sign. The introduction places the work in the context of its genre and for the first time lays out the details of its manuscript tradition.




Theophrastus of Eresus: Logic [texts 68-136]


Book Description

In the present volume, the focus is on natural philosophy, apart from the study of living things. Topics covered include the principles of scientific enquiry, place, time, motion, the heavens, the sublunary world, meteorology and the study of materials.




Phaenias of Eresus


Book Description

"Phaenias of Eresus (c. 375 BC) was a member of Aristotle's school, the ""Peripatos"" or ""Lyceum,"" and a friend and compatriot of Aristotle's successor, Theophrastus. Phaenias's scholarly interests stretched from strictly philosophical treatises to chronology and the history of philosophy and poetry; to the lives, fortunes, and manners of death of tyrants; to biographical and historical themes and details of famous Athenians; to botanical and zoological issues; and even entertaining, ""novelistic"" stories and strange reports (Mirabilia).This volume includes new scholarship, with translation of source texts for the writings, thought, and influence of Phaenias (whose name also appears as ""Phanias""and ""Phainias""), as well as essays that take up various areas of his life and work in greater detail.The chapters of Phaenias of Eresus cover a remarkable range of intellectual areas, which is in keeping with the varied interests of the early Peripatetics in general. Phaenias is thus an ideal model for exploring issues of specialization and differentiation in research in the early Peripatos."




The Peripatetics


Book Description

The Peripatetics explores the development of Peripatetic thought from Theophrastus and Strato to the work of the commentator Alexander of Aphrodisias. The book examines whether the internal dynamics of this philosophical school allowed for a unity of Peripatetic thought, or whether there was a fundamental tension between philosophical creativity and the notions of core teachings and canonisation. The book discusses the major philosophical preoccupations of the Peripatetics, interactions with Hellenistic schools of thought, and the shift in focus among Greek philosophers in a changing political landscape. It is the first book of its kind to provide a survey of this important philosophical tradition.




Proclus' Commentary on the Cratylus in Context


Book Description

This book explores the various views on language and its relation to philosophy in the Platonic tradition by examening the reception of Plato's Cratylus in antiquity in general, and the commentary of the Neoplatonist Proclus in particular.