Domninos of Larisa

Domninos von Larisa ( Greek  Δομνῖνος , also Domninos von Larissa ; * beginning of the 5th century) was a late ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician from Syria . He belonged to the Neoplatonic direction and received his training at the Neoplatonic philosophy school in Athens . He later lived and taught in his Syrian homeland.

Life

Little is known about the life of domninos. The Neoplatonist Damascius reports that he was a Syrian and came "from Laodikeia and Larisa, a polis of Syria". How the double specification of the hometown is meant is unclear and controversial. In the Greek-speaking east of the Roman Empire , the city names Laodikeia and Larisa (Larissa) occurred several times, but no city is known that bore both names. Various attempts at explanation have been made:

• His father came from one city, his mother from another.
• His hometown was Larissa, but later he had his permanent residence in Laodikeia.
• Larissa was a suburb of Laodicea.
• Laodikeia was originally called Larisa.

According to an anecdote handed down by Damascius, Domninos suffered from a chronic illness that caused him to often spit blood; Asklepios , the god of healing, advised him to eat a lot of pork. Domninos followed this advice and was healed; but from then on he had to eat pork every day to avoid relapses. In doing so, he disregarded the Syrian custom that prohibited this food. The Greek philosopher Plutarch of Athens, on the other hand, to whom Asklepios had recommended the same remedy, could not bring himself to do it, although no traditional dietary rule forbade him such food. He had asked God for an alternative suggestion, arguing that there must be a solution for sick Jews too. Research has concluded from this that Domninos was a Jew. However, this conclusion is not compelling, because abstinence from pork was practiced not only by Jews but also by other peoples in the east of the empire; in addition, the explicit reference to a Syrian custom speaks against this hypothesis.

In Athens, Domninos entered the local Neoplatonic philosophy school when it was still headed by its founder Plutarch of Athens , who died around 432 . Plutarch largely stopped teaching some time before his death. From this it can be concluded that Domninos was born in the first decade of the 5th century. His classmates included the later famous, apparently somewhat younger philosopher Proklos (412–485). Like Proklos, Domninos became a student of Syrianos , who took over the office of Scholarchen (headmaster) as Plutarch's successor . A tradition according to which Domninos later became a scholarch himself is considered untrustworthy according to current research, but apparently he was one of the outstanding members of the school.

In the last phase of his life, Domninos lived secluded in Laodikeia. As Damascios reports, he reached a great age.

Works

Only two of the works of Domnino have survived, his "Handbook for Introduction to Arithmetic " ( Encheirídion arithmētikḗs eisagōgḗs ) and a brief explanation "How to get a mathematical relationship from another". At the end of the manual he announced that he would discuss various topics that were ignored there in a further publication entitled “Elementary Theory of Arithmetic” ( arithmētikḗ stoicheíōsis ); whether he achieved this goal is unknown.

Domninos wrote a commentary on the " sophistic refutations " of Aristotle. A manuscript of this work - apparently incompletely preserved or containing only an extract - still existed in the 17th century, which burned in 1671 when a fire broke out in the library of El Escorial . Furthermore, he seems to have written a work on natural philosophy, because Proclus mentions that he interpreted a passage in Plato's dialogue Timaeus .

Teaching and reception

Domninos was apparently far removed from the speculative and metaphysical orientation of most of the Neo-Platonists of late antiquity and thought more scientifically; so he tried to physically explain the world fire of the Phaethon myth discussed in Plato's Timaeus and interpreted as a natural disaster . In the philosophy of mathematics , too, he did not belong to the metaphysically oriented stream of New Pythagoreanism , whose influence dominated the Neo-Platonists, but followed on from the Euclidean tradition . Damascius judged that Domninos was a good mathematician but a superficial philosopher; he falsified many of Plato's teachings by mixing them with his own views. According to Damascius' report, Proclus wrote a treatise "on the purification of Plato's teachings" in which he pointed out the falsifications and called Domninos to account. In his lifestyle, too, Domninos did not display the behavior that one would expect from a philosopher.

In the Middle Ages and in the early modern period , the “Handbook for Introduction to Arithmetic” was unknown; it was first printed in Paris in 1832 (critical edition by Jean François Boissonade).

Text editions and translations

• Peter Riedlberger (Ed.): Domninus of Larissa: Encheiridion and spurious works (= Mathematica Graeca Antiqua , Vol. 2). Fabrizio Serra, Pisa / Rome 2013, ISBN 978-88-6227-567-5 (critical edition with English translation and commentary)
• Francesco Romano (ed.): Domnino di Larissa. La svolta impossibile della filosofia matematica neoplatonica. Manuals di introduzione all'aritmetica . Cooperativa Universitaria Editrice Catanese di Magistero, Catania 2000 (critical edition of the "Handbook for the Introduction to Arithmetic" with Italian translation)

literature

• Alain Segonds: Domninus de Larissa . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 2, CNRS Éditions, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-271-05195-9 , pp. 892-896

Remarks

1. ↑ Damaskios, Philosophical History (Vita Isidori) 89A, ed. Polymnia Athanassiadi : Damascius: The Philosophical History , Athens 1999, pp. 222f.
2. ↑ Damaskios, Philosophical History (Vita Isidori) 89, ed. Polymnia Athanassiadi: Damascius: The Philosophical History , Athens 1999, pp. 222-225.
3. ↑ Menahem Stern: Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism , Vol. 2, Jerusalem 1980, pp. 677f.
4. ↑ Alain Segonds: Domninus de Larissa . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 2, Paris 1994, pp. 892-896, here: 893f.
5. ↑ Alain Segonds: Domninus de Larissa . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 2, Paris 1994, pp. 892-896, here: 894; Henry D. Saffrey, Leendert G. Westerink (eds.): Proclus: Théologie platonicienne , Vol. 1, Paris 1968, pp. XVII – XIX.
6. ^ Francesco Romano: Domnino di Larissa. La svolta impossibile della filosofia matematica neoplatonica. Manuale di introduzione all'aritmetica , Catania 2000, p. 26 and Paul Tannery: Notes critiques sur Domninos . In: Paul Tannery: Mémoires scientifiques , Vol. 2, Toulouse / Paris 1912, pp. 211–222, here: 222, however, consider the authenticity of “How to get a mathematical relationship from another” as uncertain.
7. ↑ Sten Ebbesen : Commentators and Commentaries on Aristotle's Sophistici Elenchi , Vol. 1, Leiden 1981, pp. 251f., 255f.
8. ↑ Proklos, In Platonis Timaeum I 109.30-110.22.
9. ↑ See also Francesco Romano: Domnino di Larissa. La svolta impossibile della filosofia matematica neoplatonica. Manuale di introduzione all'aritmetica , Catania 2000, pp. 37-64.
10. ↑ Damaskios, Philosophical History (Vita Isidori) 89A, ed. Polymnia Athanassiadi: Damascius: The Philosophical History , Athens 1999, pp. 222f.