Olympiodorus the Younger

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympiodoros the Younger ( Greek  Ὀλυμπιόδωρος Olympiódōros , also Olympiodoros of Alexandria ; * around 495/505; † after 565) was a late ancient Greek philosopher . He lived and taught in Alexandria , the then capital of Egypt, which belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire .

Olympiodoros wrote commentaries on dialogues of Plato and on the writings of Aristotle . He endeavored to harmonize the two authorities in order to make them appear as heralds of an essentially uniform world interpretation and ethics.

As a pagan Neo-Platonist , Olympiodoros was a representative of the schooling and way of thinking that dominated among the non-Christian educated at the time. He was a respected teacher, but the sources do not explicitly testify to him as the head ( scholarch ) of the Neoplatonic school of philosophy in Alexandria. In his teaching activities, he continued the tradition of his place of work, which provided a wide range of educational opportunities on the basis of Platonic ideas and stayed out of the religious conflicts between Christians and "pagans". His concern was the preservation of classical educational goods in an environment that is increasingly dominated by Christian thought. He justified the tales of Greek mythology , which offended Christians and educated non-Christians, by interpreting them symbolically.

Life

Nothing is known about the origin of Olympiodoros, very little about his life. It can be inferred indirectly that he attended the lessons of the renowned philosophy teacher Ammonios Hermeiou , a leading representative of Neoplatonism, in Alexandria . What is certain is that he later gathered a group of students around himself and was still teaching in 565. This fact and the death of his teacher, which is usually placed in the second or third decade of the 6th century, provide clues as to the date of his birth, which thus falls in the last years of the 5th or the first of the 6th century.

The didactic efforts of Olympiodoros served to reinforce the foundations of the Neoplatonic worldview and to preserve, defend and disseminate the philosophical and scientific achievements of Greek culture. Apparently, non-philosophical studies were also carried out at his school; one dealt with areas of knowledge such as medicine and mathematics, with scientific writings of Aristotle and probably also with rhetoric . However, the real goal - as in the entire tradition of ancient Platonism - was not a mere accumulation of knowledge, but the philosophical way of life: It was about realizing an ideal in one's own life, that of cultivating the Arete - virtue or excellence the soul - existed. Olympiodorus wanted to guide as a virtue teacher. The object of his efforts was the individual working on himself, the soul of the individual student on its way to perfection.

Obviously, Olympiodorus attached importance to the income that his teaching activity brought him; maybe he was dependent on it for a living. This can be deduced from his position on the question of paying for tuition. In his view, students should show gratitude to their teacher by offering remuneration of their own accord, since it is improper for a philosopher to charge money for knowledge transfer. In support of this claim to a fee, he even claimed that Socrates - for the Platonists the classic example of a philosophical way of life - had already accepted payment for the lessons he gave. The subject was a sensitive one, since Socrates, after the presentation in Plato's dialogues , used to criticize the sophists, among other things, because of their profit orientation and ironically attacked the idea of ​​a wisdom that could be bought.

Religious attitude

A key feature of Neoplatonism was its strong focus on metaphysical and religious subjects. The interpretation of the relevant guidelines of the Platonic dialogues established the worldview of the Neoplatonists. This resulted in a contrast to Christianity, which was the state religion in the Eastern Roman Empire at the time of Olympiodorus and which increasingly pushed back and threatened to destroy other religious traditions. A central point of conflict was the question of the eternity of the world. According to the Neoplatonic understanding of Plato's cosmology, the cosmos owes its existence to a deity, but it was not created at a specific point in time, but began and ended in time. Aristotle, too, who was an important authority for the neo-Platonists of late antiquity, had kept the world forever. This assumption contradicts Christian revelation that the world was created in a temporal act of creation and will one day perish. The connection of the Neoplatonic thinkers to the polytheistic Greek religion and its mythology offered further conflict . The traditional mythical ideas of gods were attacked by the Christians as absurd and blasphemous, while the pagan philosophers reinterpreted them symbolically and thus made them philosophically acceptable.

Like his teacher Ammonios, Olympiodorus was one of the thinkers who clung to the old religion and rejected Christianity. Individual remarks in his works show that he lamented a decline in education and civilization, for which he made the Christians responsible. He despised the "bad" way of life in contemporary society. Among other things, he accused the leading circles to be content with the superficial instead of “looking for what is hidden in the depths of the myth”. With this he expressed his disappointment that those criticized by him - he presumably meant not only Christians - closed themselves to the symbolic interpretation of myth and the Neoplatonic theology based on it.

For the Neo-Platonic pagan worldview, there were only small, shrinking places of retreat, among which the Alexandrian philosophy school was of outstanding importance alongside the Athenian school. Olympiodorus was one of the last notable pagan philosophy teachers of antiquity. In expressing his views, he had to take into account that the educated class from which his audience was recruited already consisted largely of Christians. In addition, the relationship between the Neoplatonic teachers and the Christian state offered potential for conflict. In Athens, where the Neoplatonists traditionally emphasized their pagan orientation, the confrontation led to Emperor Justinian forbidding non-Christians to teach in 529, whereupon the local school had to cease operations. In Alexandria, however, Ammonius had reached an agreement with the Christian decision-makers that enabled him and his students to continue their educational activities despite the religious tensions. The content of the agreement, which apparently remained in force after Ammonius' death, is unknown; it must have imposed a certain restraint on the Neoplatonists in sensitive areas. Olympiodorus, who carried on the tradition of his teacher Ammonios, apparently benefited from the relative tolerance that continued to be practiced. His lessons, which conveyed traditional educational material and enabled the students to engage in philosophical discourse, were also an attractive option for Christians who were hungry for education.

Works

Olympiodoros does not appear to have published any scriptures. The comments on some philosophical works that were disseminated under his name and which were part of the curriculum are student postscripts from his courses. It was common practice to circulate such records of oral statements by a teacher. The common expression used to designate such texts that were not viewed and authorized by the author was apó phōnḗs ("after the voice", so "as presented"). Some ambiguities and inconsistencies in the surviving texts can therefore be traced back to misunderstandings and oversights on the part of the students who recorded them. This possibility, which is always to be expected, represents a special challenge for research in the history of philosophy.

Authentic works

One page of a manuscript written around 900 from Olympiodorus' commentary on Plato's Phaedo . Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana , Gr. 196

The commentaries on three dialogues of Plato - the Phaedo , the First Alcibiades and the Gorgias - as well as on two of Aristotle's writings, the Meteorologica and the categories have survived in whole or in part . The category comment is preceded by an introduction to Aristotelian philosophy, logic and category writing, which is sometimes viewed as a separate work; its traditional, inauthentic title is in Greek Eis ta prolegómena tēs logikḗs , in Latin Prolegomena logicae Aristotelis . By Phaidon is -Comment just before a quarter of the original text. The Alkibiades comment is preceded by a biography of Plato. The interpretation of Gorgias is the only surviving ancient commentary on this dialogue.

Two further commentaries by Olympiodoros on the writings of Aristotle have been lost except for fragments: fragments of the commentary on De interpretatione have survived in the form of scholias , of the commentary on De anima 1995 is a fragment in a Byzantine manuscript of 10/11. Discovered in the 19th century. A commentary on the isagogue of Porphyry is lost.

The structure of the comments corresponds to the presentation of the material in class. They consist of several dozen lessons (práxeis) - a structure that only came up then. Each lesson relates to a section of the annotated work that forms the material for a day of instruction. A lesson consists of two parts: a general discussion of its content (theōría) and a more detailed discussion of the section, explaining terms and often repeating presentations of theoria. This second part is often imprecisely referred to as the reading (léxis) . An exception is the category comment, which has no subdivision of the individual lessons.

There is little reliable evidence of the dating of the works. One of them shows that the commentary on the First Alcibiades was probably not written until around 560. For the commentary on the Meteorologica , the mention of the appearance of a comet shows that it could not have been written before 565.

At least occasionally Olympiodorus was active as a poet, as two traditional pairs of hexameters show.

Doubtful and fake

According to a research opinion, Olympiodoros wrote a commentary on the Eisagōgiká of Paulus of Alexandria, an introduction to astrology, which was written in 564 and was handed down as a student post , but the author can also be someone from his circle. In terms of content, the astrological work differs in essential points from the view of Olympiodorus. In an Arabic source from the 10th century, the Kitāb al-Fihrist of the scholar ibn an-Nadīm , comments by Olympiodorus on the work De generatione et corruptione by Aristotle and on Plato's Dialogue Sophistes are cited, of which there are supposedly Arabic translations.

The identification of Olympiodoros with the unknown author of the Prolegomena to the philosophy of Plato , an introductory paper to Plato's life and work, which has been preserved, is very likely incorrect . The prolegomena originated in Alexandria around the Neo-Platonic school, probably in the second half of the 6th century. A commentary on Plato's Dialogue Philebus , which was previously ascribed to Olympiodorus, is not one of his works; rather, it comes from Damascius .

In more recent studies, the equation of the Alexandrian Neoplatonist with the author of a commentary on the now lost script Kat 'energeían by the late antique alchemist Zosimos of Panopolis is rejected . The alchemist who wrote this commentary is named Olympiodorus in the handwritten tradition, but unlike the Neoplatonist, he was a Christian. However, there are individual points of contact between the two authors which have been asserted as evidence of identity. One possible explanation for this is that the alchemist may have used the Neoplatonist's commentary on the Meteorologica . The dating approaches for the alchemist's lifetime vary between the late 4th and 6th centuries. It is possible that he was not really called Olympiodorus, but only received this name in tradition because he was wrongly believed to be the Neoplatonist. In any case, he is certainly not to be equated with the historian Olympiodorus of Thebes , who, like Olympiodorus the Younger, was a follower of the old religion.

Teaching

Since Olympiodoros apparently did not write any philosophical treatises, but limited himself to commenting, the surviving texts do not give a clear overall picture of the peculiarities of his own teaching. In any case, like Ammonius, he shared the belief that prevailed among the Neoplatonists at the time that there was a fundamental correspondence between the Platonic and the Aristotelian philosophy. In spite of this harmonizing basic attitude, however, he did not conceal individual differences of opinion between Plato and Aristotle. He also included the Stoa in his striving for harmonization; He quoted the well-known Stoics Epictetus and Chrysippus with respect, and showed particular appreciation for Epictet's ethics.

On individual philosophical questions, Olympiodorus took positions that were incompatible with Christian teachings, for example by stating that it could be ethically permissible in exceptional cases to kill oneself, or by taking the eternity of the cosmos and the transmigration of souls as facts. He considered an eternal hell punishment , as taught in Christianity, to be impossible, since punishment, according to the Platonic understanding, must aim at improving what has been punished.

Olympiodoros also showed his balancing attitude, emphasizing the unity of pagan tradition, in his Gorgias commentary when dealing with Plato's harsh, fundamental criticism of rhetoric. By showing that a distinction had to be made between different types of speakers, he came to a differentiated assessment of the use of linguistic means of art to influence an audience. He found that the Platonic condemnation of the art of speaking did not apply in general, but was only to be related to demagogy . This demarcation enabled him to present the famous speakers Miltiades , Themistocles , Kimon and Pericles , who are attacked in the Gorgias , in a favorable light. He defended them against accusations of flattery, arguing that they did not act out of base motives and that they were saviors of the state. He wanted to keep her in her traditional role as a hero.

Olympiodorus showed impartiality by, as a Platonist, preferring the Aristotelian position to the Platonic in individual points, but also occasionally contradicting the authority of Aristotle. For example, he rejected the Aristotelian explanation of the Milky Way . Aristotle believed the Milky Way to be a phenomenon in the upper atmosphere below the orbit of the moon caused by the turn of the sky. Olympiodorus did not follow him in this; rather, he joined Ammonius' argument, which was supposed to show that Aristotle was in error, since the Milky Way must be further away than the planets for several reasons. Sometimes Olympiodorus provided explanations on questions that Aristotle had left open, in other cases he supplemented his argument with additional considerations.

Olympiodorus dealt intensively with the question of the meaning of mythical stories. He made a distinction between poetic and philosophical myths . In his understanding, poetic myths as passed down by Homer and Hesiod are manifestly absurd and ethically unacceptable when taken in a literal sense. In this absurdity and repugnance, he saw an invitation to find a hidden symbolic meaning that constitutes the truth of the myth. He thought it fatal to read poetic myths as if they were reports of historical events. He criticized such a “naive” way of dealing with the myths of the poets that it misled the youth. A literal understanding of the poetic narratives leads - as Plato had already criticized - to harmful fallacies, because it implies that the gods and heroes behave in a questionable manner that is not worth imitating. Olympiodorus saw this as a danger to character formation. In his opinion it is different with the philosophical myths that are told by philosophers for didactic purposes. They are useful even if one restricts oneself to a superficial, literal interpretation, because even on this level of understanding a philosophical myth - according to Olympiodorus - does not contain anything absurd.

In his discussion of astrology, Olympiodorus rejected a deterministic conception of human fate for philosophical reasons , because he considered man to be a self-moving, autonomous subject with an area of ​​his own responsibility that was not subject to any fateful predestination. In particular, he opposed the claim that the time and nature of death were predetermined and astrologically recognizable. He also rejected the astrological notion that humans are subject to harmful influences that emanate from higher authorities. According to his Platonic concept of the hierarchical world order, the higher is necessarily better than the lower and can therefore only influence it favorably.

In examining the question of whether suicide can be sanctioned, Olympiodoros put forward arguments for and against the admissibility of this step. One of his considerations is: The hierarchical world order is structured in such a way that the higher is always present to the lower and makes its benevolent influence available to him without restriction. The lower can only absorb this influence within the scope of its respective possibilities - i.e. to a limited extent. Thus it depends only on the lower in each case to what extent it can benefit from that which constantly flows to it from the higher. Such is the relationship between the Godhead and man. The immortal soul should therefore also relate to the mortal body as its subordinate: it should not deprive it of its presence and vitality. Compared to the deity, the soul is relatively lower. The lower should imitate the higher as possible and adapt to it. Thus, the soul should imitate the deity by relating to the body as the deity is to it. However, caring for the body is not the most important task of the soul. There are higher-ranking goods; First and foremost, the soul has to take care of what is beneficial for itself. Therefore, after a weighing of interests, she may separate herself from the body and thus bring about its death if this is necessary for her own good.

Olympiodorus was significantly influenced both by the way of thinking of his teacher Ammonios Hermeiou and by the argumentation of his older contemporary Damascius , who had also studied under Ammonios. Damascius was a sharp critic of the philosophy of Proclus , who had headed the Athens School of Philosophy in the 5th century and was highly regarded by the Neoplatonists there. Olympiodorus agreed with Damascius on a number of controversial points without delving into his subtle lines of thought. Like Ammonius, he renounced the innovations with which Proklos had expanded the Neoplatonic world system into a very complex model. As a teacher, he preferred to present his students with a simpler, more understandable model.

Olympiodorus attached great importance to his conviction that there is a common knowledge of logical and ethical basic truths for all people. This knowledge enables the establishment of truth in dialogue. It can be masked by wrong opinions, but not erased. Correctly examining a contentious question about the Socratic method activates it and then agreement can be achieved. This optimistic epistemology strengthened the general willingness of Olympiodorus to strive for balance and understanding.

reception

Ancient and Middle Ages

In late antiquity, Olympiodorus was perceived as a mediator of Platonic and Aristotelian teachings to a new generation of philosophers. Among his listeners was probably Elias , who later emerged as a well-known Aristotle commentator himself. However, this is not expressly attested in the sources, but is only inferred from correspondence between the works of the two authors. One of the pupils of Olympiodorus was probably the Neo-Platonist David , whose writings made classical ancient philosophy at home in Armenia . David, who is said to have been an Armenian, was later nicknamed "the invincible". The anonymously handed down Prolegomena on Plato's philosophy also show the influence of Olympiodoros' ideas. Stephen of Alexandria , who was employed by the emperor as a philosophy teacher in Constantinople in the early 7th century , was also in the tradition of this Alexandrian schooling; however, a direct student relationship with Olympiodoros cannot be proven.

In the Middle Ages, the works of Olympiodoros were not available to Latin-speaking scholars of Western and Central Europe; they were lost and there were no Latin translations. In the Byzantine Empire and in the Arabic-speaking world, however, use occurred at least occasionally. The commentary on De anima has been translated into Syriac . The commentary on the Meteorologica , of which the Byzantine scholar Michael Psellos made ample use in the 11th century, also attracted attention . There was an Arabic translation of this work that is lost today. This is to be distinguished from a Meteorologica commentary, only preserved in Arabic , which Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq translated from the Greek or Syriac. Although this work has come down to us under the title Commentary of Olympiodoros on Aristotle's Meteorology , a comparison with the Greek original shows that although it contains a lot of material from the work of the late ancient Neo-Platonist, it is an independent product by an unknown author. This is therefore called Pseudo-Olympiodoros.

Modern times

The Renaissance brought the rediscovery of numerous lost works by ancient philosophers, including the writings of Olympiodorus. The Renaissance humanists used the Meteorologica commentary as a textbook. In the sixteenth century it was quoted and discussed in detail. The first print of the Greek text and a Latin translation by Giovanni Battista Camozzi (Johannes Baptista Camotius) brought out Aldo Manuzio in Venice in 1551 . The commentaries on Phaedo , Gorgias, and First Alcibiades were known in humanist circles, but they were neither translated nor printed; Text editions appeared only in the 19th century. The scholar Bessarion (1403–1472) had a medieval manuscript of the three commentaries, the philosopher and Plato translator Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) made notes in his copy of the Phaedo commentary. The first edition of the category commentary was not published until 1902.

In modern antiquity, the life's work of Olympiodoros has been assessed differently. In older research, unfavorable judgments dominated; in more recent times this picture has been revised. Eduard Zeller wrote in the third edition of his handbook on the history of Greek philosophy in 1881 that Olympiodoros was a "fruitful interpreter" of Platonic and Aristotelian writings, but that he had no claim to scientific independence, and that his comments contained "hardly anything". to find. The verdict of Rudolf Beutler in 1939 was even more negative : Olympiodoros was based entirely on his predecessors, and he did not even deal with the problems that he continued himself. Its importance lies in the "mostly slavish transmission of the teachings of his predecessors", which make up the source value of his works. In addition, Beutler complained about a fleeting way of working. However, a different view prevails in recent research. Cristina Viano considers Olympiodoros to be a capable commentator and admits it to be original: he has sometimes broken new ground, recognized problems and proposed solutions that could even be used very well in a modern debate. Harold Tarrant also pleads for a more positive assessment. He points to the topicality of the late antique philosopher's considerations on the Gorgias and attributes discrepancies to the poor quality of the textual transmission. Kimon Lycos thinks that the Olympiodoros perspective offers a remarkable alternative to modern approaches to the interpretation of Plato. For Jan Opsomer, Olympiodoros is not an important philosopher, but an outstanding teacher who is often misunderstood in modern times. He had fulfilled an educational and cultural mission and provided the young, predominantly Christian elite of the empire with a classical education - Paideia .

Editions and translations

Comments on Plato

  • Francesca Filippi (Ed.): Olimpiodoro d'Alessandria: Tutti i Commentari a Platone. 2 volumes, Academia, Sankt Augustin 2017, ISBN 978-3-89665-684-1 [volume 1] and ISBN 978-3-89665-685-8 [volume 2] (Greek text based on the editions of Westerink without the critical apparatus , Italian translation, introduction and commentary)
  • Leendert Gerrit Westerink (Ed.): Olympiodorus: Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato . 2nd edition with corrections and additions. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1982, ISBN 90-256-0840-X (critical edition)
  • Michael Griffin (translator): Olympiodorus: Life of Plato and On Plato, First Alcibiades 1-9. Bloomsbury, London 2015, ISBN 978-1-4725-8830-2 (English translation)
  • Michael Griffin (translator): Olympiodorus: On Plato, First Alcibiades 10–28. Bloomsbury, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-47258-399-4 (English translation)
  • Leendert Gerrit Westerink (ed.): Olympiodori in Platoni's Gorgiam commentaria. Teubner, Leipzig 1970 (critical edition)
  • Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias . Brill, Leiden 1998, ISBN 90-04-10972-2 (English translation)
  • Leendert Gerrit Westerink (Ed.): The Greek Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo , Volume 1: Olympiodorus. 2nd, revised edition. The Prometheus Trust, Dilton Marsh 2009, ISBN 978-1-898910-46-6 (critical edition with English translation)

Aristotle commentaries

  • Adolf Busse (Ed.): Olympiodori prolegomena et in categorias commentarium (= Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca , Volume 12, Part 1). Reimer, Berlin 1902 (critical edition)
  • Sebastian Gertz (translator): Elias and David: Introductions to Philosophy, with Olympiodorus: Introduction to Logic. Bloomsbury Academic, London et al. 2018, ISBN 978-1-3500-5174-4 , pp. 191-241 (English translation of the introduction to Aristotelian philosophy, logic and the categories - script that introduces the category comment)
  • Wilhelm Stüve (Ed.): Olympiodori in Aristotelis meteora commentaria (= Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca , Volume 12, Part 2). Reimer, Berlin 1900 (critical edition)
  • Cristina Viano: La matière des choses. Le livre IV des Météorologiques d'Aristote et son interprétation par Olympiodore. Vrin, Paris 2006, ISBN 2-7116-1828-5 (contains pp. 207–375 partial edition of the Meteorologica commentary with French translation)
  • Leonardo Tarán (Ed.): Anonymous Commentary on Aristotle's De Interpretatione (Codex Parisinus Graecus 2064). Hain, Meisenheim am Glan 1978, ISBN 3-445-01621-6 , pp. XXV – XLI (critical edition of the surviving fragments of the commentary on De interpretatione )
  • Marwan Rashed: L'héritage aristotélicien . Les Belles Lettres, Paris 2007, ISBN 978-2-251-18105-9 , pp. 173-177 (critical edition of the fragment from the De anima commentary)

Commentary on the Eisagogica of Paul of Alexandria

  • Emilie Boer (Ed.): Heliodori, ut dicitur, in Paulum Alexandrinum commentarium. Teubner, Leipzig 1962 (critical edition; at that time still erroneously referred to as the work of the astronomer Heliodorus of Alexandria)

literature

Overview representations

  • Damian Caluori: Olympiodoros. In: Christoph Riedweg et al. (Ed.): Philosophy of the Imperial Era and Late Antiquity (= Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity. Volume 5/3). Schwabe, Basel 2018, ISBN 978-3-7965-3700-4 , pp. 2051–2059, 2171–2174
  • Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010, ISBN 978-0-521-19484-6 , pp. 697-710, 1134-1137
  • Henri Dominique Saffrey: Olympiodoros d'Alexandrie. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Volume 4, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-271-06386-8 , pp. 769-771
  • Charles B. Schmitt: Olympiodorus Alexandrinus philosophus. In: Paul Oskar Kristeller (ed.): Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum : Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Translations and Commentaries , Volume 2, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington (DC) 1971, pp. 199-204

Investigations

  • Sebastian Ramon Philipp Gertz: Death and Immortality in Late Neoplatonism. Studies on the Ancient Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo. Brill, Leiden 2011, ISBN 978-90-04-20717-2
  • Michael Griffin: Pliable Platonism? Olympiodorus and the Profession of Philosophy in Sixth-Century Alexandria. In: Ryan C. Fowler (Ed.): Plato in the Third Sophistic. De Gruyter, Boston / Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-1-61451-032-1 , pp. 73-97
  • Elena Gritti: Il vero nel mito. Teoria esegetica nel commento di Olimpiodoro Alessandrino al "Gorgia". Aracne, Rome 2012, ISBN 978-88-548-5475-8
  • François Renaud: Tradition et critique: lecture jumelée de Platon et Aristote chez Olympiodore . In: Laval théologique et philosophique 64, 2008, pp. 89-104
  • Harold Tarrant: Olympiodorus and the Surrender of Paganism . In: Byzantinische Forschungen 24, 1997, pp. 181-192
  • Harold Tarrant: Restoring Olympiodorus' Syllogistic. In: Ancient Philosophy 17, 1997, pp. 411-424 (reprinted in Harold Tarrant: From the Old Academy to Later Neo-Platonism. Studies in the History of Platonic Thought. Ashgate, Farnham 2011, ISBN 978-1-4094-0828 -4 , article no.XXII)

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Harold Tarrant: General Introduction. In: Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias , Leiden 1998, p. 2 f .; Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697-710, here: 697.
  2. ↑ Harold Tarrant: General Introduction. In: Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias , Leiden 1998, pp. 7–9, 20; Leendert Gerrit Westerink (Ed.): The Greek Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo , Vol. 1: Olympiodorus , 2nd edition, Dilton Marsh 2009, p. 26 f .; Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697-710, here: 706 f.
  3. ↑ Michael Griffin: Pliable Platonism? Olympiodorus and the Profession of Philosophy in Sixth-Century Alexandria. In: Ryan C. Fowler (ed.): Plato in the Third Sophistic , Boston / Berlin 2014, pp. 73–97, here: 76 f., 79–83, 89; Michael Griffin (translator): Olympiodorus: Life of Plato and On Plato, First Alcibiades 1–9 , London 2015, pp. 40–43.
  4. ↑ See Edward J. Watts: City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria , Berkeley 2006, p. 234 f .; Harold Tarrant: General Introduction. In: Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias , Leiden 1998, p. 16 f.
  5. ↑ See on the conflict points and their treatment Leendert G. Westerink (ed.): Prolégomènes à la philosophie de Platon , Paris 1990, pp. XXII – XXXI.
  6. ↑ Olympiodoros, In Platonis Gorgiam 46.4. See Elena Gritti: Una risposta neoplatonica alle critiche dei cristiani ai miti greci . In: Adamantius 10, 2004, pp. 217-237, here: 222-232, 236 f.
  7. ^ Richard Sorabji : The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600 AD. A Sourcebook , Vol. 1, London 2004, pp. 20 f.
  8. ↑ Harold Tarrant: General Introduction. In: Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias , Leiden 1998, pp. 6, 9-11, 15; Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697-710, here: 702-705. See Edward J. Watts: City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria , Berkeley 2006, pp. 210-231.
  9. ↑ See Harold Tarrant: Restoring Olympiodorus' Syllogistic. In: Ancient Philosophy 17, 1997, pp. 411-424. See Leendert G. Westerink (ed.): Olympiodorus: Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato , 2nd edition, Amsterdam 1982, pp. VIII f.
  10. ↑ On the Meteorologica commentary, see Cristina Viano: Le commentaire d'Olympiodore au livre IV des Météorologiques d'Aristote . In: Cristina Viano (Ed.): Aristoteles chemicus , Sankt Augustin 2002, pp. 59–79.
  11. ↑ A study of this biography is offered by Nicolas D'Andrès, among others: Une Vie de Platon du VI e siècle (Olympiodore). In: Freiburg Journal for Philosophy and Theology 57, 2010, pp. 432–476 (with French translation of the text pp. 437–451).
  12. ↑ See on this work François Renaud: Rhétorique philosophique et fondement de la dialectique: le commentaire du "Gorgias" par Olympiodore . In: Philosophy antique 6, 2006, pp. 137–161.
  13. ↑ See also Chantal Hasnaoui: Aristote de Stagire: De interpretatione. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. Supplément , Paris 2003, pp. 122–173, here: 135 f.
  14. ↑ Marwan Rashed: L'héritage aristotélicien , Paris 2007, pp. 173–177.
  15. ^ Leendert G. Westerink: The Alexandrian commentators and the introductions to their commentaries . In: Richard Sorabji (Ed.): Aristotle Transformed. The Ancient Commentators and Their Influence , 2nd, revised edition, London 2016, pp. 349–375, here: 363.
  16. ↑ Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697–710, here: 698 f .; Cristina Viano: La matière des choses. Le livre IV des Météorologiques d'Aristote et son interprétation par Olympiodore , Paris 2006, pp. 39, 52–54.
  17. ↑ See on the dates Harold Tarrant: General Introduction. In: Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias , Leiden 1998, pp. 3 f., 15; Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697-710, here: 698; Leendert G. Westerink (Ed.): Prolégomènes à la philosophie de Platon , Paris 1990, pp. XVII – XXI.
  18. ↑ Leendert Gerrit Westerink (Ed.): The Greek Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo , Vol. 1: Olympiodorus , 2nd edition, Dilton Marsh 2009, p. 27.
  19. ↑ See Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697-710, here: 700, 710; Leendert G. Westerink: Texts and Studies in Neoplatonism and Byzantine Literature , Amsterdam 1980, pp. 279-294; Otto Neugebauer : A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy , Part 2, Berlin 1975, pp. 1043-1045.
  20. ↑ Marwan Rashed: Aristote de Stagire: De generatione et corruptione. Tradition arabe. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. Supplément , Paris 2003, pp. 304-314, here: 312; Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697-710, here: 699.
  21. ↑ Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697-710, here: 701.
  22. ↑ Jean Letrouit: Data Transportation d'Olympiodore l'alchimiste. In: Emerita 58, 1990, pp. 289-292; Leendert Gerrit Westerink (Ed.): The Greek Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo , Vol. 1: Olympiodorus , 2nd edition, Dilton Marsh 2009, p. 22 f .; Henri Dominique Saffrey: Olympiodoros d'Alexandrie l'alchimiste . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 4, Paris 2005, p. 768 f. (Research overview); Cristina Viano: La matière des choses. Le livre IV des Météorologiques d'Aristote et son interprétation par Olympiodore , Paris 2006, p. 37, 199–206.
  23. ↑ See also Cristina Viano: La matière des choses. Le livre IV des Météorologiques d'Aristote et son interprétation par Olympiodore , Paris 2006, pp. 74-77; François Renaud: Tradition et critique: lecture jumelée de Platon et Aristote chez Olympiodore . In: Laval théologique et philosophique 64, 2008, pp. 89-104, here: 98-101.
  24. ↑ Harold Tarrant: General Introduction. In: Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias , Leiden 1998, p. 7.
  25. ↑ On Olympiodoros' investigation of this question, see Luc Brisson : Le corps "dionysiaque" . In: Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé et al. (Ed.): Sophies maietores, “Chercheurs de sagesse”. Hommage à Jean Pépin , Paris 1992, pp. 481-499, here: 481-485, 494; a detailed discussion is provided by Sebastian RP Gertz: Death and Immortality in Late Neoplatonism , Leiden 2011, pp. 27-50.
  26. ↑ See Robin Jackson: Late Platonist Poetics: Olympiodorus and the Myth of Plato's Gorgias . In: Jelle GJ Abbenes et al. (Ed.): Greek Literary Theory after Aristotle , Amsterdam 1995, pp. 275–299, here: 297 f .; Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697–710, here: 704 f .; Leendert G. Westerink (Ed.): Prolégomènes à la philosophie de Platon , Paris 1990, pp. XXVI f.
  27. ↑ Harold Tarrant: General Introduction. In: Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias , Leiden 1998, pp. 17-20, 37-41; Harold Tarrant: Olympiodorus and the Surrender of Paganism . In: Byzantinische Forschungen 24, 1997, pp. 181-192, here: 182-185.
  28. ^ François Renaud: Tradition et critique: lecture jumelée de Platon et Aristote chez Olympiodore . In: Laval théologique et philosophique 64, 2008, pp. 89-104, here: 101 f.
  29. ↑ Paul Lettinck: Aristotle's Meteorology and Its Reception in the Arab World , Leiden 1999, pp 18, 27, 74; Cristina Viano: La matière des choses. Le livre IV des Météorologiques d'Aristote et son interprétation par Olympiodore , Paris 2006, p. 64 f.
  30. ↑ Paul Lettinck: Aristotle's Meteorology and Its Reception in the Arab World , Leiden 1999, p 7, 16, 133, 162, 254-261.
  31. ↑ On the myth of Olympiodorus see Robin Jackson: Late Platonist Poetics: Olympiodorus and the Myth of Plato's Gorgias . In: Jelle GJ Abbenes et al. (Ed.): Greek Literary Theory after Aristotle , Amsterdam 1995, pp. 275-299; Emilia de los Reyes Ruiz Yamuza: El concepto de mito en el neoplatonismo tardio: Olimpiodoro . In: Unidad y pluralidad en el mundo antiguo , Vol. 2, Madrid 1983, pp. 407-413; Harold Tarrant: General Introduction. In: Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias , Leiden 1998, pp. 48–50; Elena Gritti: Il vero nel mito , Rome 2012, pp. 117–154.
  32. ↑ Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697–710, here: 709 f .; Cristina Viano: Aristote contre les astrologues (Olympiodore, Sur le De interpretatione 9). In: Suzanne Husson (Ed.): Interpréter le De interpretatione , Paris 2009, pp. 69–87.
  33. ^ Sebastian RP Gertz: Death and Immortality in Late Neoplatonism , Leiden 2011, p. 36 f.
  34. ↑ Sebastian RP Gertz: Death and Immortality in Late Neoplatonism , Leiden 2011, pp. 46–50.
  35. ^ Alain Philippe Segonds (Ed.): Proclus: Sur le Premier Alcibiade de Platon , 2nd edition, Vol. 1, Paris 2003, pp. LXX f .; Sebastian RP Gertz: Death and Immortality in Late Neoplatonism , Leiden 2011, pp. 8-11.
  36. ↑ Harold Tarrant: Olympiodorus and the Surrender of Paganism . In: Byzantinische Forschungen 24, 1997, pp. 181-192, here: 185-192.
  37. ^ Leendert G. Westerink: The Alexandrian commentators and the introductions to their commentaries . In: Richard Sorabji (Ed.): Aristotle Transformed. The Ancient Commentators and Their Influence , 2nd, revised edition, London 2016, pp. 349–375, here: 361–363.
  38. ↑ Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697-710, here: 697.
  39. ↑ Chantal Hasnaoui: Aristote de Stagire: De interpretatione. In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. Supplément , Paris 2003, pp. 122–173, here: 133.
  40. ^ Cristina D'Ancona : The Libraries of the Neoplatonists. An Introduction. In: Cristina D'Ancona (Ed.): The Libraries of the Neoplatonists , Leiden 2007, pp. XIII – XXXVI, here: XXXIII.
  41. ↑ Cristina Viano: Le commentaire d'Olympiodore au livre IV des Météorologiques d'Aristote . In: Cristina Viano (Ed.): Aristoteles chemicus , Sankt Augustin 2002, pp. 59–79, here: 60.
  42. ↑ Paul Lettinck: Aristotle's Meteorology and Its Reception in the Arab World , Leiden 1999, p 3, 9; Fuat Sezgin : History of Arabic literature , vol. 7, Leiden 1979, p. 229 f.
  43. ^ Charles B. Schmitt: Olympiodorus Alexandrinus philosophus. In: Paul Oskar Kristeller (ed.): Catalogus translationum et commentariorum: Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Translations and Commentaries , Vol. 2, Washington (DC) 1971, pp. 199–204, here: 200.
  44. ^ Leendert G. Westerink: Ficino's Marginal Notes on Olympiodorus in Riccardi Greek MS 37 . In: Traditio 24, 1968, pp. 351–378, here: 351–355; Charles B. Schmitt: Olympiodorus Alexandrinus philosophus . In: Paul Oskar Kristeller (Ed.): Catalogus translationum et commentariorum: Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Translations and Commentaries , Vol. 2, Washington (DC) 1971, pp. 199-204, here: 200 f., 203 f.
  45. ↑ Cristina Viano: La matière des choses. Le livre IV des Météorologiques d'Aristote et son interprétation par Olympiodore , Paris 2006, p. 37 f. (Examples p. 38 note 1 and 2); Sebastian RP Gertz: Death and Immortality in Late Neoplatonism , Leiden 2011, p. 8, note 31.
  46. ^ Eduard Zeller: The philosophy of the Greeks in their historical development , part 3, division 2, 3rd edition, Leipzig 1881, p. 852 f.
  47. ↑ Rudolf Beutler: Olympiodoros the Younger . In: Pauly-Wissowa RE, Vol. 18/1, Stuttgart 1939, Col. 207-227, here: 207-209. See Leendert Gerrit Westerink (ed.): Olympiodorus: Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato , 2nd edition, Amsterdam 1982, p. IX.
  48. ↑ Cristina Viano: La matière des choses. Le livre IV des Météorologiques d'Aristote et son interprétation par Olympiodore , Paris 2006, pp. 8, 37–40, 196 f.
  49. ↑ Harold Tarrant: General Introduction. In: Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, Harold Tarrant (translator): Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias , Leiden 1998, p. 5 f .; Harold Tarrant: Restoring Olympiodorus' Syllogistic. In: Ancient Philosophy 17, 1997, pp. 411-424.
  50. ^ Kimon Lycos: Olympiodorus on Pleasure and the Good in Plato's Gorgias. In: Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 12, 1994, pp. 183-205.
  51. ↑ Jan Opsomer: Olympiodorus. In: Lloyd P. Gerson (Ed.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity , Vol. 2, Cambridge 2010, pp. 697-710, here: 702.
personal data
SURNAME Olympiodorus the Younger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Olympiodorus of Alexandria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION late antique philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century or 6th century
DATE OF DEATH after 565
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on December 7, 2015 .