Porphyry, ›On Principles and Matter‹: A Syriac Version of a Lost Greek Text with an English Translation, Introduction, and Glossaries (Scientia Graeco-Arabica, 34) - Softcover

Yury Arzhanov; Porphyry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3111274667 ISBN 13: 9783111274669

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter, 2023

Synopsis

The Syriac treatise published in the present volume is in many respects a unique text. Though it has been preserved anonymously, there remains little doubt that it belongs to Porphyry of Tyre. Accordingly, it enlarges our knowledge of the views of the most famous disciple of Plotinus. The text is an important witness to Platonist discussions on First Principles and on Plato’s concept of Prime Matter in the Timaeus. It contains extensive quotations from Atticus, Severus, and Boethus. This text thus provides us with new textual witnesses to these philosophers, whose legacy remains very poorly attested and little known. Additionally, the treatise is a rare example of a Platonist work preserved in the Syriac language. The Syriac reception of Plato and Platonic teachings has left rather sparse textual traces, and the question of what precisely Syriac Christians knew about Plato and his philosophy remains a debated issue. The treatise provides evidence for the close acquaintance of Syriac scholars with Platonic cosmology and with philosophical commentaries on Plato’s Timaeus.

About this title

About the Author

Yury Arzhanov, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.

Edition details

• Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3111274667
• ISBN 13: 9783111274669
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 185