Simplicius: On Aristotle Physics 1.5-9 (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle)

Simplicius' greatest contribution in his commentary on Aristotle on Physics 1.5-9 lies in his treatment of matter. The sixth-century philosopher starts with a valuable elucidation of what Aristotle means by 'principle' and 'element' in Physics. Simplicius' own conception of matter is of a quantity that is utterly diffuse because of its extreme distance from its source, the Neoplatonic One, and he tries to find this conception both in Plato's account of space and in a stray remark of Aristotle's. Finally, Simplicius rejects the Manichaean view that matter is evil and answers a Christian objection that to make matter imperishable is to put it on a level with God. This is the first translation of Simplicius' important work into English.

Han Baltussen is the Walter W. Hughes Professor of Classics at the University of Adelaide. His research broadly focuses on intellectual and cultural history, in particular the transmission pathways of Greek philosophy, epistemology and themes of enduring significance (grief, pain, censorship). His most recent books include a new Loeb translation of Eunapius' Lives of Philosophers and Sophists (Harvard University Press, 2023) and (with J.R. Clarke and D. King) the edited volume Pain Narratives in Greco-Roman Writings. Representations of Physical and Mental Suffering (SAM 58–Brill, 2023). He is preparing a monograph on grief and (self-)consolation in antiquity.

Richard Sorabji is Research Professor of Philosophy at King's College London and a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, UK. He is the author of many books, including Necessity, Clause and Blame, Matter, Space and Motion, and Time, Creation and the Continuum, all published by Bloomsbury, and general editor of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series.

Michael Atkinson is a former teacher of Classics at Eton College, UK.

Michael Griffin is Professor of Classics and Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He is co-editor of the series Ancient Commentators on Aristotle and translator of two of its volumes: Olympiodorus: Life of Plato and On Plato First Alcibiades 1–9 (Bloomsbury 2014) and Olympiodorus: On Plato First Alcibiades 10–28 (Bloomsbury 2015).

Michael Share is Honorary Research Fellow at the School of History & Classics, University of Tasmania, Australia.