Ancient Commentators on Aristotle
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New Volumes 2020

4/8/2020

 
In July 2020 we have published our 110th volume, Iamblichus, On the Science of Mathematics, tr. J. Dillon & J. O. Urmson. You can read more about it at Bloomsbury's website here. We also have three more volumes coming out before the end of 2020. These are: 

Al-Farabi, Syllogism: An Abridgement of Aristotle’s Prior Analytics, tr. W. Hodges & S. Chatti, due Sept 2020 – https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/al-farabi-syllogism-an-abridgement-of-aristotles-prior-analytics-9781350126992/
 
Alexander of Aphrodisias, On Aristotle Topics 2, tr. L. Castelli, due Sept 2020 – https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/alexander-of-aphrodisias-on-aristotle-topics-2-9781350151284/
 
Themistius, On Aristotle Metaphysics 12, tr. Y. Mayrav, due Nov 2020 – https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/themistius-on-aristotle-metaphysics-12-9781350127241/
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Three New Volumes for 2019

23/4/2019

 
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We are pleased to announce three new volumes for 2019.

The first, dated 2019, but physically appeared at the end of 2018, is: 

  • ​Michael of Ephesus, On Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 10, tr. J. Wilberding & J. Trompeter, with Themistius, On Virtue, tr. A. Rigolio, 2019 - further information at https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/michael-of-ephesus-on-aristotles-nicomachean-ethics-10-with-themistius-on-virtue-9781350085077/
 
The second and third are currently in press and will be out later this year: 

  • Ammonius, Interpretation of Porphyry’s Introduction to Aristotle’s Five Terms, tr. M. Chase, due Sept 2019 - further information at https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ammonius-interpretation-of-porphyrys-introduction-to-aristotles-five-terms-9781350089228/
  • Philoponus, On Aristotle Categories 6-15, tr. M. Share, due Oct 2019 - further information at https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/philoponus-on-aristotle-categories-6-15-9781350112674/

Two New Volumes Published

16/4/2018

 
We are pleased to announce that our two latest volumes in the series are now published.
These are:
  • Hermias, On Plato Phaedrus 227A-245E
  • Elias and David, Introductions to Philosophy, with Olympiodorus, Introduction to Logic
Follow the links for further information. Both volumes are now available via Bloomsbury in both hardback and ebook formats.

Review of Aristotle Re-Interpreted

19/12/2017

 
Aristotle Re-Interpreted has been reviewed at BMCR:

"... building on the extraordinary achievements of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle project, AR is a valuable collection of groundbreaking studies, which, together with AT, constitutes a must-read for any scholar and student of philosophy and Classics"

Read the full review at www.bmcreview.org/2017/12/20171234.html

Two New Volumes in Press

12/10/2017

 
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We are pleased to announce two new volumes currently in press and hopefully in print in early 2018. These are:
 
Elias and David, Introductions to Philosophy, with Olympiodorus, Introduction to Logic, translated by Sebastian Gertz
 
Ammonius (445-517/26 AD) set up a new teaching programme in Alexandria with up to six introductions to the philosophy curriculum, which made it far more accessible, and encouraged its spread from Greek to other cultures. From Olympiodorus, his pupil, we have an introduction to Aristotle’s Philosophy, an introduction to Logic and an introduction to Aristotle’s Categories. Olympiodorus’ students, Elias and David, both wrote introductions to Philosophy, which start with six definitions of Philosophy, to which David adds replies to the sceptical question whether there is such a thing as Philosophy. All these are translated here. From Ammonius we have an Introduction to Logic, to Aristotle’s Philosophy, and to Aristotle’s Categories, all translated earlier as the prooemium to Ammonius’ commentary on Aristotle’s Categories. Ammonius also wrote a commentary on an earlier introduction, Porphyry’s Isagoge (Introduction), and prefaced this with a further introduction. If we count in Porphyry’s Introduction itself, which has been translated elsewhere, this makes six introductions to the Philosophy curriculum. The texts translated by Sebastian Gertz go a long way towards completing our picture of what it would have been like to sit in a first year Philosophy course in Ancient Alexandria.
 
Hermias, On Plato Phaedrus 227A-245E, translated by Dirk Baltzly & Michael Share
 
This commentary records, through notes taken by Hermias, Syrianus’ seminar on Plato’s Phaedrus, one of the world’s most influential celebrations of erotic beauty and love. It is the only Neoplatonic commentary on Plato's Phaedrus to have survived in its entirety. Further interest comes from the recorded interventions by Syrianus’ pupils – including those by Proclus, his eventual successor as head of the Athenian school, who went on to teach Hermias’ father, Ammonius.
 
The first of two volumes of Hermias’ commentary, the chapters translated here discuss the argument that the soul can be proved immortal as being the self-moving source of eternal motion. Aristotle explicitly disagreed with Plato on this treatment of the soul and Syrianus, having previously (in a commentary on the Metaphysics) criticised Aristotle severely when he disagreed with Plato, feels obliged here, too, to address the apparent disagreement. This new translation is thus vital for understanding Syrianus’ attitude to Aristotle.

Bibliography Updated

14/11/2016

 
The bibliography of work on the Ancient Commentators has now been updated and includes material up to 2016. It is available here, alongside two earlier bibliographies. We hope that between them they give fairly full coverage of the scholarly literature.

We also have a new bibliographical guide to the commentary tradition in Greek, Syriac, and Arabic philosophy, arranged chronologically from Andronicus to Averroes (available on the same page).

We welcome any corrections, additions, reports of typos, and so on, which can be sent to aca@kcl.ac.uk.

New Volumes Summer 2016

31/8/2016

 
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Now published, three new volumes for this year:
  • Priscian, Answers to King Khosroes of Persia
  • Aristotle Transformed, 2nd edn, with a new introduction by Richard Sorabji
  • Aristotle Re-Interpreted

Just Published: Olympiodorus

19/4/2016

 
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We are pleased to announce the publication of the first of four volumes due out this year: Olympiodorus, On Plato First Alcibiades 10-28, by Michael Griffin.

Three further volumes are all now in proof stage and will be published over the Summer. For further details see the Spring 2016 Newsletter, available here.

Philoponus Reviews

3/3/2016

 
We are pleased to note a recent critical review entitled ‘Philoponus and His Development: Four Recent Translations on Nature, Knowledge, and the Physical World’ in The International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 9 (2015), 89-98, by Gary Gabor [DOI: 10.1163/18725473-12341302].
 
‘The quality of both the translations and the notes of all four volumes is very high […] all make substantial and valuable scholarly contributions in their notes and translations of the texts.’
 
‘The richness and variety of Philoponus’ intellectual interests and abilities as a philosopher and commentator are all ably displayed in these four volumes. The editors and translators of each volume are to be thanked and commended for their service in making these translations available.’

New for 2016

22/1/2016

 
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We are pleased to announce four volumes due out in 2016. These are the second edition of Aristotle Transformed and its sequel Aristotle Re-Interpreted, the second half of Michael Griffin's translation of Olympiodorus, On Plato Alcibiades, and, previously unannounced here, Priscian's Answers to King Khosroes of Persia. This last volume has involved retro-translation of the, in places incomprehensible, Latin text into ancient Greek in order to produce a meaningful English translation.

Priscian of Lydia was one of the Athenian philosophers who took refuge in 531 AD with King Khosroes I of Persia, after the Christian Emperor Justinian stopped the teaching of the pagan Neoplatonist school in Athens. This was one of the earliest examples of the sixth-century diffusion of the philosophy of the commentators to other cultures.

Tantalisingly, Priscian fully recorded in Greek the answers provided by the Athenian philosophers to the king's questions on philosophy and science. But these answers survive only in a later Latin translation which understood both the Greek and the subject matter very poorly. Our translators have often had to reconstruct from the Latin what the Greek would have been, in order to recover the original sense.

The answers start with subjects close to the Athenians' hearts: the human soul, on which Priscian was an expert, and sleep and visions. But their interest may have diminished when the king sought their expertise on matters of physical science: the seasons, celestial zones, medical effects of heat and cold, the tides, displacement of the four elements, the effect of regions on living things, why only reptiles are poisonous, and winds. At any rate, in 532 AD, they moved on from the palace, but still under Khosroes' protection. This is the first translation of the record they left into English or any modern language.
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