Porphyry, â ºOn Principles and Matterâ ¹: A Syriac Version of a Lost Greek Text with an English Translation, Introduction, and Glossaries (Scientia Graeco-Arabica, 34)

Arzhanov, Yury; Porphyry

ISBN 10: 3111274667 / ISBN 13: 9783111274669

Published by Walter de Gruyter (edition 1), 2023

It's a preowned item in good condition and includes all the pages. It may have some general signs of wear and tear, such as markings, highlighting, slight damage to the cover, minimal wear to the binding, etc., but they will not affect the overall reading experience. Seller Inventory # 3111274667-11-1

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 the Author: Yury Arzhanov, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Porphyry, â ºOn Principles and Matterâ ¹: A ...
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter (edition 1)
Publication Date: 2023
Binding: Perfect Paperback
Condition: Good
Edition: 1.