Priscian of Lydia

Priskianos Lydos (Greek Πρισκιανός Λυδός Priskianós Lydos, also Priskianos of Lydia, latin Priscianus Lydus; † after 532 ) was a late ancient Greek philosopher ( Neoplatonist ).

Life

Little is known about the life of Priskianos. Tradition has it only that he came from Lydia, and belonged to the Neo-Platonic school of philosophy in Athens. This school, which continued the tradition of the Platonic Academy, was conducted not later than 515 by the eminent philosopher Damascius. She held traditionally fixed resolutely on the old Greek religion and thus stood in opposition to Christianity, which at that time was the state religion of the Eastern Roman Empire. Religious conflict led to the Emperor Justinian I. forbade the pagan teaching activity in the year 529; then the school was closed. Well in the spring of 532 emigrated Damascius with six other Neoplatonists, including Priskianos, in the Persian Sassanid Empire from. There she took the throne in 531 Great King Chosroes I. in his court. The philosophers, however, were dissatisfied with conditions in exile and returned to the Eastern Roman Empire, therefore, soon returned, though Chosroes wish their whereabouts at his court. As a peace between the Sassanids and the Romans was closed in the autumn of 532, the United Kingdom insisted on an assurance from the Roman side, that the philosophers unmolested return home and were allowed to hold for the rest of their lives to their religion. Where the Neoplatonists then settled is unknown. After a pleasant but controversial hypothesis they lived after their return to the city of Carrhae, where the majority of inhabitants are still known to the old religion.

Works and teaching

Priskianos wrote on behalf of the King Khosrau a font that has survived only in a Latin translation under the title " solutions to the problems that the Persian king has raised Chosroes " ( Solutiones eorum, de quibus dubitavit Chosroes Persarum rex, short Solutiones ad Chosroem ). It discusses a range of issues from different fields of knowledge; subjects include the soul of sleep and dreams, the seasons, venomous animals and winds. He also wrote a commentary on a lost natural history work of the Peripatetic Theophrastus; of which only a part, of the aspects of Theophrastus theory of the soul from the Neo-Platonic view is treated, under the title " paraphrase of Theophrastus' teachings about the perception " ( Metáphrasis TON Theophrástou Peri aisthḗseōs ) get sketchy. The topics are sensory perception, imagination and intellect ( nous ). Since Priskianos quotes from the annotated work offers, his comment for the reconstruction is helpful.

In the research highly controversial is the question of whether a traditional philosopher Simplicius ascribed to comment treatise De anima of Aristotle by Priskianos comes. The hypothesis of his authorship is represented in particular by Carlos Steel, while Ilsetraut Hadot argues for the attribution to Simplicius. A third opinion is research, both attributions were not plausible, the author (pseudo Simplicius ) remain unknown.

In the doctrine of the soul itself Priskianos relies on the Neoplatonist Iamblichus and Plutarch of Athens, where he sees the authentic interpreters of Aristotle's doctrine of the soul. According to the prevailing view in the late antique Neoplatonism he endeavors to harmonize Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy.

Reception

In an anonymous traditional late antiquity list ( canons ) of recommended authors is called philosophy the name of the Priskianos in the list of " most useful" expounder of Plato. There is also reported to John Philoponus had fought his teachings.

In the early Middle Ages Priskianos ' addressed to King Chosroes booklet was translated into Latin. Whether this happened before the Carolingian period or whether the translator is to be sought within the Irish scholars Erigena ( 9th century ) or even to identify with Eriugena, is controversial in research. In the 13th century the scholar Vincent of Beauvais added quotes from the Solutiones ad Chosroem in his encyclopedic work Speculum naturale, where he mistook Priskianos with the famous grammarian Priscian of Caesarea.

In the eighties of the 15th century, the humanist Marsilio Ficino translated the commentary of Theophrastus Priskianos into Latin. He also wrote a Latin commentary on it. His translation appeared in 1497 with Aldo Manuzio in Venice. 1541 the Greek text of this work was printed in Basel in the context of Theophrastus issue for the first time; this issue is very wrong.

The Solutiones ad Chosroem were apparently lost for centuries in the early modern period. They were rediscovered in the 19th century by Jules Quicherat and 1853 partially edited.

The Averroistic scholar Francesco Piccolomini concluded in his 1602 published commentary on Aristotle's De anima, in which he also dealt with the Simplicius ascribed to comment on this font, to the conclusion that not Simplicius, but Priskianos was the author. This hypothesis came in the following centuries in oblivion, but in the 20th century it was conveyed again and justified in detail; the question is controversial today.

Editions

• Ingram Bywater (ed.): Prisciani Lydi quae extant: Metaphrasis in Theophrastum et solutionum ad Chosroem liber. Georg Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1886 (Supplement Aristotelicum Volume 1, Part 2, . Critical edition )
• Michael Hayduck (ed.): Simplicii in libros Aristotelis de anima Commentaria. Georg Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1882 ( Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca vol 11; critical edition, authorship of the controversial Priskianos )

Translations

• James O. Urmson (translator ): Simplicius: On Aristotle 's On the Soul 1.1-2.4. Cornell University Press, Ithaca ( NY) 1995, ISBN 0-8014-3160-3 (Authorship of Priskianos disputed)
• Pamela Huby, Carlos Steel ( translator ): Priscian: On Theophrastus on Sense - Perception, with ' Simplicius ': On Aristotle On the Soul 2.5-12. Duckworth, London 1997, ISBN 0-7156-2752- X ( " On the Soul ": authorship of the controversial Priskianos )
• Henry J. Blumenthal (translator ): " Simplicius ": On Aristotle, On the Soul 3.1-5. Duckworth, London 2000, ISBN 0-7156-2896-8 (Authorship of Priskianos disputed)