Timaeus the Sophist

Timaeus the Sophist (Greek Τίμαιος σοφιστής Timaeus the Sophist ) was an ancient Greek lexicographer. He lived in the Roman Empire and wrote an encyclopedia on the works of the philosopher Plato. Over the life of the Timaeus is not known. His nickname " the sophist " is preserved in the only surviving manuscript of the lexicon; he called in the Roman imperial period a learned writer and is not meant to be derogatory.

Lexicon

Timaeus created the lexicon on the basis of older, no longer preserved Plato comments. In the dedicatory letter he mentions his name. He dedicated the work to a friend, an otherwise unknown Roman, the Greek name for the forms Gaiatianos and Gaitianos have survived; he may have Caietanus, Gentianus or Gratianus told. The date of composition is difficult to determine; a quotation from a work by the Neo-Platonist Porphyry comes for dating to no probative value because it is probably an interpolation.

The lexicon has survived in only one manuscript from the 10th century, which today is located in the French National Library in Paris. In the obtained version it contains additives that do not originate from the author. This is seen therefrom that many words are added, the Plato never used, and that for some words different meanings are given as for Plato's texts relevant. Probably the lexicon was expanded gradually after the death of its author. In some cases, only one of several occurring in Plato's works meanings of an expression is called.

While it was assumed in the earlier research, the traditional text was complete, it must be according to the current state of research believe that the manuscript contains only an abridged version.

Among the 468 alphabetically arranged terms, the Timaeus usually only explains just is not a single philosophical technical term. More than a third of the expressions occur only at a single point in Plato. How Timaeus tells in the letter of dedication, he is concerned with the clarification of words and phrases with unusual meanings and dialectal peculiarities of Plato's Attic language, which are not only the Romans but also the most Greeks of his time not familiar. Occasionally he goes into the etymology.

Reception

Secure traces of use of the lexicon in the ancient world have not yet been found. Whether the Neoplatonists Hermias of Alexandria (5th century) has used it for his commentary on Plato's dialogue Phaedrus, is uncertain.

Around the middle of the 9th century consulted the famous Byzantine scholar Photius the lexicon, whose value he rated relatively low, and carried in his library, notes to attend.

In the early modern period, the lexicon was lost long. In the 17th century, the manuscript came to France. The scholar Bernard de Montfaucon discovered in a French private library and published in 1715 a partial edition. 1754 appeared in the anxious suffering of David Ruhnken first complete edition.

Text edition and translation

  • Maddalena Bonelli, Jonathan Barnes (ed.): TIMEE le sophist: platonicien Lexique. Brill, Leiden 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-15887-0 ( critical edition with French translation and detailed commentary )
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