For three centuries the treatise
De plantis has been poorly represented by a Byzantine Greek translation of a mediocre Latin version made from the Arabic, which in its turn came from a Syriac rendering of the lost original. Since this Byzantine version was four times removed from the Greek exemplar, its authority was, to say the least, questionable. However, it was printed in 1539, and in spite of ubiquitous disapproval found its way into all subsequent editions of the Corpus Aristotelicum. In the present book the fragments of the Syriac version and the text of the four other translations (Arabic, Latin, Greek, Hebrew) are edited afresh. As far as possible, the manuscriptal evidence is complete, and each text is provided with an introduction and copious notes concerning philological problems. A few of the numerous commentaries are added and the vexed question of whether Averroes had written a commentary on
De plantis is treated at some length.
Hendrik Johan Drossaart Lulofs (1906-1998), doctorate (1943) Utrecht University, was a classical philologist and historian of philosophy. He published widely on Aristotle and Nicolaus Damascenus. He was one of the founders of the Aristotles Semitico-Latinus project.
Evert Lubbertus Jacobus Poortman, doctorate (1978) University of Amsterdam, reader in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. He has published on Petrus de Alvernia and Nicolaus Damascenus.
All those interested in the Latin and Semitic traditions of the Aristotelian Corpus, and in Mediaeval Philosophy.