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In the treatise On the Change of Names (part of his magnum opus, the Allegorical Commentary), Philo of Alexandria brings his figurative exegesis of the Abraham cycle to its fruition. Taking a cue from Platonist interpreters of Homer’s Odyssey, Philo reads Moses’s story of Abraham as an account of the soul’s progress and perfection. Responding to contemporary critics, who mocked Genesis 17 as uninspired, Philo finds instead a hidden philosophical reflection on the ineffability of the transcendent God, the transformation of souls which recognize their mortal nothingness, the possibility of human faith enabled by peerless faithfulness of God, and the fruit of moral perfection: joy divine, prefigured in the birth of Isaac.
This book represents the first monograph (miscellany) entirely devoted to Crantor of Soli (app. 335–275 BCE), an outstanding figure of the Old Academy. He was in particular famous for his On Grief, an exemplary work of consolation literature, and for his being the first commentator of Plato’s Timaeus. Unlike his darling Arcesilaus of Pitane, who initiated the Sceptical turn, Crantor seems to have stuck firm to the Academic teachings of Polemon and Plato. The contributions collected in this book aim to convey a complete picture of Crantor by discussing various aspects of his philosophy and biography.
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A wealth of political literature has survived from Greek antiquity, from political theory by Plato and Aristotle to the variety of prose and verse texts that more broadly demonstrate political thinking. However, despite the extent of this legacy, it can be surprisingly hard to say how ancient Greek political thought makes its influence felt, or whether this influence has been sustained across the centuries. This volume includes a range of disciplinary responses to issues surrounding the legacy of Greek political thought, exploring the ways in which political thinking has evolved from antiquity to the present day.
Poetry and Genre, with a Critical Text and Translation
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The Orphic Hymns, a collection of invocations to the complete Greek pantheon, have reached us without explicit information about the contexts of their composition and performance. Combining a new critical edition and translation of the hymns with an in-depth study of the poetic strategies they employ and the forms of Greek poetry they draw upon, this book explores what the hymns can tell us about themselves. Through the use of allusion and figures that look to the earliest Greek poetry, the hymns present themselves as a text to be heard and meditated upon in performance, and as Orpheus’ summative revelation on the nature and unity of the divine realm.
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This volume of fourteen essays explores the biology of Aristotle and the Early Peripatos (Theophrastus and the Physical Problems) in its various dimensions—how the study of the soul contributes to the foundation of the science of perishable life, what is the program of this science and its main explanatory strategies, whether it is the explanation of natural generation or the relationship of the animal to its surroundings. But the authors also explore what might be, for Aristotle, the unity of life, not only that of animals and plants, but also that of celestial bodies and the Prime Mover.
This volume, the 38th year of published proceedings, contains four papers and commentaries presented to the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy during 2023. Topics: Theophrastus’s interpretation of De Anima III 5 defended against the traditional readings; a new interpretation of Empedocles’ cosmology, aiming to deflect Aristotle’s criticism; analysis of the role of Adeimantus in Plato’s Republic, arguing that he is responsible for the turn to politics in the dialogue; explication of Metaphysics book Epsilon, in which Aristotle argues for the necessity of a first philosophy beyond physics. The commentators subject each paper to critical review, and they support, challenge, or reject what they find.
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Despite Aristotle's family background and his undeniable impact on ancient Greek medicine, the influence of medicine on Aristotle's philosophy is controversial and far from universally acknowledged. The aim of this volume is to re-examine the influence of medical knowledge and literature on Aristotle's work, in particular to explore the connections with the Hippocratic writings. The volume encourages further exploration of this interdisciplinary area and offers new insights by presenting a series of case studies that examine in detail specific debates within the Aristotelian corpus in relation to the medical literature.
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In the Gorgias Plato offers a synthesis of what he thinks about the bitter conflict between philosophical and non-philosophical approaches to one’s responsibilities in private and public life. This book contributes to a deeper understanding of this historically and conceptually rich canvas by shedding light on its main topics: speech in its philosophical and non-philosophical forms, psychology in relation to virtuous life, and politics which charges the two former topics with high stakes that call for personal choices.