Priscian: Answers to King Khosroes of Persia (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle)

"Priscian of Lydia was one of the Athenian philosophers who took refuge in 531 AD with King Khosroes I of Persia, after the Christian Emperor Justinian stopped the teaching of the pagan Neoplatonist school in Athens. This was one of the earliest examples of the sixth-century diffusion of the philosophy of the commentators to other cultures. Tantalisingly, Priscian fully recorded in Greek the answers provided by the Athenian philosophers to the king's questions on philosophy and science. But these answers survive only in a later Latin translation which understood both the Greek and the subject matter very poorly. Our translators have often had to reconstruct from the Latin what the Greek would have been, in order to recover the original sense. The answers start with subjects close to the Athenians' hearts: the human soul, on which Priscian was an expert, and sleep and visions. But their interest may have diminished when the king sought their expertise on matters of physical science: the seasons, celestial zones, medical effects of heat and cold, the tides, displacement of the four elements, the effect of regions on living things, why only reptiles are poisonous, and winds. At any rate, in 532 AD, they moved on from the palace, but still under Khosroes' protection. This is the first translation of the record they left into English or any modern language. This English translation is accompanied by an introduction and comprehensive commentary notes, which clarify and discuss the meaning and implications of the original philosophy. Part of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series, the edition makes this philosophical work accessible to a modern readership and includes additional scholarly apparatus such as a bibliography, glossary of translated terms and a subject index"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents Abbreviations Conventions Introduction Translation Preface Chapter 1: About the Soul, and Especially the Human Chapter 2: On Sleep Chapter 3: On Dreams as a Source of Prophecy Chapter 4: Astronomy and Climate Chapter 5: On the Efficacy of Contrary Medical Prescriptions Chapter 6: The Tides Chapter 7: How Elemental Bodies get Displaced Chapter 8: How Location Affects the Character of Living Things Chapter 9: Why do Things in a Good Universe Harm Each Other? Chapter 10: Of What is the Wind Made and Where Does its Motion Come From? Notes Bibliography English–Latin Glossary Latin–English Index Latin–Greek Index Subject and Name Index Chapter 3 [On Dreams as a Source of Prophecy]142 -- Chapter 4 [Astronomy and Climate] -- [Why in every latitude there are four turning points in the solar year?]178 -- [On the five zones that are said by the wise of this time to occupy the earth 189] -- Chapter 5 [On the Efficacy of Contrary Medical Prescriptions]236 -- Chapter 6 [The Tides]254 -- Chapter 7 [How Elemental Bodies get Displaced Up and Down from their Natural Places]382 -- Chapter 8 [How Location Affects the Character of Living Things]449 -- Chapter 9 [Why do Things in a Good Universe Harm Each Other?]522 The contributors to overcoming the unintelligibilities of the Latin -- Notes -- Priscian Answers to King Khosroes of Persia Translation -- Preface -- Chapter 1 [About the Soul, and Especially the Human] -- Whether the soul is a substance or an accident? -- That the soul is incorporeal38 -- That the soul is separate from the body and turned to itself -- [Three closely connected arguments about the soul]63 -- [Differences among the souls] -- [In what way is the soul joined to the body and through what kind of conjunction?] -- Chapter 2 [On Sleep]108 Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Series page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- Conventions -- Introduction -- The sixth century diffusion of Greek Neoplatonism -- Priscian and the Athenian philosophers' refuge with King Khosroes in Persia -- Khosroes' interest in Greek philosophy and freedom of discussion -- The Athenians' move from Khosroes in Ctesiphon -- The need for retrotranslation back to the original Greek from the surviving Latin translation -- Who was responsible for the unintelligibilities in the Latin? Chapter 10 [Of What is the Wind Made and Where Does its Motion Come From?]574 -- Notes -- Bibliography -- English-Latin Glossary -- Latin-English Index -- Latin-Greek Index -- Subject and Name Index