Published by De Gruyter

Studia Praesocratica

Edited by: Richard McKirahan, Denis O'Brien, Oliver Primavesi, Christoph Riedweg, David Sider, Gotthard Strohmaier and Georg Wöhrle

ISSN: 1869-7143

Overview
Volumes

Parallel to the edition volumes of the series Traditio Praesocratica, in which texts of early Greek natural philosophers are presented in a critical edition with translation, the series Studia Praesocratica presents commentaries, monographs and collective volumes on early Greek philosophy and its doxography.

Author / Editor information

M. Laura Gemelli Marciano, Universität Zürich, Schweiz; Richard McKirahan, Pomona University, California, USA; Denis O'Brien , Courtomer, Frankreich; Oliver Primavesi, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; Christoph Riedweg, Universität Zürich, Schweiz und Istituto Svizzera, Rom, Italien; David Sider , New York University, USA; Gotthard Strohmaier, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften und Freie Universität Berlin; Georg Wöhrle, Universität Trier.

Topics

Book 2021

The Presocratics at Herculaneum

A Study of Early Greek Philosophy in the Epicurean Tradition. With an Appendix on Diogenes of Oinoanda's Criticism of Presocratic Philosophy

Christian Vassallo

Volume 11 in this series

More Cite

This volume analyses in depth the reception of early Greek philosophy in the Epicurean tradition and provides for the first time in scholarship a comprehensive edition, with translation and commentary, of all the Herculanean testimonia to the Presocratics. Among the most significant scientific outcomes, it provides elements for the attribution of an earlier date to the attested tradition of Xenophanes’ scepticism; a complete reconstruction of the Epicurean reception of Democritus; a new reconstruction of the testimonia to Nausiphanes’ concept of physiologia, Anaxagoras’ physics and theology, and Empedocles’ epistemology; new texts for better comparing the doxographical sections of Philodemus’ On Piety with those of Cicero’s On the Nature of the Gods, which update Hermann Diels’ treatment of this subject in his Doxographi Graeci.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110727661
ISBN:: 9783110727661
ISBN:: 9783110726985
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Papyrology
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2019

Presocratics and Papyrological Tradition

A Philosophical Reappraisal of the Sources. Proceedings of the International Workshop held at the University of Trier (22-24 September 2016)

Christian Vassallo

Volume 10 in this series

More Cite

The papyri transmit a part of the testimonia relevant to pre-Socratic philosophy. The ʼCorpus dei Papiri Filosofici‛ takes this material only partly into account. In this volume, a team of specialists discusses some of the most important papyrological texts that are major instruments for reconstructing pre-Socratic philosophy and doxography. Furthermore, these texts help to increase our knowledge of how pre-Socratic thought – through contributions to physics, cosmology, ethics, ontology, theology, anthropology, hermeneutics, and aesthetics – paved the way for the canonic scientific fields of European culture. More specifically, each paper tackles (published and unpublished) papyrological texts concerning the Orphics, the Milesians, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the early Atomists, and the Sophists. For the first time in the field of pre-Socratics studies, several papers are devoted to the Herculanean sources, along with others concerning the Graeco-Egyptian papyri and the Derveni Papyrus.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110666106
ISBN:: 9783110666106
ISBN:: 9783110663211
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Papyrology
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Selected Philosophical Movements
Subject:: Presocratics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2017

Lectures de Mélissos

Édition, traduction et interprétation des témoignages sur Mélissos de Samos

Mathilde Brémond

Volume 9 in this series

More Cite

This work contains an edition and translation of the testimonies on the Presocratic philosopher Melissus of Samos in Antiquity, and a commentary focusing on the history of the way in which he has been interpreted. The aim is to show how he has been understood by ancient writers according to their own agenda and to the knowledge available to them, and to present the main lines of the reception of Melissus throughout Antiquity.

Ce travail consiste en une édition et traduction des témoignages sur le philosophe présocratique Mélissos de Samos dans l’Antiquité, et un commentaire qui se concentre sur l’histoire de l’interprétation de ce penseur. Mon objectif est de montrer comment Mélissos a été compris par les auteurs anciens en fonction de leur perspective et des connaissances qu’ils avaient, et de présenter les grandes orientations de cette lecture à travers l’Antiquité.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110545609
ISBN:: 9783110545609
ISBN:: 9783110542882
ISBN:: 9783110544848
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2017

Heraklit im Kontext

Enrica Fantino, Ulrike Muss, Charlotte Schubert, Kurt Sier

Volume 8 in this series

More Cite

Heraclitus’s thought and philosophical views have exercised enormous influence from ancient times to the modern era and beyond. The essays in this volume describe the circumstances in which these ideas developed and help foster a more systematic understanding of “The Dark One,” as he has been called since ancient times, and his impact.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110421323
ISBN:: 9783110421323
ISBN:: 9783110421408
ISBN:: 9783110425888
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Ancient History
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2015

L'harmonie des Sirènes du pythagorisme ancien à Platon

Irini-Fotini Viltanioti

Volume 7 in this series

More Cite

Is the harmony of the Sirens in Plato’s Myth of Er derived from Early Pythagorean doctrine or is the doctrine, which in Iamblichus’ On the Pythagorean Way of Life, defines the harmony of the Sirens as being the tetractys and the oracle at Delphi, a Pseudo-pythagorean invention drawing upon this famous passage in Plato’s Republic? What does the harmony of the Sirens mean for the Pythagoreans and what does it mean for Plato? Does the Platonic image of the Sirens do any philosophical work within the context of the Republic? What is the connection, if any, between the Platonic and Pythagorean themes of the harmony of the Sirens, on one hand, and the song of the Sirens in Homer’s Odyssey, on the other? By investigating these and other relevant questions, Irini-Fotini Viltanioti offers, for the first time, a sustained study of the mythological rendition of the famous Pythagorean theory of the so-called “Harmony of the Spheres” in Plato’s Republic and in Iamblichus’ On the Pythagorean Way of Life. Filling this serious gap in current literature, this book is an important contribution to the field of Pythagorean and Platonic studies.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501502798
ISBN:: 9781501510861
ISBN:: 9781501502798
ISBN:: 9781501502811
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2014

Die Prinzipienlehre der Milesier

Kommentar zu den Textzeugnissen bei Aristoteles und seinen Kommentatoren

Maria Marcinkowska-Rosol

Volume 6 in this series

More Cite

This study analyzes the reception of the theories of the "first principle" of Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes (7th-6th century BC) among Aristotle and his commentators of the 2nd through 14th centuries AD. It includes a detailed discussion of 120 texts documenting this fascinating and, for the modern image of the Milesians, fundamental Wirkungsgeschichte of the earliest philosophical ideas of Europe.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614518365
ISBN:: 978-1-61451-832-7
ISBN:: 978-1-61451-836-5
ISBN:: 9781614519447
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

On Pythagoreanism

Gabriele Cornelli, Richard McKirahan, Constantinos Macris

Volume 5 in this series

More Cite

The purpose of the conference “On Pythagoreanism”, held in Brasilia in 2011, was to bring together leading scholars from all over the world to define the status quaestionis for the ever-increasing interest and research on Pythagoreanism in the 21st century. The papers included in this volume exemplify the variety of topics and approaches now being used to understand the polyhedral image of one of the most fascinating and long-lasting intellectual phenomena in Western history. Cornelli’s paper opens the volume by charting the course of Pythagorean studies over the past two centuries. The remaining contributions range chronologically from Pythagoras and the early Pythagoreans of the archaic period (6th-5th centuries BCE) through the classical, hellenistic and late antique periods, to the eighteenth century. Thematically they treat the connections of Pythagoreanism with Orphism and religion, with mathematics, metaphysics and epistemology and with politics and the Pythagorean way of life.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110318500
ISBN:: 978-3-11-031845-6
ISBN:: 978-3-11-031850-0
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient Religion
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Theology and Religion
Subject:: Religious Studies
Subject:: Ancient Religions
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

In Search of Pythagoreanism

Pythagoreanism as an Historiographical Category

Gabriele Cornelli

Volume 4 in this series

More Cite

The history of Pythagoreanism is littered with different and incompatible interpretations, to the point that Kahn (1974) suggested that, instead of another thesis on Pythagoreanism, it would be preferable to assess traditions with the aim of producing a good historiographical presentation. This almost fourty-year-old observation by Kahn, directs the author of this book towards a fundamentally historiographical rather than philological brand of work, that is, one neither exclusively devoted to the exegesis of sources such as Philolaus, Archytas or even of one of the Hellenistic Lives nor even to the theoretical approach of one of the themes that received specific contributions from Pythagoreanism, such as mathematics, cosmology, politics or theories of the soul. Instead, this monograph sets out to reconstruct the way in which the tradition established Pythagoreanism’s image, facing one of the central problems that characterizes Pythagoreanism more than other ancient philosophical movements: the drastically shifting terrain of the criticism of the sources. The goal of this historiographical approach is to embrace Pythagoreanism in its entirety, through - and not in spite of - its complex articulation across more than a millennium.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110306507
ISBN:: 978-3-11-030627-9
ISBN:: 978-3-11-030650-7
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Subject:: Ancient Religion
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2011

Thales von Milet in der frühen christlichen Literatur

Darstellungen seiner Figur und seiner Ideen in den griechischen und lateinischen Textzeugnissen christlicher Autoren der Kaiserzeit und Spätantike

Andreas Schwab

Volume 3 in this series

More Cite

thales of Miletus (7th-6th centuries BC) is regarded as one of the most important figures in Greek philosophy and science. In spite of this we know few anecdotes about his life, and none of his work has survived directly. This was one of the main reasons behind Andreas Schwab’s work, who for the first time commented on more than one hundred passages in early Christian authors on Thales’ life and works. These are documented in a new collection of testimonies on Thales (Traditio Presocratica vol 1, 2009). Particular attention is paid to the topics of literary discourse and the argumentative contexts within which reference is made to Thales. The commentary is not intended as a reconstruction of Thales’ life and teaching, rather the portrayals of his figure and ideas, as well as their function in later periods are analyzed and commented on with reference to the Christian texts. The Latin texts range from Tertullian to Augustine and Isidore of Seville, the Greek texts from the first apologists to Eusebius of Caesarea and the Chronicle of John Malalas. The interdisciplinary nature of this innovative, diachronous history of Thales’ “image” furthers both research into early Greek philosophy, as well as a deeper understanding of early Christian philosophy and theology.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110245998
ISBN:: 978-3-11-024598-1
ISBN:: 978-3-11-024599-8
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Authors
Subject:: Latin
Subject:: Latin Authors
Subject:: Ancient Science and Medicine
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2010

Die Konzeption des "noein" bei Parmenides von Elea

Maria Marcinkowska-Rosól

Volume 2 in this series

More Cite

Maria Marcinkowska-Rosół provides the first detailed study of the conception of thought and knowledge in the didactic poem by Parmenides of Elea, one of the most important early Greek philosophers (6th–5th cent. BC). She succeeds in providing convincing answers to some of the central questions on Parmenides, in particular the relationship between thought and being, the overall message of Parmenides’ poem, and the connection between the two parts.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110217605
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021759-9
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021760-5
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Metaphysics, Ontology
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2007

Democrito e l'Accademia

Studi sulla trasmissione dell'atomismo antico da Aristotele a Simplicio

Laura Gemelli

Volume 1 in this series

More Cite

How did the Ancient Greek Atomists come to assume the existence of atoms, and how did they understand their indivisibility? These are the most difficult questions facing researchers into Atomism in Classical Antiquity, and it is these questions that Laura Gemelli addresses in the present study. She re-examines the Ancients' tradition from a new perspective, starting from the influence that academic atomism and the attendant problems and concepts had on Aristotle's interpretation of ancient Atomism.
This hitherto neglected perspective leads to a critical revision of generally accepted theses such as the origins of Atomism in Eleatism and the postulation of the atom as a solution to the aporias of infinite divisibility. The author then follows the further development of the views of Atomism put forward by Aristotle and Theophrastus as far as the Neo-Platonists. This book provides the foundations for a re-evaluation of the sources and a shift in perspective for research into the Ancient Atomists.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110912722
ISBN:: 978-3-11-018542-3
ISBN:: 978-3-11-091272-2
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient Science and Medicine
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter