Theory and History of Ontology (www.ontology.co)by Raul Corazzon | e-mail: rc@ontology.co

Bibliography on the Ancient Catalogue of Aristotle's Works

Contents of this Section

The Philosophy of Aristotle

Ancient Catalogues

A) Diogenes Laërtius (III century): Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers - Book V.22-27 The Peripatetics.

  1. Diogenes, Laërtius. 1925. Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Greek text facing an English translation by Robert Drew Hicks.

    Reprint with an introduction by Herbert Strainge Long, 1972.

  2. Diogenes, Laertii. 1964. Vitae Philosophorum. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Critical edition of the Greek text by Herbert Strainge Long.

  3. Diogenes, Laertius. 1999. Vitae Philosophorum. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner.

    Critical edition by Miroslav Marcovich.

    Vol. I: Libri I - X; Vol. II: Excerpta Byzantina et indices; Vol III: Indices Hans Gärtner (2002).

  4. Diogenes, Laërtius. 2013. Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    New critical edition by Tiziano Dorandi.

B) The Anonymous Catalogue known as Vita Menagiana or Vita Hesychii, sometimes attributed to Hesychius of Miletus (V century).

  1. Diogenis, Laertis. 1664. De Vitis, Dogmatis Et Apophtegmatis Eorum Qui in Philosophia Claruerunt Libri X. Londinii: Octavanum Pulleyn.

    First edition Paris 1663. Reprint by John Pearson (1613-1686) of the Aldobrandinian edition of 1594 with Annotationes by Henri Estienne (Stephanis), Isaac and Méric Casaubon and Observationibus by Gilles Ménage (Aegidii Menagii, 1613-1692) that contains the first printed edition of an anonymous life of Aristotle (the so-called Vita Menagiana).

  2. ———. 1692. De Vitis, Dogmatibus Et Apophtegmatibus Clarorum Philosophorum Libri X. Amstelædami: H. Wetstenium.

    Greek and Latin text by Marc Meibom, with annotations to I. and M. Casaubon, T. Aldobrandini in two volumes.

    The second volume contains: Aegidii Menagii in Diogenem Observationes auctiores, ut et Joachimi Kühnii ad Diogenem Notas.

  3. Rose, Valentine. 1863. Aristoteles Pseudoepigraphus. Lipsia: Teubner.

    Index Diogenis pp. 12-18; Index Hesychii (ex Aegidii Menagii observ. in Diog. Laert. p. 201 cum vitis omnibus accurate excriptus) pp. 18-20.

  4. ———. 1886. Aristotelis Qui Ferebantur Librorum Fragmenta. Lipsia: Teubner.

    Reprint of the Vita Hesychii published in Aristoteles pseudepigraphus.

  5. Düring, Ingemar. 1957. Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.

    Reprinted New York, Garland, 1987.

    Diogenes Laertius (Catalogue) pp. 41-50; Hesychius (Catalogue) pp. 83-89; Ptolemy's Catalogue (English translation and Greek retroversion from Arabic) pp. 221-231.

  6. Laertius, Diogenes. 1999. "Pseudo-Hesychii Milesii De Viris Illustribus." In Vitae Philosophorum, 89-138. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner.

    Vol. II: Excerpta Byzantina et indices. Critical edition by Miroslav Marcovich of the Pseudo-Heysichius Viris illustribus: a compilation of texts extracted from the Lives of Diogenes Laertius and the Suda.

  7. Dorandi, Tiziano. 2006. "La Vita Hesychii D'Aristote." Studi Classici e Orientali no. 52:87-106.

    Publié en 2009.

    "La Vita Hesychii ou Vita Menagiana d'Aristote (= VH), faisait partie de l 'Onomatologos e pinax ton en paideia onomaston d'Hésychius de Milet (VI s.), histoire de la littérature limitée, à ce qu'il semble, aux auteurs païens, et perdue dans son intégralité.

    Je voudrais proposer une nouvelle édition de ce court texte, dont l'importance pour la reconstruction de la biographie d'Aristote et de la liste de ses œuvres est indéniable. J'ai commencé à travailler sur la VH en marge de mon édition du texte grec des Vies et doctrines des philosophes illustres de Diogène Laërce (en particulier de la Vie d'Aristote au livre V 1-35), et en prévision d'un volume consacré à la tradition biographique antique d'Aristote dans lequel je rééditerai, entre autre, les Vies anciennes (grecques et latines) du Stagirite accompagnées d'apparats, d'une traduction et de notes de commentaire." p. 87

    Édition critique du text grec pp. 98-103.

C) The Catalogue attributed to Ptolemy el-Garib (I century) and transmitted in two Arabic version by Ibn al-Qifti (ca. 1172-1248) and Ibn Abi Usaibia (1203-1270).

  1. An-Nadim, Ibn. 1871. Kitab Al-Fihrist, Mit Anmerkungen. Leipzig: F.C.W. Vogel.

    Two volumes: I edited by Gustav Flügel (1871); II: edited by Johannes Rödiger, August Müller (1872); written in the 10th century.

    On Ptolemy el-Garib see vol. I pp. 246-252.

    "We learn from the writer's own words that he has before him the Vita of Ptolemy-el-Garib; he gives us the title of it and says in (14) that his own notes are a brief epitome. Our conclusion is that before 950 there was in circulation in Baghdad an Arabic summary of Ptolemy's Vita, including a full translation of the Will. Since an-Nadim presents his classification of Aristotle's writings in roughly the same form as al-Yaqubi (...), Baumstark concluded that he had not seen the Arabic translation of Ptolemy's catalogue. But this is a weak argument, for he might have found Ptolemy's catalogue too detailed and technical and have preferred the classification based on the traditional prolegomena. Moreover we observe that, unlike al-Kindi and al-Yaqubi, an-Nadim regarded the De anima as one of the physical treatises." Düring, 1957 cit., p. 195.

    (14) About him [Aristotle] numerous stories are circulated of which we only have mentioned the essentials.

  2. Müller, August. 1875. "Das Arabische Verzeichniss Der Aristotelischen Schriften." In Morgenländische Forschungen. Festschrift Herrn Professor Dr. H. L. Fleischer, 1-32. Leipzig: Brockhaus.

    Verzeichniss der Aristotelischen Schriften aus dem Buche des Ptolomaeus an Gallus (first edition of Ptolemy's Catalog) pp. 19-22.

  3. Usaibi'a, Ibn Abi. 1884. Uyun Al-Anba Fi Tabaqat Al-Atibba (Lives of the Physicians). Königsberg.

    Vol. I pp. 54-69 (contains the Vita Aristotelis by Usaibi'a and the Catalogue by Ptolemy el-Garib) written 1245-1246.

    "Comments on Ptolemy's Catalogue. P. Moraux's valuable book, Les Listes anciennes des d'Aristote, Louvain 1951, deals at length with Ptolemy's catalogue and gives full references to the earlier literature. I have learnt much from his discussion of the complicated problems, but I do not always agree with his conclusions; see my paper "Ariston or Hermippus?", in: Classica et mediaevalia, 17, 1956, pp. 11-21. M. Plezia De Andronici Rhodii studii aristotelicis closely follows Baumstark but contributes many good observations.

    My translation of the catalogue is based on Usaibia, but I have added al-Qifti's readings (...)

    A full critical apparatus is found in Steinschneider's edition, in the Berlin Academy edition of Aristotle, tom. V, pp. 1469-73. (...) Baumstark Syrisch-arabische Biographieen des Aristoteles gives a complete translation of the two versions of the catalogue, pp. 61-7o, profuse comments and a bold reconstruction of the original catalogue of Andronicus, built on Littig's book on Andronicus. I am sceptical of these airy constructions. In my edition I have added ten sub-titles (Published works, etc.) to distinguish the sections of the catalogue." Düring, 1957 cit., pp. 241-242.

  4. Baumstark, Anton. 1900. Syrisch-Arabische Biographieen Des Aristoteles. Syrische Kommentare Zur Eisagoge Des Porphyrios. Leipzig: Teubner.

    Aristoteles bei den Syrern vom V. - VIII. Jahrhundert

    Syrische texte herausgegeben, übersetzt und untersucht von Dr. A. Baumstark. Erster Band.

    Reprint: Aachen, Scientia Verlag, 1975.

    German translation of the two versions of Ptolemy's Catalogue (by IBN al-Qifti and by Ibn Abi Usaibi'a) pp. 61-70).

  5. Gamaladdin, Al-Qifti. 1903. Tabaqat Al-Hukama (Schools of Wise Men). Leipzig.

    Contains the Catalogue by Ptolemy el-Garib; Latin translation of the Catalogue by Moritz Steinschneider in: Aristotelis, Opera Omnia vol. V, Berlin, 1870, p. 1469.

    "s. v. Ptolemy-el-Garib:

    'This scholar was during his lifetime a philosopher in the country of the Greeks, and he is not identical with the author of the Almagest. He was a friend of Aristotle whom he loved and defended from his enemies, and he transmitted his doctrines to everybody who was eager to acquire knowledge about them from him. On account of this he was a highly reputed and honoured scholar during his lifetime.

    Many kings and scholars are known under the name of Ptolemy. They distinguished them from one another by adding a special name, so that we can know them under this name.

    In order to show his solicitude concerning Aristotle this scholar wrote a book On the life of Aristotle, his death, and the classification of his books.

    Comment: The Fihrist says (19): "Ptolemy-el-Garib who was an adherent of Aristotle and spread knowledge about his merits; he is the author of a book On ... books". - Usaibia, in the introduction to his biography, says: "Thus speaks Ptolemy in his book to Gallus on the life and history of Aristotle, his Will and the list of his famous writings."

    Apart from the fact that his name is mentioned several times in the biographies, this is all information we have on Ptolemy in Arabic sources. Almost identical is the title given by Elias, In Cat. CIAG XVIII 1 p. 3.

    Al-Qifti's work is a biographic handbook with about one hundred articles on Greek authors, arranged in alphabetical order, written between 1230 and 1235. The original, now lost, was used by Usaibia, Abu-l-Farag, and Abu-l-Fida; what is left is an epitome and several extracts. Steinschneider, Lippert and Baumstark characterize the work as a compilation of earlier works, partly lost, partly extant. Steinschneider Al-Farabi. Des arabischen Philosophen Leben und Schriften (1869), pp. 187-191 gives a general survey of his biographical article on Aristotle; some additional notes by Baumstark S yrisch-arabische Biographieen des Aristoteles p. 15, and by Lippert Studien auf dem Gebiete der greich-arab. Übersetzungslitteratur, Braunschweig, 1894, in his comments on Mubashir. Latin translation of the catalogue by Steinschneider, in: Aristotelis Opera Omnia, V, Berlin 1870, p. 1469.

    On the special problem of identifying our Ptolemy a great many scholars have expressed opinions; a good survey of the literature in P. Moraux, Listes anciennes des d' Aristote, pp. 289-294. It was W. Christ and J. Lippert who simultaneously suggested that our Ptolemy is identical with the rather obscure Ptolemaios Chennos, writing in the last half of the first century A. D.

    It is important to realize that the presentation of Ptolemy in our three sources is nothing but an elaboration of the title of his book. Everything in this note is obviously based on the book itself as the only source. Lippert interpreted the sentence "They distinguished - under this name" as implying: "and this is why Ptolemy-el-Garib also has a special name, given to him by the Greeks". Susemihl, in his review of Lippert, op. cit. (Berl. Phil. Wochenschrift 15, 15, p. 1130) added the following remark: "dass diese Bezeichnung "der Fremde" nicht erst von den Arabern herriihrt, erhellt aus der nachdrucklichen Angabe von Qifti". Unfortunately this is not so; Usaibia's statement is not at all so definite and unambiguous." Düring, 1957 cit., pp. 208-209

  6. Düring, Ingemar. 1957. Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.

    Reprinted New York, Garland, 1987.

    Diogenes Laertius (Catalogue) pp. 41-50; Hesychius (Catalogue) pp. 83-89; Ptolemy's Catalogue (English translation and Greek retroversion from Arabic) pp. 221-231.

  7. ———. 1971. "Ptolemy's Vita Aristotelis Rediscovered." In Philomathes. Studies and Essays in the Humanities in Memory of Philip Merlan, edited by Palmer, Robert B. and Hamerton-Kelly, Robert, 264-269. La Haye: Nijhoff.

    Contains the English translation, by Bernhard Lewin, of the dedicatory letter to Gallus found in an Arabic manuscript (codex Ayasofya 4833, Istanbul, folios 10a-18a) of the Vita Aristotelis by Ptolemy el-Garib.

  8. Hein, Christel. 1985. Definition Und Einteilung Der Philosophie. Von Der Spätantiken Einleitungsliteratur Zur Arabischen Enzyklopädie. New York: Peter Lang.

    Inhaltsverzeichnis: Einleitung 1; 1. Einleitungen in dir Gesamtphilosophie 34; 2. Einletungen in die Philosophie des Aristoteles 238; 3. Schriftenverzeichnisse zu Aristoteles (Pinakes) 388; Anhang zu Teil 3: Ms. Ayasofia 4833 fol. 10b-11a, 14b-18a 415; Zusammenfassung 440; Siglen 445; Abkuzungen 446; Literatuvzeichnis 447-482.

    Contains the Arabic transcription of the Catalogue of Aristotle's writings ascribed to Ptolemy el-Garib and a German translation of the dedication to Gallus, according to the new Arabic manuscript discovered in the Aya Sofia Library in Istanbul by Hellmut Ritter, "Philologika XIII. Arabische Handschriften in Anatolian and Istanbul" in: Oriens 2, 1949, pp. 236-314; 3, 1950, pp. 31-107.

Critical edition and English translation of the Catalogues

  1. Aristoteles. 1987. Aristotelis Opera (Ex Recensione I. Bekkeri, Ed. 2) III: Librorum Deperditorum Fragmenta. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

    Diogenes Laërtius' Catalogue pp. 22-24; Vita Hesychii (Vita Menagiana) pp. 26-28; Ptolemy el-Garib pp. 38-45 (from the English translation by I. Düring: "Novam translationem Anglicam, quae gratissimo animo usus sum, confecit I. Düring, Aristotle in the ancient biographical tradition, Göteborg 1957 pp. 221-231): note by O. Gigon.

  2. Aristotle. 1984. The Complete Works of Aristotle. The Revised Oxford Translation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Vol. II: Catalogue of Aristotle's writings: Diogenes Laertius V, 22-27; Appendix: (A) Titles found in the Vita Menagiana but not in Diogenes; (B) Titles in the Life of Ptolemy but neither in Diogenes not in the Vita Menagiana (pp. 2386-2388).

Editions and translations of the Fragments of the Peripatetic School

The fragments of the successors of Aristotle and Theophrastus have been edited in ten volumes by Fritz Wehrli; the fragments of some Peripatetics are now available, with English translation, in the Rutgers Studies in Classical Humanities (RUSCH), founded in 1979 by William Fortenbaugh.

For Theophrastus see Selected bibliography on the Philosophical Works of Theophrastus.

  1. Wehrli, Fritz. 1944. Die Schule Des Aristoteles. Texte Und Kommentar. Basel-Stuttgart: Schwabe.

    Zweite Auflage 1967-1969.

    I. Dikaiarchos (1944); II. Aristoxenos (1945); III. Klearchos (1948); IV. Demetrios von Phaleron (1949); V. Straton von Lampsakos (1950); VI. Lykon und Ariston von Keos (1952); VII: Herakleides Pontikos (1953); VIII. Eudemos von Rhodos (1955); IX. Phainias von Eresos, Chamaileon, Praxiphanes (1957); X. Hieronymos von Rhodos, Kritolaos und seine Schuler, Rückblick: Der Peripatos in vorchlisticher Zeit; Register (1959); Supplementband I: Hermippos der Kallimacheer (1974); Supplementband II: Sotio (1978).

  2. Hellmann, Oliver, and Mirhady, David, eds. 2015. Phaenias of Eresus. Text, Translation and Discussion. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, XIX.

  3. Huffman, Carl A., ed. 2011. Aristoxenus of Tarentum. Discussion. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, XVII.

  4. Schütrumpf, Eckart, ed. 2008. Heraclides of Pontus: Text and Translation. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, XIV.

  5. Fortenbaugh, William W., and Pender, Elizabeth, eds. 2009. Heraclides of Pontus: Discussion. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, XV.

  6. Bodnár, István, and Fortenbaugh, William W., eds. 2002. Eudemus of Rhodes. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, XI.

    Contents: Preface VII; Contributors IX; 1. Dimitri Gutas: Eudemus in the Arabic tradition 1; 2. Hans B. Gottschalk: Eudemus and the Peripatos 25; 3. Tiziano Dorandi: Qualche aspetto controverso della biografia di Eudemo di Rodi 39; 4. William W. Fortenbaugh: Eudemus' work On Expression 59; 5. Pamela M. Huby: Did Aristotle reply to Eudemus and Theophrastus on some logical Issues? 85; 6. Robert W. Sharples: Eudemus' physics: change, place and time 107; 7. Han Baltussen: Wehrli's edition of Eudemus of Rhodes: the physical fragments from Simplicius' commentary On Aristotle's Physics 127; 8. Sylvia Berryman: Continuity and coherence in early Peripatetic texts 157; 9. István Bodnár: Eudemus' Unmoved Movers: fragments 121-123b Wehrli 171; 10.Deborah K. W. Modrak: Phantasia, thought and science in Eudemus 191; 11. Stephen A. White: Eudemus the naturalist 207; 12. Jørgen Mejer: Eudemus and the history of science 243; 13: Leonid Zhmud: Eudemus' history of mathematics 263; 14. Alan C. Bowen: Eudemus' history of early Greek astronomy: two hypotheses 307; 15. Dmitri Panchenko: Eudemus fr. 145 Wehrli and the ancient theories of lunar light 323; 16. Gábor Betegh: On Eudemus fr. 150 (Wehrli) 337; Index of ancients sources 359-383.

  7. Fortenbaugh, William W., and Schütrumpf, Eckart, eds. 2000. Dicaearchus of Messana. Text, Translation and Discussion. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, X.

  8. ———, eds. 2000. Demetrius of Phalerum: Text, Translation and Discussion. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, IX.

  9. Desclos, Marie-Laurence, and Fortenbaugh, William W., eds. 2012. Strato of Lampsacus: Text, Translation, Discussion. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, XVI.

  10. Martano, Andrea, Matelli, Elisabetta, and Mirhady, David, eds. 2012. Praxiphanes of Mytilene and Chamaeleon of Eraclea. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, XVIII.

  11. Fortenbaugh, William W., and White, Stephen A., eds. 2004. Lyco of Troas and Hieronymus of Rhodes: Text, Translation and Commentary. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, XII.

  12. ———, eds. 2006. Aristo of Ceos: Text, Translation and Discussion. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    RUSCH, XIII.