Sergius of Reshaina: Introduction to Aristotle and his Categories, Addressed to Philotheos

340 Pages·2016·1.671 MB·English

by  Sami Aydin

SergiusofReshaina
IntroductiontoAristotleandHisCategories,AddressedtoPhilotheos
Aristoteles Semitico-Latinus
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volume24
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/asl
Sergius of Reshaina
Introduction to Aristotle and
His Categories, Addressed to
Philotheos
SyriacText,withIntroduction,Translation,andCommentaryby
SamiAydin
leiden | boston
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Aydin,Sami,1979-author,editor,translator.|Aydin,Sami,1979-
  editor,translator.|Sergius,Rescainae,-536,author.Introductionto
  AristotleandhisCategories,addressedtoPhilotheos.|Sergius,
  Rescainae,-536,author.IntroductiontoAristotleandhisCategories,
  addressedtoPhilotheos.English.
Title:SergiusofReshaina:introductiontoAristotleandhisCategories,
  addressedtoPhilotheos/Syriactext,withintroduction,translation,and
  commentarybySamiAydin.
Othertitles:IntroductiontoAristotleandhisCategories,addressedto
  Philotheos
Description:Leiden;Boston:Brill,[2016]|Series:Aristoteles
  semitico-latinus,issn0927-4103;volume24|EnglishandSyriac.|
  Slightlyrevisedversionoftheauthor'sthesis(doctoral)–Uppsala
  universitet,2015.|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:lccn2016027429(print)|lccn2016033882(ebook)|isbn
  9789004324954(hardback:alk.paper)|isbn9789004325142(e-book)
Subjects:lcsh:Aristotle.Categoriae.|Aristotle.Physics.|Sergius,
  Rescainae,-536.
Classification:lccB491.C26A932016(print)|lccB491.C26(ebook)|ddc
  185–dc23
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∵

Contents
Preface ix
Abbreviations xii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 AimandScope 2
1.2 Sergius’Life 3
2 SergiusasWriter 10
2.1 OriginalWorks 10
2.1.1PhilosophicalWorksHereConsideredAuthentic 10
2.1.2DubiousAttributionofPhilosophicalWorks 13
2.1.3PhilosophicalAdaptationsandTranslations 15
2.1.4ALostPhilosophicalWork(?)andaPossibleTranslation 17
2.1.5AnOriginalTheologicalIntroductionandaTranslation 18
2.1.6LostTheologicalWorks 20
2.1.7Sergius’MedicalAdaptationsandTranslations 21
2.2 SomeRhetoricaltopoiinSergius’ExtantPrefaces 26
2.3 Sergius’AchievementsasTranslator 36
3 Sergius’EducationalBackground 40
3.1 TheCityofReshaina 40
3.2 TheVariousCurriculaOfferedattheAlexandrianSchool 41
3.3 TheMedicalCurriculumoftheAlexandrianSchool 46
3.4 ThePhilosophicalCurriculumoftheAlexandrianSchool 47
4 SergiusasaCommentatorofAristotle 51
4.1 WhySergiusComposedCommentariesandNotTranslations 51
4.2 OtherCommentatorsDealtwithHere 52
4.3 ImportantAntecedentCommentators 52
4.4 ImportantContemporaryCommentators 54
4.5 ImportantSubsequentCommentators 58
4.6 TheQuestionofOriginality 61
4.7 Sergius’Sources 63
4.8 SergiusandhisSchool? 65
viii contents
5 CommentaryonAristotle’sCategoriesandIntroductiontoAristotle
andHisCategories 67
5.1 TheChronologyofSergius’TwoTexts 69
5.2 Aristotle’sCategories:HowItWasViewedandRead 70
5.3 ASynopticOverviewoftheContentsofSergius’TwoWorks 72
5.4 LinguisticObservations,EspeciallyofSomeParticles 76
5.5 TheManuscriptofSergius’Introduction 83
5.6 ConcludingRemarks 88
6 EditorialPrinciples 91
7 TextandTranslationofSergius’IntroductiontoAristotleandHis
Categories 94
7.1 TextualNotes 170
8 Commentary 176
9 Bibliography 261
10 Syriac-GreekGlossary 295
11 Greek-SyriacGlossary 303
12 GreekNamesinSergius’Introduction 311
13 Syriac-EnglishIndex 312
14 English-SyriacIndex 319
15 NameandPlaceIndex 326
Preface
Syriacstudieshaveslowlybutgraduallybeenflourishingduringthelastfour
decades,withanincreasingnumberofresearchersengagedinthefield.Much
researchhas,forunderstandablereasons,beendevotedtotheologicalworks,
sincetheSyriacliterature,withitshighoutputofreligiousprosaicandpoet-
ical texts, constitutes one of the most significant and beautiful witnesses to
theEasternbranchofChristianity.ButtheSyriaclanguageisalsothebearer
of many interesting and important literary works in other disciplines, which
deserve the proper attention of scholars. Interest in philosophical texts has
in fact increased in recent years, but many key texts in the field still remain
unedited. Therefore, future research will hopefully aim to publish, translate,
andelucidatethusfaroverlookedtexts.
Evenif somereligiousliteratureinSyriacappealstome,especially hagio-
graphicalmaterial,yetsincemyearlyyouthIhavebeenequallyinterestedin
philosophyanditshistory.Asaconsequence,thefirstcoursesthatItookasan
undergraduatestudentwereintheHistoryofIdeasatStockholmUniversity,
wherethefocuswasofcourseonthehistoryofWesternphilosophy.Lateron,
whenIbeganmystudiesinAramaic/SyriacatUppsalaUniversity,newoppor-
tunitiesarosewhereIcouldcombinemyinterestintheSyriaclanguagewith
aneglectedphilosophicaltradition,whichwasspecificallydeartomebecause
ofmybackground.Besides,itfeltrighttobeinsearchofthistradition’ssource,
whereIfoundSergiusofReshaina,heavingalreadydealtwithMarabarSera-
pionandBardaisanintwopapersinSwedish.Itwastrulyfortunatethatin2010
IwasgiventhechancetocarryoutmypostgraduatestudiesatTheDepartment
ofLinguisticsandPhilology(UppsalaUniversity)onaprojectaboutSergius.
There are two related texts extant in Syriac written by the physician and
commentatorSergius ofReshaina(d. 536)about thephilosophyofAristotle.
This book provides a critical edition and a facing English translation of the
shorterofthesetexts.Theeditionisbasedonthesinglepreservedmanuscript
ofthetext(Berlin,Petermanni9).AnintroductiontoSergius’lifeandworks,
and an analysis of the text in its intellectual context, is also provided. His
writingisoneoftheearliestanalysesonAristotelianphilosophyintheSyriac
languageandpresentsconceptsthatweretaughtattheNeoplatonistschoolof
AmmoniusHermeiou(d.517–526)inAlexandria.
SergiusreceivedhisphilosophicalandmedicaleducationinAlexandriaand
wasactiveinthecityofReshainaasoneofthefirsttranslatorsofprofaneGreek
materialintoSyriac.HetranslatedchieflymedicalworksbyGalen,especially
those that were studied in the Alexandrian school, but also the theological
x preface
corpusofPseudo-Dionysius.Sergiuscomposed someoriginal workson Aris-
totle’sphilosophyaswell.Throughhistranslationworkandliteraryactivity,he
pavedthewayforthelaterengagementinmedicineandAristotelianphiloso-
phyamongSyriacwriters.Hisimportanceandinfluenceisacknowledgedby
thehistoricaltestimoniestohim,aswellasbythenumerouswaysinwhichhis
workswerereadandused.
The text of Sergius, edited here, treats themes that are primarily found in
Aristotle’sCategories.Afterapreface,inwhichtheauthorrefutespotentialcrit-
icism and justifies his writing, he begins his work with a traditional division
ofthephilosophyintotheoryandpracticewiththeirrespectivesubdivisions.
HealsopresentsthePlatonistnotionofuniversals,beforeintroducingtheten
categories of reality into which, according to him, Aristotle had arranged all
existingthings.However,Sergiusdiscussesthecategoriesofsubstance,quan-
tity,quality,andrelativesmoreextensively,sincethesefourwereconsidered
tobethemaincategories.Manyproblemsrelatedtothesecategoriesarepre-
sentedtogetherwithproposedsolutions.OthertopicsdescribedbySergiusare
suchaswhatisadistinctiveproperty,thenaturalphilosophers’viewofthefour
elements,themodesofoppositionanditsdifferencefromcontrariety,andthe
fivekindsofpriority.Moreover,Sergiusprovidesarelativelylengthydiscussion
ofthenatureofspaceandwhetheritbelongstothecategoryofquantity.This
discussionisbasedontheAlexandriancommentators’interpretationsofAris-
totle’s Physics rather than the Categories. In the commentary section of this
edition,Sergius’lineofthoughtisclarifiedandcomparedtosomeGreekcom-
mentariesfromthesametradition.
Many individuals deserve my appreciation for their help in bringing this
work, a slightly revised version of my dissertation, to a hopefully successful
close,thoughIaloneamfullyresponsibleforallitsshortcomings.Iwantespe-
cially to thank those persons who have directed me during my research on
Sergius.Firstofall,IexpressmygratefulnesstomyprincipalsupervisorProfes-
sorMatsEskhultandassistantsupervisorWitoldWitakowskiforthelearned
discussionsandwiseadvicetheyhaveofferedme,andfortheimprovements
theyhavemadetomytext.Ialsowishtoexpressmysinceregratitudetomysec-
ondassistantsupervisorDanielKing(CardiffUniversity)forhismanyvaluable
commentsandforproofreadingtheentiretextandalsocorrectingmyEnglish.
Atmyfinalseminar,IhadProfessorJohnW.Watt(CardiffUniversity)asthe
opponent,towhomIowespecialthanksforseveralbeneficialobservations.In
thesameway,IwishtoacknowledgemydebtofgratitudetoProfessorSebas-
tianP.Brock(OxfordUniversity),whowasthefacultyexaminerofmythesis,at
itpublicdefence,forallhisimprovementsandvaluableremarks.Iaddressmy
thanksalsotoProfessorDenisSearby(StockholmUniversity),whoreadparts