Taurus of Beirut: The Other Side of Middle Platonism

304 Pages·2018·4.406 MB·English

by  Federico M Petrucci

Taurus of Beirut
Federico M. Petrucci offers a lucid and fascinating overview of Calvenus Tau-
rus, a thinker who played an important, and so far unnoticed, role in the history
of post-Hellenistic philosophy. Through a fresh analysis of extant sources, he
brilliantly shows that Taurus did radically reshape the coordinates of Platonism,
especially in the fields of cosmology and theology, and at the same time makes
a case for the existence of a distinctive methodological core of Middle Platonist
exegesis. Written in a clear style and singularly rich in its conclusions, this book
will certainly become a reference point for all interested in the philosophy of the
Imperial age.
Mauro Bonazzi, Università degli Studi di Milano,
Italy/Utrecht University, Netherlands
This book is the first monograph devoted to the philosophy of Taurus of Beirut,
and will provide a long-awaited analysis of his texts and their first English trans-
lation. Through close examination of the extant witnesses, Petrucci gives a new
account of Middle Platonism based on a fresh approach to the theological and
cosmological view of Taurus. In this way, the book contributes substantially to
the debate on Post-Hellenistic Platonism from the point of view of both exegeti-
cal methods and philosophical doctrines, and will prove a starting point for a new
understanding of many aspects of ancient thought.
Federico M. Petrucci is a Junior Research Fellow at the Department of Classics
and Ancient History at Durham University, UK.
Issues in Ancient Philosophy
Edited by George Boys-Stones,
Durham University, UK
Routledge’s Issues in Ancient Philosophy exists to bring fresh light to the central
themes of ancient philosophy through original studies which focus especially on
texts and authors which lie outside the central ‘canon’. Contributions to the series
are characterised by rigorous scholarship presented in an accessible manner; they
are designed to be essential and invigorating reading for all advanced students in
the field of ancient philosophy.
Flow and Flux in Plato’s Philosophy
Andrew J. Mason
Forms, Souls, and Embryos
James Wilberding
Epicurus on the Self
Attila Németh
The Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous
Mark Wildish
Taurus of Beirut: The Other Side of Middle Platonism
Federico M. Petrucci
Forthcoming titles:
Philosophy beyond Socrates’ Athens
Ugo Zilioli
Body and Mind in Ancient Thought
Peter N. Singer
www.routledge.com/Issues-in-Ancient-Philosophy/book-series/ANCIENTPHIL
Taurus of Beirut
The Other Side of Middle Platonism
Federico M. Petrucci
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
 2018 Federico M. Petrucci
The right of Federico M. Petrucci to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-18674-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-64162-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
For my parents and my sister

Contents
Preface viii
Abbreviations x
Introduction xi
1 Taurus in context 1
2 Taurus on Plato’s cosmogony: Middle Platonism
and literalism 26
3 Taurus’ cosmology: the other side of Middle
Platonism 76
4 Taurus and Middle Platonist exegesis 146
Epilogue 198
Appendix: Taurus of Beirut: a new collection
of texts with English translation 199
Concordances 250
Bibliography 251
Index of sources 268
Index of ancient names 284
Preface
A post-talk drink can provide pleasant conversation, pleasant beer, and some-
times (a not so pleasant) hangover. It may also happen, however, that it provides
the idea for a book. In February 2015, after giving a talk in Durham, the idea
of writing this book came to life at the Bridge Hotel pub in Newcastle, thanks
to the encouragement of George Boys-Stones and Phillip Horky. I was already
working on Taurus at that time, as a visiting researcher at the Faculty of Classics
of the University of Cambridge, but I was not at all sure whether the material
and ideas I had gathered were intriguing and rich enough to result in a book. I do
hope that, as far as the decision to write this book is concerned, that English pub
proved a wise advisor.
From the preliminary research to the final writing stages I have been working
on this book for some four years, enjoying the generous support of the Humboldt
Foundation and the Institut für klassische philologie of the Julius-Maximilans
Universität Würzburg, of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, and lastly of
the Department of Classics and Ancient History of Durham University: I am
grateful to these institutions for funding my research, and hope that this book
will testify that their money has not been completely wasted.
Some of the material in this book is featured in papers that have been published,
or are going to be published, namely Petrucci 2015a, 2016a, 2018a, 2018b, and
forthcoming. Of course, all material has been expanded and/or adapted to suit the
narrative of the volume, and most of it is entirely new. During these years, I have
had the opportunity to present some of the theses contained in this book at various
institutions throughout Europe: I am grateful to all attendants to these events for
their feedback. Many colleagues and friends have very kindly made forthcom-
ing papers available to me, read either drafts or parts of this book, and discussed
my views on Taurus and Middle Platonism with me. In particular, I owe a huge
debt of gratitude to Michael Erler, who constantly advised me during my stay in
Würzburg, to David Sedley and Gábor Betegh, who kindly provided some fun-
damental insights during my visiting period in Cambridge, to Phillip Horky, who
read a draft of my translations, and to George Boys-Stones, who read both some
of my earlier works on Taurus and Middle Platonism and the final version of this
book, for his illuminating suggestions. Alexandra Michalewski, Anna Motta, and
my very dear friend Simone Seminara were so kind as to read drafts of Chapter 3,
Preface ix
and all have provided fundamental and encouraging feedback: I feel especially
indebted to them. Of course, the responsibility for any claim, or misuse of the sug-
gestions made by these scholars, is entirely my own. I am also grateful to Sergio
Knipe, who helped me make my English more idiomatic, and to Elizabeth Risch,
Rachel Singleton, and Geraldine Martin of Taylor & Francis for taking care of
the production of this book. Finally, I wish to warmly thank my teachers at Pisa,
Bruno Centrone and Mauro Tulli, whose long-lasting support is always an inspira-
tion for me.
During my fellowship at Pisa I had the pleasure to organise a reading group
at the Department of Civiltà e forme del Sapere. I wish to thank the students
who decided to devote some of their time to reading ancient philosophical texts,
because in their self-rewarding commitment I have seen a reflection of my own
passion for ancient philosophy: Angelica Russo, Arianna Piazzalunga, Beatrice
Granaroli, Caterina Pavoni, Diletta Bertacchini, Filippo Leoni, Francesco De
Matteo, Franco Arcamone, Giacomo Brioni, Giacomo Fidone, Giovanni Trovato
(who also read the whole manuscript), Giuseppe Nastasi, Lorenzo Milano, Maria
Letizia Capponi, Matteo Carducci, Nicole Tognocchi, Rosario Croce, Sara
Provenzano, Silvia Martinelli, and Simone Stagi.
This book is dedicated to my parents, who understood and supported my will to
study ancient philosophy and enter the lottery of academia, and to my sister.
Annalisa has been close to me – as always since we were teenagers – during
all phases of development of this book (‘the wonderful Taurus’, as she usually
refers to it with a wry smile), carefully checking my concerns and doubts, and
patiently supporting me: to say that not a single page of this book could have been
written without her is not rhetoric – so readers will know to whom address their
complaints.
Pisa/Durham, October 2017