Aristotle's Rhetoric in the East: The Syriac and Arabic Translation and Commentary Tradition (Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science) PDF
Preview Aristotle's Rhetoric in the East: The Syriac and Arabic Translation and Commentary Tradition (Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science)
Rhetoric Aristotle’s in the East IIPPTTSS--7766--vvaaggeellppoohhll__CCSS22..iinndddd ii 1144--33--22000088 1100::5544::3388 Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science Texts and Studies Edited by H. Daiber VOLUME LXXVI IIPPTTSS--7766--vvaaggeellppoohhll__CCSS22..iinndddd iiii 1144--33--22000088 1100::5544::3388 Rhetoric Aristotle’s in the East The Syriac and Arabic translation and commentary tradition By Uwe Vagelpohl LEIDEN (cid:129) BOSTON 2008 IIPPTTSS--7766--vvaaggeellppoohhll__CCSS22..iinndddd iiiiii 1144--33--22000088 1100::5544::3388 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication data Vagelpohl, Uwe. Aristotle’s Rhetoric in the East : the Syriac and Arabic translation and commentary tradition / by Uwe Vagelpohl. p. cm. — (Islamic philosophy, theology and science, ISSN 0169-8729 ; v. 76) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-16681-3 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Aristotle. Rhetoric. 2. Aristotle. Rhetoric—Criticism, Textual. 3. Aristotle—Translations into Arabic—History and criticism. 4. Aristotle—Translations into Syriac—History and criticism. 5. Philosophy, Ancient—Translations into Arabic. 6. Philosophy, Ancient— Translations into Syriac. I. Title. PA3893.R4V34 2008 808.5—dc22 2008011343 ISSN 0169-8729 ISBN 978 90 04 16681 3 Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands IIPPTTSS--7766--vvaaggeellppoohhll__CCSS22..iinndddd iivv 1144--33--22000088 1100::5544::3399 CONTENTS Introduction vii ChapterOne:“GreekintoArabic” ! Problemsoftranslationhistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ! ThehistoryofGreek-Arabictranslations . . . . . . . . . . . !" Translationhistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !# ChapterTwo:TheArabicversion #$ Manuscriptanddating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #$ TheSyriactranslationtradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . %! ChapterThree:ComparingGreekandArabic &’ Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . &’ Somequalifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . &% Textcomparisonandanalysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . && Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !!& Sourcesforstructuralmismatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !’" Theuseofconnectorsandparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !’( Morphologyandterminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !#) Transcriptionofpropernames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !%" Theterminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !&% ChapterFour:ThereceptionoftheArabictranslation !*! Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !*! Theninthcentury:firstencounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !*# Thetenthcentury:layingthefoundation . . . . . . . . . . . !*% Theeleventhcentury:elaborationandextension . . . . . . . !$! Thetwel+hcentury:thereturntoAristotle . . . . . . . . . . !$& Beyondthetwel+hcentury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ’"" TheLatina+erlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ’"’ Conclusions ’"% vi Glossary Greek-Arabic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arabic-Greek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bibliography Index INTRODUCTION The subject of this book is translation—not just the translation⒮ of Aristotle’sRhetoric thetitlealludestobutmoregenerallytranslationasa phenomenon of cultural exchange. Why the choice of medieval transla- tionsintoArabic,particularlyofthistext? In a series of publications dedicated, among other things, to the his- tory of Islamic philosophy and the transmission of Greek philosophy to anArabic-speakingaudience,examiningthe“Arabictranslationandcom- mentarytradition”needslittleexplanation.Atthecoreofthistransmis- sionprocesswaswhathascometobecalledthe“Greek-Arabictranslation movement”, a concerted effort to translate the available Greek scientific, medicalandphilosophicalliteratureintoArabic,carriedoutbetweenthe eighthandthetenthcenturies.Initiallyfundedandsupportedbytheau- thorities, the translation activities soon gained enough momentum to sustain themselves for a period of more than two centuries. As a result, large parts of the Greek scientific and philosophical heritage was trans- mittedtoArabic-speakingaudiences. The introduction of Greek knowledge had an immeasurable impact onIslamiccultureandcontemporarysocieties.TheGreek-Arabictrans- lationmovementwas, both in termsof itsscale and itsinfluence,an un- precedented process of cultural transmission and transformation. Work- ing across a substantial linguistic and cultural divide, the translators de- veloped whole new terminologiesto describe subjects and disciplines for which there was no equivalent in contemporary Islamic culture. Their workandthesubsequentwritingsofscientistsandphilosopherswerenot just an isolated episode in the history of science or philosophy, least of allamereinterludeinthehistoryof “Western”scientificandphilosoph- ical activities as it has sometimes been understood. All of these Arabic- speaking scholars contributed to the formation of Islamic culture and, through the medium of Arabic-Latin translations produced om the twelh century onward, le their mark also on Western medieval sci- enceandphilosophy. Given its longevity and impact, the study of the Greek-Arabic trans- viii lation movement involves a number of fields and approaches. Even aer morethanacenturyofsustainedresearch,manyquestionsremainunan- swered.Ontheleveloftheindividualtext,theidentificationofthesources usedbythetranslators,thedatingoftranslationsandthestudyoftrans- lation methods and subsequent revisions of many extant texts is still in its infancy. From the point of view of the history of ideas, we are still onlyatthebeginningofidentiingtranslatorsandpatrons,understand- ing their backgrounds and motivations and reconstructing networks of scholars and translators who cooperated in identiing texts they wanted to have translated and, once the translations became available, in giv- ing rise to new research agendas fueled by newly available material. At the same time, the political calculations and conflicts that inspired the widespread and persistent financial support for the translation efforts by members of the intellectual, economic and political elite are still poorly understood. Thereisnodoubt,then,thatthestudyoftheGreek-Arabictranslation tradition helps us understand many aspects of medieval Islamic society and at the same time serves as a very instructive example for the role of translationasamediumofculturaltransmission.ButwhytheRhetoric? Aristotle’sRhetoric anditsArabictranslationarenotthemostobvious choices through which to examine the inner workings of the translation movement.Whilerespectedintheory,theRhetorichadneverbeenanim- portanttextfortherhetoricalteachingtraditioninantiquity.Itwassoon replaced by textbooks which were better suited to the practical needs of studentsoforatory.Incontrasttothelackofinterestoflateantiqueschol- ars and commentators, however, Islamic scholars actively engaged with thetext.Theirinterestinthispreviouslysomewhatmarginalworkfound its expression in numerous rhetorical treatises and commentaries. Un- like other Aristotelian writings translated into Arabic, the Rhetoric came without a ready-made amework for understanding it (e.g. in the form of a set of commentaries). Cononted with the obscurities of a text that is intimately linked to aspects of Greek culture they knew little about, Islamicphilosophersassembledtheirown,highlyindividualandcreative interpretation of the Rhetoric and its role in the context of Aristotelian philosophyandbeyond.¹ ¹ In medieval Islam, the rhetorical tradition we will be discussing in this book did notreferto“oratory”or“publicspeaking”ingeneral.Itmeantaspecificformofphilo- sophicaltheorizingbasedonArabictranslationsofGreekrhetoricalwritings,particularly Aristotle’sRhetoric.Thetermfor“indigenous”formsoforatoricalactivitiessuchasArabic ix The Rhetoric is therefore a good example of several levels of involve- mentwiththeGreekheritage.Asatext,itposedsubstantialphilological problemsand,aswewillsee,taxedthetranslators’abilitiestoandbeyond breaking point. As such, it helps us to understand how translators oper- ated by showing how this particular individual applied the whole range of methods and tools at his disposal. As a set of philosophical ideas, the Rhetoric illustrates the creative processes of assimilating an unfamiliar subject couched in an even more unfamiliar language into Islamic phi- losophy through several generations of commentators and philosophers. Posing both philological and philosophical problems, the Rhetoric can, I am convinced, throw some light on the larger questions of the Greek- Arabictranslationmovementoutlinedabove. Fortunately,thegroundiswellpreparedforastudyoftheArabicRhe- toric.ResearchontheArabiccommentarytraditionandalsoitsaerlifein theLatinWesthasbeenveryactiveforanumberofyears.Tounderstand this work, its position in the translation movement and its influence on Islamic culture and beyond, our task is therefore to combine these and other strands of research with a thorough study of the Arabic text of the Rhetoric itself: we need to situate it in its context as a Greek-Arabic translation, as a philosophical text and as part of a wider historical phe- nomenon. Mappingoutthiscontextwillbeatthecenterofthefirsttwochapters. The first chapter discusses the history of the Greek-Arabic translation movements,itsmotivationsandsomeoftheproblemsandissuesaffecting past and current research. In the second, we will focus on the history of theArabicRhetoric andreviewthe(relativelysmall)bodyofinformation wehaveabouttheArabictranslation.Theannotationsinthemarginsof the single extant manuscript will lead us to a discussion of the possible role of a Syriac intermediary and the evidence we have for the reception oftheRhetoric amongSyriac-speakingscholars. Having assembled the relevant contextual information om the avail- able secondary sources, we then turn to the text of the translation itself. At the center of the third chapter is a detailed analysis of a text sample omBookThreeoftheArabicRhetoricandacomparisonwiththeGreek source text. Additional investigations of textual features of a larger text literarystyleandpracticalgenressuchaspreachingwerecalledbalāġahwhereas“Helleniz- ing”philosophicalrhetoricwastaughtandstudiedunderthelabelḫaṭābah.Thedifference betweenthesetwodisciplinesandtheirrespectiveterminologiesarediscussedbyHalldén ()andLarcher().
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