Glosses and commentaries on aristotelian logical texts. The Syriac, Arabic and Medieval Latin traditions

106 Pages·1993·6.21 MB·English

by  Charles Burnett

WARBURG INSTITUTE
SURVEYS AND TEXTS
XXlll
GLOSSES AND COMMENTARIES
ON ARISTOTELIAN LOGICAL TEXTS
THE SYRIAC, ARABIC AND
MEDIEVAL LATIN TRADITIONS
THE WARBURO INSTITUTE
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
=-.4
GLOSSES AND COMMENTARIES
ON ARISTOTELIAN LOGICAL TEXTS
l-GLOSSES AND COMMENTARIES
WARBURG INSTITUTE SURVEYS AND TEXTS
Edited by Jill }{raye ON ARISTOTELIAN LOGICAL TEXTS--1
XXIII
THE SYRIAC, ARABIC AND
MEDIEVAL LATIN TRADITIONS
EDITED BY
CHARLES BURNETT
LONDON
THE WARBURG INSTITUTE
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
Table of Contents
PREFACE 1
SEBASTIAN BROCK: The Syriac Commentary Tradition 3
HENRI HUGONNARD-ROCHE: Remarques sur 1a tradition arabe
de I'Organon d'apres Ie manuscrit Paris, Bib1iotheque
nationale, ar. 2346 19
DIMITRI GUTAS: Aspects of Literary Form and Genre
in Arabic Logical Works 29
JOHN MARENBON: Medieval Latin Glosses and Commentaries
on Aristotelian Logical Texts, Before c. 1150 AD 77
STEN EBBESEN: Medieval Latin Glosses and Commentaries
on Aristotelian Logical Texts of the Twelfth and Thirteenth
Centuries 129
INDEX OF NAMES 179
INDEX OF MANUSCRIPTS 183
INDEX OF INCIPITS 190
© WARBURG INSTITUTE 1993
ISBN 0 854810854
ISSN 0266-1772
. th Warburg Institute and the University of Landon Computer Centre
Designed and computer typeset at e t
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Contributors Preface
The papers in this volume owe their origin to a seminar in a series on 'Medieval
Western European and Islamic Literary Genres' held at the Warburg Institute in
SEBASTIAN BROCK Wolfson College, Oxford the Spring and Summer terms of 1988. The purpose of the seminar was to
explore the different forms in which a particular subject was set in Arabic
STEN EBBESEN Institut for graesk og latinsk Islamic, Hebrew and Western European literature. The kinds of questions that
middelalderfilologi, Copenhagen were asked were: 'Was the genre indigenous or imported?'; 'What kinds of
changes were made in the transmission of texts from one cultural setting to
another?'; 'Was there any development in the genre?'; 'What prompted the
DIMITRI GUTAS Department of Near Eastern
changes?'; 'In what kind of manuscripts do the texts occur?'; 'Who was writing
Languages and Civilizations,
them?'; and 'Who was reading them?'
Yale University
One afternoon was devoted to looking at glosses and commentaries on
Aristotelian logical texts. Richard Sorabji introduced the participants to the late
HENRI HUGONNARD-ROCHE CNRS, Paris antique tradition-i.e., the forms that the Greek commentaries took-and his
introduction was followed by presentations by Sebastian Brock, Fritz Zimmer
JOHN MARENBON Trinity College, Cambridge mann, John Marenbon and Sten Ebbesen. The ideas that emerged from the papers
and the discussion seemed to be sufficiently new and interesting for a publication
on the subject to be planned. Dimitri GUlaS, who had contributed to another
seminar in the same series (on proverbs), agreed to take over the Arabic tradition
from Dr Zimmermann, and Henri Hugonnard-Roche was invited to contribute a
study on the transition from the Greek to the Arabic tradition (via the Syriac) as
martifested in the heavily glossed codex of the Arabic Organon, MS Paris,
Bibliotheque nationale, arabe 2346. Since both the articles on the Western
European tradition relied heavily on the evidence of unpublished manuscripts,
many of which the authors themselves had discovered, it was thought appropriate
to add catalogues of the medieval texts and the manuscripts in which they occur
red. Moreover, Professor Gutas suggested supplementing his article with a
bibliography of the most important works relating to Arabic logic.
The volume would have been more complete if the Byzantine and European
Renaissance scenes could have been included. For guidelines in these areas one
could point to the articles by Linos Benakis on 'Commentaries and Commen
tators on the Logical Works of Aristotle in Byzantium', in Gedankenzeichen:
Festschrift /iir Klaus Oehler, eds R. Claussen and R. Daube-Schackat, Tiibingen,
1988, pp. 3-12, and by E. J. Ashworth on 'Traditional Logic', in The Cambridge
HistOlY of Renaissance Philosophy, ed. C. B. Schmitt et al., Cambridge, 1988,
pp. 143-72. The volume presupposes a knowledge of the classical background of
the medieval commentaries, but for this one can still hardly do better than consult
the review-article by Karl Praechter of the Prussian Academy's edition of the
Greek commentaries on Aristotle (,Die griechischen Aristoteles-Kommentare',
Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 18, 1909, pp. 516-38), now conveniently available in
an English translation in Aristotle Transformed: The Ancient Commentators and
Their Influence, ed. R. Sorabji, London, 1990, pp. 31-54. Other articles in that
volume also have relevant material, although the emphasis of most of them is on
the contents of the commentaries rather than their form. This volume might be
2 PREFACE
seen as being, in a small way, and in respect principally to the Arabic and Latin
texts, complementary to Professor Sorabji's book and his series of translations of
The Syriac Commentary Tradition'
'The Ancient Commentators on Aristotle'.
Previous scholarship in the areas which are covered in this book is mentioned
SEBASTIAN BROCK
in the articles concerned. It would be invidious to pick out any particular works
here, but it might not be out of place to refer to a statement at the beginning of
To judge by what survives, the interest in Aristotle on the part of Syriac scholars
one of them-Niels J. Green-Pedersen's The Tradition of the Topics in the
in late antiquity was focused on the Organon, and in particular on the first two
Middle Ages, Vienna, 1984, p. 9-that 'one of the most useful things for the
and a half books (to Prior Analytics I.7), in other words, only the beginning of
investigation of medieval logic, right now, are surveys of the various "genres", by
the full Alexandrine curriculum.
the help of which we may be able to obtain a more comprehensive view of the
development instead of just studying the several writings in isolation'. It is to be
hoped that the present work goes some way to fulfilling this hope in respect to Syriac Translations of the Organon
glosses and commentaries on Aristotelian logical texts.
As far as the Syriac translations of the books of the Organon are concerned, we
It remains to thank all those who participated in the original seminar, and in
particular Fritz Zimmermann and Richard Sorabji, who have continued to give have a general pattern of three stages:
I. Earliest translations, probably sixth rather than fifth century; to some extent
advice and support, to the two directors of the Warburg Institute, Professors J. B.
Trapp and Nicholas Mann, who have successively watched over the gestation of sensus e sensu.
2. Revisions, aiming at a much more literal rendering, from the seventh to early
the text, and to Jill Kraye, Charles Hope and Jenny Boyle, who have laboured to
improve its intelligibility and presentation. eighth century.
3. Further revision and new translation in the ninth century; probably a reversion
c. S. F. B. to a less literal style of translation.
Developments in translation technique over this period led to many changes in
January 1993
standard Syriac equivalents to Greek technical terms. The seventh century in
particular is notable for the introduction of many calques.l
The following translations, or, in some cases, revisions, of individual books,
divided up according to the three periods above, are known:
Categories
1(?). Anonymous and unedited. The modem attribution to Sergius of Res'aina
cannot be correct. 2 Preserved in a single manuscript of the seventh century.
• Abbreviations used in this article:
ANL Accademia naziooale dei Lineei
A(R)lV Aui del (reale) !stiOOlo Veneto
R(R)A(N)L Rendiconti della (reaJe) Accademia (nazionale) dei Lincei, Cl. di scienze morn1i. storiche e
filologiche
RSO Rivista degJi studi orientali
RTSFR Rivista trimestrale di studi filosofici e religiosi
I See S. P. Brock, 'Towards a History of Syriac Translation Technique'. in III Symposhml SyriaclinJ 1980, ed.
R. Lavenant, Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 221, Rome, 1983, pp. 1-14.
2 The attribution goes back to Ernest Renan, De philosophia peripa"tetica aplld Syros, Paris, 1852, and has
been .repeated regularly in subsequent s:conctary literature. On the basis of the Syriac technical terms employed
Henn Hugonnard-Roche (,Sur les versIOns synaqu.es des Categories d'Aristote', JOllmaf As;afiqlle. 275, 1987.
pp. 205-22) convincingly shows that t~e translauon must belong somewhere between Sergius and Jacob of
Edessa. He tentatively suggests that (I) It may represent the translation by Yooan (Yoba; see below, n. 8). and
(2) this Yonan may be the Periodeutes Yonan to ~hom Severus Sebokht wrote a letter on logic. If both these
identifications should prove to be correct, then this translation will belong to the seventh, and not the sixth.
century.
4 SEBASTIAN BROCK THE SYRIAC COMMENTARY TRADITION 5
2a. A late seventh-century revision by Jacob of Edessa, edited by Khalil Georr3 Posterior Analytics {,Apodeictic')
and preserved in several manuscripts.-
2b. A seventh/eighth-century revision by George, bishop of the Arabs, edited by No extant translations; but parts are preserved in Bar Hebraeus's compendia. I'
Gottheil,' and FurIani,6 and preserved in a single manuscript of the eighth/ninth 2. Lost translation by Athanasius.19
century. 3. Lost translation.2O
3. Translations/revisions by I;Iunayn? and Yonan/Yoba, both lost.'
Topics
De interpretatione
No extant texts outside Bar Hebraeus's compendia.
I (?). Anonymous, edited by Hoffmann9 and Baumstark and preserved in 2. Lost translation attributed to Athanasius.21
iO
3. Lost translations by Abil Nill:! and by Isl:!aq.22
several manuscripts.
2. George, bishop of the Arabs, edited in part by Hoffmann, II and in full by
FurIani.12 Preserved in a single manuscript of the eighth/ninth century.
Sophistici elenchi
3. I;Iunayn (losl).13
No extant texts outside Bar Hebraeus's compendia.
2. Lost translation attributed to Athanasius.23
Prior Analytics
3. Lost translations attributed to Theophilus, AbO Bisr and perhaps others.24
1 or 2a. Anonymous, to 1.7, edited by Nagy. Preserved in several manuscripts.
14
2b. Athanasius of Balad (lost). 15 The Syriac Commentary Tradition
2c. George, bishop of the Arabs, edited by FurIani.16 Preserved in a single
manuscript of the eighth/ninth century. The Syriac Commentary tradition takes on a great variety of different forms. In
3. Various lost versions/revisions. I? the following paragraphs more attention will be paid to the period from the sixth
to the ninth centuries than to the subsequent four centuries. After giving a very
summary overview of the main genres which are encountered, we shall look
briefly at the form taken by two particular commentaries, both preserved in
comparatively early manuscripts.
(a) General introductions to the Organon.
3 K. Georr, US Categories d'Aristote dOllS lellrs l'ersions s)'ro-ara~s, Beirut. 1948.
4 Jacob of Edessa is almost certainly to be identified as the same person as Ya(qub al-Zahid, who is Porphyry's Eisagoge survives in an anonymous sixth-century translation25 and in
mentioned as one of the Syriac translators of the Caugon"es in glosses in MS Paris, Bibliotheque nationale, ar. a revision by Athanasius of Balad made in 645. The Eisagoge Was itself com
2346: Georr. us Cotigories, pp. 174 and 380; Hugonnard-Roche. 'Sur les versions syriaques', p. 218. The
mented upon a number of times by Syriac writers, i.e., Probus, an anonymous
attribution to Jacob has been questioned unnecessarily by many scholars. This was a consequence of their
incorrect supposition that this version was identical to the anonymous one in MS London, British Library. Add. author, Dionysius bar ~alibi and others.
14658 (seventh century), The most important Syriac introductions all belong to the sixth and seventh
5 R. J. H. Gottheil, 'The Syriac Versions of the Categories of Aristotle', Hebraica, 9, 1892-3, pp. 166-215.
centuries. These are by Sergius of Res 'aina, Paul the Persian, Probus, Athanasius
6 G. Furlani, 'Le Categorie e gli Em/enelltici di Aristotele nella versione siriaca di Giorgio deUe Nazioni',
ANLMem.,6,5,I,1933,pp.I-68. of Balad and Jacob of Edessa (the last with the Greek title Encheiridion). In some
7 See F. E. Peters, Aristotd~s hablls, Leiden, 1968, p. 8. Cases these concentrate primarily on the contents of the Categories.
S Known from glosses in MS Paris, Biblio~que nationale, ar. 2346 (GeoIT, Les Categori~s, pp. 174 and
380). GeoIT read the name as 'Yoba' and as a result this translator has generally been identified as Job of Edessa
(early ninth century). According to Hugonnard-Roche, 'Sur les versions syriaques', p. 219, however, the name
is to be read as Yonan (see n. 2 above).
9 J. G. H., Hoffmann, De h~rm~ll~lIticis apud Syros, Leipzig, 1869. 18. For these see below, and especially H. F. Janssens, L' Entretien d~ la Sagesse: introduction alU- allvres
10 A. Baumstark. 'Aristoteles Peri Hermeneias 23bt5 ff syrisch', Zeitschrift /iir Assyri%gie, 13, 1898/9, pp. phliosophiqlles de Bar Hebra~liS, Liege, 1937.
117-8. 19 Mentioned by Timothy I in his Letter 48 (ed. H. Pognon, in his Vile version syriaqlle des Aphon'smes
11 Hoffmann, D~ herm~ll~lIticis aplld Syros. d'Hippocrate, I, Leipzig, 1903, p. XXIII).
12 Furlani, 'Le Cat~gori~ e gJi Ermenelltici'. 20 Georr, us Caregori~s, p. 195 and Peters, Aristo(~/es Arablls. pp. 17-18.
13 See Peters, Aristot~l~s Arablls, p. 12 and R. Walzer, Greek into Arabic, Oxford, 1962, pp. 82-3. 21 Mentioned by T1J1lothy I in his Leuer 48.
14 A. Nagy, 'Una versione sirinca inedita degli Analirici d' Aristotele', RRAL, 5, 7, 1898, pp. 321-47. 22 For AbEl N~ see Timothy I, Letter 43; for Isl)aq see GeOff, Les Calegori~s, p. 197 and Peters, Aristotel~s
IS See Peters, Arisror~l~s Arab/iS, p. 12 and Walzer, Greek into Arabic, pp. 82-3. Arablls, pp. 20-1.
16 G. Furlani, 'n primo libro dei Primi Analitici di AristOlele nella versione siriaca di Giorgio deUe Nazioni', 13 Geoff, us Catigorl~s, p. 199.
ANL M~m., 6, 5, 3, 1935, pp. 143-230; id., 'II secondo libra dei Primi Analitici di Aristotele nella versione· 14 See Peters, Arisrot~/es Ambus, p. 23.
siriaca di Giorgio delle Nazioni', ANLMem., 6, 5, 3,1937, pp. 233-87. 2S The oft-repeated statement by A Baumstark. Aristotel~s bei d~n Syrem vom 5. bis 8. Jahrlrwu:/~rt, Leipzig,
17 See Georr,Les Catigori~s, pp. 190 and 192 and references in n. 15. 1900, pp. 139-40, that this was done by Hiba (!bas) ofEdessa is incorrect.
6 SEBASTIAN BROCK THE SYRIAC COMMENTARY TRADITION 7
Of a totally different character are the highly schemalized works from the late (h) Diagrams.
thirteenth century by Bar Hebraeus. This polymath provided introductions and Diagrams are included by a number of Syriac commentators (e.g., Probus in his
summaries covering the complete Organon on several different levels: the 'Book commentary on the Eisagoge; George in his 'Prooimion' to Prior Analytics D.
of the Pupils of the Eyes' (ktiibii d-biibiitii), designed as an elementary intro
(i) Discourses in verse.
duction; the 'Book of the Colloquy of Wisdom' (ktiibii da-swiid sofia) and the
Since verse was regarded as a normal vehicle for instruction several medieval
'Treatise of Treatises' (tegrat tegratii) serving as intermediary handbooks; and
writers make use of this genre for their treatises on logical and philosophical
the 'Cream of Wisdom' (lJe'wat lJekmiita) designed as an advanced compendium.
topics. A notable example is provided by Yoi)annan bar Zo'bi, whose long seven
The last three works cover much more than just the Organon.
syllable poem on the divisions of philosophy may be based on a lost anthology of
texts such as the one which underlies John of Damascus's Dialektika."
(b) Commentaries on individual books of the Organon.
Two early extant sets of such commentaries are by Probus (for De intelpretatione
and Prior Analytics) and by George, bishop of the Arabs (for the Categories, De Two Commentators: Probus and George
inteJpretatione and Prior Analytics). The form taken by these commentaries in
the earliest manuscripts is discussed below. A commentary, now lost, by the East Probus is the author of several extant commentaries, not all of which have yet
Syrian Patriarch I;InaniSo' I on the Analytics is mentioned by 'Abdiso' in his been studied or published. On the basis of an ambiguous entry in 'Abdi~o"s
catalogue of Syriac authors. From the twelfth century there is a set of catalogue of Syriac authors, most modern scholars have placed him in the fifth
commentaries covering all the texts from the Eisagoge to the Posterior Analytics, century and linked him with the Persian School in Edessa A number of points
militate against this, in particular: (I) in some manuscripts he is identified as an
written by Dionysius bar ~alibi.
archiatros of Antioch; (2) his mention of 'seven kephalaia which should be
( c) Letters on particular points. prefaced to each book' indicates that he must belong to the sixth, rather than the
Extended responses to queries on individual points sometimes take the form of fifth, century; (3) his linguistic usage fits well with a sixth-century date, whereas
letters. Two such letters from the seventh century survive, by Severus Sebokht.26 it would be distinctly surprising for a fifth-century writer;30 (4) the earliest codex,
Later examples can also be found. MS London, British Library, Add. 14660, of the ninth/tenth century, is West
Syrian, which would be unusual at this period if the author was East Syrian.
(d) Discourses (memre) on particular topics.
These problems still await a definitive solution.
A notable example is provided by Severus Sebokht's Discourse on syllogisms.
The only texts by Probus published so far are part of the commentary on the
Eisagoge,31 the beginning of his commentary on De interpretatione32 and the
(e) Questions and answers (su'iile w-punniiye).
commentary on Prior Analytics (to 1.7).33 For the last two works both editors
A whole series of shorter questions accompanied by answers might be collected
used rather late manuscripts, though the former is available nearly complete in
together. A good example of this is provided by the sixth section of Theodore bar
MS London, British Library, Add. 14660. This work takes the form of an
Koni's Book of Scholia, where we find such questions as 'What are these two
introductory section followed by a running commentary; in the latter the short
terms kataphasis and apophasis?'27
lemmata are introduced by the letter alaph, i.e., Aristotle, written in red, while
(f) Series of definitions (tIJI/me). the comment is introduced by the letter pe, i.e., either p(usStiqa) 'interpretation',
Many such collections, of varying size, are known. They were usually written by or 'P(robus)', again in red. Interspersed within this pattern are a number of
East Syrian writers, in cases where an attribution is given.28 digressions which often take the form of a running dialogue with other opinions,
e.g., 'the Aristotelians say ... " 'the Platonists pose the problem (mpasskin) ... "
(g) Scholia (eskolion, nuhhiire, pussiiqe). 'they [unspecified] ask the Platonists "What do you mean by saying ... ?"', 'the
A large number of scholia on particular points survive in appropriate manuscripts commentators (mpassqiine) resolve these problems (pusStiki!) ... '
from all periods. The commentary by George, bishop of the Arabs, survives in a single codex,
MS London, British Library, Add. 14659, which may have been written less than
26 The letter to Yonan has the title 'On Logic' (mlrliUii. a calque on AO),K'Ii based on AO)Qr; = m~lIt{J). In the
older secondary literature this has frequently been mistranslated as 'Rhetoric', resulting in considemble 29 See H. Daiber, '£in vergessener syrischer Text: Bar Zo'bi nber die Teile der Philosophie', Oriens
confusion and giving rise to a number of serious misconceptions. TIle erroneous rendering has been pointed out Cflristianus, 69, 1985, pp. 73-80.
be G. Reinink. 'Severus Sebol-.'tS Brief an den Periodeutes Jonan. Einige Frugen zur aristotelischen Logik'. in III 30 See F. Zimmermann, AI-Farabi's Conunentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle's De illterpretatiol1c, London
SympoSilWJ Syriacum 1980. ed. R. Lavenant. Orientalia Christiana Analecta. 221, Rome, 1983. pp ..1 -14. and Oxford, 1981, p. xci n. 2, and Brock, 'Towards a History', p. 12
27 On Theodore see Furlani, 'La filosofia nel Libro degli Scoli di Teodoro bar Kewanay', Gwnwle della 31 Edited in Baumstarlc, Aristoteles be; den Syrun.
Societa asiatica ilaliana, new series, I. 1925--6. pp. 250-96. 32 Edited in Hoffmann. De hemleneuticis aplld Syros.
28 See, for example, Furlnni. O<EnanBo<, Ahudhemmeh e illibro delle definizioru di M~chele !'Interprete', 33 Edited by A. van Hoonacker, 'Le Trait6 du philosophe syrien Probus sur les Prt!miers AnalYliques
RRAL. 5, 31, 1922, pp. 143-8 and 'Due scoli filosofici attribuili a Sergio di Teodoslopoli (R~'ayna)',
d'Aristote',Journal Asia/ique, 9,16.1900. pp. 70-166.
AeKYPIUS,7, 1926, pp. 139-45.
8 SEBASTIAN BROCK THE SYRIAC COMMENTARY TRADITION 9
a century after his death.34 The format of the commentary differs from that intellectual history. Although the works of several West Syrian scholars are
adopted by Probus, for here the norm for each book is (1) a 'Prooimion' (the available in print (notably Athanasius and Jacob), those by Severns remain
Greek term is used), (2) George's slight revision of the earlier translation (Jacob's unpublished, and the same applies to the work of almost all East Syrian writers
revision), and (3) his commentary (entitled nuhhiire awklt pussiiqii, 'scholia or on these topics.
interpretation'). For De interpretatione the commentary is absent for some Little is known of Syriac scholarship in this field in the eighth century, and it
reason.35 seems that, for the most part, it was not until the ninth century, with the
The text of each book is provided with a series of marginal numbers which awakening of serious Arab interest in the Greek philosophical tradition, that
serve to link it with the corresponding numbers in the commentary, a system further advances were made, usually in the form of new (or at least revised)
which matches the modem practice of using end notes. The number of such notes translations into Syriac, alongside the massive work of translation into Arabic. It
for each book is as follows: Categories, 53; De intelpretatione, 4 (all on fol. 68a, is particularly unfortunate that little or none of this work is preserved, for it
despite the fact that De interpretatione has no commentary!); Prior Analytics I, would be of great interest to know how it was related to the earlier Syriac
152; Prior Analytics II, 81. tradition; as it is, such questions have to be approached indirectly, through the
The text is also supplied with a number of marginal glosses, ringed in green at Arabic tradition where this can be shown to rest on Syriac, rather than Greek,
first and then in red. These provide variant readings/translations, or glosses, often sources. Again, much work needs to be done in order to clarify the relationships
introduced by hanaw den ('that is to say'). These marginal notes are linked to the between the Syriac and Arabic traditions during this century so filled with
main body of the text by means of sigla which take on a variety of different scholarly activity. 38
forms, some of which correspond to those found in the Florentine manuscript of The subsequent course of Syriac scholarship on the Organon during the tenth
Boethius's translation of the Prior Analytics and to those used in MS Paris, Bib to lh!rteenth centuries, culminating in the great compendia by Bar Hebraeus,
liotheque nationale, arabe 2346 containing Arabic versions of several books of remams to be properly charted, and hardly any relevant texts from this period,
the Organon.36 apart from two by Bar Hebraeus himself, have been published. It is significant
that from the ninth century onwards many of the scholars of the West and East
Syrian Churches, like Yal;lyii. ibn 'Adi (d. 974) and 'Abdallah ibn a!-Tayyib (d.
Some Outstanding Problems
1043), preferred to write in Arabic rather than in Syriac.
It goes without saying that much basic work in the form of editing unpublished
texts still remains to be done. This task would seem to be particularly urgent in
Chronological Table of the Main Syriac Scholars
the case of texts belonging to the sixth century, for only then will it be possible to
assess the relationship of the Syriac commentary tradition of Sergius, Paul and
Probus to the contemporary Greek tradition, and to solve the problem of the date
Sixth century Sergius of Res'aina (d. 536)
of Probus and the relationship of his commentaries to (1) the extant early trans
Probus (?)
lations of the Eisagoge and of individual books of the Organon, and (2) the
Paul the Persian
works of Sergius and Paul. Once the texts are edited it should be possible to solve
Anonymous translation of Eisagoge, Categories,
many of these outstanding problems by means of a careful diachronic study of
De intelpretatione and Prior Analytics
translation tecbnique and developments in usage of certain distinctive tecbnical
Seventh century Severns Sebokht (d. 666n)
terms.
Yonan the Periodeutes
In the case of seventh-century Syriac scholarship on the Organon, much again
Athanasius of Balad (d. 686)
needs to be done by way of elucidating the relationship of the work of Syriac
Silvanus of Qardu
scholars to the Greek commentary tradition." Since the seventh century seems to
have witnessed a low ebb in the history of Greek Aristotelian scholarship, the I:Inani~o' I (d. 699nOO)
Jacob of Edessa (d. 708)
contribution of Syriac scholars of this period is of particular importance for
Seventh/eighth century George, bishop of the Arabs (d. 724)
34 On the manuscript see Furlani. 'La versione e iI commento di Giorgio della Nazioni all'Organa Eighth century Theophilus (d. 785) .
aristotelico', Stud; italian; difilofogia classka, new series, 3,1923, pp. 305-33. ISo'bokht
3S According to Furlani. 'Aristoteles de Interpr. 1686-7 nach einem syrisch erhalten Kommentar', Zeitschrift
David bar Paulos
for Semitistik. I, 1922, pp. 34-7, the 'Prooimion' partly takes on the fonn of a commentary for this book.
36 See J. Shiel, 'A Set of Greek Reference Signs in the Florentine MS. of Boethius' Translation of the Prior Ninth century AbU NOl)., AbO Bgr and others
Analytics (B. N. Cony. Soppr. J.VI34)', Scrlptorium, 38, 1984, pp. 327-42; similar sig1a can be found in some TImothy I (d. 823)
other Syriac manuscripts of this period. Furlani (n. 34 above) mentions MS Vatican City, Biblioteca apostolica
Vaticana, syr. 144, containing John Philoponus'sArbiter.
17 Baumstark and Furlani may have over-emphasized the influence of John Philoponus and Stepbanus 38 • See Hugonnard-Roche, •A ristote, L'Organon: tradition syriaque et arabe', in Dictionnaire des philosophes
(Daiber. 'Ein vergessener syrischer Text', p. SO). antIques, ed. R. Goulet. I. Paris, 1989, pp. 502-28.
IO SEBASTIAN BROCK
I;!unayn ibn ISQaq (d. c. 873)
Mose bar Kepha (d. 903) Appendix:
ISQaq ibn I;!unayn (d. c. 910)
Extant Syriac Translations of the Organon
Twelfth century Dionysius bar ~aIibi (d. 1171)
and the Main Commentary Tradition
Thirteenth century Yohannan bar Zo'bi (d. 1235)
Jac~b bar Sakko (d. 1241)
Bar Hebraeus (d. 1286)
Preliminary note: no attempt has been made to offer anything like complete
coverage of unpublished texts, and post-medieval works (e.g., by the Chaidean
Patriarch Joseph II) are deliberately excluded. Where appropriate, references to
pages in Baumstark's Geschichte der syrischen Literatllr (cited as B) are given.
1. General introductions
1.1 Porphyry, Eisagoge
1.1.1 Anonymous sixth century (ed. Brock, Journal of the Iraqi Academy, Syriac
Corporation, 12, 1988, pp. 315-66), preserved in MS London, British Library, Add.
14658 (7th century) and partly in MS London, British Library, Add. 14618 (7th/8th
century).
1.1.2 Revision by Athanasius of Balad made in 645. Partial edition by A. Freimann, Die
Isagoge des Porphyrius il1 den syrischel1 Ubersetzungel1, Berlin, 1897; this edition does
not use the oldest manuscript, Vatican, syr. 158.
1.2 Commentaries on the Eisagoge
Several survive, notably:
1.2.1 Probus. Second section edited by Baumstark, Aristoteles bei den Syrern, pp. 4*-12'
and translated pp. 148-56. For the manuscripts see B, p. 102 n. 7; to which add
Birmingham, Mingana, syr. 606 which includes an earlier section.
1.2.2 Anonymous. Edited by Baumstark, Aristoteles bei den Syrern, pp. 12*-15* and
translated pp. 177-81.
1.2.3 Anonymous. Edited by Baumstark, Aristoteles bei del1 Syrern, pp. 36*-65* and
translated pp. 227-57.
1.2.4 Dionysius bar ;;alibi; MS Cambridge, University Library, Gg.2.14.
1.3 Paul the Persian (covers up to Prior Analytics, 1.7). Edited by J. P. N. Land, Al1ecdota
Syriaca lV, Leiden, 1875, pp. 1-32, translated pp. I-3~. This work may have been
written in Middle Persian and translated into Syriac by Severus Sebokht. On Paul see D.
Gulas, 'Paul the Persian on the Classification of the Parts of Aristotle's Philosophy', Del'
Islam, 60, 1983, pp. 231-67.
1.4 Athanasius of Balad. Edited by Furlani, 'Una introduzione alia logica aristotelica di
~tanasio di Balad', RRAL, 5, 25, 1916, pp. 717-78. See also Furlani, 'Sull'introduzione
dl Atanasio di Baladh alia logica e sillogistica aristotelica', ARIV, 81, 2, 1921-2, pp.
635-44 and id., 'L'introduzione di Atanasio di Baladh alia logica e sillogistica
anstotehca, tradotto dal siriaco', AN, 85, 2, 1926, pp. 319--44.
1.5 Jacob of Edessa, El1cheiridioll. Edited by Furlani, 'L'Encheiridioll di Giacomo
d'Edessa nel testa siriaco', RANL, 6, 4, 1928, pp. 222-49 and translated in Furlani, '11
manualetto di Giacomo d'Edessa', Stud; e materiali di storia delle religioni, 1, 1925, pp.
262-82.
1.6 Silvanus of Qardu, unedited; for manuscripts see B, p. 197 n. 4.