The Meteorology of Posidonius

The Meteorology of Posidonius PDF Author: J.J. Hall
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 042968102X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
This volume describes the meteorology of the Stoic philosopher Posidonius from the existing fragments, and discusses his relation to earlier thinkers on this subject, as well as the methods he used to obtain information about and to find explanations of meteorological phenomena. The book examines ancient meteorology, an aspect of ancient thought largely neglected by scholars. Hall produces a detailed account of how Posidonius and other ancient thinkers approached and attempted to explain meteorological phenomena – phenomena familiar to everyone, which could not be ignored in attempts to understand the natural world, but were difficult to explain satisfactorily and convincingly despite the efforts of important ancient thinkers. The volume explores particular classes of phenomena, including climatic events and geological processes, providing a comprehensive overview of Posidonius’ ideas on these topics. Concluding chapters allow for an assessment of Posidonius’ particular contribution to the field and his influence on later writers working on this subject. The Meteorology of Posidonius provides an important resource for students and scholars working on ancient philosophy and ancient science, particularly ancient meteorology.

The Meteorology of Posidonius

The Meteorology of Posidonius PDF Author: J.J. Hall
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 042968102X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Get Book

Book Description
This volume describes the meteorology of the Stoic philosopher Posidonius from the existing fragments, and discusses his relation to earlier thinkers on this subject, as well as the methods he used to obtain information about and to find explanations of meteorological phenomena. The book examines ancient meteorology, an aspect of ancient thought largely neglected by scholars. Hall produces a detailed account of how Posidonius and other ancient thinkers approached and attempted to explain meteorological phenomena – phenomena familiar to everyone, which could not be ignored in attempts to understand the natural world, but were difficult to explain satisfactorily and convincingly despite the efforts of important ancient thinkers. The volume explores particular classes of phenomena, including climatic events and geological processes, providing a comprehensive overview of Posidonius’ ideas on these topics. Concluding chapters allow for an assessment of Posidonius’ particular contribution to the field and his influence on later writers working on this subject. The Meteorology of Posidonius provides an important resource for students and scholars working on ancient philosophy and ancient science, particularly ancient meteorology.

Ancient Meteorology

Ancient Meteorology PDF Author: Liba Taub
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134717741
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
The first book of its kind in English, Ancient Meteorology discusses Greek and Roman approaches and attitudes to this broad discipline, which in classical antiquity included not only 'weather', but occurrences such as earthquakes and comets that today would be regarded as geological, astronomical or seismological. The range and diversity of this literature highlights the question of scholarly authority in antiquity and illustrates how writers responded to the meteorological information presented by their literary predecessors. Ancient Meteorology will be a valuable reference tool for classicists and those with an interest in the history of science.

Medieval Meteorology

Medieval Meteorology PDF Author: Anne Lawrence-Mathers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108418392
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Explores how scientifically-based weather forecasting spread and flourished in medieval Europe, from c.700-c.1600.

Theophrastus

Theophrastus PDF Author: Johannes M. van Ophuijsen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000159884
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Theophrastus was Aristotle's pupil and second head of the Peripatetic School. Apart from two botanical works, a collection of character sketches, and several scientific opuscula, his works survive only through quotations and reports in secondary sources. Recently these quotations and reports have been collected and published, thereby making the thought of Theophrastus accessible to a wide audience. The present volume contains seventeen responses to this material. There are chapters dealing with Theophrastus' views on logic, physics, biology, ethics, politics, rhetoric, and music, as well as the life of Theophrastus. Together these writings throw considerable light on fundamental questions concerning the development and importance of the Peripatos in the early Hellenistic period. The authors consider whether Theophrastus was a systematic thinker who imposed coherence and consistency on a growing body of knowledge, or a problem-oriented thinker who foreshadowed the dissolution of Peripatetic thought into various loosely connected disciplines. Of special interest are those essays which deal with Theophrastus' intellectual position in relation to the lively philosophic scene occupied by such contemporaries as Zeno, the founder of the Stoa, and Epicurus, the founder of the Garden, as well as Xenocrates and Polemon hi the Academy, and Theophrastus' fellow Peripatetics, Eudemus and Strato. The contributors to the volume are Suzanne Amigues, Antonio Battegazzore, Tiziano Dorandi, Woldemar Gorier, John Glucker, Hans Gottschalk, Frans de Haas, Andre Laks, Anthony Long, Jorgen Mejer, Mario Mignucci, Trevor Saunders, Dirk Schenkeveld, David Sedley, Robert Sharpies, C. M. J. Sicking and Richard Sorabji. The Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities series is a forum for seminal thinking in the field of philosophy, and this volume is no exception. Theophrastus is a landmark achievement in intellectual thought. Philosophers, historians, and classicists will all find this work to be enlightening.

Heraclides of Pontus

Heraclides of Pontus PDF Author: Héraclide du Pont
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 1412825075
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
"Heraclides of Pontus hailed from the shores of the Black Sea. He studied with Aristotle in Plato's Academy, and became a respected member of that school. During Plato's third trip to Sicily, Heraclides served as head of the Academy was almost elected its head on the death of Speusippus. This volume contains a new edition of the sources for Heraclides' life and thought. The text is edited by Eckart Schutrumpf and the translation by Peter Stork, Jan van Ophuijsen and Susan Prince." --Book Jacket.

Simplicius on the Planets and Their Motions

Simplicius on the Planets and Their Motions PDF Author: Alan C. Bowen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900424171X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Though the digression closing Simplicius’ commentary on Aristotle’s De caelo 2.12 has long been misread as a history of early Greek planetary theory, it is in fact a creative reading of Aristotle to maintain the authority of the De caelo as a sacred text in Late Platonism and to refute the polemic mounted by the Christian, John Philoponus. This book shows that the critical question forced on Simplicius was whether his school’s acceptance of Ptolemy’s planetary hypotheses entailed a rejection of Aristotle’s argument that the heavens are made of a special matter that moves by nature in a circle about the center of the cosmos and, thus, a repudiation of the thesis that the cosmos is uncreated and everlasting.

Theophrastus

Theophrastus PDF Author: William Fortenbaugh
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351316540
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Theophrastus of Eresus was Aristotle's pupil and successor as head of the Peripatetic School. He is best known as the author of the amusing Characters and two ground-breaking works in botany, but his writings extend over the entire range of Hellenistic philosophic studies. Volume 5 of Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities focuses on his scientific work. The volume contains new editions of two brief scientific essays-On Fish and Afeteoro/o^y-accompanied by translations and commentary. Among the contributions are: "Peripatetic Dialectic in the De sensibus," Han Baltussen; "Empedocles" Theory of Vision and Theophrastus' De sensibus," David N. Sedley; "Theophrastus on the Intellect," Daniel Devereux; "Theophrastus and Aristotle on Animal Intelligence," Eve Browning Cole; "Physikai doxai and Problemata physika from Aristotle to Agtius (and Beyond)," Jap Mansfield; "Xenophanes or Theophrastus? An Aetian Doxographicum on the Sun," David Runia; "Place1 in Context: On Theophrastus, Fr. 21 and 22 Wimmer," Keimpe Algra; "The Meteorology of Theophrastus in Syriac and Arabic Translation," Hans Daiber; "Theophrastus' Meteorology, Aristotle and Posidonius," Ian G. Kidd; "The Authorship and Sources of the Peri Semeion Ascribed to Theophrastus," Patrick Cronin; "Theophrastus, On Fish" Robert W. Sharpies.

Pseudo-Aristotle: De Mundo (On the Cosmos)

Pseudo-Aristotle: De Mundo (On the Cosmos) PDF Author: Pavel Gregorić
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108890245
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
De mundo is a protreptic to philosophy in the form of a letter to Alexander the Great and is traditionally ascribed to Aristotle. It offers a unique view of the cosmos, God and their relationship, which was inspired by Aristotle but written by a later author. The author provides an outline of cosmology, geography and meteorology, only to argue that a full understanding of the cosmos cannot be achieved without a proper grasp of God as its ultimate cause. To ensure such a grasp, the author provides a series of twelve carefully chosen interlocking analogies, building a complex picture in the reader's mind. The work develops a distinctly Aristotelian picture of God and the cosmos while paying tribute to pre-Aristotelian philosophers and avoiding open criticism of rival schools of philosophy. De mundo exercised considerable influence in late antiquity and then in the Renaissance and Early Modern times.

Cicero, Greek Learning, and the Making of a Roman Classic

Cicero, Greek Learning, and the Making of a Roman Classic PDF Author: Caroline Bishop
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019256479X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
The Roman statesman, orator, and author Marcus Tullius Cicero is the embodiment of a classic: his works have been read continuously from antiquity to the present, his style is considered the model for classical Latin, and his influence on Western ideas about the value of humanistic pursuits is both deep and profound. However, despite the significance of subsequent reception in ensuring his canonical status, Cicero, Greek Learning, and the Making of a Roman Classic demonstrates that no one is more responsible for Cicero's transformation into a classic than Cicero himself, and that in his literary works he laid the groundwork for the ways in which he is still remembered today. The volume presents a new way of understanding Cicero's career as an author by situating his textual production within the context of the growth of Greek classicism: the movement had begun to flourish shortly before his lifetime and he clearly grasped its benefits both for himself and for Roman literature more broadly. By strategically adapting classic texts from the Greek world, and incorporating into his adaptations the interpretations of the Hellenistic philosophers, poets, rhetoricians, and scientists who had helped enshrine those works as classics, he could envision and create texts with classical authority for a parallel Roman canon. Ranging across a variety of genres - including philosophy, rhetoric, oratory, poetry, and letters - this close study of Cicero's literary works moves from his early translation of Aratus' poetry (and its later reappearance through self-quotation) to Platonizing philosophy, Aristotelian rhetoric, Demosthenic oratory, and even a planned Greek-style letter collection. Juxtaposing incisive analysis of how Cicero consciously adopted classical Greek writers as models and predecessors with detailed accounts of the reception of those figures by Greek scholars of the Hellenistic period, the volume not only offers ground-breaking new insights into Cicero's ascension to canonical status, but also a salutary new account of Greek intellectual life and its effect on Roman literature.

Later Stoicism 155 BC to AD 200

Later Stoicism 155 BC to AD 200 PDF Author: Brad Inwood
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009293303
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 597

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Book Description
Most modern readers of the Stoics think first of later authors such as Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Existing works like Long and Sedley's The Hellenistic Philosophers concentrate on the Stoics of the early school. This book focusses on the more influential later school, including key figures like Panaetius and Posidonius, and provides well-chosen selections from the full range of Stoic thinkers. It emphasizes their important work in logic, physics and cosmology as well as in ethics. Fresh translations and incisive commentary present a picture of Stoic thought informed by up-to-date historical research and philosophical analysis. The book will be essential for scholars and students of ancient philosophy and of Hellenistic and Roman culture.