"The Introduction to philosophy, written by Porphyry at the end of the second century AD is the most successful work of its kind ever to have been published. Porphyry's aim was modest: he intended to explain the meaning of five terms, 'genus', 'species', 'difference', 'property', and 'accident' - terms that he took to be important to Aristotelian logic and metaphysics, and hence to philosophy in general. Thus in principle the Introduction is simple and elementary. In face, there are sometimes difficulties and doubts on the surface of the text - and beneath the surface there are occasional profundities. For the work raises, directly or indirectly, a number of perennial philosophical questions; and indeed, the Introduction became, in Boethius's Latin translation, the point of reference for one of the longest-lasting of philosophical disputes - the dispute over the status of 'universals'." "This book contains a new English translation of the Introduction, preceded by a study of the life and works of Porphyry, the purpose and nature of the Introduction, and the history of the text. It is accompanied by a discursive commentary, the primary aim of which is to analyse and assess the philosophical theses and arguments that the Introduction puts forward."--Jacket.
The Syriac treatise published in the present volume is in many respects a unique text. Though it has been preserved anonymously, there remains little doubt that it belongs to Porphyry of Tyre. Accordingly, it enlarges our knowledge of the views of the most famous disciple of Plotinus. The text is an important witness to Platonist discussions on First Principles and on Plato’s concept of Prime Matter in the Timaeus. It contains extensive quotations from Atticus, Severus, and Boethus. This text thus provides us with new textual witnesses to these philosophers, whose legacy remains very poorly attested and little known. Additionally, the treatise is a rare example of a Platonist work preserved in the Syriac language. The Syriac reception of Plato and Platonic teachings has left rather sparse textual traces, and the question of what precisely Syriac Christians knew about Plato and his philosophy remains a debated issue. The treatise provides evidence for the close acquaintance of Syriac scholars with Platonic cosmology and with philosophical commentaries on Plato’s Timaeus.
The Introduction to philosophy written by Porphyry at the end of the second century AD is the most successful work of its kind ever to have been published. It was translated into most respectable languages, and for a millennium and a half every student of philosophy read it as his first text in the subject. Porphyry's aim was modest: he intended to explain the meaning of five terms, 'genus', 'species', 'difference', 'property', and 'accident' - terms which he took to be important to Aristotelian logic and metaphysics, and hence to philosophy in general. Thus in principle the Introduction is simple and elementary. In fact, there are sometimes difficulties and doubts on the surface of the text - and beneath the surface there are frequent depths or profundities. The work raises, directly or indirectly, a number of perennial philosophical questions. In addition, the Introduction became, in Boethius's Latin translation, the point of reference for one of the longest-lasting of philosophical disputes - the dispute over the status of 'universals'. This book contains a new English translation of the Introduction, preceded by a study of the life and works of Porphyry, the purpose and nature of the Introduction, and the history of the text. It is accompanied by a discursive commentary the primary aim of which is to analyse and assess the philosophical theses and arguments which the Introduction puts forward. (But there are also numerous notes of a more philological or historical turn.) The twentieth century turned away from Aristotelian logic, and the Introduction lost its position on the syllabus. Barnes does not argue that it should be put back in its old place; but his commentary - the first to be published in English, and the fullest to be published for a century - suggests that there is blood in the old man yet. CLARENDON LATER ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS General Editors: Jonathan Barnes and A. A. Long This series, which is modelled on the familiar Clarendon Aristotle and Clarendon Plato series, is designed to encourage philosophers and students of philosophy to explore the fertile terrain of later ancient philosophy. The texts range in date from the first century BC to the fifth century AD, and will cover all the parts and all the schools of philosophy. Each volume contains a substantial introduction, an English translation, and a critical commentary on the philosophical claims and arguments of the text. The translations aim primarily at accuracy and fidelity; but they are also readable and accompanied by notes on textual problems that affect the philosophical interpretation. No knowledge of Greek or Latin is assumed.
This is a comprehensive, authoritative and innovative account of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism, one of the most enigmatic and influential philosophies in the West. In twenty-one chapters covering a timespan from the sixth century BC to the seventeenth century AD, leading scholars construct a number of different images of Pythagoras and his community, assessing current scholarship and offering new answers to central problems. Chapters are devoted to the early Pythagoreans, and the full breadth of Pythagorean thought is explored including politics, religion, music theory, science, mathematics and magic. Separate chapters consider Pythagoreanism in Plato, Aristotle, the Peripatetics and the later Academic tradition, while others describe Pythagoreanism in the historical tradition, in Rome and in the pseudo-Pythagorean writings. The three great lives of Pythagoras by Diogenes Laertius, Porphyry and Iamblichus are also discussed in detail, as is the significance of Pythagoras for the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
The Porphyry Novels: Book One "Gripping and powerful right from the first page." Peter Tonkin, author of Caesar's Spies 1453. After a thousand years, the sun is setting on the Eastern Roman Empire... As a great Ottoman army prepares to strike Constantinople, John Grant is among the mercenaries flocking to the city's defence. Scottish, world-weary and repentant, Grant hopes holy war can bring absolution for a dark past. He soon finds that the cannons and scimitars of the invaders beyond the crumbling walls might prove less lethal than the dangers lurking within them: a Genoese general with a hidden agenda, a firebrand monk with the mob in his thrall, a murderer with a taste for the theatrical. And although Grant has the requisite strength and skills to overcome all of these, in Anna Notaras, the beautiful but monstrously ambitious daughter of Byzantium's richest family, he might have met his match. As the siege reaches its bloody culmination, what can be salvaged, what must be sacrificed to the cataclysmic fires? Recommended for fans of Dorothy Dunnett, Bernard Cornwell and Ben Kane. Porphyry and Ash is the first in a new series set during the Ottoman conquests of the 15th century. Peter Sandham is the author of a series of historical novels set in the second half of the 15th century charting the fall of Constantinople and subsequent geopolitical turmoil through the eyes of Byzantine Greek, Venetian and Ottoman protagonists. Praise for Peter Sandham: "Porphyry and Ash is an accomplished and intelligent feat of historical storytelling. In charting the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, Sandham has created a rich, immersive and gripping reading experience. His pov character, world weary and repentant Scottish mercenary, John Grant, provides the perfect pair of eyes through which to view the richly built and well researched world of 15th C Constantinople." J. A. Ironside, author of The King's Knight. "Plunges the reader into the Byzantine snake-pit that is politics in Constantinople during the months before and during the Turkish siege and conquest of the city. Scottish mercenary John Grant, wrestling with his nightmare memories of burning Joan of Arc at the stake, must balance love and war as the enemy army gathers and the daughter of the doomed city's most powerful citizen becomes dangerously infatuated with him... Gripping and powerful right from the first page, building to an enthralling climax, Porphyry and Ash, based on the biographical records of actual characters, has all the historical weight of Harry Sidebottom's Fire in the East combined with the narrative power of Graham Shelby's Knights of Dark Renown or Alfred Duggan's Count Bohemond." Peter Tonkin, author of Caesar's Spies.
Porphyry (AD 232/3 - C.305) is of crucial importance for the history of Aristotelian studies. Born in Tyre and a student of Plotinus in Rome, he later defended Aristotle's Categories against Plotinus, arguing that they were entirely compatible with Platonism. His intervention was decisive: the Categories became a basic textbook of logic for all subsequent Neoplatonist teaching and influenced both the Arabic and Western Traditions. Boethius drew heavily on Porphyry's treatment. The full commentary is lost, but a shorter version survives and is translated here.
