1st Edition

Clearchus of Soli Text, Translation, and Discussion

    This book showcases a figure whose life and work bridge Classical and Hellenistic Greece. It comprises Tiziano Dorandi’s comprehensive new edition of the Clearchus ‘fragments’, accompanied by a richly annotated English translation from Stephen White, as well as nine new studies examining key aspects of Clearchus’ thought.

    Clearchus, from Soli on the island of Cyprus, was an Aristotelian philosopher and cultural historian active in the later fourth and early third centuries BCE. A versatile thinker and prolific author, he wrote on a wide range of subjects. Although none of his works survive, he is cited extensively by later authors. Topics addressed in this volume include his accounts of souls during sleep, educational traditions, forms of love, luxurious living, sage maxims and other traditional sayings, aquatic wildlife, lunar phenomena, and his relation to Plato and Platonism.

    Clearchus of Soli will interest both students and scholars of ancient Greek history, philosophy and science, and especially anyone interested in Aristotle and his circle, Hellenistic literature and culture, or Greek cultural history generally.

    1. Clearchus of Soli: The Sources, Text, and Translation
    Tiziano Dorandi and Stephen White

    2. Clearchus, a Platonist?
    Richard Schorlemmer

    3. Two Concepts of Sleep: Clearchus of Soli and Strato of Lampsacus
    Francesco Verde

    4. Clearchus’ Περὶ παιδείας
    Wolfram Ax

    Appendix: Some notes on Clearchus’ Περὶ παιδείας
    Gertjan Verhasselt

    5. Clearchus on Love
    Stephen White

    6. Clearchus, On Lives
    William Fortenbaugh

    7. Clearchus and Paroemiology
    Arnaud Zucker

    8. The Seven Sages and the Inscription of Ai Khanoum
    Gertjan Verhasselt

    9. Clearchus and Peripatetic Research on Aquatic Creatures
    Oliver Hellmann

    10. Clearchus on the Face in the Moon
    Robert Mayhew

    Biography

    Robert Mayhew is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Seton Hall University.

    David C. Mirhady is Professor in the Department of Humanities at Simon Fraser University.

    Tiziano Dorandi is Director of Research at the Centre Jean Pépin, Centre National de la Recherche CNRS/ENS/PSL Villejuif/Paris.

    Stephen White is Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin.

    "In definitiva, questo volume costituisce un’importante acquisizione negli studi su Clearco [...] L’edizione di Dorandi si annuncia già come imprescindibile riferimento rispetto alle precedenti in quanto da esse si distingue per alcuni dati nuovi e per alcuni criteri editoriali (su cui cf. infra), oltre che per l’utilissimo subsidium interpretationis." - Bryn Mawr Classical Review

    [This volume constitutes an important acquisition in Clearchus studies…. Dorandi's edition [is] an indispensable reference compared to its predecessors insofar as it differs from them in some new data and in its editorial criteria, as well as in the very useful subsidium interpretationis]

    "We should be grateful to the contributors to this volume for reassessing the sparse and meagre evidence on Clearchus, which is far from being an easy, or for that matter rewarding, task [...] they have produced a solid piece of scholarship, which goes beyond what has been accomplished by previous scholars. The volume will remain the reference book on Clearchus for quite some time." The Classical Review