Keywords
Critolaus
Eternity of the cosmos
Aristotelianism
Stoicism
How to Cite
Abstract
Philo of Alexandria in De Aeternitate mundi dedicates to the Aristotelian philosopher Critolau a section (Aet.55-74) in which there are arguments against Stoic cosmology, specifically against the periodic and cyclical destruction called conflagration or ἐκπύρωσιν. The images in this section focus on supporting the thesis of the eternity of the cosmos from an Aristotelian perspective, for which the earth will be described as the main element that supports the eternal permanence of beings. Critolau refutes the myths of humanity that emerged out of step with nature, whether the version in which humans are sprung from the earth with military equipment, or the version that there was a moment of discovery of the arts. We will study Critolau's section and then present a translation of the excerpt.
References
ALGRA, Keimpe. Posidonius’ Conception of the Extra-Cosmic Void. The Evidence and the Arguments. Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol. 46, Fasc. 4, p. 473-505, 1993.
APOLLODORUS. The Library, Volume II: Book 3.10-end. Epitome. Translated by James G. Frazer. Loeb Classical Library 122. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.
ARISTOTELE. I Dialoghi. A cura di M. Zanatta, Milano: Biblioteca Univ. Rizzoli, 2008.
ARISTOTLE. On the Heavens. Translated by W. K. C. Guthrie. Loeb Classical Library 338. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.
BOERI, Marcelo, D. Platonismo y estoicismo en el De aeternitate mundi de Filón de Alejandría. Études platoniciennes, 7, p. 63-92, 2010.
CAMPOS, R. G. de. Escolas filosóficas em contraste e uma tópica platônica em Filóstrato, Vida de Apolônio de Tiana I, VII. In: Nuntius Antiquus, [S. l.], v. 17, n. 1, 2021.
COOPER, J. M. Chrysippus on Physical Elements, p.93-117. In God and the Cosmos in Stoicism [edited by Salles], New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
DIELS. H. Doxographi Graeci, Berlin, 1879.
DIOGENIS Laertii. Vitae Philosophorum, Vol. I, Libri I –X, edidit Miroslav Marcovich, Berlin: De Gruyter, 2008.
FÍLON DE ALEXANDRIA. Da criação do mundo e outros escritos. Trad. Dutra, L.M., São Paulo: Filocalia, 2015.
FORTENBAUGH, W.W., P. HUBY, and A.A. LONG (ed.). Theophrastus of Eresus. On his Life and Work, Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities, vol. II, New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1985.
HAHM, D. E. Critolaus and Late Hellenistc Paripatetic Philosophy, In: Pyrrhonists, patricians, platonizers, Hellenistic philosophy in the period 155-86 BC (ed.), Iopolo, A. M. & Sedley, D., Istituto per il lessico intellettuale Europeo, Bibliopolis, 2007.
HESIODI. Theogonia Opera et Dies Scutum: Fragmenta Selecta. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983.
LÉVY, C. Other followers of Antiochus. In: The Philosophy of Antiochus. (Ed.) SEDLEY, D.N. Cambridge University Press, p. 290-306, 2012.
LONG, A.A., SEDLEY, D.N. The Hellenistic philosophers. vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
PHILO. Every Good Man is Free. On the Contemplative Life. On the Eternity of the World. Against Flaccus. Apology for the Jews. On Providence. Translated by F. H. Colson. Loeb Classical Library 363. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1941.
PHILON d’Alexandrie. De Aeternitate mundi. Tradução de Pouilloux, J., com notas de Arnaldez, R. Paris : Édition du Cerf, 1969.
PHILONIS Judaei. Opera Omnia vol.VI, (Ed.) C.E. Richter, Lipsiae, 1829.
PHILONIS Opera. Opera quae supersunt vol. VI (ed.) Cohn, L., Berolini, 1915 [reimpr. 1962].
PLATO. Phaedrus. Edited with commentary by Yunis, H. Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 2011.
PLATO. Phaedrus. Translation and commentary by C.J. Rowe, Warminster, 1986.
PLATON. Timée, Critias. Œuvres Complètes Tome X. Paris : Les Belles Lettres, 2002.
RUNIA, David. T. Philo and hellenistic doxography. In: Aëtiana: The Method and Intellectual Context of a Doxographer (ed. Mansfeld & Runia). Volume III, Studies in the Doxographical Traditions of Greek Philosophy (Philosophia Antiqua 118), Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2010.
RUNIA, David. T. Philo’s “De aeternitate mundi”: The Problem of Its Interpretation. Vigiliae Christianae, 35(2), 105-151, 1981.
SALLES, Ricardo. God and Cosmos in Stoicism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
SEDLEY, David. Lucretius and the transformation of Greek wisdom, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
SEDLEY, David. The Stoic Criterion of Identity. Phronesis, Vol. 27, No. 3, p. 255-275. Brill, 1982.
SHARPLES, Robert. Philo and post-Aristotelian Peripatetics, p. 55-73. In: Philo of Alexandria and post-Aristotelian philosophy [edited by Francesca Alesse] Netherlands: Brill, 2008.
THEILER, W. Posidonius : Die Fragmente, Berlin : de Gruyter, 1982.
WEBB, Ruth. Ekphrasis, imagination and persuasion in ancient rhetorical theory and practice. London: Ashgate, 2009.
WEHRLI, F. Die Schule Des Aristoteles. Texte und Kommentar, Hieronymos Von Rhodos, Kritolaos und Seine Schuler, Schwabe & Co., Basel, 1969.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
