Description
Book SynopsisThis volume presents a commentary on Aristotle's
Metaphysics Book 12 by pseudo-Alexander in a new translation accompanied by explanatory notes, introduction and indexes. Fred D. Miller, Jr. argues that the author of the commentary is in fact not Alexander of Aphrodisias, Aristotle's distant successor in early 3rd century CE Athens and his leading defender and interpreter, but Michael of Ephesus from Constantinople as late as the 12th century CE. Robert Browning had earlier made the case that Michael was enlisted by Princess Anna Comnena in a project to restore and complete the ancient Greek commentaries on Aristotle, including those of Alexander; he did so by incorporating available ancient commentaries into commentaries of his own.
Metaphysics Book 12 posits a god as the supreme cause of motion in the cosmic system Aristotle had elaborated elsewhere as having the earth at the centre. The fixed stars are whirled around it on an outer sphere, the sun, moon and recognised p
Trade ReviewMiller’s translation is clear, and the English flows naturally. Moreover, he has enlarged Michael’s lemmata, so that the reader can see what is being commented on. Copious notes provide further help, and there are useful indexes and appendices. * The Classical Review *
Table of ContentsPreface Conventions Abbreviations Introduction 1. The place of Book 12 in Aristotle’s
Metaphysics 2. Who wrote the commentary on Book 12? 3. Critical assessments of Ps.-Alexander 4. Ps.-Alexander’s interpretation of
Metaphysics 12 5. Sources of Ps.-Alexander’s commentary on
Metaphysics 12 Textual Emendations Translation Notes Appendix I: Freudenthal’s Comparison of the Two Alexanders Appendix II: Comparison of Ps.-Alexander’s Readings with the Aristotle Manuscripts Bibliography English-Greek Glossary Greek-English Index Index of Passages from Other Works Subject Index
