{"_index":"sire","_id":"1264","_score":null,"_source":{"id":1264,"authors_free":[{"id":1854,"entry_id":1264,"agent_type":"person","is_normalised":1,"person_id":39,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"},"free_name":"Baltussen, Han","free_first_name":"Han","free_last_name":"Baltussen","norm_person":{"id":39,"first_name":"Han","last_name":"Baltussen","full_name":"Baltussen, Han","short_ident":"","is_classical_name":null,"dnb_url":"http:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/136236456","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":null}},{"id":2094,"entry_id":1264,"agent_type":"person","is_normalised":1,"person_id":45,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"},"free_name":"Keyser, Paul T. ","free_first_name":"Paul T.","free_last_name":"Keyser","norm_person":{"id":45,"first_name":"Paul T. ","last_name":"Keyser","full_name":"Keyser, Paul T. ","short_ident":"","is_classical_name":null,"dnb_url":"http:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/1050677153","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":null}},{"id":2095,"entry_id":1264,"agent_type":"person","is_normalised":1,"person_id":44,"institution_id":null,"role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"},"free_name":"Irby-Massie, Georgia L.","free_first_name":"Georgia L.","free_last_name":"Irby-Massie","norm_person":{"id":44,"first_name":"Georgia L.","last_name":"Irby-Massie","full_name":"Irby-Massie, Georgia L.","short_ident":"","is_classical_name":null,"dnb_url":"http:\/\/d-nb.info\/gnd\/121145972","viaf_url":"","db_url":"","from_claudius":null}}],"entry_title":"Simplicius of Kilikia","main_title":{"title":"Simplicius of Kilikia"},"abstract":"Pupil of Damascius and Ammonius in Alexandria, Simplicius wrote several long commentaries on Aristotle\u2019s works. Upon Justinian\u2019s closure of the school in 529 CE, Simplicius and some colleagues fled to King Chosroes of Persia, reputed for his enlightened rule and interest in philosophy (Agathias, Histories 2.28.1 Keydell). Simplicius most probably wrote his commentaries after 532 (the location is disputed, but he must have had access to a sizeable library given the range of writers he references).\r\n\r\nHe preserves important material from early sources on astronomy and mathematics (Eudemus, Eudoxus) and meteorology (Poseidonius, from Geminus\u2019 summary) and enhances our understanding of ancient physics through Aristotle and other thinkers.\r\n\r\nWith Plotinus, the focus of Platonists became increasingly otherworldly, though without fully rejecting nature. While the physical world was of secondary importance, their analysis of physics remained highly relevant. Their perspective was both religious and philosophical: a deeper understanding of, and respect for, creation was seen as a form of worshiping God and an aid to achieving their ultimate goal, the \u201creturn\u201d to God.\r\n\r\nIn explicating Aristotle\u2019s philosophy, Neo-Platonists used commentaries as a vehicle for philosophical and scientific thought, and studying Aristotle served as preparation for studying the works of Plato within the Neo-Platonic curriculum. Simplicius paraphrases and clarifies Aristotle\u2019s dense prose, further developing problems and themes from his own Neo-Platonic perspective, harmonizing Plato and Aristotle whenever possible. His claim that he adds little is partly a topos, partly an expression of respect and acknowledgment of belonging to a tradition; however, this does not exclude originality.\r\n\r\nOn scientific issues, Simplicius believed that advances were being made (e.g., Physics Commentary, Corollary on Place: CAG 9 [1882] 625.2, cf. 795.33-35). He himself significantly altered Aristotle\u2019s cosmological account, incorporating post-Aristotelian reactions both inside and outside the Peripatetic tradition. The rotation of the sphere of fire, for instance, is called \u201csupernatural.\u201d Starting from criticisms by the Peripatetic Xenarchus and a suggestion by Origen (the 3rd-century Platonizing Christian), he reinterprets Aristotle\u2019s theory, making the fifth element (aither) influence the motion of fire, whereas Aristotle considered fire to rotate according to its natural inclination.\r\n\r\nSimplicius also refers to an objection, found in Alexander of Aphrodisias, that the rotation of transparent spheres could not explain the occasional proximity of some planets. Like his teacher Ammonius, he transformed Aristotle\u2019s thinking-god into a creator-god (following Plato\u2019s Timaeus). He famously polemicized against Philoponus on the eternity of the world.\r\nContributions to the Concepts of Time and Place\r\n\r\nHis most original contributions concern time and place. On place, which Aristotle regarded as a two-dimensional surface, Simplicius follows Theophrastus\u2019 criticism, arguing for a dynamic rather than a static concept. Together with Damascius, he ascribes to place the power to arrange the parts of the world, which is viewed as an \u201corganism\u201d with \u201cmembers.\u201d Iamblichus had already postulated that place holds things together, giving each thing a unique position that moves with it. Simplicius and Damascius maintain that place organizes the world\u2019s members (e.g., Corollary on Place, pp. 636.8-13, 637.25-30), but Simplicius rejects Damascius\u2019 idea that measure\u2014a kind of mold (tupos) into which the organism should fit\u2014determines size and arrangement. Instead, Simplicius argues that each thing has a unique place (idios topos) that moves along with it (Corollary on Place p. 629.8-12).\r\n\r\nA second excursus (in Book 4 of the Physics Commentary: CAG 9, pp. 773-800) addresses the problem of time. Aristotle had dismissed the paradoxes regarding time\u2019s existence, arguing that since its parts do not exist independently, time itself cannot exist. The Neo-Platonists, however, distinguished between higher and lower time, with the former being \u201cabove change\u201d (Iamblichus). The higher kind is immune to paradox, while the lower kind is a stretch of time between two instants. Simplicius reports Damascius\u2019 solution but only agrees that time exists as something that continuously comes into being and is divisible only in thought.\r\n\r\nIn his discussion on the continuum (Physics 6), he adds his own argument: time is infinite, without beginning or end, if viewed as a cycle.\r\nPossible Medical Writings\r\n\r\nSome evidence suggests that Simplicius wrote a commentary on a Hippocratic work. The Fihrist (an Arabic bibliography) mentions a lost work, and Abu Bakr al-Razi (al-Hawi, v. 13, p. 159.9) names Simplicius as a commentator on On Fractures (Peri Agmon), known in Arabic as Kitab al-Kasr or Kitab al-Jabr (\u201cOn Setting [Bones]\u201d). [the entire text p. 743-745]","btype":2,"date":"2008","language":"English","online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/0UokyY5QmcTIDJB","doi_url":null,"categories":[],"authors":[{"id":39,"full_name":"Baltussen, Han","role":{"id":1,"role_name":"author"}},{"id":45,"full_name":"Keyser, Paul T. ","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}},{"id":44,"full_name":"Irby-Massie, Georgia L.","role":{"id":2,"role_name":"editor"}}],"book":null,"booksection":{"id":1264,"section_of":1265,"pages":"743-745","is_catalog":null,"book":{"id":1265,"bilderberg_idno":null,"dare_idno":null,"catalog_idno":null,"entry_type":"reference","type":4,"language":"en","title":"The Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientist. The Greek tradition and its many heirs","title_transcript":"","title_translation":"","short_title":"Keyser\/Irby-Massie2008","has_no_author":null,"volume":null,"date":"2008","edition_no":null,"free_date":null,"abstract":"The Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists is the first comprehensive English language work to provide a survey of all ancient natural science, from its beginnings through the end of Late Antiquity. A team of over 100 of the world\u2019s experts in the field have compiled this Encyclopedia, including entries which are not mentioned in any other reference work \u2013 resulting in a unique and hugely ambitious resource which will prove indispensable for anyone seeking the details of the history of ancient science.\r\n\r\nAdditional features include a Glossary, Gazetteer, and Time-Line. The Glossary explains many Greek (or Latin) terms difficult to translate, whilst the Gazetteer describes the many locales from which scientists came. The Time-Line shows the rapid rise in the practice of science in the 5th century BCE and rapid decline after Hadrian, due to the centralization of Roman power, with consequent loss of a context within which science could flourish. [author's abstract]","republication_of":null,"online_url":"","online_resources":"https:\/\/uni-koeln.sciebo.de\/s\/up8tW1NBxVY23yX","translation_of":null,"new_edition_of":null,"is_catalog":0,"in_bibliography":0,"is_inactive":0,"notes":null,"doi_url":null,"book":{"id":1265,"pubplace":"London \u2013 New York","publisher":"Routledge","series":"","volume":"","edition_no":"","valid_from":null,"valid_until":null}}},"article":{"id":1264,"journal_id":null,"journal_name":"The Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists","volume":"","issue":"","pages":"743-745"}},"sort":["Simplicius of Kilikia"]}