Anonymous’ and Stephanus’ commentaries, written in the 12th century AD, are the first surviving commentaries on Aristotle’s Rhetoric. Their study, including the environment in which they were written and the philosophical ideas expressed in them, provides a better understanding of the reception of Aristotle’s Rhetoric in Byzantium, the Byzantine practice of commenting on classical texts, and what can be called “Byzantine philosophy”. For the first time, this book explores the context of production of the commentaries, discusses the identity and features of their authors, and reveals their philosophical and philological significance. In particular, I examine the main topics discussed by Aristotle in the Rhetoric as contributing to persuasion, namely valid and fallacious rhetorical arguments, ethical notions, emotional response and style, and I analyse the commentators’ interpretations of these topics. In this analysis, I focus on highlighting the value of the philosophical views expressed, and on creating a discussion between the Byzantine and the modern interpretations of the treatise. Conclusively, the two commentators need to be considered as independent thinkers, who aimed primarily at integrating the treatise within the Aristotelian philosophical system.

This volume, the first ever of its kind in English, introduces and surveys Greek literature in Byzantium (330 - 1453 CE). In twenty-five chapters composed by leading specialists, The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature surveys the immense body of Greek literature produced from the fourth to the fifteenth century CE and advances a nuanced understanding of what "literature" was in Byzantium. This volume is structured in four sections. The first, "Materials, Norms, Codes," presents basic structures for understanding the history of Byzantine literature like language, manuscript book culture, theories of literature, and systems of textual memory. The second, "Forms," deals with the how Byzantine literature works: oral discourse and "text"; storytelling; rhetoric; re-writing; verse; and song. The third section ("Agents") focuses on the creators of Byzantine literature, both its producers and its recipients. The final section, entitled "Translation, Transmission, Edition," surveys the three main ways by which we access Byzantine Greek literature today: translations into other Byzantine languages during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages; Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts; and modern printed editions. The volume concludes with an essay that offers a view of the recent past--as well as the likely future--of Byzantine literary studies.

The first English-language translation of a crucial medieval Arabic commentary on Aristotle’s Rhetoric, with context on its contribution to intellectual history. Abū al-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd (d. 1198 AD), known as Averroes in the West, wrote one of the most significant medieval Arabic commentaries on Aristotle’s famous treatise, Rhetoric. Averroes worked within a tradition that included the Muslim philosophers Al-Farabi (d. 950) and Avicenna (d. 1037), who together built an early canon introducing Aristotle’s writings to the academies of medieval Europe. Here, for the first time, Lahcen El Yazghi Ezzaher translates Averroes’ Middle Commentary into English, with analysis highlighting its shaping of philosophical thought. Ibn Rushd was born into a prominent family living in Córdoba and Seville during the reign of the Almoḥad dynasty in the Maghreb and al-Andalus. At court, he received support to write a body of rhetorical commentaries extending the work of his Arabic-Muslim predecessors, a critical step in fostering Aristotle’s influence on European scholasticism and Western education. Ezzaher’s meticulous translation of Averroes’ Middle Commentary reflects the depth and breadth of this engagement, incorporating a discussion of the Arabic-Muslim commentary tradition and Averroes’ contribution to it. His research illuminates the complexity of Averroes’ position, articulating the challenges Muslim scholars faced in making non-Muslim texts available to their community. Through his work, we see how people at different historical moments have adapted intellectual concepts to preserve rhetoric’s vitality and relevance in new contexts. Averroes’ Middle Commentary exemplifies the close connections between ancient Greece and medieval Muslim scholarship and the ways Muslim scholars navigated an appreciation for Aristotelian philosophy alongside a commitment to their cultural and religious systems.

Peter Adamson presents an engaging and wide-ranging introduction to two great intellectual cultures: Byzantium and the Italian Renaissance. First he tells the story of philosophy in the Eastern Christian world, from the 8th century to the 15th century, then he explores the rebirth of philosophy in Italy in the era of Machiavelli and Galileo.

Gregory Nazianzen's Theological Orations, genuine classics, reveal not only the learning and faith of their author, but also his quarrels with Neo-Arians, Pneumatomachians, pagans, and other opponents at Constantinople in the late fourth century C.E. This volume is divided into three parts. The first offers a survey of Gregory's life and works, his orientation as a philosophical rhetorician, an overview of his theology, the relevant views of his major opponents, and the manuscript tradition of these orations. The second is a commentary that concentrates on the context and flow of his arguments about paideia and theology. The third is a new English translation, the first complete one, that evokes the logical and rhetorical power of Nazianzen and through its Biblical citations shows the importance of scripture in the debates.

This volume provides the first authoritative study of the creative appropriation of Greek ethics by late antique and Byzantine authors.

In an attempt to engage with the modern understanding of such a fertile enterprise as Byzantine Philosophy, Analogia offers this first collection of distinguished essays written by promising experts of the younger generation. Table of Contents: 1. Themistius on ‘Prime Matter’, Aristotle, and the ‘Unwritten Doctrines’ ascribed to Plato, ELISA CODA 2. Aristotelian attraction and repulsion in Byzantium, PANTELIS GOLITSIS 3. Simplicius on the principal meaning of physis in Aristotle’s Physics II. 1–3, MELINA G. MOUZALA 4. Aristotle’s Rhetoric in the Manuals of Byzantine Rhetoric, SOTIRIA A. TRIANTARI 5. Visions of political philosophy in the ‘Commentary on Aristotle’s Politics’ by Michael of Ephesus, ILIAS VAVOURAS 6. BOOK REVIEWS The Christian Liturgical Papyri: An Introduction by Ágnes T. Mihálykó, GREGORY S. PAULSON

This is the first volume to explore the commentaries on ancient texts produced and circulating in Byzantium. It adopts a broad chronological perspective (from the twelfth to the fifteenth century) and examines different types of commentaries on ancient poetry and prose within the context of the study and teaching of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and science. By discussing the exegetical literature of the Byzantines as embedded in the socio-cultural context of the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods, the book analyses the frameworks and networks of knowledge transfer, patronage and identity building that motivated the Byzantine engagement with the ancient intellectual and literary tradition.

Interest in ancient rhetoric and its relevance to modern society has increased dramatically over recent decades. In North America, departments of speech and communications have experienced a noticeable renaissance of concern with ancient sources. On both sides of the Atlantic, numerous journals devoted to the history of rhetoric are now being published. Throughout, Aristotle's central role has been acknowledged, and there is also a growing awareness of the contributions made by Theophrastus and the Peripatetics. Peripatetic Rhetoric After Aristotle responds to this recent interest in rhetoric and peripatetic theory. The chapters provide new insights into Peripatetic influence on different periods and cultures: Greece and Rome, the Syrian- and Arabic-speaking worlds, Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and the international scene today. Contributors to this volume include Maroun Aouad, Lucia Calboli Montefusco, Thomas Conley, Tiziano Dorandi, Lawrence D. Green, Doreen C. Innes, George A. Kennedy, Michael Leff, and Eckart Schutrumpf. This comprehensive analysis of the history of rhetoric ranges from the early Hellenistic period to the present day. It will be of significant interest to classicists, philosophers, and cultural historians.

The present volume brings together thirteen articles as so many chapters of a book, devoted to the history, methods, and practices of the commentaries that have been written on Aristotle’s Rhetoric. Examining both the linguistic and factual background, these contributions attempt to insert each of the commentaries into its particular historical, political, social, philosophical, and pedagogical context. The historical periods and geographical areas that arise – from Greco-Roman antiquity to Heidegger’s philosophy, from the Syriac and Arabic traditions to the Western world – make it possible, in sum, not only to indicate how the Rhetoric has been read and interpreted, but also to offer general perspectives on the practice of explicating ancient texts. Le présent volume rassemble treize articles envisagés comme autant de chapitres d’un livre et dédiés à l’histoire, à la méthode et à la pratique des commentaires à la Rhétorique d’Aristote. Mêlant l’approche matérielle et linguistique, ces contributions se proposent de réinscrire chacun des commentaires dans son contexte historique, politique, social, culturel, philosophique, et pédagogique particulier. Les périodes et les aires géographiques considérées ici—de l’Antiquité gréco-romaine jusqu’à la philosophie de Heidegger, des traditions syriaque et arabe au monde occidental—permettent, in fine, non seulement de suggérer des pistes de lecture pour la Rhétorique et l’histoire des interprétations de la Rhétorique, mais aussi de dessiner des perspectives plus générales sur la pratique du commentaire.