Yury Arzhanov | University of Salzburg (original) (raw)

Books by Yury Arzhanov

Sergius of Reshaina (d. 536) is a major figure in the history of the Syriac reception of Aristotl... more Sergius of Reshaina (d. 536) is a major figure in the history of the Syriac reception of Aristotle’s logic. He studied philosophy and medicine in the late 5th century in Alexandria with the famous Ammonius Hermeiou, whose lectures formed the basis for Sergius’ main philosophical work, his extensive Commentary on the Categories. In this treatise, Sergius adapted for his Christian audience the Alexandrian educational model and exegesis of Aristotle logical writings and in this way influenced subsequent centuries of Aristotelian studies in Syriac.

n 2021, a previously unknown treatise by Porphyry of Tyre, which has been preserved in a Syriac t... more n 2021, a previously unknown treatise by Porphyry of Tyre, which has been preserved in a Syriac translation, was made available to historians of philosophy: Porphyry, On Principles and Matter (De Gruyter, 2021). This text not only enlarges our knowledge of the legacy of the most prominent disciple of Plotinus but also serves as an important witness to Platonist discussions of first principles and of Plato’s concept of prime matter in the Timaeus.

De Gruyter, 2021

The Syriac treatise published in the present volume is in many respects a unique text. Though it ... more The Syriac treatise published in the present volume is in many respects a unique text. Though it has been preserved anonymously, there remains little doubt that it belongs to Porphyry of Tyre. Accordingly, it enlarges our knowledge of the views of the most famous disciple of Plotinus. The text is an important witness to Platonist discussions on First Principles and on Plato’s concept of Prime Matter in the Timaeus. It contains extensive quotations from Atticus, Severus, and Boethus. This text thus provides us with new textual witnesses to these philosophers, whose legacy remains very poorly attested and little known. Additionally, the treatise is a rare example of a Platonist work preserved in the Syriac language. The Syriac reception of Plato and Platonic teachings has left rather sparse textual traces, and the question of what precisely Syriac Christians knew about Plato and his philosophy remains a debated issue. The treatise provides evidence for the close acquaintance of Syriac scholars with Platonic cosmology and with philosophical commentaries on Plato’s Timaeus.

Syriac "Sayings of Greek Philosophers" (SGP) is a corpus of sentences preserved in a number of Sy... more Syriac "Sayings of Greek Philosophers" (SGP) is a corpus of sentences preserved in a number of Syriac manuscripts in the form of different collections and under different titles (until now these sentences were mainly referred to as "On the Soul"). SGP consists of two main blocks of sentences represented by two gnomic anthologies, the "Dublin Florilegium", consisting of short maxims, and the "Tur ʿAbdin Florilegium", including longer expositions in moral philosophy, or "counsels". The first introductory part of the book not only describes the textual witnesses of SGP, but also surveys all other extant gnomic materials attributed to Greek philosophers and poets (the Seven Sages, Homer, Plato, Menander, Pythagoras, Theano, etc.), including gnomologia, florilegia, exempla, and doxography. Two chapters of the introduction focus on the pedagogical use of the gnomic materials mainly connected with the new Christian forms of rhetorical education based on the study of the Bible and on the texts of Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus. The second part of the book contains a critical edition of SGP on the basis of 15 manuscripts.

A volume of collected studies dedicated to to Rüdiger Arnzen on the occasion of his sixtieth birt... more A volume of collected studies dedicated to to Rüdiger Arnzen on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.

Syriac Plato by Yury Arzhanov

Le Muséon, 2019

No Syriac translation of any genuine Platonic work has become known thus far, though the name of ... more No Syriac translation of any genuine Platonic work has become known thus far, though the name of the Greek philosopher, a number of ideas associated with it, and texts that bear it in the title became an integral part of Syriac literature. All three phenomena, however, should be seen as a product of the specific period of time, the early Christian era and Late Antiquity. We are thus faced with a Syriac image of Plato based on wisdom literature, with Platonism characteristic of the monastic ascetic tradition, and with the texts representing these influences.

Syriac Christian Culture: Beginnings to Renaissance, 2020

Syriac Aristotle by Yury Arzhanov

Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, 2021

Philologia Classica, 2021

The fragment of the Syriac translation of Aristotle's Poetics preserved by Jacob (Severus) Bar Sh... more The fragment of the Syriac translation of Aristotle's Poetics preserved by Jacob (Severus) Bar Shakko (d. 1241) comprises Poet. VI 1449b24-1450a10. In spite of its small size, it serves as an important witness both to the Greek text of the Poetics, and to the reception of this work in the Christian Orient and, later on, in the Muslim world. The fragment derives from a translation, which most likely appeared in West Syriac circles in the 7 th /8 th centuries AD and later served as the basis for the Arabic translation of the Poetics made by Abū Bishr Mattā ibn Yūnus in the 10 th century. The present article includes a new edition of the Syriac text preserved by Bar Shakko, which is based on the collation of six manuscripts and is accompanied by an English translation. The article also provides a detailed analysis of the Syriac fragment as compared to the transmitted Greek text of the Poetics, on the one hand, and to the Arabic translation of it by Abū Bishr, on the other. This comparison allows an assumption that the Syriac version is most likely based on a Greek manuscript, which may have contained glosses and scholia. A Greek and Syriac glossary is attached at the end of the article.

Syriac Menander by Yury Arzhanov

The article presents a Syriac collection of sentences similar to the florilegium which has become... more The article presents a Syriac collection of sentences similar to the florilegium which has become known as the Syriac Menander. The new collection, attributed to the “Greek philosopher Amrus”, is found on the fly-leaves of the ms. BL Add. 14598. It turns out to have been derived from the version which is preserved in the ms. BL Add. 14658. The modifications found in the new witness may be explained by scribal carelessness and as the product of deliberate alteration. Thus the collection of the ms. BL Add. 14598 provides us with an insight into the afterlife of the Syriac Menander. It also gives witness of the usage of the moral maxims in Syriac monastic communities.

Studia Graeco-Arabica, 2017

The collection of moral maxims known as the “Syriac Menander” has much in common with the new Chr... more The collection of moral maxims known as the “Syriac Menander” has much in common with the new Christian educational models of the fourth–fifth centuries, which established the Bible, especially the books of Proverbs and Jesus Sirach, as alternatives to the gnomic collections attributed to Menander. The Syriac reception of the “Euthalian apparatus” adopted for the study of the orations of Gregory of Nazianzus gave birth for new collections of sentences, which were closely connected with the name of Menander. The evidence presented in the article helps us better understanding the reception of the figure of Menander in Syriac literature.

The preserved palimpsests give evidence for the presence of the texts of Menander in the Syriac s... more The preserved palimpsests give evidence for the presence of the texts of Menander in the Syriac school tradition in Late Antiquity. Two Syriac gnomologies under the name of Menander develop the Hellenistic tradition of combining Greek
moral philosophy with Jewish wisdom literature. Thus they reflect the process of the Jewish and Christian reception of the Late Antique παιδεία, where the texts of Menander were used for educational purposes. The Syriac collections, like ancient
hills in archeology, preserve several cultural strata that come to light through source analysis and could be traced back to the Greek moral philosophy, Jewish wisdom literature, and Christian ascetic writings preserved or written in Syriac.

Gnomologia by Yury Arzhanov

E. Fiori et H. Hugonnard-Roche (éds), La philosophie en syriaque (Études Syriaques 16), Paris 2019, pp. 139–162.

Elements of rhetorical education and practice may be identified in the Syriac manuscripts, both i... more Elements of rhetorical education and practice may be identified in the Syriac manuscripts, both in their structure and content. Short edifying compositions (excerpted from larger moral treatises) and moral sayings serve as witnesses of usage of exemplary texts (designated as “demonstrations”) for the rhetorical purposes. Moreover, the structure of several Syriac manuscripts demonstrates close familiarity with the late antique system of education in general and with the rhetorical education in particular.

Sergius of Reshaina (d. 536) is a major figure in the history of the Syriac reception of Aristotl... more Sergius of Reshaina (d. 536) is a major figure in the history of the Syriac reception of Aristotle’s logic. He studied philosophy and medicine in the late 5th century in Alexandria with the famous Ammonius Hermeiou, whose lectures formed the basis for Sergius’ main philosophical work, his extensive Commentary on the Categories. In this treatise, Sergius adapted for his Christian audience the Alexandrian educational model and exegesis of Aristotle logical writings and in this way influenced subsequent centuries of Aristotelian studies in Syriac.

n 2021, a previously unknown treatise by Porphyry of Tyre, which has been preserved in a Syriac t... more n 2021, a previously unknown treatise by Porphyry of Tyre, which has been preserved in a Syriac translation, was made available to historians of philosophy: Porphyry, On Principles and Matter (De Gruyter, 2021). This text not only enlarges our knowledge of the legacy of the most prominent disciple of Plotinus but also serves as an important witness to Platonist discussions of first principles and of Plato’s concept of prime matter in the Timaeus.

De Gruyter, 2021

The Syriac treatise published in the present volume is in many respects a unique text. Though it ... more The Syriac treatise published in the present volume is in many respects a unique text. Though it has been preserved anonymously, there remains little doubt that it belongs to Porphyry of Tyre. Accordingly, it enlarges our knowledge of the views of the most famous disciple of Plotinus. The text is an important witness to Platonist discussions on First Principles and on Plato’s concept of Prime Matter in the Timaeus. It contains extensive quotations from Atticus, Severus, and Boethus. This text thus provides us with new textual witnesses to these philosophers, whose legacy remains very poorly attested and little known. Additionally, the treatise is a rare example of a Platonist work preserved in the Syriac language. The Syriac reception of Plato and Platonic teachings has left rather sparse textual traces, and the question of what precisely Syriac Christians knew about Plato and his philosophy remains a debated issue. The treatise provides evidence for the close acquaintance of Syriac scholars with Platonic cosmology and with philosophical commentaries on Plato’s Timaeus.

Syriac "Sayings of Greek Philosophers" (SGP) is a corpus of sentences preserved in a number of Sy... more Syriac "Sayings of Greek Philosophers" (SGP) is a corpus of sentences preserved in a number of Syriac manuscripts in the form of different collections and under different titles (until now these sentences were mainly referred to as "On the Soul"). SGP consists of two main blocks of sentences represented by two gnomic anthologies, the "Dublin Florilegium", consisting of short maxims, and the "Tur ʿAbdin Florilegium", including longer expositions in moral philosophy, or "counsels". The first introductory part of the book not only describes the textual witnesses of SGP, but also surveys all other extant gnomic materials attributed to Greek philosophers and poets (the Seven Sages, Homer, Plato, Menander, Pythagoras, Theano, etc.), including gnomologia, florilegia, exempla, and doxography. Two chapters of the introduction focus on the pedagogical use of the gnomic materials mainly connected with the new Christian forms of rhetorical education based on the study of the Bible and on the texts of Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus. The second part of the book contains a critical edition of SGP on the basis of 15 manuscripts.

A volume of collected studies dedicated to to Rüdiger Arnzen on the occasion of his sixtieth birt... more A volume of collected studies dedicated to to Rüdiger Arnzen on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.

Le Muséon, 2019

No Syriac translation of any genuine Platonic work has become known thus far, though the name of ... more No Syriac translation of any genuine Platonic work has become known thus far, though the name of the Greek philosopher, a number of ideas associated with it, and texts that bear it in the title became an integral part of Syriac literature. All three phenomena, however, should be seen as a product of the specific period of time, the early Christian era and Late Antiquity. We are thus faced with a Syriac image of Plato based on wisdom literature, with Platonism characteristic of the monastic ascetic tradition, and with the texts representing these influences.

Syriac Christian Culture: Beginnings to Renaissance, 2020

Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, 2021

Philologia Classica, 2021

The fragment of the Syriac translation of Aristotle's Poetics preserved by Jacob (Severus) Bar Sh... more The fragment of the Syriac translation of Aristotle's Poetics preserved by Jacob (Severus) Bar Shakko (d. 1241) comprises Poet. VI 1449b24-1450a10. In spite of its small size, it serves as an important witness both to the Greek text of the Poetics, and to the reception of this work in the Christian Orient and, later on, in the Muslim world. The fragment derives from a translation, which most likely appeared in West Syriac circles in the 7 th /8 th centuries AD and later served as the basis for the Arabic translation of the Poetics made by Abū Bishr Mattā ibn Yūnus in the 10 th century. The present article includes a new edition of the Syriac text preserved by Bar Shakko, which is based on the collation of six manuscripts and is accompanied by an English translation. The article also provides a detailed analysis of the Syriac fragment as compared to the transmitted Greek text of the Poetics, on the one hand, and to the Arabic translation of it by Abū Bishr, on the other. This comparison allows an assumption that the Syriac version is most likely based on a Greek manuscript, which may have contained glosses and scholia. A Greek and Syriac glossary is attached at the end of the article.

The article presents a Syriac collection of sentences similar to the florilegium which has become... more The article presents a Syriac collection of sentences similar to the florilegium which has become known as the Syriac Menander. The new collection, attributed to the “Greek philosopher Amrus”, is found on the fly-leaves of the ms. BL Add. 14598. It turns out to have been derived from the version which is preserved in the ms. BL Add. 14658. The modifications found in the new witness may be explained by scribal carelessness and as the product of deliberate alteration. Thus the collection of the ms. BL Add. 14598 provides us with an insight into the afterlife of the Syriac Menander. It also gives witness of the usage of the moral maxims in Syriac monastic communities.

Studia Graeco-Arabica, 2017

The collection of moral maxims known as the “Syriac Menander” has much in common with the new Chr... more The collection of moral maxims known as the “Syriac Menander” has much in common with the new Christian educational models of the fourth–fifth centuries, which established the Bible, especially the books of Proverbs and Jesus Sirach, as alternatives to the gnomic collections attributed to Menander. The Syriac reception of the “Euthalian apparatus” adopted for the study of the orations of Gregory of Nazianzus gave birth for new collections of sentences, which were closely connected with the name of Menander. The evidence presented in the article helps us better understanding the reception of the figure of Menander in Syriac literature.

The preserved palimpsests give evidence for the presence of the texts of Menander in the Syriac s... more The preserved palimpsests give evidence for the presence of the texts of Menander in the Syriac school tradition in Late Antiquity. Two Syriac gnomologies under the name of Menander develop the Hellenistic tradition of combining Greek
moral philosophy with Jewish wisdom literature. Thus they reflect the process of the Jewish and Christian reception of the Late Antique παιδεία, where the texts of Menander were used for educational purposes. The Syriac collections, like ancient
hills in archeology, preserve several cultural strata that come to light through source analysis and could be traced back to the Greek moral philosophy, Jewish wisdom literature, and Christian ascetic writings preserved or written in Syriac.

E. Fiori et H. Hugonnard-Roche (éds), La philosophie en syriaque (Études Syriaques 16), Paris 2019, pp. 139–162.

Elements of rhetorical education and practice may be identified in the Syriac manuscripts, both i... more Elements of rhetorical education and practice may be identified in the Syriac manuscripts, both in their structure and content. Short edifying compositions (excerpted from larger moral treatises) and moral sayings serve as witnesses of usage of exemplary texts (designated as “demonstrations”) for the rhetorical purposes. Moreover, the structure of several Syriac manuscripts demonstrates close familiarity with the late antique system of education in general and with the rhetorical education in particular.

The Syriac collection of philosophical sentences preserved in the manuscript Vat. Sir. 135 displa... more The Syriac collection of philosophical sentences preserved in the manuscript Vat. Sir. 135 displays a number of parallels with Greek gnomologies. At the same time it reflects the tendency to bring together ancient Greek philosophy and Christian ascetical praxis which is common to a large part of the Syriac popular philosophical texts. Because of that the Syriac gnomology can be connected only indirectly with the Greek collections of philosophical sentences which are known to us. In some later Arabic philosophical florilegia, on the contrary, we find nearly literal translations of a number of sentences which were included in the collection of Vat. Sir. 135. This allows us to trace the “Nachleben” of the Syriac gnomic sayings in the Muslim culture. The article presents a general description of the Syriac gnomology in the Ms. Vat. Sir. 135 as well as a German translation which takes also into account the variants of several maxims preserved in the Ms. Sinai Syriac 14.

Received Opinions: Doxography in Antiquity and the Islamic World, 2022

Since Hermann Diels, scholars have mainly associated the term "doxography" with the texts related... more Since Hermann Diels, scholars have mainly associated the term "doxography" with the texts related to the Placita philosophorum, attributed to a certain Aëtius and transmitted by Ps.-Plutarch and Stobaeus. In the last few decades, however, the intensive study of what has come to be called "Aëtiana" has manifested multiple forms of doxography, many of which were not directly connected with the tradition of the Placita. One of the characteristics that may unify different doxographical materials is their educational function. Apparently, then, education forms to a large extant the Sitz im Leben of the doxography. Late antiquity was a period of both radical change and continuity. Syriac Christians witnessed a process of transformation from the traditional forms of education characteristic of late antique schools into Christian educational models that were mainly associated with monasteries. The doxographical materials found in Syriac sources follow and reflect this significant evolution in educational practice.

Études Syriaques, vol. 16, 2019

The article offers a description of the composite East Syriac manuscript preserved in Alqosh (Nor... more The article offers a description of the composite East Syriac manuscript preserved in Alqosh (Northern Iraq). Two originally independent parts of the manuscript contain works dealing for the most part with philosophy, logic, grammar and lexicography and were produced in 19th century Alqosh. Whereas the exemplar of one of these can be determined with certainty (British Library, India Office 9), that of the second part is more elusive. This previously unknown manuscript not only provides new textual evidence for a large number of texts, but is also of significant historical importance as a document attesting to the revival of interest in the study of philosophy and grammar in the Chaldean milieu during the modern period.

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Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin 4/2 , 2018

This essay presents the ERC project ‘Transmission of Classical Scientific and Philosophical Liter... more This essay presents the ERC project ‘Transmission of Classical Scientific and Philosophical Literature from Greek into Syriac and Arabic’ (HUNAYNNET) based at the Institute for Medieval Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The main research question leading the project addresses the contribution of the Syriac tradition in the transfer of Greek scientific literature to the Arabic-speaking world. To fulfill this goal the project is going to provide digital editions of the Syriac and Arabic versions and tools for linguistic corpus-based analysis. The digital Greek–Syriac–Arabic corpus will offer a novel approach for research into the translation techniques and in the history of the transmission of classical Greek literature in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Dans le cadre du nouveau Projet « Pythagorica orientalia » du Laboratoire d’Etudes sur les Monoth... more Dans le cadre du nouveau Projet « Pythagorica orientalia »
du Laboratoire d’Etudes sur les Monothéismes (LEM – UMR 8584)

Organisation :
Daniel De Smet (CNRS-LEM)
Constantinos Macris (CNRS-LEM)
Izabela Jurasz (Centre Léon Robin)

Maison des sciences de l'homme,
54, Boulevard Raspail – 75006 Paris, salle 9 (sous-sol)

En hybride sur Teams
Inscription pour obtenir le lien : constantinos.macris@cnrs.fr

Keynote speakers:
Yury Arzhanov (University of Salzburg)
Anna Izdebska (Max Planck Institut, Berlin)

Programme

10h. Ouverture - Présentation du projet (Constantinos Macris & Daniel De Smet)
10h45 Pythagorica Arabica : An Overview (Anna Izdebska)
11h45 pause
12h Fîthâgûrâs, un Pythagore néoplatonicien (Daniel De Smet)
12h45 pause déjeuner
14h30 Pythagorica Syriaca : Texts and Contexts (Yury Arzhanov)
15h30 pause
15h45 Théano et les 107 Pythagoriciens: nouvelles pistes sur les Pythagorica transmis en syriaque (Izabela Jurasz)
16h30 Discussion générale et perspectives
17h30 Fin