• Source: Priscian of Lydia

Priscian of Lydia (or Priscianus; ‹See Tfd›Greek: Πρισκιανὸς ὁ Λυδός Prīskiānós ho Lȳdós; Latin: Priscianus Lydus; fl. 6th century), was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. Two works of his have survived.




Life


A contemporary of Simplicius of Cilicia, Priscian was born in Lydia, probably in the late 5th century. He was one of the last Neoplatonists to study at the Academy when Damascius was at its head. When Justinian I closed the school in 529, Priscian, together with Damascius, Simplicius, and four other colleagues were forced to seek asylum in the court of the Persian king Chosroes. By 533 they were allowed back into the Byzantine Empire after Justinian and Chosroes concluded a peace treaty, in which it was provided that the philosophers would be allowed to return.




Works


Two works of Priscian's have survived:

An epitome of Theophrastus' On Sense-Perception
Answers to Chosroes (Solutiones ad Chosroen)
The Answers to Chosroes contain a series of answers to philosophical questions which were apparently posed to Priscian in a debate at the Persian court during his exile. The text exists only in a late, corrupt Latin translation. Priscian mentions: Plato's Timaeus, Phaedo and Phaedrus; Aristotle's Politics, Physics, On the Heavens, Generation and Corruption, On Dreams and On Prophesying by Dreams; Hippocrates, Strabo's Geography, Ptolemy's Almagest, Iamblichus' On the Soul and the works of Plotinus and Proclus. The list is a catalog of Neoplatonic works on cosmology and natural history.
It has also been suggested that the commentary on Aristotle's On the Soul attributed to Simplicius, was written by Priscian, but this is disputed.




Notes






Further reading


Priscian (1997). Priscian: On Theophrastus on Sense-Perception with Simplicius: On Aristotle, On the Soul 2.5-12. Ancient Commentators on Aristotle. Translated by Huby, Pamela. London: Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-2752-X.
Priscian (2018). Priscian: Answers to King Khosroes of Persia. Ancient Commentators on Aristotle. Translated by Huby, Pamela. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-35006058-6.
Frede, Michael; Striker, Gisela (1999). Rationality in Greek thought. Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780198250029. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
McKeon, Richard Peter (1949). Science and Civilization. University of Wisconsin Press. Retrieved 25 May 2013.




External links


Victoria Erhart: The Context and Contents of Priscianus of Lydia's Solutionum ad Chosroem

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Priscian of Lydia
• List of ancient Greek philosophers
• Theophrastus
• Simplicius of Cilicia
• List of ancient Platonists
• Index of philosophy articles (I–Q)
• Gaius the Platonist
• Index of Byzantine Empire-related articles
• Index of ancient philosophy articles
• Antioch