JOSEPH THE PHILOSOPHER. - Byzantine monk, b. at Ithaca ca. 1280, d. at Thessalonica ca. 1330. He studied Greek philosophy in that city. After a period of eremitical life in Thessaly, in 1320 he went to Constantinople: proposed several times for the patriarchate, he refused and withdrew once again to monastic life at Thessalonica.

He composed (besides some writings on piety and virtue) an Encyclopedia of the sciences (rhetoric, logic, physics, the quadrivium, ethics, theology), in which, however, he also collects various writings of contemporaries. The work is preserved in cod. Riccardiano gr. 12, and, in part, in other manuscripts. C. Walz published its rhetoric under the title Ἰωσὴρ τοῦ Ῥακενδύτου σύνοψις μητορικῆς (in Rhethores graeci, Stuttgart and Tübingen 1834, pp. 465-569).

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: M. Treu, Der Phil. J., in Byzant. Zeitschr., 8 (1899), pp. 1-69; N. Terzaghi, Sulla composizione dell'Euc. del filos. G., in Studi it. di filol. classico, 10 (1902), pp. 121-32; S. Mercati, Lettera del monaco Safonia al filosofo G., in Studi bizantini, 2nd series, 5 (1924), pp. 169-72.

Ugo Viglino

@incollection{ec6_giuseppe_il_filosofo, author = {Viglino, Ugo}, title = {Giuseppe Il Filosofo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {807--808}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/giuseppe-il-filosofo} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Joseph the Philosopher

About this entry