SIMPLICIUS. - Neoplatonic philosopher of the 6th century AD. Biographical information is scarce. He was a native of Cilicia, and had as his teacher in Alexandria Ammonius Hermiae, and in Athens Damascius.
When Justinian, by the Edict of 529, forbade the pagans to teach philosophy in Athens and closed the Platonic school, confiscating its property, S., together with Damascius and five other colleagues, emigrated to Persia to the court of King Khosrow; he later returned to Athens in 533 and continued his activity as a writer. There survive from him commentaries on Aristotle's De caelo, Physica, Categoriae and De anima, and on the Manual of Epictetus (v.). These are valuable works, characterized by a seriousness and sobriety of exegesis that is not found in other Neoplatonic commentators on the ancient philosophers. Some writings of S. have been lost; some others are still unpublished.
Bibliography5 worksthe commentaries on Aristotle are published in the Commentaria in Aristotelem graeca of the Berlin Academy (VII, 1894; VIII, 1907; IX, 1882;
BIBL.: the commentaries on Aristotle are published in the Commentaria in Aristotelem graeca of the Berlin Academy (VII, 1894; VIII, 1907; IX, 1882; X, 1895; XI, 1882). Of the Commentary on Epictetus see the edition of J. Schweighäuser, Leipzig 1800 and that of Fr. Dübner in the volume containing the Characters of Theophrastus, Paris 1840. On S., in addition to E. Zeller, Philos. d. Griechen, III, 2, 3rd ed., Leipzig 1928, pp. 909-14; K. Praechter, Simplicius, in Pauly-Wissowa, III, A1, pp. 204-13. Particular references in Überweg, I, pp. 195-96; Ph. Merlan, Ein Simplihios-Zitat bei Pseudo-Alexandros u. ein Plotinizitat bei Simplihios, in Rheinisches Museum für Philol., 84 (1935), pp. 154-60.
Del, Re Raffaello. “Simplicio.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, col. 648. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953. https://azioneromana.com/article/simplicio.
MLA
Del, Re Raffaello. “Simplicio.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1953, col. 648. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/simplicio.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec11_simplicio,
author = {Del, Re Raffaello},
title = {Simplicio},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XI},
pages = {648},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1953},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/simplicio}
}
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