THEMISTIUS. — Orator and philosopher of the 4th century A.D. (ca. 520-90). Son of Paphlagonian parents, and born probably at Constantinople, very renowned for eloquence and teaching, he enjoyed the favor of the emperors and important offices. He seconded the restoration of paganism attempted by Julian; nevertheless he maintained a certain moderation with regard to Christianity, for which he was esteemed also by illustrious Christians, such as Gregory of Nazianzus, who calls him βασιλεύς τῶν λόγων (Ep., 139 ff.).

There remain of him 33 discourses (one of the 34 attributed to him is apocryphal), in which he treats themes of popular philosophy, and furthermore Paraphrases of various writings of Aristotle (Analytica post., Physica, De anima, De caelo, Metaphys.). Lost are the commentaries on the Analytica pr., the Topica and the Categoriae.

T. is not an original thinker, but rather an exegete. He is predominantly Aristotelian (of Aristotle he affirms ὄν προϋταξάμψα βίου τε καὶ τῆς σοφίας): but with Platonic, Pythagorean and Stoic influences. For T., as in general for the Platonists of the imperial age, philosophy has an essentially ethical-religious end. He holds the idea of the Divinity to be innate; whereas on the other hand the nature of God is not given to be known, and therefore the variety of religions and cults and philosophical sects is inevitable. T. intended thus to assume an "irenic" position in the face of the great contrast, which agitated his century, between Christianity and the old religion close to dissolution.

Bibliography6 works

BIBL.: edd.: the commentaries on Aristotle in Commentaria in Arist. graeca dell'Accad. di Berlino, V, I (1920), V, II (1900), V, III (1899), V, IV (1902), V, V (1903); Them. paraphrases..., ed. L. Spengel, Leipzig 1866; Them. orationes, ed. G. Dindorf, ibid. 1832. On T.: L. Méridier, Le philosophe Th. devant l'opinion de ses contemporains, diss., Rennes 1906; G. Pohlschmidt, Quaestiones themistianas, diss., Münster 1908; J. Scharold, Chrysostomos u. Th., Burghausen 1912; H. F. Bouchery, Contribution à l'étude de la chronologie des discours de Th., in L'antiquité classique, 5 (1936), pp. 191-208. See also Überweg, I, pp. 656-58, 600 (bibl.). See furthermore the bibl. of the entry GIULIANO L'APOSTATA.

Raffaello Del Re

@incollection{ec11_temistio, author = {Del, Re Raffaello}, title = {Temistio}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XI}, pages = {1880}, 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/temistio} }

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Themistius

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