THEIA

Centre Jean Pépin UMR8230 CNRS Paris / MSCActions European Commission

Other Works

A discourse by Themistius on the virtue ( Perì aretēs), lost in Greek, is extant in Syriac translation and published (ed. Sachau, Inedita Syriaca, 1870 (repr 1968):17–47; also edited by Doneway-Norman 1974, in Themistii Orationes with Latin trans. by March R: 7–71; German trans. Gildemeister-Bücheler (1872), Italian trans. Conterno 2014). A discourse by Themistius on friendship, lost in Greek, is extant in Syriac and published  (ed. Sachau, Inedita Syriaca, 1870:48–75; Italian trans. Conterno 2014).

The Fihrist ( K. al-Fihrist, Flügel: 253,24–27) credits Abū ‘Uthmān al-Dimashqī with the Arabic translation of a discourse by Themistius’ On Government, lost in Greek. This Arabic translation is extant and published (MS Istanbul, Köprülü I 1608, ed. Cheikho, al-Mashriq 18 (1920):881–889; also edited by Shahid I, in Themistii Orationes 73–119; see also Gutas 1975:47; It. trans. Conterno 2014) –attribution to Themistius is disputed.

A work lost in Greek attributed to Themistius, the Treatise in response to Maxim on the reduction of the second and third figures of the syllogism, to the first one ( Māqāla fī-l-radd ‘alā Maqsīmūs fī taḥlīl al-thānī wa-l-thālith ilā al-awwal), is extant in Arabic. This text is published and translated into French (Badawī 1947, 1968; Rashed 2016) and lies in the background of some developments by al-Fārābī (Martini Bonadeo 2008).

In addition, a writing by al-Kindī On How to Dispel Sorrow has been traced back to a lost work on happiness attributed to Themistius. Kindī’s text is published together with the Italian translation (Ritter and Walzer 1938; Druart 1996; Martini Bonadeo 2008:227–228); however, Themistius’ authorship has been challenged.

Several Arab and Jewish authors mention Themistius without referring to a specific work. Fārābī mentions Themistius’ opinion regarding the date of composition of “Archytas’” treatise on the Categories: according to Fārābi, Themistius says that there were two authors named Archytas, only one of them was active before Aristotle, but the Archytas who wrote on the Categories, coming after Aristotle, could not be the source of Aristotle’s work (Kitāb al-alfāẓ al-musta‘mala fī-l-manṭiq, ed. Mahdi 1968:109,7–12; see Zimmerman 1981; Martini Bonadeo 2008).

Al-Sijistānī (c. 913–987 CE) quoted several passages attributed to Themistius, dealing with the definition of happiness (Muntakhāb Ṣiwān al-ḥikma, ed. Dunlop 1979:101); this passage is also quoted by al-Tawḥīdī (R. fī-l-Ṣadāqa wa-l-ṣadīq, ed. Keilani: 193). The influence of Themistius’ work on friendship has been detected in Miskawayh (s. X–XI, Tahdhīb al-akhlāq ed. Tamim: p 139; Rosenthal 1940:402–405).

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