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SIMPLICIUS ON THE FILLING OF SPACE, IN CAELO 655.9–656.5: A DELIBERATE MISTAKE?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2021

D. R. Lloyd
D. R. Lloyd*
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
*
*Email: boblloyd@waitrose.com
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Abstract

In In cael. 655.9–656.5 Simplicius reports an argument in which an apparent justification is offered for the false claim by Aristotle that ‘pyramids’ (regular tetrahedra) can completely fill space. This argument was analysed by Ian Mueller in an Appendix to his translation of In caelo, and the outline of an alternative has been presented in Myrto Hatzimichali's study of Potamo of Alexandria. In this article I contest Mueller's interpretation, and expand on the one reported by Hatzimichali. I also contest Mueller's claim that a version of his interpretation can be found in the partial commentary by Peter of Auvergne. It is suggested here that the ‘justification’ reported by Simplicius is a deliberate slip in logic, which is accompanied by a carefully constructed cover-up involving some quite tricky geometry. Simplicius makes frequent reference to Alexander of Aphrodisias, but it is argued here that he has been very selective with these citations.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Cambridge Classical Journal , Volume 67 , December 2021 , pp. 93 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Cambridge Philological Society

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Footnotes

I thank Dr Myrto Hatzimichali and Professor David Sedley for drawing the problem in Simplicius which is the subject of this article to my attention some years ago, and Dr Hatzimichali for many very useful discussions since. I am grateful to Professor Marjorie Senechal for providing her unpublished translation of Struik's (1925) article, to the referee of this article for some very useful comments, to Dr Elisa Coda for allowing me to see a provisional copy of the relevant section of her Themistius translation, to Mr Laszlo Bardos for permission to reproduce his illustrations shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, and for providing high-resolution copies of them, and to the current holders of the copyright, Bristol Classical Press (an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc), for permission to reproduce the citations from Mueller (2009).

References

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