PHILOPONUS, JOANNES (JOHN THE GRAMMARIAN)

This article appears in Volume V21, Page 440 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PER-PIG

PHILOPONUS, JOANNES (JOHN THE GRAMMARIAN) , Greek philosopher of Alexandria, lived in the later

part

PART

of the 5th and the beginning of the 6th century of our era. The surname Grammaticus he assumed in virtue of his lectures on language and literature; that of Philoponus owing to the large number of

treatises

TREATISES

he composed. He was a pupil of Ammonius Hermiae, and is supposed to have written the life of

Aristotle

ARISTOTLE
ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.)

sometimes attributed to his master. To Philoponus are attributed a large number of works on theology and philosophy. It is said that, though he was a pupil of Ammonius, he was at first a Christian, and he has been credited with the authorship of a commentary on the Mosaic Cosmogony in eight books, dedicated to Sergius, patriarch of

Constantinople

CONSTANTINOPLE
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF

, and edited by Balthasar Corderius in 163o. Other authorities maintain that this, as well as the Disputatio de paschale, was the

work

WORK

of another author, John the Tritheist. It was perhaps this Philoponus who tried to save the Alexandrian library from the caliph Omar after Amu's victory in 639.
440
The more certain writings of Philoponus consist of commentaries on

Aristotle

ARISTOTLE
ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.)

. These include works on the Physica, the Prior and the Posterior Analytics, the Meteorologica, the De anima, the De generations' animalium, the De generatione et interitu and the Metaphysica. These have been frequently edited and are interesting in connexion with the adoption of Aristotelianism by the Christian

Church

. They seem to have embodied the lectures of Ammonius with additions by Philoponus, and are remarkable rather for elaborate care than for originality and insight. He wrote also an attack on

Proclus

PROCLUS, or PROCULUS (A.D. 410-485)

(De aeternitate mundi). Two

treatises

TREATISES

on mathematics are ascribed to him: A Commentary on the Mathematics of Nicomachus, edited by Hoche (1864 and 1867), and a Treatise on the Use of the

Astrolabe

ASTROLABE (from Gr. liar pop, star, and Aa(3eiv, to take)

, published by Hase. The latter is the most ancient

work

WORK

on this

instrument

INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

, and its authenticity is rendered almost certain by its reference to Ammonius as the master of the author.

End of Article: PHILOPONUS, JOANNES (JOHN THE GRAMMARIAN)

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/PER_PIG/PHILOPONUS_JOANNES_JOHN_THE_GR.html">
PHILOPONUS, JOANNES (JOHN THE GRAMMARIAN)
</a>

(Previous)
PHILOPOEMEN (253184 B.C.)

(Next)
PHILOSOPHY (Gr. gthos, fond of, and vo4 (a, wis...

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email