Elias (Greek scholar)

Elias (/ɪˈlaɪəs/; Greek: Ἠλίας; fl. 6th century) was a Greek scholar and a commentator on Aristotle and Porphyry.

He was a pupil of Olympiodorus in Alexandria in the late-6th century.[1] His name suggests that he was a Christian.[2] A commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge written in Greek has survived.[1][3] Some fragments survive of a commentary he wrote on the Prior Analytics of Aristotle, and he is known to have written on the De Interpretatione of Aristotle.[4] It is also possible that the extant Commentary on Aristotle's Categories which is attributed to David was actually written by Elias.[5]

In addition, a second extant commentary on Porphyry's Isagoge was falsely ascribed to Elias.[1][6] The commentary was also falsely ascribed to David,[6] and it has been conjectured that it may have been written by Stephen of Alexandria.[6]

Historians from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy pointed out[7]

Moreover, Elias repeatedly emphasizes the Platonic-Neoplatonic conviction that the purpose of philosophy is the transformation or assimilation of a human being to the godhead, a genuinely Platonic ideal explicitly stated in the Theaetetus, (176A-B).

See also

References
  1. Jonathan Barnes, 2006, Porphyry Introduction, page xxi. Oxford University Press
  2. Richard Sorabji, (1990), Aristotle transformed: the ancient commentators and their influence, page 36.
  3. D. N. Sedley, 2003, The Cambridge companion to Greek and Roman philosophy, page 249.
  4. Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Robert Martindale, J. Morris, 1992, The prosopography of the later Roman Empire, Volumes 2-3, Elias 6, page 438. Cambridge University Press
  5. The Cambridge Ancient History: Late antiquity: empire and successors, A.D. 425-600 page 844.
  6. Pamela M. Huby, R. W. Sharples, Dimitri Gutas, 1995, Theophrastus of Eresus, Sources for His Life, Writings, Thought and Influence, page 17. BRILL.
  7. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. "Elias". Retrieved 30 May 2015.

Further reading

Elias and David: Introductions to Philosophy with Olympiodorus: Introduction to Logic. [Translated by Sebastian Gertz]. Bloomsbury: London. 2017.

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