Aetna and the Moon: Explaining Nature in Ancient Greece and Rome

Notes

| �� �� Notes Chapter � �. See, for example, Lewenstein (���2) �37. There is an extensive literature on the subject, and Lewenstein provides a useful starting point. Lewenstein also compiled the Cold Fusion Archive, ��8�-���3, held in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (Collection number 445�), Cornell University Library. 2. Lewenstein (���2) �40. 3. Sarton (��52/���3) �30. Some scholars favor a later dating for the Homeric poems, but the debate is outside the scope of the present work. Interested readers might turn to Lowenstam (���7) 57-67 for an intriguing consideration of a range of views and evidence. 4. The National Gallery of Art published a catalogue of a joint exhibition with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by Buitron-Oliver et al. (���2), The Greek Miracle: Classical Sculpture from the Dawn of Democracy, The Fifth Century B.C. Some scholars, e.g. Gernet (��83) and Vernant (��82) especially �30-32, (��83) 343-74, have rejected the idea of a Greek miracle. On literacy and other developments, see Burns (��8�), referring also to Cornford (���2/��57) and Snell (��53); Harris (��8�), particularly chap. 2. 5. See, e.g., Nestle (��42), and the critique in Most (���a). Lloyd (��75/����) has attacked the view in his “Greek Cosmologies”; see also von Staden (���2). One of the oldest surviving Greek papyri, the Derveni papyrus, is also relevant to the discussion; see, e.g., Betegh (2004). 6. Plato is sometimes offered as an example of a philosopher who rejected traditional mythology, for example in the Republic 377a-378d. However, the relationship between mythology and philosophy was complicated, even in Plato’s writings; see Morgan (2000); Murray (����); Rowe (����); on Aristotle, see Johansen (����). It should be noted that some ancient philosophers, notably the Stoics, held the view that mythology preserved very ancient wisdom; see Boys-Stones (200�), particularly Part I (Ancient Wisdom: Stoic Exegesis). �2 | Notes to Chapter �| Notes to Chapter � Notes to Chapter � 7. See Buxton (����) 8, referring to the work of Vernant (���5) 2�2-3, 303. Buxton provides a useful overview of some of the issues; see also Most (����a). 8. I thank Philip van der Eijk for his helpful comments here. As we will see in Chapter 3, Plato referred to the account given in the Timaeus as a mythos; the main speaker claims to be presenting a “likely story.” �. Calame (����) �2�-22. �0. Ibid. �38. ��. Ibid. �40. �2. Cf. Plato’s Protagoras, in which logos and mythos are said to work together (320b-c, 328c-d). �3. Calame (����) �40, and in note 34 citing the work of others. �4. Ibid. �4�, my emphasis. �5. Most (����b) 334-35. �6. West (���6) notes that “Hesiod’s absolute date is now agreed to fall not far before or after 700 BC.” �7. Sarton (��52/���3) �60. �8. See, for example, Morgan (2000) �5-45 for a discussion of some of the issues involved in defining “myth” (and mythos) in the ancient Greek context. Many of the essays, particularly that by Calame, in Buxton (����)—including Buxton’s own Introduction—usefully demonstrate and discuss the range of meanings attributed to the term mythos by modern scholars. ��. While I do not consider medical texts specifically, I recognise that in the relevant historical period the boundaries between medicine and philosophy were very permeable. 20. While some have suggested that the Greek work epistēmē is equivalent to the Latin scientia, this is open to discussion. Furthermore, epistēmē, like the German Wissenschaft and French science, may be used to describe knowledge of social and historical—as well as natural— phenomena. I am grateful to Philip van der Eijk for comments related to these issues. 2�. Aristotle Metaphysics �025b-�026a. The Greek word mathēma (plural = mathēmata) was used to refer to “that which is learnt,” “learning or knowledge,” and the “mathematical sciences”; see the entry under mathē in LSJ (��40/��68) for examples of usage. Notes to Chapter � | �3| �3 �3 22. For example, Cato the Elder on agriculture, though—as Harry Hine has pointed out to me (private communication)—the contrast between what is Greek and Roman is not as prominent in On agriculture as in some fragments of other works, and the biographical tradition about Cato. 23. Duff (2000) xiii. The term “genre fiction” is used to refer to modern works of popular fiction that are regarded as highly standardized, for example historical romances, science fiction, and detective stories. Art historians use the term...