Hesychios of Miletos and his Biography of Aristotle

Abstract

The paper consists of two parts. The first introductory part considers all the available testimonies about life and works of Hesychios of Miletos, the Byzantine historian and encyclopaedist of the 6th cent. A.D. The Introduction also contains a brief overview of the research literature on the issue. Some new assumptions are made about the dating and the purpose of the Roman and General History attributed to Hesychios. In particular, I suggest that the History was written in the early years of the reign of Justinian I and, perhaps, was intended for the upbringing and education of Hesychios’ son John. The second part of the paper contains a translation of the biography of Aristotle, which was attributed to Hesychios by V. Rose and which is believed to be a part of his Onomatologos or Table of Eminent Writers. The main value of this Biography is an extensive list of Aristotle’s writings. The translation is annotated and accompanied by an index of correspondences between the list of Hesychios and the two other extant lists of Aristotle’s works, belonging to Diogenes Laertius and Ptolemy-al-Garib.

Keywords

• ancient biography
• the ancient biographical tradition on Aristotle