PLATO in SYRIAC LITERATURE* 1. Cultural Background 1.1

PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE*

1. Cultural Background

1.1. Christianity and Greek Philosophy The earliest evidence of the Syriac reception of Plato and his philosophy dates from the period when Christian theology had already developed a certain attitude towards Greek Antiquity and its cultural heritage. Accepting and further developing the forms of Greek literature, Christian intellectuals creatively transformed them in the light of the Incarnation. Their interpretation of Greek philosophy aimed at discovering the “true” meaning of the books of the past that remained hidden even from the authors of the works. This tendency manifested in the writings of Christian authors connected with Alexandria and influenced to a large extent by Jewish Hellenistic writings, which in turn presented Greek philosophy in the language of the Bible and ancient authors as dependent on the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Thus, adopting this apologetic claim, Clement of Alexandria presented Greek philosophy as a “preparatory stage” of Christian revelation1. The writings of Plato constituted a substantial part of the Greek intellectual heritage and played a crucial role in the Late Antique system of philosophical education. It was thus inevitable that the Christian interpretation of the Greek genius included a specific attitude towards Plato and his philosophy. Both those authors who, like Clement and Justin Martyr (cf. his Apologies), appreciated and partly accepted the Greek heritage, and those who, like Tatian (Oratio ad Graecos) and Theophilus of Antiochia (Ad Autolycum), expressed a rather critical attitude towards it, recognized the value of Platonic philosophy. Describing his philosophi cal education, Justin Martyr states that it was quite natural after studying Plato to take the next step and convert to Christianity, seeing that “the end” of the teachings of Plato was the idea of God2. The early Christian apologists ascribed a special place to Plato among ancient philosophers, but at the same time, they were eager to stress that the most precious elements

* I’d like to thank Joshua Falconer for his valuable suggestions and for having cor- rected my English. 1 See Wyrwa, Die christliche Platonaneignung. 2 Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 2 (Marcovich, Iustini Martyris Dialogus, p. 71-73).

Le Muséon 132 (1-2), 1-36. doi: 10.2143/MUS.132.1.3286532 - Tous droits réservés. © Le Muséon, 2019. 2 Y. ARZHANOV of his doctrine could be truly understood only in the light of the teachings of Christ3. The Christian reception of the teachings of Plato had two important consequences4. On the one hand, as a result of a reinterpretation of his teachings, the philosopher passed from the camp of thinkers hostile to Christianity to the group of its sympathizers and forerunners. On the other hand, the Christian reinterpretation of his philosophy prepared the ground for new works composed in the name of the philosopher (pseudepigrapha) with the purpose of expressing genuinely Christian ideas. Thus, the general development of Christian philosophy paved the way for such a reception of Plato and his philosophy among the Syrians that highly valued his figure as a sage but had no need for studying his original works. The Platonic dialogues remained in Late Antiquity mainly under the authority of the rhetorical and philosophical schools, among which the two centers, Athens and Alexandria, with their programs of philosophical education, played a crucial role5. The curriculum of the Alexandrian philo sophical schools made an important impact on the Syriac scholastic tra- dition6. Starting with the translation activity of Sergius, an archiatros of Rēš ῾Aynā (d. 536), who received a philosophical and medical education from Ammonius at the end of the 5th century7, the Alexandrian school literature (especially the genre of prolegomena) became an integral part of philosophical studies in Syria8. Since the 4th century, the Alexandrian philosophical tradition assumed a special form in the Egyptian monastic circles, whose literature enjoyed great popularity in the Palestinian and Mesopotamian monasteries9. The Egyptian and later Syriac monastic literature transmitted the type of Pla- tonic philosophy that was expressed in the works of Origen and Evagrius Ponticus and later developed in the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. From the 6th century onward, it was not with the writings of Plato that educated Syriac speakers became acquainted, but through the Evagrian version of Late Antique Platonism, it was an altered form of Plato’s philosophy, compatible with the image of the “Christianized” philosopher and known through the writings of Christian apologists.

3 Justin, 1st Apology, ch. 60 (Marcovich, Iustini Martyris Apologiae, p. 116-117). 4 Cf. Beierwaltes, Platonismus im Christentum, p. 7-24. 5 See Watts, City and School. 6 Cf. Bruns, Aristoteles-Rezeption. 7 See Hugonnard-Roche, Note sur Sergius. 8 See Daiber, Die syrische Tradition. 9 Watts, City and School, p. 169-186. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 3

1.2. Syria and Hellenic Culture As an Aramaic dialect of the city of Edessa (modern Urfa in Turkey), Syriac language appeared and quickly spread in the first centuries CE in Northern Mesopotamia. For several centuries it was the common language among most of the Christian population in the Middle East until the rise of Islam. From the very beginning, Hellenistic culture greatly influenced Syriac literature. The term “Hellenistic” here refers primarily to its cultural and not strictly historical meaning10, since the impact of the cultural tradition that became characteristic of the whole Mediterranean world between 323 and 30 BCE largely exceeds these time boundaries. In par- ticular, the Aramaic speaking urban population of Northern Mesopotamia and Palestine was strongly influenced by the Hellenic culture. At times, Christian intellectuals accepted and creatively developed Hellenic culture, but at other times, they viewed it as a rival that they had to severely oppose11. One of the mosaics depicting Orpheus surrounded by animals, exca- vated not far from Edessa, demonstrates the presence of Greek cultural symbols in one of the main intellectual centers of Syriac Christianity12. Another such center, Antioch on the Orontes, maintained its “pagan” religious cults and institutions for a long time13. In his orations, Libanius, the leader of the school of rhetoric in Antioch in the 4th century, gives insight into the secular and religious culture of the city14. Another Hel- lenized town situated to the south of Antioch on the river Orontes, Apamea became famous for its Neo-Platonic school due to the works of such figures as Numenius and Iamblichus, so that Libanius even mentions “the choir of the Apamean philosophers”15. Thus, it is not surprising to meet elements of Greek philosophical education in the writings of a Christian author of the 5th century, connected with Apamea, John the Solitary, who mentions in his letters opinions of “the house of Plato”, i.e. of the followers of his philosophy, some of which were connected with the local school16. An archeological finding that provides evidence for the interest in Plato and his ideas in Apamea is one of the mosaics found there under the ruins of a Christian church dating from the 6th century17. It shows Socrates in

10 Cf. Schmitt – Vogt, Hellenismus. 11 See especially Brock, From Antagonism to Assimilation. 12 Healey, New Syriac Mosaic Inscription, p. 315. 13 Wallace-Hadrill, Christian Antioch, p. 14-18, 96-116. 14 See Cribiore, The School of Libanius. 15 See Balty, Apamea in Syria. 16 Strothmann, Johannes von Apamea, p. 8 [Syriac], p. 120 [German]. 17 Cf. Hanfmann, Socrates and Christ. 4 Y. ARZHANOV the company of his pupils. Socrates is depicted on it in a position that bears a strong resemblance to the early Christian images of Christ in the company of the apostles. If the figures surrounding Socrates on the Apamean mosaic are indeed his disciples, then the most famous of them, Plato, must also be present among them. An important center of religious cults and philosophical education generally hostile to Christianity was Ḥarrān. Later Arabic sources (the most detailed account is found in Ibn al-Nadīm in the 10th century) describe Ḥarrānians as worshippers of the stars and the moon, but they also present this town as a place of study and translation of Greek scientific and philo sophical works18. The reputation of Ḥarrān as a center of “pagan” culture was high enough to encourage Emperor Julian the Apostate to visit it on his way to Persia in 363. Relying on this evidence, some modern scholars consider it possible that Ḥarrān became place of refuge for Damascius, the last head of the Athenian Neo-Platonic school, who moved together with Simplicius first to Persia but later returned to the Roman Empire after the closing of the school in 529 by Emperor Justinian19. Mas῾ūdī, who visited Ḥarrān in 943, there encountered teachers of philosophy and temples bearing the “names of the intellectual substances” (asmā᾿ al-ǧawāhir al-῾aqliyya). On the gates of one of the temples, Mas῾ūdī found an inscription, written in Syriac and attributed to Plato, that he cites in Arabic as follows: man ῾arafa ḏātahū ta᾿allaha “he who knows himself (lit. “his essence”) becomes divine”20. This sentence echoes the teachings of Socrates as represented in the writings of Plato21, but probably was based on some Neo-Platonic treatises22. Mas῾ūdī’s note that it was written in Syriac corroborates the testimonies that Syriac long continued to be used in Ḥarrān, possibly also as the language of philosophical education. Evidence of the Syriac adaptation of the Greek enkyklios paideia is found in the 7th century manuscript London, British Library Add. 14658. The structure of this codex reflects the idea of the Late Antique educa- tion23. Opening with a prolegomena-text, the manuscript contains treatises on logic, grammar, natural philosophy and cosmology, and it ends with a number of moral admonitions, some of which are attributed to Plato.

18 For the sources, see especially Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus. 19 Tardieu, Sābiens coraniques; Watts, Where to Live the Philosophical Life. 20 Meynard et al., Mas῾ūdī, Les Prairies d’Or, vol. 2, p. 391, 393. 21 Cf. Alcibiades I, 133c. 22 Hadot, La vie et l’œuvre de Simplicius, p. 12-13. 23 Cf. Hugonnard-Roche, Le corpus philosophique syriaque; King, Origenism in Sixth Century Syria. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 5

Some texts in this collection were written by (or ascribed to) Sergius of Rēš ῾Aynā, but the manuscript could also reflect the non-Christian Hellenized milieu preserved in such intellectual centers as Apamea and Ḥarrān24. Both Christian and non-Christian educated circles were interested in Greek moral philosophy. The surviving Syriac manuscripts have preserved translations of the works of Plutarch, Lucian, and Themistius, as well as collections of sentences ascribed to Pythagoras, Menander, and Theano. Though some of the Syriac versions of these works (e.g., Sentences of the Pythagoreans) exhibit quite literal translations, most of them are character- ized by slight but consistent modifications of the Greek Vorlage, including omissions of the names of the Greek mythological figures, heroes and gods, and corrections that eliminate any elements of polytheism25. Such translation techniques reflect strife over the Greek cultural and philosophical heritage characteristic of the 4th century onwards. An addi- tional example of this competition has been preserved in a Syriac collection of “prophecies” of the pagan philosophers about Christ that bears a resemblance to the “Tübingen Theosophy”26. Three “prophecies” of Plato on the Trinity in the Syriac compendium do not exactly reflect the extant Greek version. Additionally, the appearance of “Baba, god of Ḥarrān” at the end of the compendium reveals the intention of its author(s). The Syriac collection was probably planned to serve as an instrument of polem- ics proposing a new and better understanding of the “pagan” philosophy claimed by Christian intellectuals. Its apologetic intention bears similarity to the more sophisticated treatise De Graecarum affectionum curatione, written in Greek in the 5th century by Theodoret, Christian bishop of Cyrrhus in Syria27. This work primarily addressed the non-Christian intellectual elite, and it suggests a profound reinterpretation of Greek philosophy, in that it was intended to reveal its connection with Christian theology. As Plato holds a special position in Greek philosophy, his texts (cited most likely on the basis of the compendia or other works of Christian authors like Eusebius) receive much attention from Theodoret, who states that they contain all the main elements of Christian faith28.

24 Cf. Miller, Sargis of Rešaina. 25 See Ryssel, Über den textkritischen Werth; Conterno, Retorica pagana; Rigolio, Plutarch in the Syriac Tradition; Rigolio, From ‘Sacrifice to the Gods’ to the ‘Fear of God’. 26 See Brock, A Syriac Collection of Prophesies; Brock, Some Syriac Excerpts. 27 Scholten, Theodoret, De Graecarum affectionum curatione. 28 Cf. Siniossoglou, Plato and Theodoret. 6 Y. ARZHANOV

2. Sources for the Knowledge of Plato and his Philosophy among the Syrians

2.1. Plato Translated: Quotations from his Works No literary or non-literary data permit the assumption that full translations of the genuine works of Plato ever existed in Syriac. Two hypotheses could be considered possible: 1) the dialogues of Plato were known in Greek to at least some of the educated Syrians but were never translated; 2) the translations have not survived and left no traces in Syriac literature. However, the cultural background of the Syriac reception of Plato and his philosophy speaks against both of these hypotheses. The “Christianiza- tion” of Plato in the first centuries of Church history created a new image of the philosopher that did not necessarily presuppose any acquaintance with his works. Even those authors who, like Theodoret of Cyrrhus, give extensive quotations from Plato’s dialogues might never have read them as separate works but could have used earlier Christian works (e.g., Eusebius’ Preparatio Evangelica) or collections of passages used for apologetic purposes. In the works of Syriac authors, all known passages introduced by the gnomic formula “Plato said …” do not necessarily presuppose any direct knowledge of the philosopher’s texts. A number of examples support this premise: 1) One of the earliest references to Plato is found in the Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories (addressed to Theodore) composed by Sergius of Rēš ῾Aynā at the beginning of the 6th century CE29. In the 5th mēmrā, speaking about relativistic arguments of sophists, Sergius posits the following refutation of the famous sophist Protagoras: Plato addressed him in the following way: “Thus, Protagoras, either you speak truly or falsely. But if you speak falsely, then we should not believe you, for what you say is lie. And if you speak truly, (saying that) whatever anybody says is true, when we say about you that you are speaking falsely, then what we say is true. Therefore, you have been proven as a liar.”30

29 The text of the commentary remains unpublished. Partial translations: Furlani, Sul trattato di Sergio; Brock, A Brief Outline of Syriac Literature, p. 202-204; Hugonnard- Roche, La logique d’Aristote, p. 165-231; Watt, Sergius of Reshayna on the Prolegomena. 30 ܦܛܘܢ ... ̇ܐܡܪ ܠܘܬܗ ܗܟܢܐ܂ ̇ܐܘ ܦܪܘܛـܐܓܘܪܐ ܫܪܝܪܐܝܬ ̇ܐܡܪ ܐܢܬ ܢܢܝܪܫܡ ܐܠ� ܐܕܗ ܠܛܡ ܉ܬܢܐ ܠܓܕܡ ܠܝܟܗ ܢܐ ܂ܬܢܐ ܠܓܕܡ ̇ܘܐ ܐܢܟܗ ܠܟܕ ܉ܬܢܐ ܪܡܐ̇ ܬܝܐܪܝܪܫ ܢܐܘ ܂ܬܢܐ ܠܠܡܡ ܐܬܘܒܕܟܕ ܢܡ̇ ܟܝܐ ܉ܟܠ ܢܝܕܡ ܉ܬܝܐܪܝܪܫ ܐܠ�ܕ ܟܝܠܥ ܢܢܝܪܡܐܕ̇ ܠܛܡ ܉ܘܗ̣ ܪܝܪܫ ܫܢܐ ܪܡܐܢܕ ܐܡ� ܂ܐܒܕܟ ܒܘܬ ܟܠ ܬܚܟܬܫܐܘ ܂ܢܢܝܪܡܐ̇ ܬܝܐܪܝܪܫ (Ms. London, BL Add. 14658, f. 41va.9-22). PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 7

The philosopher’s refutation of Protagoras appears in the dialogue Theaetetus31. The quotation of Sergius, however, goes back not to the Platonic text itself, but to its paraphrase by Ammonius32, the Alexandrian tutor of Sergius, whose lectures on Aristotle’s Categories made a major impact on the text of Sergius’ Commentary33. 2) Another quotation from the Athenian philosopher appears in the introduction of Sergius to his translation of Galen’s commentary on the Hippocratic treatise On Nutriment34. Elaborating on the statement of Hippocrates that not all people are able to read medical works, Sergius gives the following quotation: Plato said: “The two opposites should not be joined together. Let not the pure become contaminated by the impure. For when you mix sweet water with water that contains mud, you putrefy the water, and it is not good anymore.”35

One sentence in Sergius quotation derives from Phaedo36. However, the rest of the cited passage looks rather as a paraphrase of the Platonic text. It is thus likely that Sergius has made use of sources other than the Platonic dialogue itself. This supposition is based on the fact that the same sentence from Phaedo appears in the Commentary on Aristotle’s Cate- gories of Ammonius37. It turns out to be well-known to the Christian apologists who also made use of it38. 3) A quotation from Plato is included in the commentary on Aristotle’s De Interpretatione written by Proba in the middle of the 6th century:

31 Cf. Theaetetus 170c: Τί οὖν, ὦ Πρωταγόρα, χρησόμεθα τῷ λόγῳ; πότερον ἀληθῆ φῶμεν ἀεὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους δοξάζειν, ἢ τοτὲ μὲν ἀληθῆ, τοτὲ δὲ ψευδῆ; ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων γάρ που συμβαίνει μὴ ἀεὶ ἀληθῆ ἀλλ’ ἀμφότερα αὐτοὺς δοξάζειν. σκόπει γάρ, ὦ Θεόδωρε, εἰ ἐθέλοι ἄν τις τῶν ἀμφὶ Πρωταγόραν ἢ σὺ αὐτὸς διαμάχεσθαι ὡς οὐδεὶς ἡγεῖται ἕτερος ἕτερον ἀμαθῆ τε εἶναι καὶ ψευδῆ δοξάζειν (Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol. 1, p. 296). 32 Cf. Ammonius, In Arist. Cat. (67.3-5 Busse): ὦ Πρωταγόρα, ἀληθεύεις λέγων, ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὁτιοῦν λέγων ἀληθεύει, ἢ ψεύδῃ· εἰ μὲν οὖν ψεύδῃ, εἰκότως διὰ τοῦτό σοι οὐ πιστεύσομεν, εἰ δ’ ἀληθεύεις λέγων ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὁτιοῦν λέγων ἀληθεύει, λέγομεν δὲ περὶ σοῦ ὅτι ψεύδῃ, ἀληθεύομεν ἄρα, ὥστε πάλιν ψεύδῃ. 33 Another version of Plato’s refutation of Protagoras appears in Ms. Vat. Syr. 586, f. 4r. 34 Bos – Langermann, The Introduction of Sergius of Rēsh‘ainā. 35 The English translation is adopted from Bos – Langermann, The Introduction of Sergius of Rēsh‘ainā, p. 204. Cf. the Arabic text (written in Hebrew letters) on p. 197. 36 Phaedo 67b: μὴ καθαρῷ γὰρ καθαροῦ ἐφάπτεσθαι μὴ οὐ θεμιτὸν ᾖ (Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol. 1, p. 93). 37 Cf. Ammonius, In Arist. Cat. (6.23-24 Busse): ‘μὴ καθαρῷ γὰρ καθαροῦ ἐφάπτε- σθαι οὐχὶ θεμιτόν,’ ὁ Πλάτων ἔφησεν. 38 Cf. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Curatio I.85 (Scholten, Theodoret, De Graecarum affectionum curatione, p. 178-179). 8 Y. ARZHANOV

For Plato said: “Young man, this is the first thing to do for those who are deliberating (on something): either they understand what it is that they are going to inquire about, or they will necessarily go astray.”39

The quoted passage turns out to be quite a literal translation of the words of Socrates in the dialogue Phaedrus40. Though one cannot exclude the possibility that the Syriac scholar may have known the dialogue, it is more likely that the source of the passage was one of the Alexandrian commentaries on De Interpretatione, the influence of which is evident in the treatise of Proba. 4) Two short passages from Plato’s Timaeus were transmitted in Syriac as part of the doxographical treatise On Those Who Did Research On Natural Principles preserved in the manuscript Dayr al-Suryān 2741. The anonymous author of the tract refers to a number of authoritative interpreters of Platonic philosophy and at some point calls himself a disciple of Longinus and Plotinus (based on this evidence, the author may be Porphyry). The tract includes a long passage from the commentary on Plato’s Timaeus written by Atticus, who, in turn, twice quotes Plato’s dialogue verbatim: Some people do not comprehend that Plato also sets soul among the first principles and thus establishes three principles: matter, God, and form. For he says: “This being so, taking over all that was visible, which was not in a state of rest but moving in a discordant and disorderly manner, God brought it to order out of disorder.”42 For he wrote thus in Timaeus that there are three things: “Being, place, and coming-to-be, three in a threefold way, and before the heaven came to be.”43

39 ܂ܢܝܒܫܚܬܡܕ ܢܝܠܗܕ ܐܬܝܫܝܪ ܝܗ̣ ܐܕܚ ܉ܐܝܠܛ ܘܐ ܂ܢܘܛܠܦ ܪܝܓ ܪܡܐ̣ ̇ ܡܕܡ ܠܟ ܢܡܕ̣ ܘܐ ܉ܐܥܣܡܠ ܢܝܕܝܬܥ ܗܬܠܛܡܕ ܡܕܡ ܘܗ ܢܘܥܕܢܕ ܘܐ ܂ܐܩܢܢܐ ܢܡ̣ ܢܘܕܘܦܢ (Hoffmann, De Hermeneuticis apud Syros Aristoteleis, p. 64). 40 Phaedrus 237b-c: περὶ παντός, ὦ παῖ, μία ἀρχὴ τοῖς μέλλουσι καλῶς βουλεύσε- σθαι· εἰδέναι δεῖ περὶ οὗ ἂν ᾖ ἡ βουλή, ἢ παντὸς ἁμαρτάνειν ἀνάγκη (Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol. 2, p. 237b). The expression τοῖς μέλλουσι καλῶς βουλεύσεσθαι is rendered in Syriac as simply ܢܝܒܫܚܬܡܕ ܢܝܠܗܕ. 41 On this treatise, see below, §3.2. 42 ܂ܢܘܛܠܦ ܡܐܣ ܐܝܡܕܩ̈ ܐܫܝܖܒ̈ ܐܫܦܢܠ ܦܐܕ ܢܝܠܟܬܣܡ ܐܠ� ܢܝܫܢܐ̈ ̈ ܐܢܟܗ ܪܝܓ ܘܠ ܂ܐܬܘܡܕܠܘ̣ ܐܗܠܐܠ�ܘ ܐܠ�ܘܗܠ ܉ܡܣ̣ ܐܫܝܖ ܐܬܠܬ ܐܢܟܗܘ ܕܟ ܉ܢܝܗܝܬܝܐܕ ܢܝܠܗܠ ܪܡܐ̇ ܐܗܠܐ ܪܝܓ ܒܣܢ ܕܟ ܂ܡܐܣܕ ܐܝܙܚܬܡ ܐܣܟܛܠ ܐܬܘܣܟܛܡ ܐܠ� ܢܡ ܉ܝܘܗ̈ ܢܝܗܝܬܝܐ ܬܝܐܣܟܛܡ ܐܠ�ܘ ܬܝܐܠ�ܝܠܒ ܂ܝܬܝܐ (Ms. Dayr al-Suryān 27, f. 98rb.22-30). Cf. Timaeus 30a3-6: οὕτω δὴ πᾶν ὅσον ἦν ὁρατὸν παραλαβὼν οὐχ ἡσυχίαν ἄγον ἀλλὰ κινούμενον πλημμελῶς καὶ ἀτάκτως, εἰς τάξιν αὐτὸ ἤγαγεν ἐκ τῆς ἀταξίας (Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol. 4, p. 29d). 43 ܝܗܘܬܝܐ ܂ܢܘܗܝܬܝܐ ܐܬܠܬ ܢܝܠܗܕ ܂ܐܢܟܗ ܣܘܐܡ�ܝܛܒ ܪܝܓ ܒܬܟ ܂ܐܝܡܫ ܢܘܘܗܢܕ ܡܕܩܘ ܂ܬܝܐܬܝܠܬ ܐܬܠܬ ܂ܐܢܘܗܘ ܐܬܟܘܕܘ (Ms. Dayr PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 9

The dialogue Timaeus played a special role in Neo-Platonic cosmology. The Syriac version of the doxographical treatise provided learned Syri- ans with an example of the Late Antique Neo-Platonic interpretation of Platonic texts. 5) A reference to the same Platonic dialogue appears in the letter of Severus Sēbōḵt written in 66244. This polemical text opposed those who affirmed the priority of the Greeks in astronomy and other sciences. Arguing for the role of the Syrians in developing astronomical knowledge, Severus cites an anecdote about Solon’s encounter with an Egyptian priest: Concerning the rather late knowledge of the Greeks, i.e. about their igno- rance, we should listen to the Greeks themselves, I mean to Plato who was the first and most famous philosopher among them. This what he wrote in the treatise Timaeus: “When Solon, the wisest among the sages, had returned from Egypt, he told Critias what he had heard from an Egyptian priest who was very old. The latter told him the following: ‘Oh, Solon, Solon! You Greeks will always remain children. There is no Greek who is old.’ And later on he said: ‘You Greeks are all young in your minds, for there you have neither any old opin- ion nor a teaching that would be old in time. Because writing was missing among you for many generations, you were dying voiceless.’”45

Though Severus explicitly refers to Plato’s Timaeus as the source of this history46, his narrative does not derive from the dialogue. Instead, the periphrastic account of Severus corresponds to the passage of the tract Cohortatio ad Graecos attributed to Justin Martyr47. Whether his source al-Suryān 27, f. 98va.11-14). Cf. Timaeus 52d2-4: ὄν τε καὶ χώραν καὶ γένεσιν εἶναι, τρία τριχῇ, καὶ πρὶν οὐρανὸν γενέσθαι (Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol. 4, p. 52d). 44 Reich, Ein Brief des Severus Sēḇōḵt. 45 ܢܘܥܡܫܢ ܐܝܢܘܝܕ̈ ܐܬܘܦܝܠܝ ܐܠ� ܬܝܟܘܐ ܐܢܦܠܘܝ ܬܘܪܚܘܫܡ ܢܝܕ ܠܛܡ ܐܝܡܕܩ ܐܦܘܣܠܠܝܦ ܢܘܛܠܦ ܢܡ ܢܝܕ ܐܢܐܪ̄ ܡܐ̇ ܂ܐܝܢܘܝܕ̈ ܢܘܗܢܡ ܒܘܬ ܐܢܦ̣ ܕܟ ܀ ܐܪܡܐܡ� ܣܘܐܡ�ܝܛܒ ܒܬܟܡ ܐܢܡܕ ܃ܢܘܗܬܘܠܕ ܐܗܡܫܡܘ ̈ ܘܗܕ ܢܝܠܝܐ ܂ܣܐܝܛܝܪܩܠ ܪܡܐ̣ ܃ܐܡ�ܝܟܚ ܡܝܟܚ ܢܘܠܘܣ ܢܝܪܨܡ ܢܡ ܡܠ ܐܘܗ̄ ܃ܗܬܘܠ ܪܝܓ ܪܡܐ ܂ܐܘܗ̄ ܩܝܬܥ ܒܛܕ ܐܢܝܐ ܃ܐܝܪܨܡ ܐܢܗܟ ܢܡ ܥܡܫ̇ ܢܝܕ ܐܒܣ ܂ܢܒܙ ܠܟܒ ܢܘܟܝܬܝܐ ܐܝܠܛ̈ ܐܝܢܘܝ̈ ܢܘܬ̄ܢܐ ܃ܢܘܠܣ ܢܘܠܣ ܘܐ ̄ ̈ ̈ ̄ ܢܘܟܬܫܦܢܒ ܢܘܬܢܐ ܐܖܒܫ ܐܝܢܘܝ ܢܘܬܢܐܕ ܪܡܐ̣ ܒܘܬ ܢܟܪܬܒ ܃ܬܝܠ ܐܝܢܘܝ ܐܠ�ܦܐ ܃ܢܝܗܒ ܢܘܟܠ ܬܝܐ ܐܬܩܝܬܥ ܐܬܚܘܒܫܬ ܐܕܚ ܪܝܓ ܐܠ�ܦܐ ܂ܢܘܟܠܟ ܃ܐܬܐܝܓܣ̈ ܐܬܒܖܫܒ̈ ܃ܐܪܦܣ ܢܘܟܥܛ ܢܘܟܠ ܐܠ�ܐ ܂ܐܢܒܙܒ̈ ܩܝܬܥܕ ܐܢܦܠܘܝ ܂ܐܠ�ܩ ܐܠ�ܕ ܢܘܬܬܝܡ ܕܟ (Reich, Ein Brief des Severus Sēḇōḵt, p. 481). 46 Cf. Timaeus 20d-23c. 47 Ps.-Justin, Cohortatio ad Graecos (CPG 1083), ch. 12: Καὶ ὁ πρῶτος δὲ τῶν παρ’ ὑμῖν φιλοσόφων μαρτυρεῖ Πλάτων ὕστερον εὑρῆσθαι αὐτά. Γέγραφε γὰρ ἐν τῷ Τιμαίῳ τὸν τῶν σοφῶν σοφώτατον Σόλωνα, ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἐπανελθόντα, Κριτίᾳ λέγειν ταῦτα ἅπερ ἀκηκοέναι Αἰγυπτίου τινὸς ἱερέως οὐ μάλα παλαιοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγοντος· Ὦ Σόλων Σόλων, Ἕλληνές ἐστε παῖδες ἀεί, γέρων δὲ Ἕλλην οὐκ ἔστιν. Εἶτ’ αὖθις· Νέοι ἐστέ, ἔφη, τὰς ψυχὰς πάντες· οὐδεμίαν γὰρ ἐν αὐταῖς ἔχετε παλαιὰν 10 Y. ARZHANOV was the text of the Cohortatio or some other treatise, Severus’ knowledge of the Platonic dialogue was based on the Christian apologetic literature rather than the works of the philosopher himself. 6) A short saying ascribed to Plato appears in the gnomic anthology preserved in the composite manuscript Sinai Syriac 14: (Plato said:) “As for the one who truly seeks to be just, he will be struck, scorned, reproached, beaten, and fettered; his hands will be cut off together with his legs; his eyes will be gouged out; he will be wounded; and he will suffer all the evils in this world.”48

This passage derives from Plato’s Republic49 where it belongs to the passage pronounced by the opponents of Socrates. However, early Chris- tian apologists completely ignored the context of the sentence and quoted it as Plato’s “prophecy” about suffering Christ. Similar to the previous example, it was most likely one of the Christian apologetic works that served as a source for the Syriac collection of gnomic sayings.

In all examples listed above, the Platonic quotations are most likely not based on the knowledge of the genuine works of the philosopher, but on some indirect transmission of his ideas and quotations from his works. Some of these quotations could in fact have derived from the Platonic dialogues, as it was the case in the six examples above. However, this kind of transmission naturally included apocryphal sayings of the philosopher as well. For example, four quotations attributed to Plato appear in the treatise on rhetoric composed probably in the 9th century by Antony of Tagrit50. They praise education51 and knowledge, stress the ideal of abstinence, and urge, when one suffers injuries at the hands of others, to ignore them rather than to seek revenge. Though these passages do not contradict the texts of Plato, they could not be traced back to them. It is possible that educated Syrians were familiar with some elements of Platonic rhetoric through the system of general education that was to some extent based

δόξαν οὐδὲ μακρῷ χρόνῳ παλαιὸν οὐδέν. Ἀλλ’ ὑμᾶς λέληθε διὰ τὸ ἐπὶ πολλὰς γενεὰς γράμμασι τελευτᾶν ἀφώνους (Markovich, Pseudo-Iustinus, p. 39). 48 ܂ܕܣܚܬܢ ܂ܛܝܫܬܬܢ ܐܚܡܬܢ ܂ܐܩܝܕܙ ܐܘܗܢܕ ܐܥܒ̇ ܁ܐܪܪܫܒܕ ܐܢܝܐ ܂ܦܠܛܨܢ ܂ܝܗܘܢܝܥ̈ ܢܝܨܚܬܢ ܂ܝܗܘܠܓܖ̈ ܡܥ ܝܗܘܕܝܐ ܢܩܣܦܬܢ ܂ܪܣܐܬܢ ܂ܦܩܬܫܢ ܀ ܐܬܫܝܒ̈ ܢܝܗܠܟ ܐܢܗ ܐܡ�ܠܥܒ ܠܘܒܣܢܘ (Ms. Sinai Syriac 14, f. 128r.23-26; Brock, Some Syriac Pseudo-Platonic Curiosities, p. 21). 49 Respublica 361e-362a: ἐροῦσι δὲ τάδε, ὅτι οὕτω διακείμενος ὁ δίκαιος μαστιγώ- σεται, στρεβλώσεται, δεδήσεται, ἐκκαυθήσεται τὠφθαλμώ, τελευτῶν πάντα κακὰ παθὼν ἀνασχινδυλευθήσεται (Burnet, Platonis Opera, vol. 4, p. 361d). 50 Cf. Lanz, Syrische Platonzitate; Köbert, Bemerkungen zu den syrischen Zitaten. 51 E.g., “Education is the beginning of virtue”, Syr. ܐܬܒܛܕ̈ ܝܗ ܐܫܝܪ ܐܬܘܕܪܡ (cf. Lanz, Syrische Platonzitate, p. 131, no. 3). PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 11 on the genuine works of the philosopher52. However, these passages cited under the name of Plato in the Rhetoric of Antony evidently derive from gnomic collections and similar works that were well known to the Syrians. One gnomology preserved in codex Vat. Syr. 135 contains several sayings of Plato that turn out to be especially close to the quotations of Antony53.

2.2. Plato Retold: Translations of the Works Describing his Life and Ideas Similar to other regions influenced by the Greek culture, collections of moral admonitions enjoyed great popularity in Syria, forming an integral part of the educational system. Given that monasteries often played the role of educational centers, it is not surprising that a number of monastic anthologies have preserved Syriac translations of “pagan” wisdom litera- ture54 that often served as addenda to the Apophthegmata Patrum and Vitae of Christian saints55. Some of these works presented Plato to Syriac readers as a moral authority and ascetic56. An extensive Vita of the philosopher features in the Chronography of Bar ῾Ebrōyō (Barhebraeus, 13th century), whose version of it is probably dependent on the work of Apuleius57. It is possible that Syriac-speaking Christians knew some apocryphal histories about Plato’s life even earlier through so-called “popular philosophical” works in Greek, like those of Plutarch and Diogenes Laertius. Elements of Plato’s biography appear in the treatise The Cause of the Foundation of the Schools by the 6th- century author Barḥadbšabbā58 and in the Book of Scholia by Theo- dore Bar Kōnī dating to the end of the 8th century59. Bar Kōnī refers to Porphyry, whose lost Philosophos historia he could have known through Christian summaries of this work, like the treatise by Epiphanius of Salamis60.

52 Cf. Watt, The Syriac Reception. 53 For this collection, see Arzhanov, A Syriac Collection of Sentences. 54 For the so-called “popular philosophy” in Syriac, see Brock, Syriac Translations. 55 Cf. Brock, Stomathalassa, Dandamis and Secundus. 56 Cf. Hugonnard-Roche, Platon syriaque. 57 Bedjan, Gregorii Barhebraei Chronicon Syriacum, p. 33-34. Cf. Notopoulos, Por- phyry’s Life of Plato. 58 Scher, Mar Barhadbšabba ῾Arbaya, p. 363-364; Becker, Sources for the Study of the School of Nisibis, p. 132-133. 59 Scher, Theodorus Bar Kōnī, p. 292-293; Hespel – Draguet, Theodore bar Konai, p. 218. 60 Cf. Gerö, Ophite Gnosticism. 12 Y. ARZHANOV

In each of their accounts on Plato, Barḥadbšabbā, Bar Kōnī, and Bar ῾Ebrōyō all follow the common scheme which includes, first, several anecdotes from the life of the philosopher, and secondly, a list of his main ideas. Bar Kōnī mentions that Plato proposed to sacrifice a red cock to Asclepius, attributing to him those words which Plato himself put in the mouth of the dying Socrates (cf. Phaidon 118a). Bar Kōnī’s source was probably wisdom literature, e.g. gnomic anthologies, where this confu- sion took place. Fragmentary information about the life and teachings of Plato appears among the scholia to four homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus attributed to Nonnus that explain allusions to Greek mythology found by Gregory. Two Syriac translations of these scholia have come down to us: the first dating to the 6th, the second to the 7th century61. References to Plato and his ideas by Gregory of Nazianzus motivated the author of the scholia to mention some details of the philosopher’s life (his journey to Sicily, the foundation of the school in Athens, and his relationship to Aristotle) and several elements of his teachings. One of the ideas of Platonic philosophy is illustrated in a scholion to the history of Kleombrotos. The latter com- mitted suicide after having read Plato’s Phaidon where it was stated that it was better for the soul to be separated from the body (cf. Phaidon 59c). The same dialogue is mentioned in the other scholion that refers to the teaching of Plato on men’s destiny after their death (cf. Phaidon 111c- 114c). Another dialogue, The Republic, is mentioned in a number of scholia. One of them summarizes the main ideas of this treatise and two others relate the history of Gyges who possessed a ring that could make him invisible (cf. Politeia 359d-360b). Educated Syrians may have known a number of both genuine ideas of Plato and apocryphal anecdotes attributed to him through Greek moral philosophy. The latter included several treatises of Plutarch (or those known under his name) that were translated into Syriac. The presumably pseudepigraphic tract De exercitatione offers a panegyric to the Athenian philosopher and relates an episode from his life when he decided to live near a blacksmith shop, having understood that the human mind becomes useless during sleep62. Plutarch’s De capienda ex inimicis utilitate includes a passage about Plato wherein he preferred to leave the company of bad people instead of blaming them63. Plutarch also cites a number of maxims attributed to the philosopher in the treatise De cohibenda ira64.

61 Brock, The Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Nonnos. 62 Lagarde, Analecta Syriaca, p. 177-186; Gildemeister – Bücheler, Pseudo- Plutarchos. 63 Nestle, A Tract of Plutarch; Ryssel, Zwei neu aufgefundene Schriften. 64 Lagarde, Analecta Syriaca, p. 186-195. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 13

Some information concerning Plato and his teachings appear in the oth- erwise unknown oration of Themistius bearing the title On Virtue (Περὶ ἀρετῆς) which survived in a Syriac translation65. The text states that, according to Plato, ἀρετή should be considered as the highest good66. Speaking about Diogenes who received the nickname “a dog”, Themistius refers to Plato, pointing to the ability of dogs to welcome friends and bark at enemies, which makes them similar to the philosophers. Though this idea could be found in the works of Plato (cf. Politeia 375e), it is more probable that both the author of this treatise and its Syriac readers encountered this idea through the collections of gnomic sayings, where Plato and Diogenes were the most popular authors of the maxims. One of the modifications of this apophthegma appears in the Syriac collection of sayings preserved in the manuscript (dating to the 7th or 8th century) Vat. Syr. 13567. Though no direct source of this gnomology could be found, it reveals much in common with both Greek and later Arabic non-Christian collections of sayings. The same feature is characteristic of the Dublin Florilegium, a collection preserved in Ms. Dublin 1505 dating from the 14th/15th centuries68. Both collections include a number of maxims attributed to Plato, some of which could be connected with the texts of the philosopher69, but mainly present interesting anecdotes about him. For instance, in the Vatican codex, he addresses a funeral procession with the words: “Why are you crying about the person who stopped crying?” The name of Plato also appears among other ancient philosophers in the Syriac gnomic anthologies that bear the title Sayings of Greek Philoso- phers (few of them have the title On the Soul, by which they have been known thus far)70. Along with Greek moral philosophy, translations of the apologetic works of Christian authors provided a conduit for the knowledge of Plato and his ideas to a Syriac audience. They share a rather critical attitude towards his philosophy but recognize its significance for Christian teachings.

65 Sachau, Inedita Syriaca, p. 17-47. A German translation: Gildemeister – Bücheler, Themistios. An English translation: Rigolio, Themistius, On Virtue. For the Syriac The- mistius, cf. Conterno, Temistio orientale. 66 The same idea is found in Ps.-Aristotle’s De virtutibus et vitiis, cf. 1249a26-27. 67 For this anthology, see Arzhanov, A Syriac Collection of Sentences; Arzhanov, Das Florilegium in der Hs. Vat. Sir. 135. 68 For this gnomic collection, see Arzhanov, Syriac Sayings of Greek Philosophers. 69 One maxim in the Dublin collection stresses the ideal of knowledge as opposed to the physical vision of the world. 70 See Sachau, Inedita Syriaca, p. 76-79; Lewis, Catalogue, p. 26-38; Ryssel, Neu aufgefundene graeco-syrische Philosophensprüche; Zeegers-Van der Vorst, Une gnomologie d’auteurs grecs. For a new edition of this corpus of sayings, see Arzhanov, Syriac Sayings of Greek Philosophers. 14 Y. ARZHANOV

Such an attitude features, e.g., in the Syriac version of the treatises of Athanasius of Alexandria that survive in two ancient codices71. Athanasius praises Plato as a great philosopher of the past who anticipates many Christian concepts, but at the same time he stresses the inability of this splendid mind to comprehend the true idea of God as the sovereign Creator of the universe. The same critical assessment of Plato’s philosophy also appears in one of the works of Eusebius of Caesarea bearing the title Theophania which has been preserved only in Syriac translation72. Regarding the views of the Greek philosophers in the second book of his work, Eusebius, like Athanasius, assigns a special position to Plato by presenting him as some- one who received his knowledge “from above”, thus seeming to possess prophetic abilities73. It is also significant that Eusebius views Aristotle as opposed to his teacher. Eusebius expresses a very similar attitude towards Plato in his famous work Praeparatio Evangelica. No Syriac translation of this work is known, but it probably influenced such writers as Theodoret of Cyrrhus, who shares with Eusebius both admiration towards Plato and the intention to reinterpret the latter’s philosophy in the light of Christian teachings.

2.3. Plato Rewritten: Pseudepigrapha Not only did Christian writers transmit the modified image of the Athenian philosopher to Syrians, but a number of Non-Christian treatises also appeared in the Hellenistic period that precede and in many ways define the Syriac tradition. Several pseudepigraphic dialogues from this epoch stress the idea of the eternity of the human soul and are written as a consolation in the face of death74. A number of such works reached Syriac readers through translations from the Greek that were modified for the purposes of Syriac schools. Other pseudo-Platonic dialogues and short treatises extant only in Syriac versions could have already been composed in this language, with or without a Greek prototype. A good example of a translation from the Greek adjusted to educational needs is found in the Syriac version of the pseudo-Platonic Definitions (Ὅροι)75. This collection was composed as a manual presenting the key terms of Platonic philosophy in the form of a list of short definitions. The

71 See Thomson, Athanasiana Syriaca. 72 Lee, Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea. 73 Cf. Ps.-Justin, Cohortatio ad Graecos, ch. 5. 74 See Müller, Die Kurzdialoge der Appendix Platonica; Männlein-Robert, Ps.- Platon, Über den Tod, p. 3-41. 75 Syriac version: Sachau, Inedita Syriaca, p. 66-67. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 15 anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy that probably goes back to the circle of Olympiodorus of Alexandria (6th century) attributes the composition of the Ὅροι to Speusippus who became the head of the Academy after Plato’s death76. However long the pre-history of this collection might be, in its current form it gives an insight into the school practice of studying the works of the great philosopher. It is thus not surprising that this short manual became popular in Syriac schools as well, having been preserved in a considerable number of manuscripts. One might recognize the provenance and context of the Syriac translation of the pseudo-Platonic Definitions first from the fact that it opens with the characteristic of the terms “God”, “grace”, and “harmony”, emphasizing the religious components of Platonic philosophy. And secondly, it has a slightly different form in comparison with the Greek version of this work: it is composed in the form of questions-and-answers that probably fit better with teaching purposes77. In this modified form, it integrated “Platonic” definitions in different question-and-answer florilegia that served as study aids78 and sometimes even in the collections of riddles79. The 9th-century Syriac author Iwānnīs of Dārā attests to the existence of a Syriac version of a pseudo-Platonic treatise known in Arabic by the title Maqāla fī iṯbāt faḍā᾿il al-nafs80. Another pseudepigraphic treatise, known under the Latin title De virtutibus et vitiis, could also be mentioned here. This catalogue of virtues and vices became known not under the name of Plato, but as a work of Aristotle. However, a fragment of the Syriac translation of this work opens with a description of the three parts of the soul that is explicitly associated with Plato in the Greek version (cf. De virt. 1249a30)81. The Syriac version omits Plato’s name, thus ascribing the idea of the three parts of the soul to Aristotle, and this con- fusion could reflect the tendency of Late Antiquity to study the two great philosophers in “harmony”. Such formal transformations, which can be observed in those pseudepigraphic works whose Greek versions are known to us, suggest that those “Platonic” treatises which have been preserved only in Syriac were also based on some Greek Vorlage that is now lost. That is probably the case

76 Westerink, Anonymous Prolegomena, p. 46-47. Cf. Taylor, Plato, p. 544-545. 77 This form received wide popularity in the Christian schools in Syria, especially in the process of the study of the Scripture, cf. Romeny, Question-and-Answer Collections. 78 Cf., e.g., Ms. BL Add. 12154, see Wright, Catalogue, vol. 2, p. 985. 79 Furlani, Un recueil d’énigmes philosophiques. 80 Cf. Zonta, Iwānnīs of Dārā. Zonta translates the title as On the Subsistence of Soul’s Virtues and presents a detailed comparison between the Arabic and the Syriac phraseology using the Ms. Harvard Syr. 47 as a witness to Iwānnīs’ Treatise on the Soul. 81 Brock, An Abbreviated Syriac Version. 16 Y. ARZHANOV with the dialogue bearing the characteristic title Socrates82 that could belong to the “falsified” Platonic treatises, some of which were known to Diogenes Laertius in the 3rd century CE83. In the Syriac discourse, the main actor of the Platonic dialogues has a conversation with a certain Erostrophus. Some scholars84 have proposed that “Erostrophus” is a distorted form of the name of Aristippus, founder of the school of the Cyrenaics, who, according to Diogenes Laertius, came to Athens to study under Socrates85. The structure of this treatise is quite close to that of the genuine compositions of Plato. Socrates poses provocative questions that puzzle his interlocutor and then offers his own view of the problem. The discussion centers on the question of the composition of the soul and its immortality. It presents the human soul as a “power” that is “mixed” with the body and therefore became a “mixture” of the four elements86. The treatment of the human soul also takes center stage in the focus of another Syriac pseudepigraphic treatise preserved in Ms. Harvard, Houghton Library, Syriac 4787. It bears the title Counsels of Anton the Physician. A later hand added the name of Plato to this title, thus making Anton (who is most probably Antony the Great88) into “Plato’s physician”. With its focus on the topics of the soul and the righteous way of life, this collection of moral admonitions bears close similarity both in form and in content to the Teaching of Aḥiqār. It is interesting to note that in the gnomological collection preserved in the Ms. Sinai Syriac 14, the sayings of Plato and Aḥiqār come in close proximity to one another89. It is thus possible that the association with such gnomic sayings played a part in attaching the name of Plato to the title Counsels of Anton. A secondary attribution could have also happened in the case of another pseudepigraphic treatise entitled Advice by Plato to his Disciple90. This heading occurs in three manuscripts now located in the British Library in London, and the name of Plato appears in several other texts or gnomic

82 Lagarde, Analecta Syriaca, p. 158-167; Ryssel, Die pseudosocratische Dialog. 83 Diogenes Laertius, Vitae Philosophorum III.62. 84 Cf. Taylor, Plato, p. 553; Giannantoni, I Cirenaici, p. 265-269. 85 Diogenes Laertius, Vitae Philosophorum II.65. 86 Cf. Newbold, The Syriac Dialogue; Hugonnard-Roche, Érostrophos; Rigolio, Erostrophus. 87 See Brock, The Instructions of Anton. 88 In his Vita written by Athanasius, Antony the Great is called “a physician given by God to Egypt”, see Vita Antonii §87.3: Καὶ ὅλως ὥσπερ ἰατρὸς ἦν δοθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ (Bartelink, Athanase d’Alexandrie, Vie d’Antoine, p. 358-359). Cf. Draguet, La Vie primitive, p. 139. 89 See Brock, Some Syriac Pseudo-Platonic Curiosities. Brock omits the name of Aḥiqār without commenting on this omission. 90 Sachau, Inedita Syriaca, p. 67-69. Cf. Cowper, Syriac Miscellanies, p. 47-48. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 17 sayings included in two of these manuscripts. In a number of other Syriac manuscripts this short treatise is called simply A Dialogue between a Master and his Disciple, being transmitted mostly anonymously or as a work of Evagrius Ponticus91. The subject of this treatise (the state of the soul during sleep) is close to that of the dialogue Socrates, and this probably explains the appearance of the name of Plato in its title in several manuscripts. However, both the main Syriac manuscript tradition and the Armenian version of this text attribute it to Evagrius Ponticus92. The content of the treatise is indeed quite close to the works of Evagrius, whose teachings were often transmitted in the form of moral sentences93. Through the works of the Great Cappadocians and Origen, Evagrius acquired the Christianized form of Platonism that made an important impact on his own views. Consequently, it is not surprising that his moral sentences and ascetic treatises were joined with the texts that were transmitted under the name of the Greek philosopher and sometimes even included it in their title. This grafting contributed to the image of Plato as an ascetic and thus played an important role in Syriac culture94.

2.4. Plato Baptized: Reception of the Origenistic and Evagrian Philosophy By the 4th century CE, the forms of Platonism that Evagrius Ponticus (345-399) had adapted and creatively developed became an integral part of the ascetic philosophy that spread primarily in the Egyptian monasteries as an alternative to the “pagan” academic practice of the Alexandrian schools95. As vividly expressed in the Life of Antony, written by Athana- sius in the middle of the 4th century, the idea of an ascetic as a real “philosopher” marked the tendency to give a Christian substitute for classical philosophical texts. Syriac readers thus became familiar with Platonic ideas interpreted by his Late Antique followers in a new Christianized form that was no longer associated with the name of Plato. The works of Evagrius played a central role in this “Platonism without Plato”. Given their popularity in the monastic circles, nearly the whole Evagrian corpus was translated into Syriac96. Those treatises of Evagrius, such as Kephalaia gnostica (in its original version) and the Letter to Melania, which disappeared in the Greek versions due to its “Origenistic”

91 Muyldermans, Evagriana Syriaca, p. 123-124, 156. Cf. Kessel – Pinggéra, A Bibliography, p. 87. 92 CPG 2470. 93 Cf. CPG 2443-2445. 94 Cf. Arzhanov, Abba Platon und Abba Evagrius. 95 Cf. Watts, City and School, p. 169-203. 96 Cf. Guillaumont, Les ‘Képhalaia gnostica’. 18 Y. ARZHANOV elements, have survived only in Syriac. By this time already, Evagrian “Origenism” was a form of Neo-Platonism that served to represent genuinely Christian teachings. A further step taken toward this end was the appearance of the corpus of writings that were spread under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite in the late 5th century. The unknown Christian author of these works adopted the philosophy of Proclus (d. 485) and created original Christian works on its basis. The Dionysian Corpus exercised a great influence upon the entire medieval Christian philosophy97. Shortly after its appearance, the entire corpus was translated into Syriac by the learned Sergius of Rēš ῾Aynā98. Sergius was acquainted with the Alexandrian curriculum that included study of the works of Plato at its final stage. The purpose of his translation activity could have been to replace the Platonic dialogues with the Dionysian Corpus in this curriculum, among other aims99. At the end of the 7th century, Phocas of Edessa supplemented Sergius’ Syriac translation of the Dionysian Corpus with the scholia of John of Scythopolis, which contained a number of fragments from Plotinus’s Enneads100. As in the case of the use of Proclus’ ideas by Dionysius, these scholia transmit both the direct and indirect quotations from the Enneads (mainly from Books I and III) anonymously. This treatment of the texts of Plotinus closely resembles the way that Neo-Platonic sources came to be integrated into the so-called Theology of Aristotle, a selection from the Enneads transmitted in Arabic under the name of Plato’s great pupil101. One may discern the impact of the Origenistic and Evagrian form of Platonism in the fact that a treatise under the name of Hierotheos, a supposed teacher of Dionysius the Areopagite, appeared shortly after the emergence of the Dionysian Corpus, probably in the Origenistic monastic circles of Palestine102. A later tradition ascribed the book to the Syriac monk Stephen bar Sudaili, about whom Philoxenus of Mabbug wrote in one of his epistles that he had made the following inscription on the wall of his cell: “All nature is consubstantial with the Divine Essence,” which he later “removed from the wall, but put into his writings”103. In “his writings”, Stephen bar Sudaili combined a number of key elements

97 Cf. Beierwaltes, Platonismus im Christentum. Beierwaltes considers the phenome- non of “Platonism in Christianity” primarily as an influence of the Corpus Dionysiacum. 98 See Sherwood, Sergius of Reshaina. 99 Cf. Bettiolo, Scuole e ambienti intellettuali; Watt, From Sergius to Mattā. 100 See Frank, The Use of the Enneads. 101 Cf. Brock, Syriac Intermediary; Treiger, Palestinian Origenism. 102 Marsh, The Book of the Holy Hierotheos. 103 Frothingham, Stephen Bar Sudaili, p. 42-43. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 19 of the Evagrian psychology with the cosmological views of the Corpus Dionysiacum (derived mainly from the works of Proclus) and with the Origenistic idea of the eschatological merging of the whole universe with its Creator104. The Book of the Holy Hierotheos attracted the attention of Christians in the Orient throughout the Middle Ages: several passages from it are preserved in an Arabic translation by Yaḥyā b. ῾Adī, one of the prominent Syriac philosophers active in the 10th century in Baghdad105, and a commentary on the book was written by the 13th century polymath Bar ῾Ebrōyō, who considered it to be a work of the teacher of the great Dionysius the Areopagite. The authority of these figures provided a conduit for the reception of the Neo-Platonic philosophy among educated Christians, which solidified the general tendency demonstrated by Chris- tian apologists to find a substitute for the “academic” Platonism of Late Antiquity.

3. Syriac Image of Plato

3.1. Reception of the Christian and Late Antique Traditions The name of the Athenian philosopher appears in what scholars pre- sume to be earliest piece of Syriac literature known to us, the Letter of Mara bar Serapion to his Son106. This treatise, the dating of which varies between 1st and 4th century CE107, calls for patience in the face of diffi- culties and praises the philosophical ideal of life similar to the Stoic one. Giving examples of historical figures who fit into this ideal, the author refers to Socrates and his execution by the Athenians and later mentions the “wise king” killed by the Jews, i.e. Jesus. As the ideas of the latter are preserved in the “laws” given by him, in the same way the philosophy of Socrates condemned to death survives in the writings of Plato. Thus, the letter reveals similarities between the sufferings and death of Jesus with those of Socrates108, and it presents the philosophy of Plato as propagating the same way of life as the teachings of Christianity.

104 Cf. Pinggéra, All-Erlösung und All-Einheit. 105 See Endress, The Works of Yaḥyā Ibn ῾Adī, p. 121-122. 106 Cureton, Spicilegium Syriacum, p. 43-48 [Syriac], 70-76 [English]. Several fragments of the Latter were transmitted anonymously, cf. Arzhanov, Syriac Sayings of Greek Philosophers, p. 194f. 107 Cf. McVey, A Fresh Look. 108 This idea was familiar to many Christian authors, cf. McVey, A Fresh Look, p. 263- 270. 20 Y. ARZHANOV

An interesting piece of evidence of the knowledge of Plato and his writings in the early 3rd century in Edessa comes from Bardaiṣan (d. 222), the first Syriac philosopher known to us. His only complete extant writing (in the redaction of one of his pupils) bears the title The Book of the Laws of the Countries109. This treatise is written in the form of a dialogue, one of whose participants is Bardaiṣan himself, and its form shows a striking similarity to the works of Plato. The opening part of the book is especially reminiscent of the beginnings of the Platonic dialogues, and Bardaiṣan directs the conversation in a way that strongly reflects the Socratic method known as “maieutics”110. Some elements of the teachings of Bardaiṣan that are now reconstructed through other sources mostly of a polemical character111 could be interpreted as having been influenced by Plato’s Timaeus112, though evidence for this is scarce. The main evidence for the possibility that Bardaiṣan was somehow familiar with Plato and his philosophy consists in the writings directed against him. Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) spent the last ten years of his life in Edessa, where he was faced with Hellenic influence that left traces in his writings and compelled him to compose a number of polemical treatises113. One of them bears the following title: “A Discourse made by the Blessed Mar Ephrem against the Discourse which is called ‘About DMNWS’ which was composed by Bardaiṣan against the School of Plato”114. Ephrem mentions in his treatise some writings composed in the “School of Plato” (lit. in “the house of Plato”) and thus provides evidence of the presence of Platonist works in his environment115. Following the strategy of such Christian authors as Eusebius of Caesarea and later Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Ephrem states that neither the pagan followers of Plato nor Bardaiṣan, whom he calls the “philosopher of the Syrians,” were able to understand the real meaning of the works of Plato, but ascribed to him their own ideas. In another treatise directed against the Manicheans, Ephrem writes that Mani and Bardaiṣan recognized Hermes, Plato, and Jesus as their “ancient teachers”, whereas according to them, Plato taught about “the Virgin of Light”116.

109 Drijvers, The Book of the Laws of Countries. 110 Though this similarity is restricted, cf. Voss, Der Dialog, p. 51-59. 111 Cf. Drijvers, Bardaiṣan of Edessa. 112 Cf. Ramelli, Bardaisan of Edessa. 113 Cf. Beck, Ephräms des Syrers Psychologie; Possekel, Evidence of Greek Philo- sophical Concepts. 114 Mitchell, S. Ephraim’s Prose Refutations, vol. 2, p. i-xxii [Engl.], p. 1-49 [Syr.]. 115 In this connection, Ephrem mentions the 2nd-century author Albinus. 116 Mitchell, S. Ephraim’s Prose Refutations, vol. 2, p. xcviii [Engl.], 208 [Syr.]. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 21

A treatise entitled On the Mind by Ephrem’s student Abā depicts the views of Plato on the origins of life117. According to the author of the text (in some manuscripts it is attributed to Ephrem), Plato spoke about the “King of the Universe”, to whom everything is directed. He is also considered to be the source of all knowledge that men possess or express, sometimes without understanding its origin. This text, together with the polemical treatises of Ephrem the Syrian, gives an insight into the diverse cultural life of Edessa in the 4th century, where philosophi cal and gnostic groups used the name and ideas of Plato in various ways. Facing this intellectual environment, Ephrem and his students were eager to separate the ancient philosopher and his followers, stressing that the full and best understanding of his ideas could be possible only in Christianity. The later school tradition shares the same intention. In the treatise The Cause of the Foundation of the Schools written at the end of the 6th century by Barḥadbšabbā, an alumnus of the school of Nisibis, the history of the “pagan schools” starts with the description of Plato’s “assembly in Athens”118. The profile of the Athenian philosopher is two- fold. On the one hand, he was able to grasp the “correct” idea of God, His “only-begotten Son”, and the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, he had to hide his views from his contemporaries and publically follow their pagan customs. Describing the main ideas of the philosopher, Barḥadbšabbā mentions metempsychosis and the concept of the “common use” of women. Though both points clearly sounded strange to a Christian audience, Barḥadbšabbā’s treatment of Plato obviously reveals the intention to separate the “genuine” ideas of the philosopher both from his publicly expressed views and from the tradition of his followers. Barḥadbšabbā adds that already the best pupil of Plato, Aristotle, “rejected the teaching of his master” in order to establish his own. A similar treatment of the Platonic philosophy is a profile in the Book of Scholia by Theodore Bar Kōnī written at the end of the 8th century119. Bar Kōnī lists three main elements of Plato’s teachings: the supreme Good, the Demiurge, and the World Soul. In accord with many Christian writers, Bar Kōnī stresses Plato’s concept of the soul that is “superior to the body” and has four “orders” which correspond to the four “cardinal virtues” that play an important role in Plato’s theory of an ideal state

117 The text remains unpublished. Cf. Brock – Van Rompay, Catalogue, p. 109. 118 Scher, Mar Barhadbšabba ῾Arbaya, p. 363-364; Becker, Sources for the Study of the School of Nisibis, p. 132-133. 119 Scher, Theodorus Bar Kōnī, p. 292-293; Hespel – Draguet, Theodore bar Konai, p. 218. 22 Y. ARZHANOV

(cf. Resp. 427d-e). Bar Kōnī’s remark allows for the assumption that there existed some (probably indirect) knowledge of the Platonic political philosophy among the Syrians in the early Islamic period120. Like Barḥadbšabbā, Theodore refers to metempsychosis as an example of curious elements of Platonic philosophy and states that Aristotle is responsible for the distor- tion of the “true” teachings of his master. An example of the Christianized image of Plato appears in the Book of the Governors of Thomas of Margā (9th century) that describes the history of the monastery of Bēth Abē121. Giving examples of the monastic way of life as practiced before the rise of Christianity, the author also mentions the Athenian philosopher. It is said that Plato, whose contemplative abilities are especially stressed in the text, had spent three years in a cell “in the heart of the wilderness”, reading the “covenant of Moses” until God granted him the knowledge of the Trinity122. Thomas of Margā thus con- tinues the tradition of the Christian apologists who presented the teachings of Plato as a modification of Old Testament monotheism, asking together with Numenius: “What else is Plato than Moses speaking Attic Greek?”123 At the same time, Thomas (probably relying on the previous tradition) presents Plato as an ascetic who was able to comprehend some ideas only due to his “monastic” way of life. A very similar image occurs in the manuscript Sinai Syriac 14 that dates from the 10th century and contains a diverse collection of moral admonitions. Among them we find a short treatise that describes two philosophers coming to Plato, “a wise elder”, with a question: “What word would you utter us, Abba Plato?”124 The whole scene resembles closely those described in the Apophthegmata Patrum, where young and inexperienced monks come to “wise elders” asking to “utter a word” to them from which they would receive spiritual profit. The answer of “Abba Plato” contains a number of riddles that are further explained as expressing the idea of separation of the soul from the body. The conversation moves then to the problem of the destiny of the soul after death. Answering the question of the philosophers, Plato says that his intellect “has gone around this inner arc of the firmament” but has not found the place where the human souls are gathered after the death of the body. But this place was revealed to him “outside the entire world”125.

120 Cf. Watt, Greek Philosophy and Syriac Culture. 121 Budge, The Book of Governors. 122 Budge, The Book of Governors, vol. 1, p. 298 [Syr.]; vol. 2, p. 531-532 [Engl.]. 123 Cf. Eusebius, Praep. Evang. XI.10.14. 124 See Brock, Some Syriac Pseudo-Platonic Curiosities. 125 Brock, Some Syriac Pseudo-Platonic Curiosities, p. 23-24. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 23

This short discourse presents Plato as a wise and old ascetic whose soul has reached the state of a kind of freedom from the body that could be seen as similar to their separation after death. It was Evagrius Ponticus who propagated this ideal of apatheia as a prerequisite to the supreme knowledge of the Divine things, including the theoria of the higher spheres of reality and of God Himself. This example demonstrates that, after the philosophy and the works of Evagrius had replaced the study of the Pla- tonic works in the 4th century, the works that express original Evagrian views could easily use the name of Plato.

3.2. Reception of the Academic Philosophical Tradition The prominent 4th-century critic of the “venom of the Greeks”, Ephrem the Syrian126, appears to known that the works and ideas of Plato continued to be studied and further elaborated among his Late Antique followers. Possible contacts with the Platonists could explain why in the 5th century John the Solitary127 mentions the “house of Plato” in one of his epistles. John had received his philosophical education in Apamea, one of the centers of the Greek learning. However, no direct contacts with pagan philosophers were basically necessary for this knowledge, since Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius often dis- cussed the views of “Platonists”. Using the academic tradition of survey- ing different philosophical schools (Gr. αἱ τῆς φιλοσοφίας αἱρέσεις), Christian apologists gave a new Christian sounding to this discussion, sometimes including the αἵρεσις of Plato in the list of the Christian “her- esies”. Christian sources seem to form the basis of the Platonic psychology known to Mōšē bar Kēphā, who in the 9th century wrote a treatise On the Soul128. In his overview of the ideas of the “pagan teachers”, Mōšē includes the opinions of a number of pre-Socratics that would allow us to suppose that he had access to some doxographical collection similar to the Placita Philosophorum of Aetius (pseudo-Plutarch) that Theodoret of Cyrrhus had known in the 5th century. However, the critical attitude of Bar Kēphā towards Plato’s views makes it more probable that his work was based on Christian sources. He writes that, according to Plato, even animals have rational souls; an idea that became an object of severe criti cism and could have become known to Bar Kēphā from the treatise On the Nature of Man by Nemesius of Emesa (4th-5th centuries).

126 Cf. Brock, From Antagonism to Assimilation, p. 17. 127 Strothmann, Johannes von Apamea, p. 8 [Syriac], p. 120 [German]. 128 Braun, Moses bar Kepha. 24 Y. ARZHANOV

The discourse of Nemesius seems to be a probable source of Bar Kēphā’s, as the influence of this work appears in the treatise On the Soul by the 9th-century Syriac author Iwānnīs of Dārā129. One of the letters of the East Syrian Catholicos Timotheos I (727-823) explicitly refers to the discourse of Nemesius, which he sought in the monastic libraries in North Iraq at the end of the 8th century130. In another letter131, Timotheos used the image of a chariot to illustrate the relationship between the intellect and the soul, a trope that goes back to Plato’s Phaedrus132. However, it is probable that, like Mōšē bar Kēphā, Timotheos had become acquainted with this image from Christian works, that often used it133. Though no knowledge of the genuine dialogues of Plato was necessary for Timotheos, his epistles demonstrate familiarity with the Late Antique followers of the philosopher. Timotheos mentioned “Platonists” several times in his Letter 42, dealing with some difficult questions of Aristotelian logic134. He must have known their ideas through the Alexandrian commentaries to Aristotle’s works. Such was the case in another letter (no. 43) wherein he openly expressed his interest in the “commentaries and scholia … be it in Syriac or not”, pointing to the fact that these texts could have been found in the monastic libraries in North Iraq135. It is worth noting in this regard that a Syriac translation of one of the commentaries to the Categories has come down to us under the name of Olympiodorus136. And it is not surprising that the views of “Plato” (i.e. those of the Platonists) on several Aristotelian terms occur in the anonymous collection of scholia to the Categories preserved in the 13th-century Ms. Vat. Syr. 586. In the same Letter 43, where Timotheos asked his correspondent to look for some commentaries, he mentioned a “treatise on the natural principles of bodies, written by a man according to the Platonic teaching (dogma)”. He describes the treatise as follows: It begins: “Concerning the natural principles of bodies there are some [authors] who have said …” In the first part [the author] recites the opinions of all the ancient philosophers and sets out the Ideas and Platonic Forms. In the

129 Cf. Zonta, Nemesiana Syriaca. 130 Heimgartner, Die Briefe 42-58, vol. 248, p. 66 [Syriac], vol. 249, p. 49-50 [German]. 131 Braun, Timothei patriarchae I epistulae, vol. 30, p. 121-122 [Syriac], vol. 31, p. 80 [Latin]. 132 Phaedrus 246a-b. 133 The most probable source for the Catholicos seems to be the works of Gregory of Nazianzus, cf. Berti, Vita e studi di Timoteo I, p. 215-216. 134 Heimgartner, Die Briefe 42-58, vol. 248, p. 3-64 [Syriac], vol. 249, p. 3-46 [German]. 135 Heimgartner, Die Briefe 42-58, vol. 248, p. 66 [Syriac], vol. 249, p. 49-50 [German]. Cf. Brock, Two Letters. 136 Furlani, Contributi alla storia della filosofia greca in oriente. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 25

second part he begins to speak of Matter, Species and Negation according to the Aristotelian teaching. He deals with it in five parts, but doesn’t finish the treatise.137

This work has been preserved in Ms. Dayr al-Suryān 27138. The second part (Part B) of this composite manuscript (fols. 95r-127v) contains a florilegium that embraces several philosophical treatises. One text included in it bears the title, “On those [philosophers] who did research on natural principles …”, and its beginning coincides literally with the quotation by Timotheos. Brock and Van Rompay define another fragment included in the collection as an “Explanation of Plato’s thought on matter”, and it also corresponds to the account by Timotheos. The work preserved in Ms. Dayr al-Suryān 27 has a form of a doxography. It bears a close resemblance to the lists of “opinions” of the main philosophical schools preserved both as independent treatises (cf. ps.-Plutarch’s Placita Philosophorum) and as parts of philosophical commentaries, serving as prolegomena, and also of polemical works, like the Praeparatio Evangelica of Eusebius of Caesarea139. Both Christian and non-Christian texts could have served as sources for the doxography in the Ms. Dayr al-Suryān 27140. The same Part B of Ms. Dayr al-Suryān 27 contains, along with the doxography, several Christian polemical works, like the Prophecies of Pagan Philosophers concerning Christ and moral sayings ascribed to Greek philosophers. Just after the “Explanation of Plato’s thought on matter” several treatises of Severus Sēḇōḵt appear. This fact discloses the possible provenance of the philosophical florilegium preserved in Part B of Ms. Dayr al-Suryān 27. It could have been composed in the West- Syrian monastic school of Qennešrē that was famous for its philosophical studies. This assumption explains the fact that the Syriac doxography later came to the monastery of Mar Mattai near Mosul, where Catholicos Timotheos I was looking for it at the end of the 8th century along with “commentaries and scholia”. The influence of the Late Antique academic tradition on the Syriac schools seems to be most evident in the texts written in the genre of “introduction” (prolegomena) to the Aristotelian treatises that became popular among Syrian intellectuals from the 6th century onwards. The

137 Heimgartner, Die Briefe 42-58, vol. 248, p. 67 [Syriac], vol. 249, p. 51 [German]. Cf. Brock, Two Letters, p. 237. 138 Cf. Brock – Van Rompay, Catalogue, p. 163-177. 139 Cf. Diels, Doxographi Graeci; Mansfeld – Runia, Aëtiana, vol. 1. 140 Its beginning matches to a large extent with Sextus Empiricus’ Adversus Mathe- maticos X.310-311 and with Ps.-Hippolytus’ Refutatio omnium haeresium X.6.1. 26 Y. ARZHANOV earliest examples of prolegomena texts in Syriac appear at the beginning of the 6th century in the two discourses by Sergius of Rēš ῾Aynā141. In these discourses, dedicated to the “aim of the study” of the works of Aristotle, Sergius several times refers to “Plato and other Academics” with whose views he had the opportunity to become acquainted during his studies in Alexandria. A younger contemporary of Sergius, Proba, mentions on several occasions the views of Plato and even cites him. How- ever, this does not necessarily presuppose the direct knowledge of texts of the philosopher, and he probably derived his views from Alexandrian introductory works (cf. above)142. The prolegomena texts continued to be used in Syriac schools until early Islamic times. A more elaborated example of it has come down to us under the name of Michael Badōqā143. This collection of definitions and short commentaries on the main philosophical terms, however, must be considered to be an anonymous product of the East Syriac school tradition dating back to the 9th or 10th century144. In accordance with the Alexan- drian schema145, it begins with a definition of philosophy. It then attributes the fourth variant of categorizing this term to “Plato and his companions” who understood philosophy primarily as “assimilation to God”. Information about different philosophical schools with a brief description of the “school of Plato” appears in the works of two authors of the period of the “Syriac Renaissance” of the 13th century, Grigorios Bar ῾Ebrōyō (Barhebraeus) and Jacob (Severus) Bar Šakkō. Bar ῾Ebrōyō’s compendium Candelabrum of the Sanctuary begins with an overview of the philosophical schools146. Bar Šakkō offers a similar summary in the second part of his Book of the Dialogues.147 However, both Bar ῾Ebrōyō and Bar Šakkō seem to have been generally influenced by Arabic philosophical works (in the case of Bar ῾Ebrōyō they were mainly the treatises of Ibn Sīnā, whereas Bar Šakkō probably was familiar with the teachings of Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī). Thus they formed an integral part of the philosophical studies of the period of the “Arabic Renaissance”, mainly connected with Baghdad, the new intellectual center of the Muslim world.

141 The short commentary on Categories: Aydin, Sergius of Reshaina, Introduction to Aristotle. For the long commentary addressed to Theodore, see Hugonnard-Roche, La logique d’Aristote, p. 165-231; Watt, Sergius of Reshayna on the Prolegomena. 142 For Proba and his identity, see Brock, The Commentator Probus. 143 Furlani, ‘Il libro delle definizioni e divisioni’. 144 Cf. Abramowski, Zu den Schriften des Michael Malpana/Badoqa. 145 Cf. Hein, Definition und Einteilung der Philosophie. 146 See Gottheil, A Synopsis of Greek Philosophy. 147 Cf. Ruska, Studien zu Severus bar Šakkû. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 27

Syriac Christians played an important role in the “Arabic Renaissance”, serving both as translators and interpreters of the Greek works for the Arabic audience148. Two Syriac-Arabic lexicons have come down to us as witnesses of the intellectual life in ῾Abbāsid Iraq in the 9th-10th centuries, where these two languages were equally represented in philosophical and scientific studies. One of the lexicons was probably composed in the 9th century by Īšō῾ bar ῾Alī and later integrated in the lexicon of Ḥasan bar Bahlūl who worked in Baghdad a century later. The characterization of Plato in both works is not extensive, containing – apart from the translation of his name (the “Broad” One) – only one but quite expressive characterization of the Athenian philosopher – the “Divine” One149.

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Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Yury Arzhanov Hollandstrasse 11-13, 1020 Wien, Österreich [email protected] 36 Y. ARZHANOV

Abstract — No Syriac translation of any genuine Platonic work has become known thus far, though the name of the Greek philosopher, a number of ideas associated with it, and texts that bear it in the title became an integral part of Syriac literature. All three phenomena, however, should be seen as a product of the specific period of time, the early Christian era and Late Antiquity. We are thus faced with a Syriac image of Plato based on wisdom literature, with Platonism characteristic of the monastic ascetic tradition, and with the texts representing these influences.