The Presocratics at Herculaneum
Description
This volume analyses in depth the reception of early Greek philosophy in the Epicurean tradition and provides for the first time in scholarship a comprehensive edition, with translation and commentary, of all the Herculanean testimonia to the Presocratics. Among the most significant scientific outcomes, it provides elements for the attribution of an earlier date to the attested tradition of Xenophanes' scepticism; a complete reconstruction of the Epicurean reception of Democritus; a new reconstruction of the testimonia to Nausiphanes' concept of physiologia , Anaxagoras' physics and theology, and Empedocles' epistemology; new texts for better comparing the doxographical sections of Philodemus' On Piety with those of Cicero's On the Nature of the Gods , which update Hermann Diels' treatment of this subject in his Doxographi Graeci .
Reviews / Votes
"A substantial volume (xxi + 763 pages), well printed and produced, with about fifty pages of bibliographical references, followed by about sixty pages of indices. (...) the bulk of the book is occupied by the «Corpus Praesocraticorum Herculanense» (85-592), in which individual Presocratics appear in alphabetical order, from Acusilaus Argivus to Zeno Eleates. (...) the appendix on Diogenes [of Oinoanda] is a praiseworthy section of the book." (pp. 397-398)
Martin Ferguson Smith , Diogenes of Oinoanda: News and Notes XIV (2019-2021), in: Cronache Ercolanesi 52 (2022) 383-399.
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"The eleventh volume of the Studia Praesocratica series presents a welcome challenge to scholars of early Greek philosophy to get to grips with the exciting and valuable material found in the Herculanean testimonia. These texts provide a resource that has often been overlooked even by those seeking relatively recently to present comprehensive collections of texts and evidence on the Presocratics, and Christian Vassallo has done a great service in producing this extensive collection of textual evidence, along with English translations and commentary. [...] The work is explicitly designed to be of value not just to papyrologists but to scholars of early Greek philosophy too. With this in mind, Vassallo presents the evidence separately for each individual Presocratic, with separate commentary sections aiming to put the evidence into its Epicurean context. He extends the coverage of his already monumental work by including a useful appendix on 'Diogenes of Oinoanda's Criticism of Presocratic Philosophy' (595-645). Any scholar of early Greek philosophy seeking to undertake a comprehensive survey of the textual evidence will be grateful to Vassallo for the work he has done and for how accessible he has rendered these texts." (p. 352)
Jenny Bryan , in: Greece & Rome 69 (2022) 352-357.
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"Christian Vassallo's The Presocratics at Herculaneum is published as part of De Gruyter's Studia Praesocratica but certainly has as much (if not more) for those interested in the Epicurean tradition as it does for those who are using material from the Herculaneum papyri to put together a picture of early Greek philosophy. (...) I am sure that this will be an extremely useful tool that will replace the parts of DK that present material from Herculaneum and will supplement the material in the Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici greci e latini for the early philosophers concerned." (pp. 376-377)
James Warren , Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy , in: Phronesis 67 (2022) 371-382.
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Christian Vassallo , Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.