NICOLAUS of Damascus
Nikolaos Damaskênos (Νικολαος Δαμασκηνος);
in Latin: Nicolaus Damascenus.
Born about 64 BCE in Damascus.
Died after 4 CE, probably in Rome.
Wikipedia: English,
French.
Categories: Historical Works,
Treatises,
Theatre.
HISTORICAL WORKS
Histories.
(Ιστοριαι | Historiai).
Title in the Suda: Universal History (Καθολικη ιστορια | Katholikê historia). Originally in 144 books. Fragments survive from books 1–7, 96, 103, 104, 107, 108, 110, 114, 116, 123 and 124.
Greek: Valesius (1634; pages 425–470 and 490–509);
• Orelli (1804; pages 16–83 and 114–138; notes in
1811);
• Korais (1805; pages 229–250 and 260–270);
• Tauchnitz (1819; pages 251–280 and 292–300);
• Müller (1849; addenda in
1851);
• Feder (1850, ed. 1855);
• Dindorf (1870).
French: Histoires (Édith Parmentier and Francesca Prometea Barone, 2011).
Life of Caesar.
(Βιος Καισαρος | Bios Kaisaros).
Biography of Augustus. Surviving fragments: five short excerpts on Octavian’s youth, and a long excerpt on Caesar’s assassination and its aftermath.
Greek: Valesius (1634; Octavian’s youth);
• Fabricius (1727; Octavian’s youth);
• Orelli (1804; Octavian’s youth; notes in
1811);
• Korais (1805; Octavian’s youth);
• Tauchnitz (1819; Octavian’s youth);
• Müller (1849; all fragments);
• Piccolos (1850; Caesar’s assassination);
• Feder (1850, ed. 1855; Caesar’s assassination);
• Dindorf (1870; all fragments).
English: Life of Augustus (Clayton Hall, 1922; thesis; published in
1923);
• Life of Augustus (Jane Bellemore, 1984);
• The Life of Augustus (Mark Toher, 2016).
French: Vie de César (Alfred Firmin-Didot, 1850; Caesar’s assassination; see also
1862 and
1865);
• Vie d’Auguste (Édith Parmentier and Francesca Prometea Barone, 2011).
On His Own Life.
(Περι του ιδιου βιου | Peri tou idiou biou).
Greek: Valesius (1634);
• Orelli (1804; notes in
1811);
• Korais (1805);
• Tauchnitz (1819; various mentions);
• Müller (1849);
• Feder (1850, ed. 1855);
• Dindorf (1870).
English: The Autobiography (Mark Toher, 2017).
French: Autobiographie (Édith Parmentier and Francesca Prometea Barone, 2011).
TREATISES
Collection of Curious Customs.
(Παραδοξων εθων συναγωγη | Paradoxôn ethôn sunagôgê).
Mentioned by Photius (Library, 189). Fragments survive.
Greek: Cragius (1593);
• Valesius (1634);
• Kriegk (1723);
• Orelli (1804; notes in
1811);
• Korais (1805);
• Tauchnitz (1819);
• Westermann (1839);
• Müller (1849);
• Dindorf (1870).
English: The Manners of Diverse Nations (Edward Aston, 1611).
French: Recueil de coutumes (Édith Parmentier and Francesca Prometea Barone, 2011).
On the Universe.
(Περι του παντος | Peri tou pantos).
Mentioned by Simplicius (On Heavens).
On the Beautiful in Action.
(Περι των εν τοις πρακτικοις καλων | Peri tôn en tois praktikois kalôn).
Mentioned by Simplicius (Handbook of Epictetus).
On Gods.
(Περι θεων | Peri theôn).
Mentioned by Simplicius (Physics).
On the Philosophy of Aristotle.
(Περι της Αριστοτελους φιλοσοφιας | Peri tês Aristotelous philosophias).
Also known under the Latin title De philosophia Aristotelis. Mentioned by Simplicius (On Heavens), Rhazes (Container), Ibn al-Nadim (Catalogue), Averroes (Metaphysics), Ibn al-Qifti (History of the Philosophers) and Bar Hebraeus (Compendious History of the Dynasties). Attribution disputed by Silvia Fazzo in her article “Nicolas, l’auteur du Sommaire de la philosophie d’Aristote: doutes sur son identité, sa datation, son origine” (2008); she proposes to ascribe this compendium to a namesake, Nicolaus the Peripatetic, who was from Laodicea (probably Laodicea ad Mare, in Syria) according to Ibn Butlan (quoted by Ibn al-Qifti and Bar Hebraeus), and lived at the time of Emperor Julian (middle of the fourth century) according to Bar Hebraeus.
Greek: Roeper (1844; fragments, pages 27 and 35–43).
English (from Syriac): On the Philosophy of Aristotle (Hendrik Joan Drossaart Lulofs, 1965).
Possible structure of the compendium:
• Physics.
English: Drossaart Lulofs.
• Metaphysics.
English: Drossaart Lulofs.
• On the Heavens.
English: Drossaart Lulofs.
• On Generation and Corruption.
English: Drossaart Lulofs.
• Meteorology.
• Ethics.
• History of Animals.
• On the Parts of Animals.
• On the Soul.
Mentioned by Averroes.
• On Sense.
• On Dreams.
• On the Generation of Animals.
• On Length and Shortness of Life.
• On the Movement of Animals.
• On Plants.
See below.
On Plants.
(Περι φυτων | Peri phutôn).
Also known under the Latin title De plantis. Formerly attributed to Aristotle. The Greek text is now lost. Early translations: from Greek into Syriac (only a fragment survives); from Syriac into Arabic (by Ishaq ibn Hunayn, 9th century, with corrections by Thabit ibn Qurra); from Arabic into Latin (by Alfred of Sareshel, 12th century); from Latin back into Greek (anonymous, possibly by Manuel Holobolos, 13th century); from Arabic into Hebrew (by Kalonymus ben Kalonymus, 1314). Those translations are collected in De Plantis: Five Translations (1989; edited by Hendrik Drossaart Lulofs and Evert Poortman). This text was probably part of the compendium On the Philosophy of Aristotle, attributed by Silvia Fazzo to Nicolaus the Peripatetic of Laodicea.
Latin: Laguna (1543);
• Meyer (1841).
Greek: Grynaeus (1539).
English: De plantis (Edward Forster, 1913; from Latin);
• On Plants (Walter Hett, 1936, ed. 1955; from Greek).
French: Des Plantes (Michel Federspiel and Marie Cronier, 2018; from Latin, with a table of the variants of the Arabic version; in Pseudo-Aristote: Du Monde).
Refutation of those who claim the intellect to be identical with the intelligible.
THEATRE
Untitled Comedy.
Fourty-four lines survived, quoted by Stobaeus.
Greek: Orelli (1804)
• Korais (1805);.
Susanna (tragedy, lost).
(Σωσαννα | Sôsanna).
Created on 6 April 2022. Updated on 24 April 2022.
