Introduction translated by Merryl Rebello
On the origin of the term “Vorsokratiker” (Presocratics), Eduard Zeller’s role in establishing it, and its problematic nature, see the introductory remarks of Gemelli Marciano in her new edition of the Presocratics, Düsseldorf 2007, 373–85.
The first to take this path was Serge Mouraviev in the second part of his monumental collection Heraclitea. Cf. esp. the preface to volume II A 1, x: “1) présenter ensemble tous les textes relatifs à Héraclite qui sont parvenus jusqu’à nous; 2) reconstituer à partir d’eux non pas la pensée et le verbe d’Héraclite lui-même [ ...], mais, plus mode-stement, ce que ses citateurs et ses témoins savaient et pensaient de lui et, à partir de là, ébaucher une histoire de la transmission et de l’interprétation de son livre et de ses opinions ...”.
For a commentary on the ‘new’ Thales of Miletus see Schwab 2011.
Names are the most unstable elements in this genre, see Strohmaier 2003, 16.
For the same reason, this edition does not include ‘Aëtios’, an author who is himself reconstructed. Cf. Mansfeld & Runia 2009.
Cf. Most 1998, 1–15, esp. 10ff.
In case of the original text of authors such as Parmenides and Empedocles, a reconstructive and synthetic presentation of what has been passed down literally is, of course, most desirable. This will undertaken in the corresponding volumes in the present series.
Gutas 1994, 4941.
On the current state of research on this matter, see van Ess 2002.
De Smet 1998, 23 (“ ... indignes de philologues sérieux, trahissant un mépris manifeste pour la littérature arabe en général”).
Drossaart Lulofs 1987, 5f.; cf. DK I 297, 2. 4f. with the addendum 499, 15f.
Sezgin 2001, 70. (= fol. 62v2–5); cf. DK II 41, 12–43, 5 and 420, 37–43; a critical edition of the Corpus Medicorum Graecorum, Supplementum Orientale, with commentary and translation is currently being prepared.
Gutas 1998, esp. 34–45.
Strohmaier (Leipzig) 32002, no. 47.
Anawati/Iskandar 1970, 230–49.
Strohmaier 1980, 196–200 (reprint 1996, 222–6),
Cf. 11: Müller 1891, vol. 2, 79, 21f. (= vol. 4, 822, 3f. Kühn) and Galen’s treatise That the powers of the soul follow the temperaments of the body in Arabic translation ed. by Biesterfeldt 1973, Arab. 43, 19 (translation 78).
Strohmaier (Leuven) 2002 (reprint 2007).
Pseudologista 30.
See below (p. XX).
Sezgin 2001, 131, 16 (= fol. 93r16); 132, 9f. (= fol. 93v9f.); 133, 5. 14. 17 (=fol. 94r5. 14. 17); the same as Tālīs in: Mohaghegh 1993, 55, 15, in which context the philosopher cannot be the one referred to, either, since the person in question contradicts an authority in the field of medicine.
Cf. Peters 1968, 7–54.
Brague 1993, 423–33.
Ed. by Badawī 1980, vol. 2, 309–462.
Ed. by Badawī 1980, vol. 2 and 3, 467–733.
Ed. by Badawī 1980, vol. 3, 736–1018.
Ed. by Lyons 1982.
Ed. by Tkatsch 1929–32.
Ed. by Badawī 1964–5; see the survey by Lettinck 1991 (with quotes by John Philoponus which go beyond Aristotle as far as information on the Presocratics is concerned, cf. the index).
Ed. by Endreß 1966.
The Arabic version does not survive, but we still have the basis for a translation into Latin and Hebrew, see Peters 1968, 37f.
Ed. by Daiber 1975.
Ed. by Badawī 1954.
The Arabic version does not survive, but we have a compendium by Averroes, see Peters 1968, 45–7.
Ed. by Brugman and Drossaart Lulofs, Leiden 1971.
Ed. by Badawī 1977 (Ṭibā‘ al-ḥayawān).
Ed. by Badawī 1977 (Ağzā‘al-ḥayawān); Kruk 1979.
The Arabic text of the Metaphysics is accessible in an edition via the lemmata of the Long Commentary on Aristotle by Averroes, ed. by Bouyges 1938–52; cf. Martin 1984 and Genequand 1986.
Ed. by Akasoy 2005.
Badawī 1986, 133–5; cf. Olympiodori in Aristotelis Meteora commentaria, ed. by Stüwe, and Aristotle, Met. 2.7.365a17–25, b1–12.
Badawī 1986, 263, 6–8.
Badawī 1986, 246, 21f.
Badawī 1986, 267, 1f.
Strohmaier 1994 (reprint 2003).
Strohmaier (London) 2002 (reprint 2007).
On Thales, see below Th 483; on Diogenes of Apollonia vol. 2, 421, 28–40 (from De experientia medica XIII, 4f.: Galen on Medical Experience, ed. by Walzer 1946, 30, 9–16, translation 109); on Antiphon the rhetor, in case he is to be identified with the philosopher, vol. 2, 426, 17–24 (from De nominibus medicis: Galen Über die medizinischen Namen, ed. by Meyerhof/Schacht 1931: Arabic 19,7–12, translation 34, 11–9).
The lettering LAK:MR’ĠWRS is slightly ambiguous, but cf. the following, where Anaxagoras is cited on a lexical problem in a reliable reading, as well; here and in the following examples, I quote uncertain readings of manuscripts in capital letters and according to the rules of the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft). Furthermore, a dot replaces the small clasp which is bent upwards when it is dotless, which could then be resolved into b, t, T, n and y. A lower-case o replaces the small circle with missing dotting, which in the first and middle position can be f as well as q.
More likely still Anaxagoras and not Hippocrates, as is added by Pfaff.
II, 1, 10 (on vol. 5, 82, 9–11 Littré): Wenkebach/Pfaff 1934 (= CMG V 10, 1), 193, 6–20 (translation by Pfaff, with corrections; included in DK II 27, 14f.; cf. the manuscript Escorialensis arab. 804 (the photocopies which I consulted in the CMG lack proper pagination).
The reading RWFS is unambiguous.
The lettering cannot be identified.
A commentator on Hippocrates living around 100 CE, much appreciated by Galen. The reading S’..S does not pose any difficulties.
Here, the reading ‘B’oS’‘ZR’S does not pose any difficulties.
VI, 5, 2, 2 (on vol. 5, 320, 1 Littré): Wenkebach/Pfaff 21956 (= CMG V 10, 2, 2), 300, 9–12; cf. the manuscript Escorialensis arab. 805 (the photocopies which I consulted in the CMG lack proper pagination; Pfaff’s translation is incorrect).
5, 2f.: ed. by Lyons 1969 (= CMG Suppl. Orientale II), 58, 26–60, 4 (translation 59f.); cf. in: DK I 291, 22–6.
Strohmaier 1968 (reprint 1996).
2, 16: ed. by De Lacy 1996 (= CMG V 1, 2), 60, 21.
Sezgin 2001, 67,1f. (= fol. 61r1f.).
IX, 5: Walzer 1946, 19, 10–3 (translation 99; DK II 423, 17–24).
Badawī 1958, 291, 12–292, 1; A. Müller 1882, vol. 1, 84, 31–85, 2; cf. Halkin 1944, no. 181 and p. 63, and Ilberg 1889, 211f. (reprint 1974, 5f.).
II 6, 29 (on vol. 5, 138, 6–9 Littré): Wenkebach/Pfaff 1934 (= CMG V 10, 1), 402; on that point see Strohmaier 1976 (reprint 1996) and Strohmaier 2013.
Cruz Hernández 1995, 484; a summary can also be found in Steinschneider 1893 (reprint 1956), 42.
Partly translated by Strohmaier 32002, no. 6–14, Strohmaier 2013.
Ed. by Nasr/Mohaghegh 1352/1972, 30, 13–32, 9; cf. Avicenna’s long-winded refutation of Presocratic conceptions of matter in his main work Kitāb aš-šifā’, aṭ-ṭabī’īyāt, fann 3, faṣl 1–5 (ed. by Madkūr/Qāsim, reprint n.d., 77–121). In this passage, however, Avicenna does not mention the philosophers’ names.
Cf. the overview provided by Overwien 2005, 155f.
Nizami, Das Alexanderbuch. Iskandarname, translated by Bürgel 1991, 459–68.
Rowson 1988, 70, 2–6/Rowson 1988, 70,2–6 (translation 71,2–9); the same in Ṣā’id al-Andalusī, Ṭabaqāt al-umam, ed. by Bū ‘Alwān 1985, 72, 8–11 (translated in Rosenthal 1965, 61); similarly already Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.1.87.2–7 and 8.1.1.
Daiber 1980; cf. id. 1994, 4974–92, esp. 4975–84 (the latter also contains a rather lucid presentation of the further reception in Muslim works).
Kitāb ‘ağā’ib al-maḫlūqāt, ed. by Wüstenfeld 1849, vol. 1, 144f.; cf. Daiber 1980, 180–3 (III 13, 3).
Cf. Guthrie 1974, vol. 2, 310 and 424; in Daiber 1980, 184f. (III 15, 8) under Anaximenes.
Cf. the Arabic fragments translated by David Wasserstein in: Smith 1993, 11, 220f., 226, 229–32 and 249; furthermore Rosenthal 1937, 39–56 (reprint 1990, I). For present-day research, consult the comprehensive study by Emily Cottrell (2008, 526–9).
Cf. 1, 1–16, 2: ed. by Marcovich 1986, 57–75.
Stern 1972, 442f. (reprint 1983 XIII).
Rudolph 2005.
Rudolph 1989.
Ibid. 13–6.
Cf. Daiber 1994, 4975–9.
Cf. Rudolph 1989, 82, 87, 90–4, 98, 100–6.
Ryssel 1896; in the edition of DK I 276, 5–17; II 44, 7–22. 223, 12–23. 268, 18–26. 399, 25–7.
See De Smet 1989, 12f.: “Nous constaterons que cette doctrine s’avère très homo-gène, proche, par ses thèmes et son vocabulaire, des autres représentants du néopla-tonisme arabe (surtout des Plotiniana Arabica), mais fidèle malgré tout à une exégèse d’Empédocle pratiquée par les derniers philosophes de l’Antiquité”. See Brague/ Freudenthal 2005.
Ta’rīḫ al-ḥukamā, ed. by Lippert 1903, 49, 19–50, 1.
Horten 1913, 151; see also Rudolph 1989, 24.
Strohmaier 2003, 3–16; cf. the contributions by Searby, Gerlach and Overwien
Overwien 2005, 155f.; Strohmaier 2007, 401–4, and the recent introduction in Searby 2007. On the Syrian collections cf. Brock 2003, esp. 14f.; on an Ethiopian collection see Pietruschka 2005, 485f. (with further reading). When compiling a corpus in the future, one would have to take into account collections written in Coptic, Latin, Armenian and Old Church Slavonic, as well, see Strohmaier 1998 (reprint 2003).
Overwien 2003.
Thom 1995, 28f.; see also Fück 1955, 91.
Cf. Badawī 31983, 225, note 1.
Rosenthal 1958, 29–54 and 150–83 (reprint 1990, VII).
Gutas 1975.
Strohmaier 1982 (reprint 1996).
There is a debate about the author’s identity, cf. Rudolph 1989, 213, note 10.
Ed. by Dunlop 1979; cf. Daiber 1984, 36–68; cf. a long list of partly unidentified names in Rosenthal 1965, 57–9.
Badawī 1958; cf. Rosenthal 1960–1.
Instead of the various editions of the texts that still leave much to be desired, I recommend using the translation by Gimaret/Monnot/Jolivet 1986/1993 (the introduction in vol. 2 by Jolivet is particularly important); see also Janssens 1993.
Cf. Strohmaier 2003, 14–6.
Ed. and translated by Jürß/Müller/Schmidt 31973, items no. 264, 269 and 288.
Cf. Overwien 2005, 160, and Gutas 1994, 4953f. The editions available are unsatisfactory, cf. Cottrell 2004–5.
Cf. the opus magistrale by Kraus 1942/3 (reprint 1989/6), see both indices; moreover Ullmann 1972, index; Sezgin 1971, index.
Strohmaier 1989, 175–7 (reprint 1996, 373–5).
Excerpts in Bürgel 2007, 267–73.
Strohmaier (Leuven) 2002.
See above (p. XX), and Kraus 1942, vol. 1, p. LXIIIf.
“[E]ine souveräne Kenntnis vorsokratischer Lehren”, Plessner 1975, 102; see also Sezgin 1971, 60–6.
Rudolph 1990; id. 2005.
Kahl 1994 and id. 2003, item no. 344.
Strohmaier 1972 (reprint 1996).
Ullmann 1973.
Ritter/Plessner 1962, see the indices.
Ullmann 1970, 249.
Sezgin 1971, 310–2.
An exception are scholia which (themselves often being only roughly datable) occasionally draw on even older material. For this reason, the scholia are presented as a group of their own at the end of this collection.
For example the exemplary study by Overwien 2005. A good overview on the Seven Sages is provided by Althoff/Zeller 2006, 3–81. When broadening the idea of what constitutes a text, one would have to take into account images which represent Thales, as well. A mosaic from Baalbek dating to the 3rd century CE, for instance, shows Thales together with Socrates (see Grimm 2008, 59–61; cf. Th 168). Grammarians’ occasional notes on the declension of the name ‘Thales’ have been neglected.
It is not completely clear whether this is Choerilus of Samos (5th cent. BCE) or Choerilus of Iasus (3rd/2nd cent. BCE). KRS 1983, 97, n. 2 argues for the latter, but cf. Classen 1986, 43, n.23 and Marcovich 1999, ad loc., who conjectures that the Barbarika of Choerilus of Samos is the source, but refers to KRS.
Cf. Bowen 2002, esp. 313 f.
Detailed discussion in O’Grady 2002, 126 ff.; cf. also Schmitz 2000,144 f.
A port about 40 km. southwest of Izmir.
Seidlmayer 2000, 942. For the possible Egyptian background of Thales’s theory and its larger tradition (also without naming Thales) cf. Bonneau 1964, 151 f.; cf. also Lloyd 1975, 91–107.
The etesian winds are the northwest winds that blow in the summer.
Cf. the anecdote reported by Plato and others (cf. Th 19), about Thales, who fell into a well during his astronomical investigations.
For the sexual connotations of the passage see Sommerstein 1982, 169f., rejected by Holzberg/Maier 1993, 111 ff. with further proposals.
Cf. Sommerstein 1987, 265: “efforts by modern scholars to make sense of 1001–4 as a sequence of geometrical operations [ ...] have met with little success.” However, see Gladigow 1968, 273, who conjectures that the procedure described here may to some extent go back to Thales. Cf. also Dührsen 2005, 99ff.
W: Ich lege also das Richtscheit an, setze hier oben den gebogenen Zirkel ein.
Cf. Aesop, Fable 40 ed. Perry (The Astronomer); Antipater of Sidon (Beckby AP 7.172).
Cf. Plato, Phaedrus 249D7–8. For the reception of this anecdote see Blumenberg 1976.
W: senkrecht.
W. does not translate the final sentence.
A Scythian from a royal family (cf. Herodotus, Hist. 4.46 and 76ff.). On the basis of his natural cleverness he was stylized as an idealized contrasting image of Greek civilization and was sometimes numbered among the Seven Sages.
W. jene alten philosophen
Wehrli2 reads 
(sc. Thales) instead of 
. For difficulties in ascribing this testimonium to Heraclides Ponticus, see Schorn 22.
Cf. Kullmann 1998, 418f.
W: sowohl wissenschaftliche Einsicht als auch intuitive Erkenntnis.
W: Rätselhaftes.
The same story about Democritus is found in Pliny, Natural History 18.68.273 f.
The nature. See O’Grady 2002, 35.
Cf. Snell 1976, 478–90, esp. 481 ff. Cf. also O’Grady 2002, 20ff.
E.g., Homer, Iliad 15.37.
For the interpretation of this sentence cf. Mansfeld 1985, 115f. (1990, 131 f.).
W: [Welt]entstehung.
W: in der Lage.
O’Grady 2002, 17 considers Alcmaeon of Croton as a possible source for Aristotle’s report. Cf. De An. 1.2.405a29f.
Cf. Plato, Laws 10.9.899B and Aristotle, De Generatione Animalium 3.11.762a21 with KRS 95–96, n. 1.
Cf. Flashar 2004, 566.
Cf. n. 1 on Th 26.
Cf. also Scholia on Fr. 191 Iamb. 1, Dieg. VI 1–19 Pfeiffer.
The Little Dipper. Cf. Aratus, Phainomena 42–44.
A way of referring to the Arcadians, who boasted of their ancient origin – before the creation of the moon.
Specifically, “under a happy bird-omen” (
is a kind of bird [a nuthatch?]).
The Didymaion was a sanctuary of Apollo near Miletus.
Pythagoras, who claimed to have been Euphorbus, the Trojan warrior, in a previous life.
W: der andere Daimon
W: der Beste
W: ich gebe ihn dir als ersten Preis
Neileus, the mythical founder of Miletus. The cup which Thales dedicated is speaking.
A talent would be a low price for a Thales. But even if his price were so reasonable, Thales would be nothing in comparison with Philocrates for the same amount of money.
W. translates only this line and the next.
W. does not translate this passage.
W: hehre
W: Weisheit
Cf. Th 21.
On the question of sources and on the question of the influence of Cicero’s list on later authors (Minucius Felix, Lactantius, Augustine), cf. Gigon/Straume-Zimmermann 1996, 345ff.
On the question whether longis intervallis is to be understood temporally or spatially, cf. Kahn 1960, 47f.; Conche 1991, 104.
W: Gegenständen.
W: Allein.
W: Zeitabständen.
W: unbestimmt.
W. does not translate the last sentence.
W: Achtung vor den Göttern.
W: Herzen.
W.’s translation begins here.
W: Prophetisch.
as opposed to the 
of Anaximander. Cf. Conche 1991, 25 f., n. 3.
The 
or 
.
W. does not translate this first sentence.
W.’s translation begins here.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Bowen/Goldstein 1994, 696f., 709, as well as Bowen 2002, 314f.
Cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24).
On the problems in the origin and dating of the last part of Hero’s collection of excerpts (Deff. 133–138), cf. Asper 2007, 80–1 with n. 164.
On this title, cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n.8.
Astronomer of the second half of the fifth cent. BCE
The obliquity of the ecliptic? Cf. Szabó 1977, 343 with n. 11.
Cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 10; KRS 83. 
is a conjecture of Fabricius for the transmitted text 
. Cf. Th 237 (1.24).
Or: lies (
); cf. on Th 167.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: Astronomie.
W: dass er [der Umlauf] nicht immer gleich verläuft.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Moraux 1984, 89.
W. has 0
Cf. Arist. Cael. 2.13 (above, Th 30).
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. incorrectly has 18.213.
Cf. the reports on Thales’ astronomical writings (Th 237 [1.23], Th 495).
Athenian astronomer and meteorologist of the fifth cent. BCE.
Eudoxus of Cnidos, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher of the fourth cent-BCE.
W: in derselben Gegend [ihre Beobachtungen anstellten].
Cf. also ibid. 13.155E (allusion to Bathycles’ cup).
Biographer (2nd half of the third cent. BCE). On the arrangement of the episode, cf. Bollansée 1999, 118f., without mention of Pataecus; Wehrli 1974, 49f.
This was connected with the later Macedonian occupation under Antipater.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Iliad 14.201.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Aristarchus of Samos, astronomer and mathematician (ca. 310–230 BCE); Timocharis, astronomer in the time of Ptolemy I; Aristyllus, astronomer, contemporary of Timocharis; Hipparchus of Nicaea, astronomer of the second cent. BCE.
Eudoxus of Cnidus, cf. n. on Th 106.
The following passages from the Dinner, in which Thales plays a principal role, are an excerpt.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: Widersprüchliches.
Cf. Gigante 1983, 217f.
Cf. Arist. Ph. 4.13.222b16f.; Kahn 1960, 170f.; Schibli 1990, 29, n.39.
Cf. Th 227 and also Babrius, Fable 111 (Lachmann); Aesop, Fable 180 (Perry).
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: schöner selbst als das Leben.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: Wie gering is nicht ein Anlass, dass er nicht dem Zorn genügte.
Cf. Diller 1975, 59.
W: in ihren Anfängen.
W. does not translate rectum.
W. does not translate 
.
Cf. Diels 19582, 156ff.
Cf. Anthologia Latina 882 (Riese).
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W.’s translation begins here and extends to “love.”
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: unendlichen.
Cf. Lachenaud 196–8.
Iliad 14.246.
W: alles Seienden.
W: kam ... zurück.
W: das Feuer der Sonne selbst.
Cf. Schreckenberg 1964, 109.
Cf. Th 353, Th 397. On the origin of the division of the heavenly sphere (and the earth) into zones, cf. Zhmud 1997, 211 ff.
Cf. Plato, Phaedo 99D5–E1; Seneca, Nat. Quest. 1.12.1. Cf. Diels2 1958, 53.
Cf. Panchenko 2002, 223–36.
Cf. O’Grady 2002, 95ff. (arguments for an attribution of this theory to Thales).
On the date cf. Bowen 2002, 312, n. 12.
Platonist of the first cent. CE.
On this title cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 8.
Astronomer of the second half of the fifth cent. BCE.
The obliquity of the ecliptic? Cf. Szabó 1977, 343, with n. 11.
Cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 10; KRS 83. 
is a conjecture of Fabricius for the transmitted text 
. Cf. Th 237 (1.24).
Or: lies (
) according to a conjecture of Montuclas (cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 1).
Cf. Calza 1939; Mols 1997.
W: Er was kein Ingenieur, aber ein kluger Kopf und konnte eine Sache verständig machen und zu ihrer Ausführung überreden.
W. does not translate the words after “Zeno.”
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: 624/3–621/0 and similarly for the remaining dates in this testimonium. I have changed the style of referring to years in order to conform to the style used elsewhere in this volume.
Cf. Wasserstein 1955, 114–6 and O’Grady 2002, 150ff.
Or: Mandrolytus (Crusius).
This text is regarded as a Renaissance forgery, which, however, includes some genuine passages of Galen (cf. Deichgräber 1972, 44).
W: verwendete die Umwandlung der ersten Körper ineinander nach Notwendigkeit.
W: hebt theoretisch jede Entstehung auf.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Hillgruber 1994–99, I 74–6.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate the words here translated as “first bodies.”
W. does not translate the words here translated “what they are”.
W: nur eine Materialursache.
W: die eigene Natur.
W: Natursubstanz.
W. has “als bereits aktuelle Substanz ist” for the words here translated “which ... independently.”
W: Dinge.
W: eine einzige stoffliche Ursache.
W: als Prinzip.
W. translates only this sentence.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Or: History of Astronomy. Cf. Bowen 2002, 308, n. 2.
W.’s translation begins here.
W: Priestern.
W: Priestern.
W: baut auf.
W: der der Meinung war, dass das Wasser die erste Ursache sei.
Cf. Acts of the Apostles 1.24; 15.8.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: Ziel.
Here I translate Mansfeld’s supplement, which W. prints but does not translate.
W: in Übereinstimmung mit der Natur des ersten Urhebers ihres Werden.
W: Das aber, was weder Ursprung noch Ende habe, sei Gott.
Ophites [in Greek ophis = snake] (Naassenes), collective name for adherents of one of the directions of Gnosis pursued by various groups in the East. In their systems, which contained a body of thought derived from Greek mystery cults, Eastern cult myths, Hellenistic theology and the Old Testament, the snake had a central place both as a communicator of knowledge [ ...] and also as the bringer of ruin” (Brunner/ Flessel/Hiller 1993, 69).
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: Wesenheit.
Cf. ibid. 9.13.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Tibiletti 1967/8.
Or: “He gave no answer to Croesus.”
W: Weisheit.
W: Moral.
W: aus handgreiflich körperlichen Elementen.
W’s translation begins here.
W: allgemeine..
The dialogue Nero is attributed to Lucian in some manuscripts. Modern scholarship discusses the attribution to one of three people named Philostratus.
W.translates only the statement about Bias and Thales.
Cf. Buchheit 2006, 350–8.
W: das Prinzip aller Dinge.
W: entsteht.
W: bewegt sich.
Cf. Schibli 41.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Thales, not Agenor (thus KRS 77). Cf. Maddalena 1940, 20 f.
W.’s translation begins here.
The Little Dipper. Cf. Aratus, Phainomena 42–44.
On both book titles, cf. Majer 2002, 255 f.
On the title of Eudemus’s work and on its content, see Bowen 2002, esp. 308 ff.
See above n. on Th 178.
Cf. Th 91.
Cf. Snell, 19662, 119–128.
For amber, see O’Grady 2002, 113 f.
Cf. Diog. Laert. 8.12, Maddalena 1963, 25 f.
Cf. Th 52 (59f.).
W: der Mathematiker.
Rather: the cause of the seasons.
See the elaborations of Goulet 2000, esp. 207ff.
Unknown. Possibly a corruption. Thrasybulus as tyrant successfully defended Miletus against attacks of the Lydians.
W.: Delphic
Merops is the mythological king of the Coans.
W: er [Sokrates].
W: bin.
W: bin.
On the following maxims, cf. Searby 2007, CP 6, 80–7.
For the order of the maxims, cf. Classen 1986, 32.
Alternate translation: “Do not let your speech discredit you with those who have given you their confidence” (Althoff/Zeller 2006, 37).
The transmitted text is clearly the first year of the thirty-fifth Olympiad (640 BCE), which does not agree with the following information.
The first Pythian priestess at Delphi.
Anaximenes of Lampsacus (FGrHist 72 F 22).
W: 548–4.
Tyrant of Corinth for thirty years (before and after 600 BCE).
Cf. Dührsen 1994 for an attempt to reconstruct a hypothetical letter-novel.
W: Sieben Weisen.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: in Gedanken versunken.
W: seine Schüler.
W: seine Schüler.
Cf. Schibli 1990, 13.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Aristoxenus Fr. 23 Wehrli2.
W: Wenn nur ein Element existiert hätte.
Lactantius refers to the character in Cicero’s work of the same name.
W. does not mark this sentence as a quotation.
W: klarem Verständnis.
W. does not translate 
.
Conche 1991, 148 ff. translates 
as “force vitale infinie”.
Or: at the beginning of this cosmos occurred the separation-off of that in the Eternal which was productive of hot and cold” (Finkelberg 1993, 246).
W. does not translate 
.
W: des Alls.
W: unendlich.
W: ihrer Qualitäten.
W’s translation begins here.
W: Priestern.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Iliad 14.246.
Cf. Panchenko 2002, 223–36.
W. gives matter four attributes instead of the three in the text: umwandelbar, veränderbar, modifizierbar und im Fluss.”
Cf. O’Grady 2002, 95 ff. (arguments for attributing this theory to Thales).
Confusion with the fourth-cent. BCE orator.
Hesiod, Theogony 116. Cf. Th 532, Th 583.
W: Prinzip
W: [Welt]entstehung.
W: Eid[gegenstand]
W: Prinzip
W: Prinzip
W.’s translation begins here.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W.’s translation begins here.
Cf. Spahlinger in Althoff/Zeller 2006, 163 f.
Riedweg 1994, 52.
Does this mean that Plato and Aristotle contradict one another, or that both Plato and Aristotle contradict true belief?
W: aller Dinge.
W: alles
W: alles
De Mundo 6.400a19.
W: alles
W: alles
W. does not translate this testimonium.
For example, 
(“Nothing in excess”), 
(“Know thyself”).
W: gefährlich
W: Unglaubwürdiges
Lit. “Heraclean stone.”
Cf. Völker 2003, 222, n. 6.
Possibly as one of the Seven Sages (Classen 1986, 29). Cf. Völker 2003, 222, n. 8 (confusion with Pittacus?). Schenkl 1911, 421, n. 3 proposes that this is a different Thales.
Cf. Frechulf von Lisieux, Historiae (Allen CCL 169A, 953C).
Cf. Ekkehard of Aura, Chronicon Universale (Migne PL 154,541). Cf. Th 495.
Cf. Prosper Aquitanus, Epitome Chronicorum 165 (ed. Mommsen chron. min. I (1892) = MGH auct. ant. IX 394); Chronicum Integrum (Migne PL 51.543). Cf. Chronicum Gall. a. 511 (Mommsen chron. min. I (1892) = MGH auct. ant. IX 636, 170): “Tales Melezius primus phisicus philosophus”; Isidore of Seville, Chronicon 444, 158 (Mommsen chron. min. II (1894) = MGH auct. ant. XI): Thales Milesius primus fisicus clarus habetur, [qui defectus solis, acutissima perscrutatione comprehensis astrologiae numeris, primus investigavit]. Further, Frechulf of Lisieux, Historiae (Allen CCL 169 A 984B).
Eus. chron. armen. ad ann. ab Abr. 1376–9 = 35th Olympiad (GCS Eus. 5, 185 Karst (1911)): “Thales of Amilus, the Milesian, was known as the first natural philosopher; and it is reported that he lived until the 48th Olympiad.”
Eus. chron. armen. ad ann. ab Abr. 1433 = 49th Olympiad (GCS Eus. 5, 187 Karst): “The sun was eclipsed in accordance with the prediction of Thales the Sage. Alyattes and Azdahak fought a battle”. Cf. Petrus Comestor, Historia Scholastica (Migne PL 198.1427C–D).
Eus. chron. armen. ad ann. ab Abr. 1468 = 58th Olympiad (GCS Eus. 5, 189 Karst): “Thales dies”. Cf. Ekkehard of Aura, Chronicon Universale (Migne PL 154.549).
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Frechulf of Lisieux, Historiae (Allen CCL 169 A, 981B; ibid. 990B/C; ibid. 1002 A/B); Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada, Breviarum Historie Catholica 6.59 (Valverde).
Cf. Otto of Freising, Chronica, II 5 (p.73.21–3 Hofmeister).
Hier. Chron. I 98, 18 (g); 101, 12 (e)
Cf. Frechulf of Lisieux, Historiae (Allen CCL 169 A, 989 C/D); Ekkehard of Aura, Chronicon Universale (Migne PL 154.547); ibid. (539); Otto of Freising, Chronica, II 7 (75.4–11 Hofmeister).
Cf. Maddalena 1963, 57.
W.’s translation begins here.
W.’s translation ends here.
W. omits the section “whose ... language” from his translation.
For the interpretation of this passage, cf. Siniossoglu 2008, 111.
W: [1.24]
W. translates only the first few words of this quotation.
Matter and void.
Anaximander, according to Diels 1958a121, 46. Cf., however, Conche 1991, 212, n. 40.
W: mit Pneuma [Atem, Hauch]
W: Vorsatz
W’s translation begins here. His indication of an ellipsis should be placed before the marker for section 45.
The first time was II 7.
”In reality it is Platonists and Stoics that are meant, not Thales and Pherecydes” (Vregille/Neyrand ad loc.). Cf. Schibli 1990, 109 f.
Cf. Deuteronomy 12.15–16.
”And he affirms that the cause of the motion of the water is the spirit that resides there” (Vregille/Neyrand).
W: in einem anderen Buch
Cf. Kerschensteiner 1962, 26.
W: das All
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: des Alls
W: alles Seienden
Cf. [Plu.] Plac. Phil. 883E1.
W. reads 
in the place of the transmitted text 
. Cf. Th 158.
W: wenn er sich in Konjunktion mit der Sonne befindet, die ihn beleuchtet
Cf. Drossaart Lulofs 1987, 11 f.
For Serenus, cf. Overwien 2005, 58; Searby 2007, CP 3, 556.
Cf. Althoff/Zeller 2006, 10 ff.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Tziatzi-Papagianni on Par.1 Thal. 14.
W: Es ist schwer, sich selbst zu erkennen.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Flashar/Dubielzig/Breitenberger 2006, 133 f.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. DK II 68 A 74.
W.’s translation begins here.
W: freundlicher
W: sich dem Beelphegor zu weihen
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Zhmud 2002, 297 f.
Cf. Zhmud 2002, 268 as well as 284 with n. 91 on Porphyry as a possible intervening source.
W: Wissenschaft
W: die Anfänge
Cf. O’Grady 2002, 204 f.; Panchenko 1994, 37 ff.
On the previous reconstructions of this hypothetical procedure, cf. Dührsen 2005, 87 f.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Th 311.
W.’s translation stops here.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: das Ganze
W: des gesamten [Himmels]
Cf. [Plut.] Plac. phil. 3.10.895D8–9.
Cf. Daiber 1980, 242, 2–5.
W does not translate the rest of this sentence. The text is corrupt, and the present translation is conjectural.
W: blokiert werde
In the Battle of Pydna (168 BCE); Gaius Sulpicius Gallus is said to have given a scientific explanation of the lunar eclipse that occurred the night before the battle took place.
W’s translation begins here.
W: [584–1]
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: der feuchten Natur
W: fähig, alles zu bewahren
W: prozesshaft
W: unendlich
Or: and he was the first to introduce the term “principle.” For discussion see Kahn 1960, 29–32; KRS 108 f.; Conche 1984, 55 f.; Maddalena 1963, 116 f.; Mansfeld 2002, 29 ff.
W: das Unendlich
W: den Terminus ‘Prinzip’ einführte
W: bewahrende
W. does not translate this testimonium
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: erblicken in den Gegensätzen Prinzipien
W: erblicken in den Gegensätzen Prinzipien
W: die ein einziges und bewegtes Prinzip postulierten
188a22: 
.
W:als gegensätzliche Prinzipien
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
For Aristotle, infinity is a possible accident of an accident, and so in no way is there an infinite in the sense of a self-standing object. Infinity is only conceivable as a possible determination of a quantity, which in turn is conceivable only as a determination of something further, namely, of a substance. Every infinity is thus infinity of quantity (the number or extension) of an object (or group of objects). [ ...] The natural philosophers at any rate understood this correctly, that infinity is possible as the determination of something, for example as infinite water [ ...].” (Wagner4 1983, 498f.)
W: an ihr
W: natürlich
Such as Empedocles or Anaxagoras.
The Atomists.
Cf. Kahn 1960, 55, who sees in the inclusion of Anaximander in the group of monists “who explain generation and corruption by condensation and rarefaction” a “carelessness on the part of Simplicius”.
Cf. Th 423.
W: prozesslos
W: prozesslos
W: aux seiner Umgestaltung
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: dieses Eine
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: wissbar
W: wissbar
By apostasis he means the continually increasing angular distance between sun and moon during the moon’s waxing. If at the first appearance of the waxing moon (after new moon), an observer on earth gazes at the sun on the one side and the moon on the other, the two lines of sight enclose a small angle. As the moon travels through the constellations of the zodiac, this angle (as well as the illuminated part of the moon) becomes larger and larger until it reaches 180 degrees at full moon. Then the sun and moon are in opposition. Up to this point of time, the illuminated part of the moon faces west, and the unilluminated part east. That is exactly what changes when the moon begins to wane. Then the illuminated portion faces east and the unilluminated part west. Synodos is another term for the motion of the moon from its opposition to the sun (full moon) to its conjunction with the sun (new moon), through which the angular distance between the two heavenly bodies, which was 180 degrees at full moon, becomes smaller and smaller, until at new moon it reaches the value of zero degrees (a friendly tip from Dr. Harald Merklin, Freiburg in Bries-gau).
W: Winkelabstandes
W: diagonal
W. does not translate this testimonium..
Cf., however, Th 442 and Th 422.
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W: ein Element
Cf. Charlton 2000, 63, n. 3 ad loc.
W: das All
W: von göttlichem Anteil sei
Cf. Th 450 and Diels 21958, 145.
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W.’s translation begins here.
W: in diesem unendlichen Seienden
This seems to be the title Philoponus used for part of Parmenides’ work. See C. Osborne, Philoponus on Aristotle Physics 1.4–9, London: Duckworth, 2009, p.141 n.87.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
A paraphrase of GC 329b30–1.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
die ein einziges Prinzip als Substrat angegeben haben
W: Qualitäten
W: das Feuchte ist “das, was sich schwierig in eine eigene Grenze fügt, leicht aber in eine fremde”
In Ph. 3.4.203b10–15 Only Anaximander is mentioned by name.
W: Weltvernunft
W: alles Konkrete
W: Bau
W.’s translation begins here.
W.’s translation begins here.
W: Die Sachverhalte
On the author and the work cf. Mertens 2006, 215–7.
Cf. Aristotle, GC 2.2.329b34 ff.
W: grenzelos
W: Dinge
W: aufwachsen
W: hervorgehen
W: Entstehung
Cf. the version in Alexander (Th 192).
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W. does not translate this testimonium..
Josiah, 639–609, King of the Kingdom of Judah.
Cf. in particular Th 306 and also Annales Hildesheimenses I Iosias ann. 32 (4 ed. Waits); Venerable Bede, De Temporibus Liber 20 (ed. Jones); Lambert von Hersfeld, Annales (5.25 ed. Holder-Egger).
Cf. Honorius Augustodunensis, De Haresibus (ed. Migne PL 172.236A).
W: die Sieben Weisen
W. does not translate the remainder of this testimonium.
W: die Thales vorhergesagt hatte.
Cf. the detailed commentary in Rudolph 1989.
The transliterated names are unidentifiable.
On the concept of double bodies that in the Arabic is expressed through a differentiation of two synonyms (girm, translated by Rudolph as “Körper” (body), gism by “Feinkörper” (fine body), cf. Jolivet 1987–8, 28–48 (ND 1995, 90–110).
For him see also Introduction, p.20.
Cf. Bergsträßer 1925, Nr. 63.
MYLS is paleographically easy to correct to Mīlitus, which agrees exactly with 
’LSFYTS is, ignoring the false pointing of Y, as exact a transcription of 
as is possible in the Arabic alphabet. Walzer has translated it as “Halysfluss” (“River Halys”), with Herodotus in mind (Th 10 (1.74)), but there can be no doubt that the translator was thinking of the Hellespont, unless Galen himself had given an only approximate reference to the location. Further it is not sure that the region of the Halys that Herodotus mentions (Th 11 (1.75)) is identical with the place where the battle was broken off because of the solar eclipse (so Weissbach, RE XI.2, Col. 2249).
The replacement of King Cyaxares by the better known Xerxes (KSRKSS) in this case surely is due to the translator or a copyist.
The text was adopted in DK I 486, 12–20, cf. Th 91 and similia.
Kitab Galinus fi l-ustuqussat, ed. by M. Salim Salim 1986.53.18–55, 6 (= Th 179) and 104, 13 f. (= Th 180); cf. 1996, 20–5.
Ullmann 1970, 51; Sezgin 1970, 37 f.
Harvey 1970, 244–6.
Daiber suggests that Qusta may have read 
for 
alternatively, Qusta made this conjecture.
The last sentence stands for 
(“This is observed in a mirror, when a bowl [filled with liquid] is placed underneath”, cf. the interpretation of Diels 1929, 53. gam (cup, glass, drinking vessel, bowl) corresponds to 
and we must presume that the translator was uncertain about the meaning of the Greek sentence and reacted helplessly. With a paleographically plausible correction of gam to gamam, however, the Arabic becomes comprehensible: “as the clouds cover”. The Greek would then be understood as a secondary clause which gives an instruction as to how one protects one’s eyes during these observations.
In place of the verb, which the Greek omits, the Arabic text has ahadu ‘anhu (“overtaken by him”). This will refer to Metrodorus, who was previously named.
Erroneous for the etesian winds that blow in the summer.
See above on Diog. Laert. Th 237 (1.37).
Publius Aelius Phlegon from Tralles, freedman of Hadrian. According to the Suda, his chief work was called Olympiades.
Cf. Th 200, Th 201, Th 237 (1.40),Th 525, Diog. Laert. 1.73.
W: Über astronomische Phänomene
See Schibli 1990, 13. Cf. Th 53 and also Th 537 and Th 583.
W: er ahmte eifrig die Lehre des Thales nach
Cf. Daiber 1984, 36–68.
The quotation from the Iliad (14.201) was mediated by the translation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics (1.3.983b30 f.).
Modern Oriental studies distinguishes two Babylonian kings with the name Nabuku-durri-usur; the first is placed in the second half of the twelfth cent. BCE, the second ruled from 605 to 562 BCE and is the Nebukadnezar who conquered Jerusalem and was known in Arabic as Bhutnasar. With Buhtnasar I is identified Nabonassar, with whose accession in 747 BCE begins the era employed by Hipparchus and Ptolemy.
A famous pre-Islamic poet of the sixth cent. CE.
Cf. Th 373: Contra Iulianum 1.13 f.; Stern 1972, 439 and 442 f. ad loc. (ND 1983, XIII).
There is no corresponding entry in the collection of Smith 1993.
This is also found under al-Mubassir; cf. below Th 510.
The philologist and lexicographer Ibn Duraid (837–933 CE) cites a parallel text in which the speech refers more pointedly to a merchant; however, the reading of the name there is uncertain. Cf. Rosenthal 1958, 29–54 and 150–83, Nr. 43 (ND 1990, VII). Cf. also a consideration in favor of an alternative ascription to the Cynic preacher Teles (third cent. BCE) in Rosenthal 1991, 203, no. 40.
This same saying is also found anonymously in al-Mubassir: Badawi 1958, 324, 19 and in Ibn Hindu: al-Qabbani 1900, 130, 10 f.
F. Sezgin (1972, 132–229) keeps the early dating. For the identity of the (or at least of one) forger, cf. P. Kraus 1942 (vol. 1), LXIIIf.
Kraus 1943 (vol. 2), 46, n. 1; 47, n. 1; 53, n. 5; 55, n. 4; 59, n. 1; 119, n. 2; 128, n. 5; 280, n. 2, 332 and 336 with quotations from the Placita Philosophorum, cf. also Sezgin 1971, Index s.v. Thales, and here esp. p.163, a long discussion between Socrates and Thales in a book on silver.
Or should this be: in a narration about Archimedes?
W. does not translate this testimonium..
Christian doctor and philosopher, born in Baghdad in 942 CE, translated many works from Syrian into Arabic, went from Baghdad to Choresm, was kidnapped and taken from there to Afghanistan, where he died before 1030.
Secretary at the court of the Caliph, was considered an expert in the Greek sciences, lived from 914 to 1001 CE.
The name can be read as Mallos, which cannot be brought into agreement with with Ἐ
, which is found in Diogenes Laertius and other authors, even if H. Diels wants to recognize in it a simple “corruption” (1888/89, 165–170; cf. also O. Immisch, 1888/9, 515 f. on Thales’ origin). Rather we should think of an independent local tradition which Porphyry, who came from Tyre, followed.
Cf. Kennedy 1970, 147–58; cf. also the Introduction to Strohmeier 32002, 9–31.
Strohmaier 2006.
Cf. also the correspondence between Al-Bīrūnī and Ibn Sīnā, Al-as’ ila wa-l-ăwiba in Nasr/Mohaghegh 1972, 32, 2–4.
Cf. Gutas 1988, 97–8.
Cf. Strohmaier 1992, esp. 121–3.
Cf. Rosenthal 1960–1, 132–58.
Rosenthal 1937, 40f. (ND 1990, I); cf. Smith 1993, 225–8 (= Nr. 203aF).
The letters DLFS can also lead us to think of Delos, but since in majuscule script the endings are frequently abbreviated, the S at the end should be interpreted merely as a mistaken completion by the translation.
The wording in the editions and manuscripts (
‘ati 
marra ’alā aidīhim) gives no sense. With a small correction and the deletion of 
(“the tripod” if punctuated thus) as a secondary but dispensable marginal gloss, which has found its way into a wrong location in the text, I have conjecturally restored the sentence. The author or his original wanted to justify the canonical number seven, even though a larger number of ancient philosophers were known.
Essentially the same is found above under the Şiwān 
Th 499 12.
W: in kluger Weise
W: ungebildete
De Lagarde, P. Iohannis Euchaitorum Metropolitae quae in codice Vaticano Graeco 676 supersunt (= Abhandlungen historisch-philologischen Classe der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 1882.
Cf. Blumemberg 1976, 30 ff.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W.’s translation begins here.
”Sabians” was the name given to star-worshipping heathens whose religious center until the eleventh century was located in the city 
in upper Mesopotamia. Here the name is a synonym for the followers of all pre-Christian religions.
W. translates only the comparison with Thales.
W: das Prinzip des Alls und sein Ziel
W: Konkrete
W: entstehe
W: unendlich
W: unendlich
W: unendlich
Cf. Sen. Quaest. nat. 7.14.3 f.
W: Sie muss also nicht gestützt werden.
Cf. Puig Montada 2007.
For the deviations from the Biblical and Koranic reports, cf. Jolivet 1993, 184, n. 12.
Cf. Sure 24.35.
Sure 85.22.
Sure 11.7.
Cf. Smith 1993, 229 (= Nr. 204F).
On these three groups, see Overwien 2005, 155–6.
Cf. Monnot 1997, 215a–b.
Cf. Auctor incertus, Excerptiones allegoricae I 24 (Migne PL 177.202C).
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W. does not translate this testimonium..
W. does not translate this testimonium..
Cf. Schol. in Aesch. Prometheum vinctum 438d1–10 (ed. Herington). Unfortunately the edition of the unknown part of the Iliad exegesis of Iohannes Tzetzes (Lolos 1981) was available to me for the first time only in the correction phase. Here are found some references to Thales on the principle water or on the cause of the flooding of the Nile.
I follow W. in omitting some etymological conjectures of Tz.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Strabo, 12.8.5
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Helike, lit. “twister,” from its revolving close to the Pole Star.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W.’s translation begins here.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
On the authenticity of the treatise cf. now Jacobi/Luppe 2000, 15–8. Cf. also Steinmetz 1964, 278 ff., who argues for Theophrastus as the author of the text (as part of the series of lectures 
). The discussion continues, cf. Fowler (2000).
The Latin version “De Ameo” arose from a misunderstanding of the Greek Ἐξ- 
.
Bonneau 1979, 9 translates it differently: “The Nile graduallyl overflows its banks from below, and we see that the flooding begins from its lower reach.” Cf. n.4 ad loc. “The force of the winds turns back the current at the surface of the river: this is not what we observe.”
See n. on Th 522.
Cf. De Partibus Animalium 1.1.642a26–31.
Paper by Horten 1913, 151, 4–28; cf. Baffioni 1991, 310 f.
Cf. Arist. GC 2.2.329b30–31.
W: nachhaltiger
W: dem zugrunde Liegenden nach
W: älteren Philosophen
W: [ist das Wasser die Nahrung]
Arist. Top. 6.10.148a26–28.
W: principiiert
W: Bewegung sei, die natürlicherweise mit Ernährung zusammengehört
W: einem zugrunde Liegenden
W: does not translate in alia elementa, paulatim dixit suspendi
W: dasselbe feuchte und wässrige sei
W: eines anderen zugrunde Liegenden
W: dem zugrunde Liegenden
W: wie von einer Ursache principiiert
W.’s translation begins here.
W: generativen
W: der Ansichten all derer, die behaupten
W: Die zweite Überlegung richtet sich gegen alle angeführten Philosophen, weil
W.’s translation skips from here to the discussion of Thales.
W: nicht grundsätzlich und nicht einer ersten Wurzel nach
W: über die Erde
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Smith 1993, 229 (= no. 204F).
Ibid.
Cf. Ullmann 1970, 231–2.
The present passage is not found in the version of this Chronicle of physicians which Rosenthal 1954 edited on the basis of a manuscript in Istanbul, since the text it contains is incomplete.
W: bewegungsfähig
W: falls
W. does not translate 
W: äußerst
W: mit dem All
W: das All ein beseelter Körper sei
W: erfolgreich
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 888.
W: Unrecht
W: unerquicklich
W. does not translate this testimonium.
“Chamaeleon” is nominative, “Thales” is accusative.
Cf. Wendel 1932, 105 ff2.
Cf. The explanation in Aristotle, Liber de Inundatione Nili, line 135 (Steinmetz 1964, 284 f.).
Cf. [Plut.] Plac. Phil. 3.15.896D11.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Greene 1938, 272.
W: weil der Mond in den Weg kommt
For the dating see Pasquali 1910, 216.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate 
W. does not translate this testimonium.
The corrupt text of this scholion may be partially remedied by understanding 
as a corruption of 
(“army”).
W: die rechten Zeitpunkte am Himmel
W: Naturwissenschaft
W. does not translate this clause.
W. does not translate this clause.
For the punctuation see Gladigow 1968, 272, n. 3.
Cf. also Scholia on Fr. 191 Iamb. 1, Dieg. VI 1–19 Pfeiffer.
The Little Dipper. Cf. Aratus, Phainomena 42–44.
A way of referring to the Arcadians, who boasted of their ancient origin – before the creation of the moon.
Specifically, “under a happy bird-omen” (
is a kind of bird [a nuthatch?]).
The Didymaion was a sanctuary of Apollo near Miletus.
Pythagoras, who claimed to have been Euphorbus, the Trojan warrior, in a previous life.
W: der andere Daimon
W: der Beste
W: ich gebe ihn dir als ersten Preis
Neileus, the mythical founder of Miletus. The cup which Thales dedicated is speaking.
A talent would be a low price for a Thales. But even if his price were so reasonable, Thales would be nothing in comparison with Philocrates for the same amount of money.
W. translates only this line and the next.
W. does not translate this passage.
W: hehre
W: Weisheit
Cf. Th 21.
On the question of sources and on the question of the influence of Cicero’s list on later authors (Minucius Felix, Lactantius, Augustine), cf. Gigon/Straume-Zimmermann 1996, 345ff.
On the question whether longis intervallis is to be understood temporally or spatially, cf. Kahn 1960, 47f.; Conche 1991, 104.
W: Gegenständen.
W: Allein.
W: Zeitabständen.
W: unbestimmt.
W. does not translate the last sentence.
Cf. Diog. Laert. Vit. Phil. 2.2 (on Anaximander).
W: Achtung vor den Göttern.
W: Herzen.
W.’s translation begins here.
W: Prophetisch.
as opposed to the 
of Anaximander. Cf. Conche 1991, 25 f., n. 3.
The 
or 
.
W. does not translate this first sentence.
W.’s translation begins here.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Bowen/Goldstein 1994, 696f., 709, as well as Bowen 2002, 314f.
Cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24).
On the problems in the origin and dating of the last part of Hero’s collection of excerpts (Deff. 133–138), cf. Asper 2007, 80–1 with n. 164.
On this title, cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n.8.
Astronomer of the second half of the fifth cent. BCE
The obliquity of the ecliptic? Cf. Szabó 1977, 343 with n. 11.
Cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 10; KRS 83. 
is a conjecture of Fabricius for the transmitted text 
. Cf. Th 237 (1.24).
Or: lies (
); cf. on Th 167.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: Astronomie.
W: dass er [der Umlauf] nicht immer gleich verläuft.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Moraux 1984, 89.
W. has 0
Cf. Arist. Cael. 2.13 (above, Th 30).
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. incorrectly has 18.213.
Cf. the reports on Thales’ astronomical writings (Th 237 [1.23], Th 495).
Athenian astronomer and meteorologist of the fifth cent. BCE.
Eudoxus of Cnidos, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher of the fourth cent-BCE.
W: in derselben Gegend [ihre Beobachtungen anstellten].
Cf. also ibid. 13.155E (allusion to Bathycles’ cup).
Biographer (2nd half of the third cent. BCE). On the arrangement of the episode, cf. Bollansée 1999, 118f., without mention of Pataecus; Wehrli 1974, 49f.
This was connected with the later Macedonian occupation under Antipater.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Iliad 14.201.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Eudoxus of Cnidus, cf. n. on Th 106.
The following passages from the Dinner, in which Thales plays a principal role, are an excerpt.
Aristarchus of Samos, astronomer and mathematician (ca. 310–230 BCE); Timocharis, astronomer in the time of Ptolemy I; Aristyllus, astronomer, contemporary of Timocharis; Hipparchus of Nicaea, astronomer of the second cent. BCE.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: Widersprüchliches.
Cf. Gigante 1983, 217f.
Cf. Arist. Ph. 4.13.222b16f.; Kahn 1960, 170f.; Schibli 1990, 29, n.39.
Cf. Th 227 and also Babrius, Fable 111 (Lachmann); Aesop, Fable 180 (Perry).
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: schöner selbst als das Leben.
W: Wie gering is nicht ein Anlass, dass er nicht dem Zorn genügte.
W: in ihren Anfängen.
W. does not translate rectum.
Cf. Diller 1975, 59.
W. does not translate 
.
Cf. Diels 19582, 156ff.
Cf. Anthologia Latina 882 (Riese).
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W.’s translation begins here and extends to “love.”
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: unendlichen.
Cf. Lachenaud 196–8.
Iliad 14.246.
W: alles Seienden.
W: kam ... zurück.
W: das Feuer der Sonne selbst.
Cf. Schreckenberg 1964, 109.
Cf. Th 353, Th 397. On the origin of the division of the heavenly sphere (and the earth) into zones, cf. Zhmud 1997, 211 ff.
Cf. Plato, Phaedo 99D5–E1; Seneca, Nat. Quest. 1.12.1. Cf. Diels2 1958, 53.
Cf. Panchenko 2002, 223–36.
Cf. O’Grady 2002, 95ff. (arguments for an attribution of this theory to Thales).
On the date cf. Bowen 2002, 312, n. 12.
Platonist of the first cent. CE.
On this title cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 8.
Astronomer of the second half of the fifth cent. BCE.
The obliquity of the ecliptic? Cf. Szabó 1977, 343, with n. 11.
Cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 10; KRS 83. 
is a conjecture of Fabricius for the transmitted text 
. Cf. Th 237 (1.24).
Or: lies (
) according to a conjecture of Montuclas (cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 1).
Cf. Calza 1939; Mols 1997.
W: Er was kein Ingenieur, aber ein kluger Kopf und konnte eine Sache verständig machen und zu ihrer Ausführung überreden.
W. does not translate the words after “Zeno.”
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
W: 624/3–621/0 and similarly for the remaining dates in this testimonium. I have changed the style of referring to years in order to conform to the style used elsewhere in this volume.
Cf. Wasserstein 1955, 114–6 and O’Grady 2002, 150ff.
Or: Mandrolytus (Crusius).
This text is regarded as a Renaissance forgery, which, however, includes some genuine passages of Galen (cf. Deichgräber 1972, 44).
W: verwendete die Umwandlung der ersten Körper ineinander nach Notwendigkeit.
W: hebt theoretisch jede Entstehung auf.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
Cf. Hillgruber 1994–99, I 74–6.
W. does not translate this testimonium.
coni. Haslam pro 
[c.9] ...
. coni. Burkert 1993, 50.
lacunam indicavit Hine: nec 〈verisimile est terram in aquis natare, nec〉 ex. gr. sup-plendum esse uel non est quod scribendum esse coni. Hine.
nimio Watt: (in) omni mss.: lacunam post in omni statuit Haase: impatiens Mad-vig: ui omni Gercke: enormi (et onere) Rossbach 1484: ui Winterbottom: momine Shackelton Bailey | onere ed. Ven.: (h)onerum/(h)oneri mss.: onerariorum Michaelis 345: motu (om. eorum) Leo: pondere (uel 〈pondere〉 eorum suppl.) Watt.
XXXI Schol. Germ. XI.XX F1E. XXIX dv. XXX F2 D.
Onv II 
Ο
Paton/Wegehaupt read 
. I follow Ω Stob. M.
alternative reading: 
.
Montucla (s. Bowen 2002, 311, Anm. 11 und Szabó 1977, 344 mit Anm. 19).
for the completion, cf. DK 11 B 3.
ex gr. supplevit Mansfeld. Cf. Mansfeld 1985, 121.
Borleff places a comma after curiositatem.
The translation follows Oehler’s conjecture for the lacuna in the received text.
Fr. Fuld. 4 Dekkers CCL I.120 (Becker’s arrangement of Tertullian 1954, 149–62): Cyri enim et Darii regno fuit Zacharias, quo in tempore Thales physicorum princeps sciscitanti Croeso nihil certum de divinitate respondit, turbatus scilicet vocibus prophetarum.
eo: cod. esto coniecit Vahlen.
Bywater/Tannery.
Supplevit DK 11 A 1.
codd.: 
Ménage, Marcovich.
add. Richards, Marcovich.
Alternative reading 
Searby 2007, CP 6, 84 reading.
codd.: 
.
I read 
instead of the transmitted text 
. Cf. on Th 158.
Helm points out here that Diels’ comment ad loc. (VS 11A7), that it must mean nascitur, is questionable (cf. the Armenian translation and Th 480).
Cf. Par.1 Thal. 6 (Tziatzi-Papagianni 1994): 
. Mon. Thal. 12 (Tziatzi-Papagianni): 
.
Cf. Par.1 Thal. 14 (Tziatzi-Papagianni 1994): 
.
inepte secundum Hense: 
Diels (VS 10.3): It is better to be envied than pitied.
Meineke: 
S 
M 
A.
AB 
? (Diels).
„ante 
hiat oratio“ (Diels).
– 
depravata sunt secundum Hayduck.
Cf. the scholion ad loc. in MS M in Westerink: 
lacunam indicavit et supplevit Hayduck.
Cf. the treatise De septem artibus liberalibus 218–20 bei Schindel (2004) 134.
Lapini (1999, 115) proposes 
(eclissi [realmente] accaduta).
Cf. Hieronymus, Interpret. Chron. Eus. – Chron. canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 586 (100b.25f. ed. Helm 21956) (= Th 307).
Cf. Augustinus, Civ. 8.2 = Th 311 (ed. Dombart/ Kalb 51981).
Also translated in Smith 1993, 220 f. (no. 194bT).
De Lagarde, P. Iohannis Euchaitorum Metropolitae quae in codice Vaticano Graeco 676 supersunt (= Abhandlungen historisch-philologischen Classe der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 28), Göttingen 1882.
Benakis, L. G. Michael Psellos. Kommentar zur Physik des Aristoteles (= Commentaria in Aristotelem Byzantina 5), Athen 2008.
This is how the editor, Puig Montada, reads the names. Manuscript B has An‘smdrūs, A has An‘tmdrūs, M and even Anksāġūrs (= Anaxagoras)!
So Eichner 2005, 50, n. 27, for aqāwīlihī (Ed. Puig Montada).
are textual variants that are printed one above the other in the edition.
faciles sunt may be a dittography for facile sunt.
Cf. Th 29.
Hult, K. Theodore Metochites on Ancient Authors and Philosophy. Semeioseis gnomikai 1–26 & 71 (= Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia 65), Göteborg 2002.
Leone, P. L. M. Fiorenzo o Intorno alla sapienza (= Byzantina et Neo-Hellenica Neapolitana 4), Naples 1975.
Leone, P. L. M. Nicephori Gregorae Epistulae II, Matino 1982.
Entries followed by “s” indicate cases where the name is not in the ancient text but is supplied in the translation.