Abstract
Photios, together with Arethas and Leo the Mathematician, is a representative of the “first Byzantine Renaissance” and a major figure in the transitional period of Byzantine intellectual history in the ninth and tenth centuries. He revived classical education in Byzantium, and through his activities humanism became a constitutive element of Byzantine thought. Photios’ Amphilochia (composed between 867 and 877) is one of the most important Byzantine philosophical documents, in which he deals with philosophical and theological topics. It contains the first known commentary on Aristotle’s Categories of the ninth century (qu. 137–147), in which he discusses various topics of Aristotle’s philosophy (theory of predication, the concept of substance, species and genera, categories).
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Photios (1983–1988) Epistulae et Amphilochia, vols 1–6.2. Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, ed. Laourdas B, Westerink LG. Teubner, Leipzig
Photios (1991) Bibliothèque, 8 vols, ed. Henry R. Société d´édition Les Belles lettres, Paris, pp 1959–1977 (index by Schamp J)
Secondary Sources
Anton JP (1994a) The Aristotelianism of Photios’ philosophical theology. In: Schrenck LP (ed) Aristotle in late antiquity. The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, pp 158–183
Anton JP (1994b) The origins of Photios’ religious aesthetics. In: Boudouris K (ed) Philosophy and orthodoxy. International Center for Greek Philosophy, Athens, pp 18–40
Benakis L (1978–79) Tò πρόβλημα τῶν γενικῶν ἐννοιῶν καὶ ὁ ἐννοιολογικὸς ρεαλισμὸς τῶν Βυζαντινῶν. Φιλοσοϕία 8–9:311–340
Dvornik F (1948) The Photian schism, history and legend. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Hägg T (1975) Photios als Vermittler antiker Literatur. Pauly-Wissowa XXII/1:684–727
Ierodiakonou K (2005) The Byzantine reception of Aristotle’s Categories. Synthesis Philosophica 20(1):7–31
Kapriev G (2005) Philosophie in Byzanz. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg
Kustas GL (1973) Studies in Byzantine rhetoric. Patriarchikon Idryma Paterikon Meleton, Thessalonike
Lemerle P (1971) Le premier humanisme byzantin. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris
Schamp J (1996a) La “localisation” chez Photios: traduction commentée de Questions à Amphilochios, 145. In: Motte A, Denooz J (eds) Aristotelica Secunda. Mélanges offerts à Christian Rutten, Centre d'Études aristotéliciennes. Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres, Université de Liège, Liège, pp 265–279
Schamp J (1996b) Photios aristotélisant? Remarques critiques. In: Billerbeck M, Schamp J (eds) Kainotomia. Die Erneuerung der griechischen Tradition. Universitätsverlag Freiburg, Fribourg, pp 1–17
Tatakis B (1949) La philosophie Byzantine. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Matula, J. (2011). Photios of Constantinople . In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_401
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_401
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9728-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9729-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law