Ammonius Hermiae

Ammonius Hermiae (5th century AD) was a Greek philosopher, and the son of Hermias, a fellow-pupil of Proclus. He taught at Alexandria, and had among his scholars Asclepius, John Philoponus, Damascius and Simplicius.

Of his reputedly numerous writings, his commentaries on Plato and Ptolemy are lost, but we have:

1. A commentary on the Isagoge of Porphyry (Venice, 1500 fol.);
2. A commentary on the Categories (Venice, 1503 fol.), the authenticity of which is doubted by C. A. Brandis;
3. A commentary on the De Interpretatione (Venice, 1503 fol.). They are printed in Brandis's scholia to Aristotle, forming the fourth volume of the Berlin Aristotle; they are also edited (1891-1899) in A. Busse's Commentaria in Aristot. Graeca. The special section on fate was published separately by J. C. Orelli, Alex. Aphrod., Ammonii, et aliorum de Fato quae supersunt (Zürich, 1824).
4. Other commentaries on the Topics and the first six books of the Metaphysics of Aristotle still exist in manuscript.

A life of Aristotle, ascribed to Ammonius, but with more accuracy to John Philoponus, is often prefixed to editions of Aristotle. It has been printed separately, with Latin translation and scholia, at Leiden, 1621, at Helmstedt, 1666, and at Paris, 1850.

Of the value of the logical writings of Ammonius there are various opinions. K. Prantl speaks of them with great, but hardly merited, contempt.

For a list of his works see J. A. Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, v. 704-707: C. A. Brandis, Uber d. Reihenf. d. Bucher d. Aristot. Org., 283 f.; K. Prantl, Gesch. d. Logik, i. 642.

References

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Further reading

• Merlan, Phillip. (1970). "Ammonius, Son of Hermias". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1: 137. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

External links

• Ammonius at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

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