Editing Ammonius Hermiae

{{Short description|5th-century Greek philosopher}}
{{Infobox philosopher|name=Ammonius Hermiae|birth_date={{circa|440}}<ref name="Brill">{{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Robin |last2=Lycos |first2=Kimon |last3=Tarrant |first3=Harold |title=Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias |date=1998 |publisher=Brill |location=Leidon, The Netherlands |isbn=90-04-10972-2 |page=2}}</ref> AD|birth_place=[[Alexandria]]|school_tradition=[[Neoplatonism]]|death_date=517–526 AD|family=[[Hermias (philosopher)|Hermias]] (father)<br>[[Aedesia]] (mother)<br>[[Heliodorus of Alexandria]] (brother)}}'''Ammonius Hermiae''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|m|oʊ|n|i|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀμμώνιος ὁ Ἑρμείου|Ammōnios ho Hermeiou|Ammonius, son of Hermias}}; {{Circa|440}}<ref name="Brill">{{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Robin |last2=Lycos |first2=Kimon |last3=Tarrant |first3=Harold |title=Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato's Gorgias |date=1998 |publisher=Brill |location=Leidon, The Netherlands |isbn=90-04-10972-2 |page=2}}</ref> – between 517 and 526)<ref name=":0">{{Citation|last=Watts|first=Edward J.|title=Ammonius|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-214|work=The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity|year=2018|editor-last=Nicholson|editor-first=Oliver|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-866277-8|access-date=2020-10-15}}</ref> was a [[Greek philosopher]] from [[History of Alexandria#Late Roman and Byzantine period|Alexandria]] in the [[eastern Roman empire]] during [[Late Antiquity]]. A [[Neoplatonist]], he was the son of the philosophers [[Hermias (philosopher)|Hermias]] and [[Aedesia]], the brother of [[Heliodorus of Alexandria]] and the grandson of [[Syrianus]].<ref name=":0" /> Ammonius was a pupil of [[Proclus]] in [[History of Athens#Roman Athens|Roman Athens]], and taught at Alexandria for most of his life, having obtained a public [[Chair (academia)|chair]] in the 470s.

According to Olympiodorus of Thebes's ''Commentaries'' on Plato's [[Gorgias (dialogue)|''Gorgias'']] and ''[[Phaedo]]'' texts, Ammonius gave lectures on the works of Plato, Aristotle, and [[Porphyry of Tyre]],<ref name=":0" /> and wrote [[Commentaries on Aristotle|commentaries on Aristotelian works]] and three lost [[Commentaries on Plato|commentaries on Platonic texts]].<ref name=":0" /> He is also the author of a text on the [[astrolabe]] published in the ''[[Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum]]'', and lectured on [[Ancient Greek astronomy|astronomy]] and [[Ancient Greek geometry|geometry]].<ref name=":0" /> Ammonius taught numerous [[Neoplatonists]], including [[Damascius]], [[Olympiodorus of Thebes]], [[John Philoponus]], [[Simplicius of Cilicia]], and [[Asclepius of Tralles]].<ref name=":0" /> Also among his pupils were the physician [[Gessius of Petra]] and the [[ecclesiastical historian]] [[Zacharias Rhetor]], who became the [[bishop]] of [[Mytilene]].<ref name=":0" />

As part of the [[persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire]], the [[Alexandrian school]] was investigated by the Roman imperial authorities; Ammonius made a compromise with the [[Patriarch of Alexandria]], [[Peter III of Alexandria|Peter III]], voluntarily limiting his teaching in return for keeping his own position.<ref name=":0" /> This alienated a number of his colleagues and pupils, including Damascius, who nonetheless called him "the greatest commentator who ever lived" in his own ''Life of [[Isidore of Alexandria]]''.<ref name=":0" />

==Life==
{{Neoplatonism}}
Ammonius' father [[Hermias (philosopher)|Hermias]] died when he was a child, and his mother Aedesia raised him and his brother Heliodorus in Alexandria. When they reached adulthood, Aedesia accompanied her sons to [[Athens]] where they studied under [[Proclus]]. Eventually, they returned to Alexandria where Ammonius, as head of the Neoplatonist school in the city, lectured on [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] for the rest of his life. According to Damascius, during the persecution of the [[paganism|pagans]] at Alexandria in the late 480s, Ammonius made concessions to the [[Christianity|Christian]] authorities so that he could continue his lectures.<ref>Damascius, ''Philosophos Historia'', 118B, Athanassiadi</ref> Damascius, who scolds Ammonius for the agreement that he made, does not say what the concessions were, but they may have involved limitations on the doctrines he could teach or promote. He was still teaching in 515; [[Olympiodorus the Younger|Olympiodorus]] heard him lecture on Plato's ''Gorgias'' in that year.<ref>Olympiodorus, ''in Gorgias'', 199, 8–10</ref> He was also an accomplished astronomer; he lectured on [[Ptolemy]] and is known to have written a treatise on the [[astrolabe]].

==Writings==
[[File:Ammonios Hermeiou.jpg|thumb|right|First page of the [[editio princeps|first edition]] of the ''Isagoge'' commentary, Venice 1500]]
Of his reputedly numerous writings, only his commentary on Aristotle's ''De Interpretatione'' survives intact. A commentary on [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]]'s ''[[Isagoge]]'' may also be his, but it is somewhat corrupt and contains later interpolations.

In ''De Interpretatione'', Ammonius contends that divine foreknowledge makes void the contingent. Like [[Boethius]] in his second ''Commentary'' and in ''[[The Consolation of Philosophy]],'' this argument maintains the effectiveness of prayer. Ammonius cites [[Iamblichus]], who said "knowledge is intermediate between the knower and the known, since it is the activity of the knower concerning the known."<ref>
''Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition'', Curzon Press, John Inglis, 2002, pg. 128.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tempelis|first=Elias|date=1997|title=Iamblichus and the School of Ammonius, Son of Hermias, On Divine Omniscience|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/content/crossref/journals/syllecta_classica/v008/8.tempelis.html|journal=Syllecta Classica|language=en|volume=8|issue=1|pages=207–217|doi=10.1353/syl.1997.0005|issn=2160-5157}}</ref>

In addition, there are some notes of Ammonius' lectures written by various students which also survive:

*On Aristotle's ''Categories'' (anonymous writer)
*On Aristotle's ''Prior Analytics I'' (anonymous writer)
*On Aristotle's ''Metaphysics 1–7'' (written by [[Asclepius of Tralles|Asclepius]])
*On [[Nicomachus]]' ''Introduction to Arithmetic'' (written by Asclepius)
*On Aristotle's ''Prior Analytics'' (written by [[John Philoponus]])
*On Aristotle's ''Posterior Analytics'' (written by John Philoponus)
*On Aristotle's ''On Generation and Corruption'' (written by John Philoponus)
*On Aristotle's ''On the Soul'' (written by John Philoponus)

There is Greek-language work called ''Life of Aristotle'', which is usually ascribed to Ammonius, but "is more probable that it is the work of [[Joannes Philoponus]], the pupil of Ammonius, to whom it is ascribed in some [[Manuscript|MSS]]."<ref>[[Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=p5VUAAAAYAAJ&dq= ''The biographical dictionary of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge'', Volume 2, Part 2], Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1843, p. 487.</ref>

==English translations==
*''Ammonius: On Aristotle Categories'', translated by S. M. Cohen and G. B. Matthews. London and Ithaca 1992.
*''Ammonius: On Aristotle's On Interpretation 1–8'', translated by D. Blank. London and Ithaca 1996.
*''Ammonius: On Aristotle's On Interpretation 9, with Boethius: On Aristotle's On Interpretation 9'', translated by D. Blank (Ammonius) and N. Kretzmann (Boethius). London and Ithaca 1998
*''John Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming-to-be and Perishing 1.1–5'', translated by C. J. F. Williams. London and Ithaca 1999
*''John Philoponus: On Aristotle On Coming-to-be and Perishing 1.6–2.4'', translated by C. J. F. Williams. London and Ithaca 1999.
*''John Philoponus: On Aristotle On the Soul 2.1–6'', translated by W. Charlton. London and Ithaca 2005
*''John Philoponus: On Aristotle On the Soul 2.7–12'', translated by W. Charlton. London and Ithaca 2005
*''John Philoponus: On Aristotle On the Soul 3.1–8'', translated by W. Charlton. London and Ithaca 2000
*''John Philoponus: On Aristotle On the Intellect (de Anima 3.4–8)'', translated by W. Charlton. London and Ithaca 1991.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Andron, Cosmin. "Ammonios of Alexandria",[http://www.routledge-ny.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?curTab=DESCRIPTION&id=&parent_id=&sku=&isbn=9780415340205&pc= ''The Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists''], eds. Georgia Irby-Massie and Paul T. Keyser, New York: Routledge, 2008.
* Jones, A., Martindale, J., Morris, J. ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, pages 71–72. 
* Karamanolis, George E. ''Plato and Aristotle in agreement? : Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry'', New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
* {{Cite encyclopedia  | last = Merlan  | first = Phillip  | title = Ammonius, Son of Hermias  | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 137  | publisher = CharlesScribner's Sons  | location = New York  | year = 1970  | isbn = 0-684-10114-9}}
* Seel, Gerhard (ed.), ''Ammonius and the Seabattle. Texts, Commentary, and Essays'', in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Schneider and Daniel Schulthess; Ammonius on Aristotle: De interpretatione 9 (and 7, 1–17) Greek text established by A. Busse, philosophical commentary by Gerhard Seel; essays by Mario Mignucci and Gerhard Seel, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2001.
* Sorabji, Richard. ''The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200–600 AD. A Sourcebook'', Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005.
* Verrycken, Koenraad. ''The Metaphysics of Ammonius son of Hermias'', in Richard Sorabji (ed.), ''Aristotle Transformed. The Ancient Commentators and their Influence'', Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990, p.&nbsp;199-231.

==External links==
*{{cite SEP |url-id=ammonius |title=Ammonius |last=Blank |first=David}}
*''[[Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca]]'', [https://archive.org/details/commentariainari04akaduoft Vol. 4 parts 2–6], Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, Edita consilio et auctoritate Academiae litterarum regiae borussicae (1882).

{{Platonists}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hermiae, Ammonius}}
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