Books by Federico Maria Petrucci
This book explores how introductory methods shaped school practice and intellectual activity in v... more This book explores how introductory methods shaped school practice and intellectual activity in various fields of thought of the Early Imperial Age and Late Antiquity. The isagogical crossroads—the intersection of philosophical, philological, religious and scientific introductory methods—embody a fascinating narrative of the methods regulating ancient readers' approach to authoritative texts and disciplines. The strongly innovative character of this book consists exactly in the attempt to explore isagogical issues in a wide-ranging and comprehensive perspective—from philosophy to religion, from medicine to exact sciences—with the aim of detecting connections, reciprocal influences, and interactions shaping the intellectual environment of the Early Imperial Age and Late Antiquity.
Is music just matter of hearing and producing notes? And is it of interest just to
musicians? By ... more Is music just matter of hearing and producing notes? And is it of interest just to
musicians? By exploring different authors and philosophical trends of the Roman
Empire, from Philo of Alexandria to Alexander of Aphrodisias, from the rebirth of
Platonism with Plutarch to the last Neoplatonists, this book sheds light on different
ways in which music and musical notions were made a crucial part of philosophical
discourse. Far from being mere metaphors, notions such as harmony, concord and
attunement became key philosophical tools in order to better grasp and
conceptualise fundamental notions in philosophical debates from cosmology to
ethics and from epistemology to theology. The volume is written by a distinguished
international team of contributors.
This book is the first monograph devoted to the philosophy of Taurus of Beirut, and will provide ... more This book is the first monograph devoted to the philosophy of Taurus of Beirut, and will provide a long-awaited analysis of his texts and their first English translation. Through close examination of the extant witnesses, Petrucci gives a new account of Middle Platonism based on a fresh approach to the theological and cosmological view of Taurus. In this way, the book contributes substantially to the debate on Post-Hellenistic Platonism from the point of view of both exegetical methods and philosophical doctrines, and will prove a starting point for a new understanding of many aspects of ancient thought.
Theon was a teacher of Platonism and an exegete of Plato's text in the flourishing town of Smyrna... more Theon was a teacher of Platonism and an exegete of Plato's text in the flourishing town of Smyrna during the first and second century of our age (fl. 125 a.D.). The Expositio is the only work of Theon that has been transmitted to us. It is an important witness in order to grasp not only the approach to mathematics (arithmetic, music and astronomy) typical of a middle-Platonist, but also (and above all) the exegetic aims of this project.
Here the Expositio is translated in Italian for the first time, with a deep revisal of the Teubner text. The commentary shows that this work is a technical exegesis of the Timaeus, an attempt to argue that Plato has grasped in the most authentic way the true structure of the cosmos. On this ground, it is possible to see at work methods, intentions and strategies of a middle-Platonist engaged in the reargumentation of the Timaeus.
Nella fiorente Smirne dei primi due secoli della nostra era, Teone (fl. 125 d.C.) fu maestro di Platonismo ed esegeta del testo di Platone. L'unica sua opera a noi tràdita, l'Expositio, è una testimonianza ampia e importante per cogliere non solo l'approccio di un filosofo medioplatonico alle matematiche (aritmetica, musica e astronomia), ma anche (e soprattutto) le finalità, essenzialmente esegetiche, di questa operazione.
Alla luce del commentario continuo l'Expositio, qui tradotta per la prima volta in lingua italiana sulla base di una radicale revisione del testo teubneriano, si presenta come un'esegesi tecnica del Timeo, un tentativo di chiarire e sostenere che Platone ha colto nel modo più autentico e profondo la vera struttura del cosmo: emergono così i metodi, le intenzioni e le strategie di un filosofo medioplatonico impegnato nella riargomentazione del Timeo.
[Plato], Epinomis. Introduzione, traduzione e commento di Francesco Aronadio, Edizione di Mauro Tulli, Note critiche di Federico M. Petrucci, Napoli 2013
Platone, Gorgia, a cura di Angelica Taglia, Traduzione di Federico M. Petrucci, Einaudi, Torino 2014
Papers by Federico Maria Petrucci
Plato is the first philosopher to provide a robust account of the mathematical structure of the w... more Plato is the first philosopher to provide a robust account of the mathematical structure of the world; in this framework, the idea that the elements are proportionally arranged plays a crucial role. However, scholars agree nowadays that the proportional relation of the elements is not to be read at face value since no mathematical criterion has been found for which the proportion is appropriate. By contrast, this paper aims, on the one hand, to explain the mathematical reasons allowing Plato to state that the elements, each of which is to be associated with a perfect solid, are in proportion to one another (Ti. 31b4-32c5) and, on the other, to highlight the philosophical importance of ascribing to Plato the awareness of these reasons. More specifically, we show that Plato can arrange the solids in proportion 'as far as it is possible' by considering as a parameter the radius of the sphere into which each body is inscribed. This parameter establishes the proportion with a very low deviation, whose presence and tolerability can be explained from a technical point of view and exploited from a philosophical point of view. Thus, our solution not only ensures the overall consistency of Plato's account of elementary bodies but also justifies the fundamental role he ascribes to the spherical shape of the world and, more generally, the geometrical foundation of the goodness of the world’s structure.
Towards the Quadrivium: the Role of the Timaeus in the Constitution of a Corpus of Mathematical Sciences, in J. Prins, E. Thomas (eds), The Legacy of Plato's Timaeus, Leiden 2025, 77-104
It is often assumed that the fundamental text for the constitution of the corpus of four exact sc... more It is often assumed that the fundamental text for the constitution of the corpus of four exact sciences, which would later become the quadrivium, is Republic VII (especially through Nicomachus). This chapter argues that this is not a satisfactory interpretation, and that the Middle Platonist exegesis of the Timaeus played a crucial role. While the Republic provides a sort of formal and abstract scheme for the quadrivium, the Timaeus indicates, at least in the exegetes’ view, the way in which exact sciences interact in the
study of the physical world, and that their objects are functionally interwoven. This is demonstrated by focusing on the Middle Platonists Theon of Smyrna and Nicomachus of Gerasa, who provide extensive technical discussions of the disciplines of the quadrivium in a perspective revealing a strong appeal to the cosmology of the Timaeus.
This paper aims to show that Numenius was a temporalist, as evidenced by his theories of the demi... more This paper aims to show that Numenius was a temporalist, as evidenced by his theories of the demiurge and matter, which converge in a temporalist cosmogony. On the one hand, we argue that the demiurge acts directly on matter, which entails a punctual beginning of the world; on the other hand, we claim that matter’s maleficent nature consists in its being everflowing, thus requiring the demiurge’s intervention for being ordered. This scenario is consistent with an analytical conception of the precosmos that frees temporalism from all the theological puzzles that an actual precosmos would imply without doing away with robust theories of providence and worldly evil.
The aim of this paper is to provide a new reading of Plato's precosmos (Ti. 52d2-53c3). More spec... more The aim of this paper is to provide a new reading of Plato's precosmos (Ti. 52d2-53c3). More specifically, I shall argue that the precosmos is populated by bodies deriving from random complexes of properties, and that this is the effect of the Receptacle's full precosmic participation in the Paradigm. This will turn out to be consistent with a robust notion of 'precosmic generation' and will reveal why Plato may have sought to refer to this otherwise puzzling scenario: representing the precosmos in this way allows Plato to effectively justify why the Demiurge is responsible only for the goodness and perfection of the universe, and why it is properly the best possible cause.
Demiurghi senza demiurgia. δημιουργός e δημιουργεῖν in alcuni medioplatonici eternalisti, in E. Maffi (ed.), Paradigmi della demiurgia, Napoli 2023, 213-235
The Perfect World. On the Relation Between the World and the Paradigm in Plato’s Timaeus
The chapter’s title is “The Perfect World. On the Relation Between the World and the Paradigm in ... more The chapter’s title is “The Perfect World. On the Relation Between the World and the Paradigm in Plato’s Timaeus”, and its argument mainly focuses on two specific mimetic relations. The first one is that of the Paradigm, i.e., the intelligible Living Being – interpreted by the author as identical with the world of Forms in its entirety – and the created world, while the second is that of eternity and its moving image, i.e., time. The study of both these kinds of imaging leads to the same conclusion: with the generation of the one, complete, sempiternal world, the Demiurge does not replicate the intelligible model’s stable and unchanging nature, but rather its dynamic and all-inclusive structure. This conclusion is entailed by three premises. First, the Demiurge’s omnibenevolence warrants that he will construct the best possible world by contemplating the most complete paradigm. Second, as per the doctrine of five greater kinds developed in the Sophist, the ontology of the organic whole that is the Living Being is dynamic and effervescent. Third, the nature of eternity, on the likeness of which time has been framed, is also one of intelligent motion and life, and not only of static unity. It is on account of these properties of the Paradigm and its mode of existence, i.e., of eternity, that the sensible image is rightly called a living being and a majestic god whose lifespan is measured by everlasting time.
Scholars tend to regard the attribution of craftsman-like causation to God as a distinguishing ma... more Scholars tend to regard the attribution of craftsman-like causation to God as a distinguishing mark of Middle Platonism. In this paper I will show that this view is misleading, for it obscures Middle Platonist theories of non-craftsman-like causation, such as that introduced by Taurus. I shall not only outline the internal economy of this doctrine and of those supporting craftsmanship (e.g., those of Plutarch and Atticus), but also highlight the philosophical exigencies leading to their formulation and the meta-doctrinal strategies which they entail.
Méthexis, 2023
This paper aims to show that the Middle Platonists’ appeal to the Timaeus was grounded in a compl... more This paper aims to show that the Middle Platonists’ appeal to the Timaeus was grounded in a complex and effective philosophical reasoning: the Middle Platonists conceived of Plato’s text as a web of passages which Plato himself had carefully established. Only a few of them were granted a qualified priority, namely, those offering a complete and comprehensive philosophical account of the key elements which the Platonists regarded as fundamental. This will allow us to show that the Middle Platonists’ preference for the Timaeus does not depend on the fact that it is systematic. Rather it is systematic insofar as it proves capable of giving context to passages from other dialogues and provides them with an account that is philosophically sound.
In questo contributo mi riprometto di sciogliere un paradosso che pare prodursi all’interno del T... more In questo contributo mi riprometto di sciogliere un paradosso che pare prodursi all’interno del Timeo stesso nel momento in cui siano avvicinate una così forte teoria dell’immagine visiva e un’ontologia che priva i particolari sensibili di identità diacronica. Ciò condurrà a una ridefinizione dell’oggetto stesso della vista nel Timeo – che è in realtà primariamente da identificare non con oggetti o corpi, ma con traiettorie, dunque con le strutture matematiche che governano il movimento dei corpi – e a cogliere qual è il vantaggio filosofico di una simile peculiare caratterizzazione della vista.
The aim of this paper is to reveal the implicit criticism against some Middle Platonist philosoph... more The aim of this paper is to reveal the implicit criticism against some Middle Platonist philosophical stances in the polemical part of IV 7 (2) (i.e., 2-85), which is usually regarded as being directed only against Stoic and Peripateric doctrines and as relying on earlier Platonist material. I want to suggest that Plotinus' polemic is designed to dismantle not only Stoic and Peripatetic views of the soul, but also what he regards as the Middle Platonists’ erroneous ways of understanding the soul's nature and immortality.
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Books by Federico Maria Petrucci
musicians? By exploring different authors and philosophical trends of the Roman
Empire, from Philo of Alexandria to Alexander of Aphrodisias, from the rebirth of
Platonism with Plutarch to the last Neoplatonists, this book sheds light on different
ways in which music and musical notions were made a crucial part of philosophical
discourse. Far from being mere metaphors, notions such as harmony, concord and
attunement became key philosophical tools in order to better grasp and
conceptualise fundamental notions in philosophical debates from cosmology to
ethics and from epistemology to theology. The volume is written by a distinguished
international team of contributors.
Here the Expositio is translated in Italian for the first time, with a deep revisal of the Teubner text. The commentary shows that this work is a technical exegesis of the Timaeus, an attempt to argue that Plato has grasped in the most authentic way the true structure of the cosmos. On this ground, it is possible to see at work methods, intentions and strategies of a middle-Platonist engaged in the reargumentation of the Timaeus.
Nella fiorente Smirne dei primi due secoli della nostra era, Teone (fl. 125 d.C.) fu maestro di Platonismo ed esegeta del testo di Platone. L'unica sua opera a noi tràdita, l'Expositio, è una testimonianza ampia e importante per cogliere non solo l'approccio di un filosofo medioplatonico alle matematiche (aritmetica, musica e astronomia), ma anche (e soprattutto) le finalità, essenzialmente esegetiche, di questa operazione.
Alla luce del commentario continuo l'Expositio, qui tradotta per la prima volta in lingua italiana sulla base di una radicale revisione del testo teubneriano, si presenta come un'esegesi tecnica del Timeo, un tentativo di chiarire e sostenere che Platone ha colto nel modo più autentico e profondo la vera struttura del cosmo: emergono così i metodi, le intenzioni e le strategie di un filosofo medioplatonico impegnato nella riargomentazione del Timeo.
Papers by Federico Maria Petrucci
study of the physical world, and that their objects are functionally interwoven. This is demonstrated by focusing on the Middle Platonists Theon of Smyrna and Nicomachus of Gerasa, who provide extensive technical discussions of the disciplines of the quadrivium in a perspective revealing a strong appeal to the cosmology of the Timaeus.