The Library of Aristotle (and Theophrastus)
Fa parte di Biblioteche private/Altre biblioteche private
Founder: Aristotle of Stagira
Period of activity: as of the fourth century BCE
PLEASE NOTE: Except for Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens, of whose position we are sure, the other locations identified for Aristotle’s library follow convention and are used to account for the polycentrism of the Stagirite philosopher’s book collection. The role that the city of Scepsis (owing to Neleus) and the island of Rhodes (owing to Eudemus) have in the Hellenistic circulation of Aristotle’s works has led me to indicate these as locations of the library. There is additionally an almost certain relationship between the library of Alexandria and the library of Aristotle: however, since the probable location of the ancient library of Alexandria is submerged under the waters of the bay, I have preferred to indicate the modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina as its symbolic position. Lastly, the spot chosen to represent the circulation of Aristotle’s (exoteric and esoteric) works in Italy – which ended up in numerous villas in Rome, the Lazio countryside and Campania without counting other possible paths even further South –corresponds to the Palatine library, where the majority of the book collections housed in the private residences of the Senate nobility of the Roman republic converged in the imperial era.
Scheda letteraria
a cura di Francesco Cannizzaro
DOI 10.35948/DILEF/Dalib/50
The library of Aristotle, passed on to his disciple and successor Theophrastus who expanded it further, was one of the vastest book collections in the ancient world: as well as the philosopher’s immense number of works, it also included the book rolls he bought during his lifetime (384-322 BCE) and used as the basis for his research. Nevertheless, in the third century BCE, in the hands of Neleus of Scepsis, the fate of the library becomes obscure: according to some sources, it was taken to Scepsis, only becoming accessible again thanks to bibliophile adventurer Apellicon of Teos and, then, to Sulla’s looting; according to other testimonies, the library of Alexandria held the whole of Aristotle’s book collection. Various clues point to the probable circulation of Aristotle’s library, esoteric works included, in various locations in the Hellenistic age; the esoteric works in particular were ordered and catalogued thanks to the work of Tyrannion and Andronicus of Rhodes (according to an important Arabic source that has recently come into focus, probably working between Alexandria and Rome in the post-Cicero era). Hence the whole body of works were disseminated among numerous cities in the centre and periphery of the Roman Empire.
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