87371 - History of Ancient Science (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Through the study of primary sources as well as of the main exegetical schools developed by modern interpreters, students will be provided with the intellectual tools necessary to: critically read and interpret scientific works, practices and theories from Antiquity; become aware of the historical and philological mechanisms that guided their transmission and promoted their influence over the centuries.

Course contents

Conceptualizing and Transforming Matter in Antiquity

The classes will explore some important and influential theories of matter developed by Plato and Aristotle. Particular attention will be devoted to those writings that somehow anticipated the emergence of 'chemical' theories and practices in the ancient world. The second part of the course will focus on the origins and early development of alchemy in the Graeco-Roman Egypt as well as its reception in the Arabo-Islamic world. Particular attention will be devoted to: (1) the definition of alchemy and its main ancient doctrines related to the composition and transmutation of metals as well as to the concept of elixir; (2) a critical assessment of ancient sources and their mechanisms of transmission.

The main themes covered will be:

Plato and the Timaeus 

The mixis in Aristotle and the 4th book of Meteorology 

The origins of alchemy in the Graeco-Roman Egypt 

Natural philosophy and alchemy 

The development of Arabic alchemy

Readings/Bibliography

Readings/Bibliography

Primary sources:

(1) Plato, Timaeus, 47e-61c. Suggested translation: Plato, Timaeus and Critias, a new translation by Robin Waterfield, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 40-57. 

(2) Aristotle, Meteorologica, book 3 (last section on the generation of metals ); book 4 (complete). Suggested translation: Aristotle, Meteorologica, with an English translation of H.D.P. Lee, Cambridge, MA - London: Loeb, 1952.

(3) Selection of primary sources read in class (available on Virtuale)

Studies:

(4) Matteo Martelli, L’alchimista antico. Dall’Egitto greco-romano a Bisanzio, Milano: Editrice Bibliografica, 2019 (available on Virtuale).

(5) Lawrence Principe, The Secrets of Alchemy, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013, chap. 2:"Development. Arabic al-Kīmiyā'", pp. 27-50 (available on Virtuale).

(6) Two papers from the following list (all available on Virtuale):

• B. Botter, "Il «ricettacolo» di materia e spazio in Timeo 48e-53b", in C. Natali, S. Maso (a cura di), Plato Physicus. Cosmologia e antropologia nel Timeo, Amsterdam: Hakkert, 2003, pp. 165-187.

• F. Ferrari, "La chora nel Timeo di Platone. Riflessioni su «materia» e «spazio» nell'ontologia del mondo fenomenico", Quaestio 7 (2007): 3-23.

• M.L. Gill, "The Limits of Teleology in Aristotle's MeteorologyIV.12", HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, 4 (2014): 335-350.

• O. Krása, "Bodies and Space in the Timaeus", in C. Jorgenson, F. Karfík, Š. Špinka (eds.), Plato's Timaeus, Proceedings of the Tenth Symposium Platonicum Pragense, Leiden: Brill, 2020, pp. 131-148.

• J.G. Lennox, "Aristotle on the Emergence of Material Complexity: Meteorology IV and Aristotle's Biology", HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, 4 (2014): 272-305.

• C. Viano, "Corpi e metalli: le «Meteore» del Timeo", in C. Natali, S. Maso (a cura di), Plato Physicus. Cosmologia e antropologia nel Timeo, Amsterdam: Hakkert, 2003, pp. 207-223.

• C. Viano, "Mixis and Diagnōsis:Aristotle and the Chemistry of the Sublunary World", Ambix 62.3 (2015): 203-214.

• M. Wilson, Structure and Method in Aristotle's Meteorologica. a More Disorderly Nature, Cambridge: CUP, 2013, cap. 8.6, "Metals and Minerals', pp. 271-277.

Students who could not attend the classes are expected to read the following selection of ancient alchemical texts:

Michela Pereira (a cura di), Alchimia. I testi della tradizione occidentale, Milano: Mondadori/Meridiani, 2006, chapters 3-4, pp. 42-92 (chap. 3-4)

Teaching methods

Traditional lectures about the topics of the course;

Relevant passages of both alchemical and philosophical ancient sources will be read and commented on during the classes.

Students will be encouraged to deliver short presentations on particular topics (either individually or in groups)

Assessment methods

The exam consists in an oral interview during which the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student will be evaluated . The student will be invited to discuss the texts covered during the course and to contextualise them in their historical epoch. The achievement of a systematic knowlege of the issues addressed during the classes and a critical approach to the sources combined with precision of language will be assessed with marks of excellence (28-30). Mechanical and / or mnemonic knowledge of the texts combined with scholastic exposé will be assessed by good marking (23-27); training gaps and superficial contextualization and knoledge of the texts will be assessed with sufficient markings (18-22). Lacks of any of the above requirements will lead to a negative marking.

Teaching tools

Use of ppt slides, photocopies and multimedia educational tools.

Office hours

See the website of Matteo Martelli