Theophrastus
Theophrastus (/ˌθiː.əˈfræstəs/; Ancient Greek: Θεόφραστος, romanized: Theóphrastos, lit. 'godly phrased'; c. 371 – c. 287 BC)[3] was a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.[4] His given name was Τύρταμος (Túrtamos); his nickname Θεόφραστος (Theóphrastos) was given by Aristotle, his teacher, for his "divine style of expression".
For the crater, see Theophrastus (crater).
Theophrastus
c. 371 BC
c. 287 BC (aged 83 or 84)
He came to Athens at a young age and initially studied in Plato's school. After Plato's death, he attached himself to Aristotle who took to Theophrastus in his writings. When Aristotle fled Athens, Theophrastus took over as head of the Lyceum.[4] Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-six years, during which time the school flourished greatly. He is often considered the father of botany for his works on plants.[5] After his death, the Athenians honoured him with a public funeral. His successor as head of the school was Strato of Lampsacus.
The interests of Theophrastus were wide ranging, including biology, physics, ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants (Historia Plantarum) and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on Renaissance science. There are also surviving works On Moral Characters, On Sense Perception, and On Stones, as well as fragments on Physics and Metaphysics. In philosophy, he studied grammar and language and continued Aristotle's work on logic. He also regarded space as the mere arrangement and position of bodies, time as an accident of motion, and motion as a necessary consequence of all activity. In ethics, he regarded happiness as depending on external influences as well as on virtue.
The "portrait" of Theophrastus[edit]
The marble herm figure with the bearded head of philosopher type, bearing the explicit inscription, must be taken as purely conventional. Unidentified portrait heads did not find a ready market in post-Renaissance Rome.[g] This bust was formerly in the collection of marchese Pietro Massimi at Palazzo Massimi and belonged to marchese L. Massimi at the time the engraving was made. It is now in the Villa Albani, Rome (inv. 1034). The inscribed bust has often been illustrated in engravings[93] and photographs: a photograph of it forms the frontispiece to the Loeb Classical Library Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants vol. I, 1916. André Thevet illustrated[94] in his iconographic compendium, Les vraies Pourtrats et vies des Hommes Illustres (Paris, 1584), an alleged portrait plagiarized from the bust, supporting his fraud with the invented tale that he had obtained it from the library of a Greek in Cyprus and that he had seen a confirming bust in the ruins of Antioch.[95]
In popular culture[edit]
A world is named Theophrastus in the 2014 Firefly graphic novel Serenity: Leaves on the Wind.
Theodor Geisel used the name "Theophrastus" as the given name of his pen-name alter ego, Dr. Seuss.[96]
A board game named Theophrastus was released in 2001. Players compete through a series of Alchemy experiments in order to become Theophrastus's apprentice.[97]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Theophrastus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 3.
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