Prof. Magee will lead close study of Calcidius, On Plato’s Timaeus chs. 172-5, read against chs. 295-9 (=  Numenius fr. 52 des Places). Do these two passages cohere? Is Numenius the source for both?

To make best use of the time, please read the relevant texts in advance: they are contained in this file. Copies will be available on the day.

Until the Renaissance, the work of Calcidius offered the medieval West almost the only direct access to Plato’s corpus not dispersed in fragments. In the 4th century CE, Calcidius translated into Latin an important section of Plato’s Timaeus, complemented by extensive commentary and organized into coordinated parts. The first part is broadly devoted to the architecture of the world, to its intelligible structure. The second delves into the nature of the living creatures that inhabit it. This basic division subsequently informed the sense of macrocosm and microcosm—of the world and our place in it—which is prevalent in western European thought in the Middle Ages. At the same time, this medieval volume altered perspectives on Plato by drawing on other philosophical traditions, particularly the Stoic and Peripatetic, while including Judeo-Christian cosmology and anthropology. The present edition provides the first English translation of Calcidius’s work.

Prof. John Magee (Toronto), author of a new translation of this important work, will lead a Graduate Master Class on Calcidius. Further details (including time and place) will be posted here when known.

Click here for more information about Prof. Magee’s translation.