THE TRANSMISSION AND INFLUENCE OF QUSTA IBN LUQA'S "ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRIT AND THE SOUL" (SYRIA).
Item
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Title
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THE TRANSMISSION AND INFLUENCE OF QUSTA IBN LUQA'S "ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRIT AND THE SOUL" (SYRIA).
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Identifier
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AAI8508747
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identifier
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8508747
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Creator
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WILCOX, JUDITH CAROL.
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Contributor
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Richard Lemay
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Date
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1985
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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History, Medieval
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Abstract
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"On the Difference between Spirit and the Soul," a brief medical-philosophical tract written around 870 A.D. in Baghdad by the Syrian Christian polymath, Qusta ibn Luqa (d. ca. 912), holds interest for the historian on two counts: (1) The author aims to sum up the most important ideas of the ancient Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle, Theophrastus and Empedocles, and the physician Galen on the soul and the spirit; and (2) the work was much better known in its Latin version (De differentia spiritus et animae) than in the original Arabic. John of Seville's translation, made in Spain around 1130, accounts for nearly all of the approximately 150 manuscript copies. These are frequently found among the works of Aristotle, where they were read by philosophers, physicians and others who frequently cited the work and sometimes commented upon it. Another Latin version, very rare, uses large parts of John's and retranslates or revises others. This version, approximately one-third shorter, appears to be the work of Hermann of Carinthia, who probably prepared it before 1143. An anonymous Hebrew version, probably made in the late thirteenth century, also rare, appears to have exerted little influence in Hebrew literature.;The chapters of the present study explore: (1) the life and career of Qusta ibn Luqa, (2) the probable sources for the ideas in the tract, (3) the uses made of it by medieval thinkers, (4) the history of the Latin manuscript tradition, (5) editions of the two Latin versions, (6) an English translation of the John of Seville version, and (7) a history of the Hebrew version together with the Hebrew text, prepared by Shmuel Friedlander. Appendices contain (A) a description of the method followed in preparing the Latin text of John of Seville, with a report on a computer program being developed with Mordechai Friedlander to create a stemma codicum of the manuscripts; and (B) a classified list of the Latin manuscripts.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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History
