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Theophrastus
Theophrastus (/ˌθiː.əˈfræstəs/; Ancient Greek: Θεόφραστος,
romanized: Theóphrastos, lit. 'godly phrased'; c. 371 –
Theophrastus
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".

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. Statue of Theophrastus, Palermo
Botanical Garden
The interests of Theophrastus were wide ranging, including
biology, physics, ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving Born c. 371 BC
botanical works, Enquiry into Plants (Historia Plantarum) Eresos
and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on Died c. 287 BC (aged 83 or
Renaissance science. There are also surviving works On Moral 84)
Characters, On Sense Perception, and On Stones, as well as Athens
fragments on Physics and Metaphysics. In philosophy, he
studied grammar and language and continued Aristotle's work Era Ancient philosophy
on logic. He also regarded space as the mere arrangement and Region Western philosophy
position of bodies, time as an accident of motion, and motion
School Peripatetic school
as a necessary consequence of all activity. In ethics, he
regarded happiness as depending on external influences as Main Ethics, grammar,
well as on virtue. interests history, logic,
metaphysics, natural
Life history, physics, botany
Notable Prosleptic and
Most of the biographical information about Theophrastus was ideas hypothetical
provided by Diogenes Laërtius' Lives and Opinions of Eminent syllogisms[1]
Philosophers, written more than four hundred years after
Modus ponens and
Theophrastus's time.[6] He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.[7]
modus tollens[2]
His given name was Tyrtamus (Τύρταμος), but he later
became known by the nickname "Theophrastus", given to him,
it is said, by Aristotle to indicate the grace of his conversation

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(from Ancient Greek Θεός 'god' and φράζειν 'to phrase', i.e. Influences [show]
divine expression).[8] Aristotle, Plato
After receiving instruction in philosophy on Lesbos from one Influenced [show]
Alcippus, he moved to Athens, where he may have studied Strato of Lampsacus, Alexander of
under Plato.[a] He became friends with Aristotle, and when Aphrodisias, and the entire
Plato died (348/7 BC) Theophrastus may have joined Aristotle Peripatetic school
in his self-imposed exile from Athens. When Aristotle moved
to Mytilene on Lesbos in 345/4, it is very likely that he did so
at the urging of Theophrastus.[9] It seems that it was on Lesbos that
Aristotle and Theophrastus began their research into natural science,
with Aristotle studying animals and Theophrastus studying plants.[10]
Theophrastus probably accompanied Aristotle to Macedonia when
Aristotle was appointed tutor to Alexander the Great in 343/2.[9]
Around 335 BC, Theophrastus moved with Aristotle to Athens, where
Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum. When, after the death of
Alexander, anti-Macedonian feeling forced Aristotle to leave Athens,
Theophrastus remained behind as head (scholarch) of the Peripatetic
school,[9] a position he continued to hold after Aristotle's death in
322/1.

Aristotle in his will made him guardian of his children, including Aristotle, Theophrastus,
Nicomachus, with whom he was close.[b] Aristotle likewise bequeathed and Strato of Lampsacus.
to him his library and the originals of his works,[c] and designated him Part of a fresco in the
as his successor at the Lyceum.[11] Eudemus of Rhodes also had some portico of the University of
claims to this position, and Aristoxenus is said to have resented Athens painted by Carl
Aristotle's choice.[12] Rahl, c. 1888.

Theophrastus presided over the Peripatetic school for thirty-five

years,[13] and died at the age of eighty-five according to Diogenes.[14][d] He is said to have
remarked, "We die just when we are beginning to live".[15]

Under his guidance the school flourished greatly—there were at one period more than 2000
students, Diogenes affirms[16]—and at his death, according to the terms of his will preserved by
Diogenes, he bequeathed to it his garden with house and colonnades as a permanent seat of
instruction. The comic poet Menander was among his pupils.[16] His popularity was shown in the
regard paid to him by Philip, Cassander, and Ptolemy, and by the complete failure of a charge of
impiety brought against him.[17][18] He was honored with a public funeral, and "the whole
population of Athens, honouring him greatly, followed him to the grave."[12][19] He was succeeded
as head of the Lyceum by Strato of Lampsacus.

Writings
From the lists of Diogenes, giving 227 titles, it appears that the activity of Theophrastus extended
over the whole field of contemporary knowledge. His writing probably differed little from
Aristotle's treatment of the same themes, though supplementary in details. Like Aristotle, most of
his writings are lost works.[12] Thus Theophrastus, like Aristotle, had composed a first and second
Analytic (Ἀναλυτικῶν προτέρων and Ἀναλυτικῶν ὑστέρων).[20] He had also written books on

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Topics (Ἀνηγμένων τόπων, Τοπικῶν and Τὰ πρὸ τῶν τόπων);[21] on the

Analysis of Syllogisms (Περὶ ἀναλύσεως συλλογισμῶν and Περὶ
συλλογισμῶν λύσεως), on Sophisms (Σοφισμάτων) and on Affirmation
and Denial (Περὶ καταφάσεως καὶ ἀποφάσεως)[22] as well as on the
Natural Philosophy (Περὶ φύσεως, Περὶ φυσικῶν, Φυσικῶν and
others), on Heaven (Περὶ οὐρανοῦ), and on Meteorological
Phenomena (Τῆς μεταρσιολεσχίας and Μεταρσιολογικῶν).[23]

In addition, Theophrastus wrote on the

Warm and the Cold (Περὶ θερμοῦ καὶ
ψυχροῦ),[24] on Water (Περὶ ὕδατος), Fire
(Περὶ πυρóς),[25] the Sea (Περὶ
θαλάττης),[25] on Coagulation and
Melting (Περὶ πήξεων καὶ τήξεων), on
various phenomena of organic and
Historia plantarum, 1549
spiritual life,[25] and on the Soul (Περὶ
ψυχῆς), on Experience (Περὶ ἐμπειρίας)
and On Sense Perception (also known as On the Senses; Περὶ
αἰσθήσεων).[26] Likewise, we find mention of monographs of
Theophrastus on the early Greek philosophers Anaximenes,
Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Archelaus,[27] Diogenes of Apollonia,
Democritus,[28] which were made use of by Simplicius; and also on
Xenocrates,[29] against the Academics,[30] and a sketch of the political Frontispiece to the
doctrine of Plato.[28] illustrated 1644 edition of
the Enquiry into Plants
He studied general history, as we know from Plutarch's lives of (Historia Plantarum)
Lycurgus, Solon, Aristides, Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades, Lysander,
Agesilaus, and Demosthenes, which were probably borrowed from the
work on Lives (Περὶ βίων).[20] But his main efforts were to continue the labours of Aristotle in
natural history. This is testified to not only by a number of treatises on individual subjects of
zoology, of which, besides the titles, only fragments remain, but also by his books On Stones, his
Enquiry into Plants, and On the Causes of Plants (see below), which have come down to us entire.
In politics, also, he seems to have trodden in the footsteps of Aristotle. Besides his books on the
State (Πολιτικῶν and Πολιτικοῦ), we find quoted various treatises on Education (Περὶ παιδείας
βασιλέως and Περὶ παιδείας),[31] on Royalty (Περὶ βασιλείας, Περὶ παιδείας βασιλέως and Πρὸς
Κάσανδρον περὶ βασιλείας),[32] on the Best State (Περὶ τῆς ἀρίστης πολιτείας), on Political Morals
(Πολιτικῶν ἐθῶν), and particularly his works on the Laws (Νόμων κατὰ στοιχεῖον, Νόμων ἐπιτομῆς
and Περὶ νόμων), one of which, containing a recapitulation of the laws of various barbarian as well
as Greek states, was intended to be a companion to Aristotle's outline of Politics, and must have
been similar to it.[33] He also wrote on oratory and poetry.[34] Theophrastus, without doubt,
departed further from Aristotle in his ethical writings,[35] as also in his metaphysical investigations
of motion, the soul, and God.[36]

Besides these writings, Theophrastus wrote several collections of problems, out of which some
things at least have passed into the Problems that have come down to us under the name of
Aristotle,[37] and commentaries,[38] partly dialogue,[39] to which probably belonged the Erotikos
(Ἐρωτικός),[40] Megacles (Μεγακλῆς),[29] Callisthenes (Καλλισθένης),[41] and Megarikos
(Μεγαρικός),[24] and letters,[42] partly books on mathematical sciences and their history.[43]

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Many of his surviving works exist only in fragmentary form. "The style of these works, as of the
botanical books, suggests that, as in the case of Aristotle, what we possess consists of notes for
lectures or notes taken of lectures," his translator Arthur F. Hort remarks.[6] "There is no literary
charm; the sentences are mostly compressed and highly elliptical, to the point sometimes of
obscurity".[6] The text of these fragments and extracts is often so corrupt that there is a certain
plausibility to the well-known story that the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus were allowed to
languish in the cellar of Neleus of Scepsis and his descendants.[44]

On plants

The most important of his books are two large botanical

treatises, Enquiry into Plants (Περὶ φυτῶν ἱστορία, generally
known as Historia Plantarum), and On the Causes of Plants
(Greek: Περὶ αἰτιῶν φυτικῶν, Latin: De causis plantarum),
which constitute the most important contribution to botanical
science during antiquity and the Middle Ages,[12] the first
systemization of the botanical world; on the strength of these
works some, following Linnaeus, call him the "father of
Frankincense trees in Dhufar
botany".[10]

The Enquiry into Plants was originally ten books, of which nine survive. The work is arranged into
a system whereby plants are classified according to their modes of generation, their localities, their
sizes, and according to their practical uses such as foods, juices, herbs, etc.[45] The first book deals
with the parts of plants; the second book with the reproduction of plants and the times and manner
of sowing; the third, fourth, and fifth books are devoted to trees, their types, their locations, and
their practical applications; the sixth book deals with shrubs and spiny plants; the seventh book
deals with herbs; the eighth book deals with plants that produce edible seeds; and the ninth book
deals with plants that produce useful juices, gums, resins, etc.[45]

On the Causes of Plants was originally eight books, of which six

survive. It concerns the growth of plants; the influences on their
fecundity; the proper times they should be sown and reaped; the
methods of preparing the soil, manuring it, and the use of tools; and of
the smells, tastes, and properties of many types of plants.[45] The work
deals mainly with the economical uses of plants rather than their
medicinal uses, although the latter is sometimes mentioned.[45] A book
on wines and a book on plant smells may have once been part of the
complete work.[46]

Although these works contain many absurd and fabulous statements,

they include valuable observations concerning the functions and Cinnamomum verum, from
properties of plants. [45] Theophrastus observed the process of Köhler's Medicinal Plants,
germination and recognized the significance of climate to plants. Much (1887)
of the information on the Greek plants may have come from his own
observations, as he is known to have travelled throughout Greece, and
to have had a botanical garden of his own; but the works also profit from the reports on plants of
Asia brought back from those who followed Alexander the Great:

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to the reports of Alexander's followers he owed his accounts of such plants as the
cotton-plant, banyan, pepper, cinnamon, myrrh, and frankincense.[6]

Theophrastus's Enquiry into Plants was first published in a Latin translation by Theodore Gaza, at
Treviso, 1483;[e] in its original Greek it first appeared from the press of Aldus Manutius at Venice,
1495–98, from a third-rate manuscript, which, like the majority of the manuscripts that were sent
to printers' workshops in the fifteenth and sixteenth century, has disappeared.[f] Christian
Wimmer identified two manuscripts of first quality, the Codex Urbinas in the Vatican Library,
which was not made known to J. G. Schneider, who made the first modern critical edition,
1818–21, and the excerpts in the Codex Parisiensis in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

On moral characters

His book Characters (Ἠθικοὶ χαρακτῆρες) contains thirty brief outlines of moral types. They are
the first recorded attempt at systematic character writing. The book has been regarded by some as
an independent work; others incline to the view that the sketches were written from time to time
by Theophrastus, and collected and edited after his death; others, again, regard the Characters as
part of a larger systematic work, but the style of the book is against this. Theophrastus has found
many imitators in this kind of writing, notably Joseph Hall (1608), Sir Thomas Overbury
(1614–16), Bishop Earle (1628), and Jean de La Bruyère (1688), who also translated the
Characters.[12] George Eliot also took inspiration from Theophrastus's Characters, most notably in
her book of caricatures, Impressions of Theophrastus Such. Writing the "character sketch" as a
scholastic exercise also originated in Theophrastus's typology.

On sensation

A treatise On Sense Perception (Περὶ αἰσθήσεων) and its objects is important for a knowledge of
the doctrines of the more ancient Greek philosophers regarding the subject. A paraphrase and
commentary on this work was written by Priscian of Lydia in the sixth century.[45] With this type of
work we may connect the fragments on Smells, on Fatigue, on Dizziness, on Sweat, on Swooning,
on Palsy, and on Honey.[44]

Physics

Fragments of a History of Physics (Περὶ φυσικῶν ἱστοριῶν) are extant. To this class of work belong
the still extant sections on Fire, on the Winds, and on the signs of Waters, Winds, and Storms.[48]

Various smaller scientific fragments have been collected in the editions of Johann Gottlob
Schneider (1818–21) and Friedrich Wimmer (1842–62) and in Hermann Usener's Analecta
Theophrastea.[12]

Metaphysics

The Metaphysics (anachronistic Greek title: Θεοφράστου τῶν μετὰ τὰ φυσικά),[49] in nine chapters
(also known as On First Principles), was considered a fragment of a larger work by Usener in his

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edition (Theophrastos, Metaphysica, Bonn, 1890), but according to Ross and Fobes in their edition
(Theophrastus, Metaphysica, Oxford, 1929), the treatise is complete (p. X) and this opinion is now
widely accepted. There is no reason for assigning this work to some other author because it is not
noticed in Hermippus and Andronicus, especially as Nicolaus of Damascus had already mentioned
it.[44]

On stones

In his treatise On Stones (Περὶ λίθων), which would become a

source for other lapidaries until at least the Renaissance,[50]
Theophrastus classified rocks and gems based on their behavior
when heated, further grouping minerals by common properties,
such as amber and magnetite, which both have the power of
attraction.[51][52][53]

Theophrastus describes different marbles; mentions coal, which

he says is used for heating by metal-workers; describes the
various metal ores; and knew that pumice stones had a volcanic
Cut emeralds origin. He also deals with precious stones, emeralds, amethysts,
onyx, jasper, etc., and describes a variety of "sapphire" that was
blue with veins of gold, and thus was presumably lapis lazuli.[51]

He knew that pearls came from shellfish, that coral came from India, and speaks of the fossilized
remains of organic life.[51] He also considers the practical uses of various stones, such as the
minerals necessary for the manufacture of glass; for the production of various pigments of paint
such as ochre; and for the manufacture of plaster.[51]

Many of the rarer minerals were found in mines, and Theophrastus mentions the famous copper
mines of Cyprus and the even more famous silver mines, presumably of Laurium near Athens – the
basis of the wealth of the city – as well as referring to gold mines. The Laurium silver mines, which
were the property of the state, were usually leased for a fixed sum and a percentage on the working.
Towards the end of the fifth century BCE the output fell, partly owing to the Spartan occupation of
Decelea from c. 413 BCE. But the mines continued to be worked, though Strabo (c. 64 BCE to c. 24
CE) records that in his time the tailings were being worked over, and Pausanias (c. 110 to c. 180)
speaks of the mines as a thing of the past. The ancient workings, consisting of shafts and galleries
for excavating the ore, and washing tables for extracting the metal, may still be seen. Theophrastus
wrote a separate work On Mining,[24] which – like most of his writings – is a lost work.

Pliny the Elder makes clear references to his use of On Stones in his Naturalis Historia of 77 AD,
while updating and making much new information available on minerals himself. Although Pliny's
treatment of the subject is more extensive, Theophrastus is more systematic and his work is
comparatively free from fable and magic,[54] although he did describe lyngurium, a gemstone
supposedly formed of the solidified urine of the lynx (the best ones coming from wild males),
which featured in many lapidaries until it gradually disappeared from view in the 17th century.[55]
It is mistakenly attributed to Theophrastus the first record of pyroelectricity. The misconception
arose soon after the discovery of the pyroelectric properties of tourmaline, which made
mineralogists of the time associate the lyngurium with it.[56] Lyngurium is described in the work of
Theophrastus as being similar to amber, capable of attracting "straws and bits of wood", but
without specifying any pyroelectric properties.[57]

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Philosophy
The extent to which Theophrastus followed Aristotle's doctrines, or
defined them more accurately, or conceived them in a different form,
and what additional structures of thought he placed upon them, can
only be partially determined because of the loss of so many of his
writings.[44] Many of his opinions have to be reconstructed from the
works of later writers such as Alexander of Aphrodisias and
Simplicius.[58]

Logic

Theophrastus seems to have carried out still further the grammatical

foundation of logic and rhetoric, since in his book on the elements of Theophrastus, depicted as
speech, he distinguished the main parts of speech from the a medieval scholar in the
subordinate parts, and also direct expressions (κυρία λέξις kuria lexis) Nuremberg Chronicle
from metaphorical expressions, and dealt with the emotions (πάθη
pathe) of speech.[59] He further distinguished a twofold reference of
speech (σχίσις schisis) to things (πράγματα pragmata) and to the hearers, and referred poetry and
rhetoric to the latter.[60]

He wrote at length on the unity of judgment,[61] on the different kinds of negation,[62] and on the
difference between unconditional and conditional necessity.[63] In his doctrine of syllogisms he
brought forward the proof for the conversion of universal affirmative judgments, differed from
Aristotle here and there in the laying down and arranging the modi of the syllogisms,[64] partly in
the proof of them,[65] partly in the doctrine of mixture, i.e. of the influence of the modality of the
premises upon the modality of the conclusion.[66] Then, in two separate works, he dealt with the
reduction of arguments to the syllogistic form and on the resolution of them;[67] and further, with
hypothetical conclusions.[68] For the doctrine of proof, Galen quotes the second Analytic of
Theophrastus, in conjunction with that of Aristotle, as the best treatises on that doctrine.[69] In
different monographs he seems to have tried to expand it into a general theory of science. To this,
too, may have belonged the proposition quoted from his Topics, that the principles of opposites are
themselves opposed, and cannot be deduced from one and the same higher genus.[70] For the rest,
some minor deviations from the Aristotelian definitions are quoted from the Topica of
Theophrastus.[71] Closely connected with this treatise was that upon ambiguous words or ideas,[72]
which, without doubt, corresponded to book Ε of Aristotle's Metaphysics.[44]

Physics and metaphysics

Theophrastus introduced his Physics with the proof that all natural existence, being corporeal and
composite, requires principles,[73] and first and foremost, motion, as the basis of all change.[74]
Denying the substance of space, he seems to have regarded it, in opposition to Aristotle, as the
mere arrangement and position (taxis and thesis) of bodies.[75] Time he called an accident of
motion, without, it seems, viewing it, with Aristotle, as the numerical determinant of motion.[76]
He attacked the doctrine of the four classical elements and challenged whether fire could be called
a primary element when it appears to be compound, requiring, as it does, another material for its

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own nutriment.[77]

He departed more widely from Aristotle in his doctrine of motion,

since on the one hand he extended it over all categories, and did not
limit it to those laid down by Aristotle.[78] He viewed motion, with
Aristotle, as an activity, not carrying its own goal in itself (ateles), of
that which only potentially exists,[79] but he opposed Aristotle's view
that motion required a special explanation, and he regarded it as
something proper both to nature in general and the celestial system in
particular:

Surely, then, if the life in animals does not need

explanation or is to be explained only in this way, may it
not be the case that in the heavens too, and in the heavenly
bodies, movement does not need explanation or is to be Aristotle
explained in a special way?

— Theophrastus, Metaphysics, 10a.16–29.[80]

He recognised no activity without motion,[81] and so referred all activities of the soul to motion: the
desires and emotions to corporeal motion, judgment (kriseis) and contemplation to spiritual
motion.[82] The idea of a spirit entirely independent of organic activity, must therefore have
appeared to him very doubtful; yet he appears to have contented himself with developing his
doubts and difficulties on the point, without positively rejecting it.[83] Other Peripatetics, like
Dicaearchus, Aristoxenus, and especially Strato, developed further this naturalism in Aristotelian
doctrine.

Theophrastus seems, generally speaking, where the investigation overstepped the limits of
experience, to have preferred to develop the difficulties rather than solve them, as is especially
apparent in his Metaphysics.[44] He was doubtful of Aristotle's teleology and recommended that
such ideas be used with caution:

With regard to the view that all things are for the sake of an end and nothing is in vain,
the assignation of ends is in general not easy, as it is usually stated to be ... we must set
certain limits to purposiveness and to the effort after the best, and not assert it to exist
in all cases without qualification.

— Theophrastus, Metaphysics, 10a.22–24, 11a.1–3.[84]

He did not follow the incessant attempts by Aristotle to refer phenomena to their ultimate
foundations, or his attempts to unfold the internal connections between the latter, and between
them and phenomena.[44] In antiquity, it was a subject of complaint that Theophrastus had not
expressed himself with precision and consistency respecting God, and had understood it at one
time as Heaven, at another an (enlivening) breath (pneuma).[85]

Ethics

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Theophrastus did not allow a happiness resting merely upon virtue,[86]

or, consequently, to hold fast by the unconditional value of morality.
He subordinated moral requirements to the advantage at least of a
friend,[87] and had allowed in prosperity the existence of an influence
injurious to them. In later times, fault was found with his expression in
the Callisthenes, "life is ruled by fortune, not wisdom" (vitam regit
fortuna non sapientia).[88] That in the definition of pleasure, likewise,
he did not coincide with Aristotle, seems to be indicated by the titles of
two of his writings, one of which dealt with pleasure generally, the
other with pleasure as Aristotle had defined it.[24] Although, like his
teacher, he preferred contemplative (theoretical), to active (practical)
life,[89] he preferred to set the latter free from the restraints of family
life, etc. in a manner of which Aristotle would not have approved.[90]

Theophrastus was opposed to eating meat on the grounds that it

robbed animals of life and was therefore unjust. Non-human animals,
he said, can reason, sense, and feel just as human beings do.[91] The bust inscribed
"Θεόφραστος Μελάντα
Ἐρέσιος (Theophrastos
The "portrait" of Theophrastus Melanta Eresios)"

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
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]

Works
▪ Historia plantarum (https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3034262) (in
Italian). Venezia. 1549.
▪ [Opere] (https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=8836731) (in Latin). Leiden:

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Henrick Lodewijcxsoon van Haestens. 1613.

▪ Metaphysics (or On First Principles).
▪ Translated by M. van Raalte, 1993, Brill.
▪ On First Principles. Translated by Dimitri Gutas, 2010,
Brill.
▪ Enquiry into Plants: Books 1–5. Translated by A. F. Hort,
1916. Loeb Classical Library. ISBN 0-674-99077-3 Vol 1 (htt
ps://archive.org/details/enquiryintoplant01theouoft) – Vol 2
(https://archive.org/details/enquiryintoplant02theouoft)
▪ Enquiry into Plants: Books 6–9; Treatise on Odours;
Concerning Weather Signs. Translated by A. F. Hort, 1926.
Loeb Classical Library. ISBN 0-674-99088-9
▪ Theophrastus (1916) [4th century BC]. Hort, Arthur
(ed.). Περὶ φυτῶν ἱστορία: (Περὶ ὀσμῶν; De Odoribus) (h
ttps://archive.org/details/theophrastusiien00theo/page/3
24/mode/2up) [Enquiry into Plants: Concerning odours].
Loeb Classical Library. Vol. II. London and New York:
William Heinemann and G.P. Putnam's Sons.
pp. 324–489. ISBN 978-0-674-99077-7.(also available Opera omnia, 1613
here (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Text
s/Theophrastus/De_odoribus*.html) on Penelope)
▪ Recherches sur les plantes. Translated to French by Suzanne Amigues. Paris, Les Belles
Lettres. 1988–2006. 5 tomes. Tome 1, Livres I-II. 1988. LVIII-146 p. Tome II, Livres III-IV. 1989.
306 p. Tome III, Livres V-VI. 1993. 212 p. Tome IV, Livres VII-VIII, 2003. 238 p. Tome V, Livres
IX. 2006. LXX-400 p. First edition in French. Identifications are up-to-date, and carefully
checked with botanists. Greek names with identifications are on Pl@ntUse (https://uses.plantn
et-project.org/fr/Noms_grecs_de_Th%C3%A9ophraste).
▪ De Causis Plantarum. Translated by B. Einarson and G. Link, 1989–1990. Loeb Classical
Library. 3 volumes: ISBN 0-674-99519-8, ISBN 0-674-99523-6, ISBN 0-674-99524-4.
▪ On Characters (http://www.mikrosapoplous.gr/theophrastos/theophr0.htm) (in Greek)
▪ Translated by R. C. Jebb (http://www.eudaemonist.com/biblion/characters/), 1870.
▪ Translated by J. M. Edmonds (https://archive.org/stream/charactersofthe00theouoft#page/n
3/mode/2up), 1929, with parallel text.
▪ Translated by J. Rusten, 2003. Loeb Classical Library. ISBN 0-674-99603-8
▪ On Sweat, On Dizziness and On Fatigue. Translated by W. Fortenbaugh, R. Sharples, M.
Sollenberger. Brill 2002. ISBN 90-04-12890-5
▪ On Weather Signs.
▪ Translated by J. G. Wood, G. J. Symons (https://archive.org/details/theophrastusofer00the
o), 1894.
▪ Edited by Sider David and Brunschön Carl Wolfram. Brill 2007.
▪ On Stones (http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/theophrastus-on-stones/page_002)

Modern editions

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▪ Theophrastus' Characters: An Ancient Take on Bad Behavior by James Romm (author),

Pamela Mensch (translator), and André Carrilho (illustrator), Callaway Arts & Entertainment,
2018.

Brill

The International Theophrastus Project (https://brill.com/view/serial/PHAT) started by Brill

Publishers in 1992.

▪ 1. Theophrastus of Eresus: Sources for His Life, Writings, Thought and Influence (two
volumes), edited by William Fortenbaugh et al., Leiden: Brill, 1992.
▪ 1.1. Life, Writings, Various Reports, Logic, Physics, Metaphysics, Theology, Mathematics
[Texts 1–264].
▪ 1.2. Psychology, Human Physiology, Living Creatures, Botany, Ethics, Religion, Politics,
Rhetoric and Poetics, Music, Miscellanea [Texts 265–741].

▪ ff. 9 volumes are planned; the published volumes are:

▪ 1. Theophrastus of Eresus: Sources for His Life, Writings, Thought and Influence —
Commentary, Leiden: Brill, 1994
▪ 2. Logic [Texts 68–136], by Pamela Huby (2007); with contributions on the Arabic material
by Dimitri Gutas.
▪ 3.1. Sources on Physics (Texts 137–223), by R. W. Sharples (1998).
▪ 4. Psychology (Texts 265–327), by Pamela Huby (1999); with contributions on the Arabic
material by Dimitri Gutas.
▪ 5. Sources on Biology (Human Physiology, Living Creatures, Botany: Texts 328–435), by R.
W. Sharples (1994).
▪ 6.1. Sources on Ethics [Texts 436–579B], by William W. Fortenbaugh; with contributions on
the Arabic material by Dimitri Gutas (2011).
▪ 8. Sources on Rhetoric and Poetics (Texts 666–713), by William W. Fortenbaugh (2005);
with contributions on the Arabic material by Dimitri Gutas.
▪ 9.1. Sources On Music (Texts 714-726C), by Massimo Raffa (2018).
▪ 9.2. Sources on Discoveries and Beginnings, Proverbs et al. (Texts 727–741), by William
W. Fortenbaugh (2014).

Explanatory notes
a. "Theophrastus is said to have studied first at Eresus under Alcippus, then at Athens under
Plato. The latter report is problematic; but if true, it would explain an early association with
Aristotle."(Encyclopedia of classical philosophy 1997, p. 552).
b. "Aristippus in the fourth book of his treatise On Ancient Luxury asserts that he was enamored
of Aristotle's son Nicomachus" (Laërtius 1925, § 38).
c. "It may we be that we owe to Theophrastus the publication of some at least of his master's
voluminous works" (Hort).
d. "He is made indeed to say in the probably spurious Preface to the Characters that he is writing
in his ninety-ninth year; while St. Jerome's Chronicle asserts that he lived to the age of 107"

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(Hort).
e. Theodore Gaza, a refugee from Thessalonica, was working from a lost Greek manuscript that
was different from any others (Hort).
f. It was carefully copied in a printing at Basel, 1541.
g. "Since 'unknown portraits' were not valued highly, identifying inscriptions were often added to
classical portraits by antiquaries and collectors before modern scholarship condemned the
practice", notes Eugene Dwyer.[92]

Citations
1. "History of Logic: Theophrastus of Eresus" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/346217
/history-of-logic/65923/Theophrastus-of-Eresus) in Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
2. "Ancient Logic: Forerunners of Modus Ponens and Modus Tollens" (http://plato.stanford.edu/en
tries/logic-ancient/#StoSyl). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
3. Dorandi 1999, pp. 52–53.
4. Hardy, Gavin; Totelin, Laurence (2015). Ancient Botany. Routledge. p. 8.
5. Matthew Hall, Plants as Persons: A Philosophical Botany, p. 28.
6. Hort 1916, Book I–V
7. Strabo, xiii.; Laërtius 1925, § 36, etc.
8. Strabo, xiii.; Laërtius 1925, § 38
9. Encyclopedia of classical philosophy 1997, p. 552.
10. Grene & Depew 2004, p. 11.
11. Laërtius 1925, § 36; comp. Aulus Gellius, xiii. 5.
12. Wheeler 1911.
13. Laërtius 1925, § 36, 58.
14. Laërtius 1925, § 40.
15. Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iii. 28; Jerome, Letter to Nepotian; Laërtius 1925, § 41.
16. Laërtius 1925, § 36, 37.
17. Laërtius 1925, § 37; comp. Aelian, Varia Historia, iv. 19.
18. Filonik 2013, pp. 73–74.
19. Laërtius 1925, § 41.
20. Laërtius 1925, § 42.
21. Laërtius 1925, § 42, 45, 50.
22. Laërtius 1925, § 42, 45.
23. Laërtius 1925, § 46, 50, 43, 44.
24. Laërtius 1925, § 44.
25. Laërtius 1925, § 45.
26. Laërtius 1925, § 42, 46.
27. Laërtius 1925, § 42, 43.
28. Laërtius 1925, § 43.
29. Laërtius 1925, § 47.
30. Laërtius 1925, § 49.
31. Laërtius 1925, § 42, 50.

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32. Laërtius 1925, § 42, 47, 45.

33. Cicero, de Finibus, v. 4.
34. Cicero, de Invent. i. 35.
35. Laërtius 1925, § 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49, 50.
36. Laërtius 1925, § 48.
37. Laërtius 1925, § 45, 47, 48; comp. Pliny, H.N. xxviii. 6; Aristotle, Probl. xxxiii. 12.
38. Laërtius 1925, § 48, 49; comp. § 43.
39. Basil. Magn. Epist. 167.
40. Laërtius 1925, § 43; Athenaeus, xii. 2, xiii. 2.
41. Laërtius 1925, § 44; Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iii. 10; Alexander of Aphrodisius, de
Anima, ii.
42. Laërtius 1925, § 46, 50.
43. Laërtius 1925, § 42, 46, 48, 50.
44. Smith 1870, "Theophrastus"
45. Long 1842, pp. 332–224
46. Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, Ancient Botany, 2015, p. 10.
47. International Plant Names Index. Theophr (http://www.ipni.org/ipni/advAuthorSearch.do?find_a
bbreviation=Theophr.).
48. Probably out of the fourth book of the Meteorology ("ἐν τετάρτῃ περὶ μεταρσίων") of
Theophrastus: see Plutarch, Quaest. Gr. vii.
49. Dimitri Gutas (ed.), Theophrastus – On First Principles: known as His Metaphysics (https://boo
ks.google.com/books?id=YdIIYCpEXHMC), Brill, 2010, p. 10.
50. Walton 2001, pp. 359–364.
51. Cuvier 1830, pp. 76–83.
52. Richards & Caley 1956, p. 238.
53. Caley 1956.
54. Healy 1999, pp. 17–7.
55. Walton 2001, abstract & throughout.
56. Earle R. Caley and John F.C. Richards, Theophrastus: On Stones (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State
University, 1956), page 110, line 12 of the commentary: "Watson identifies the lyngounon of
Theophrastus with tourmaline, but evidently his opinion is partly based on the attractive
properties of heated tourmaline which had recently been discovered. This identification is
repeated by various later writers. For example, Dana states that lyncurium is supposed to be
the ancient name for common tourmaline. However, the absence of tourmaline among
surviving examples of ancient gems is clearly against this view."
57. Earle R. Caley and John F.C. Richards, Theophrastus: On Stones (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State
University, 1956), page 51, paragraph 28 of the original text: "It [smaragdos] is remarkable in its
powers, and so is the lyngourion [i.e., lynx-urine stone] … . It has the power of attraction, just
as amber has, and some say that it not only attracts straws and bits of wood, but also copper
and iron, if the pieces are thin, as Diokles used to explain."
58. Ierodiakonou, Katerina (2020), "Theophrastus" (https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2020/ent
riesheophrastus/), in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter
2020 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved July 7, 2022
59. Simplicius, in Categ. 8.
60. Ammonius, de Interpr. 53; Schol. in Arist. 108, 27.

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61. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. f. 128, 124; Schol. in Arist. 184. 24. 183, b. 2; Boethius,
de Interpr.
62. Ammonius, in Arist. de Interpr. 128; Schol. in Arist. 121. 18.
63. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. f. 12. 6; Schol. in Arist. 149. 44.
64. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. 14, 72, 73, 82. 22, b, 35; Boethius, de Syll. categ. ii. 594.
5, f. 603, 615.
65. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. 39, b
66. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. 39, b. etc. 40, 42, 56, b. 82, 64, b. 51; John Phil. xxxii, b.
etc.
67. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Anal. Pr. 115.
68. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Arist. Anal. Pr. 109, b. etc. 131, b.; John Phil. lx. etc. lxxv.;
Boethius, de Syll. hypoth.
69. Galen, de Hippocr. et Plat. Dogm. ii. 2.
70. Simplicius, in Categ. f. 5; Schol. p. 89. 15; comp. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Metaph. 342. 30.
71. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Top. 5, 68, 72, 25, 31.
72. Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Top. 83, 189.
73. Simplicius, in Phys. f. 1, 6.
74. Simplicius, in Phys. f. 5, 6.
75. Simplicius, in Phys. 149, b. 141.
76. Simplicius, in Phys. f. 87, b; John Phil. 213. 4.
77. Theophrastus, On Fire, 1.
78. Simplicius, in Categ.; comp. Simplicius, in Phys. 94, 201, 202, 1.
79. Simplicius, l. c. and f. 94, 1.
80. Gould 1970, p. 24.
81. Simplicius, in Categ.
82. Simplicius, in Phys. 225.
83. Themistius, in Arist. de An. 89, b. 91, b.
84. Gould 1970b, p. 25.
85. Clement of Alexandria, Protrept.; Cicero, de Natura Deorum, i. 13.
86. Cicero, Academica, i. 10, Tusculanae Quaestiones, v. 9.
87. Aulus Gellius, i. 3. § 23.
88. Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, iii. 10; comp. Alexander of Aphrodisias, de Anima, ii.
89. Cicero, ad Atticus, ii. 16.
90. Jerome, Adversus Jovinianum, i, 189.
91. Taylor, Angus. Animals and Ethics. Broadview Press, p. 35.
92. Dwyer 1993, p. 478 note 65...
93. Dwyer 1993, p. notes Statius pl. xiii; Galle pl. 143; Bellori pl. 38; Gronovius, vol. II p. 92;
Visconti, 180–3 pl. xxi, 1–2.
94. Thevet, ch. 31; Dwyer 1993, p. 476 notes that it had been illustrated by Orsini 1569 in "the first
critical collection of ancient portraiture" (Dwyer 1993, p. 468).
95. Noted by Dwyer 1993, p. 478, figs 15 and 16.
96. "8 things you didn't know about Dr. Seuss" (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/8-things-didnt-k
now-dr-seuss). PBS NewsHour. July 22, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2021.

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97. "Theophrastus" (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3562/theophrastus).

General and cited references

▪ Cuvier, Georges (1830). "Lecture Ninth – Theophrastus" (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ite
m/52307#page/94/mode/1up). Baron Cuvier's Lectures on the History of the Natural Sciences.
Vol. 9. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. pp. 76–83.
▪ Dorandi, Tiziano (1999). "Chapter 2: Chronology". In Algra, Keimpe; et al. (eds.). The
Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy (https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory00algr)
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 52 (https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory0
0algr/page/n71)–53. ISBN 978-0-521-25028-3.
▪ Dwyer, Eugene (September 1993). "André Thevet and Fulvio Orsini: The Beginnings of the
Modern Tradition of Classical Portrait Iconography". The Art Bulletin. 75 (3): 467–480.
doi:10.2307/3045969 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3045969). JSTOR 3045969 (https://www.jsto
r.org/stable/3045969).
▪ "Theophrastus". Encyclopedia of classical philosophy. Greenwood. 1997. p. 552.
▪ Filonik, Jakub (2013). "Athenian impiety trials: a reappraisal" (http://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/Di
ke/article/view/4290). Dike. 16: 73–74. doi:10.13130/1128-8221/4290 (https://doi.org/10.1313
0%2F1128-8221%2F4290). ISSN 1128-8221 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1128-8221).
▪ Gould, Josiah B. (1970). The Philosophy of Chrysippus: Peasants, Provincials, and Folklore in
the 1937 Paris World's Fair. Suny Press. p. 24 (https://books.google.com/books?id=_iV8W75G
-JsC&pg=PA24). ISBN 978-0-87395-064-0.
▪ Gould, Josiah (1970b). The Philosophy of Chrysippus – Two Traditional Characterizations. Brill
Archive. p. 25 (https://books.google.com/books?id=re43AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA25).
▪ Grene, Marjorie; Depew, David (2004). The philosophy of biology: an episodic history.
Cambridge University Press. p. 11 (https://books.google.com/books?id=TJSGJjh8Jo8C&dq=Th
e%20philosophy%20of%20biology%3A%20an%20episodic%20history&pg=PA11).
ISBN 978-0-521-64380-1.
▪ Healy, John F. (1999). Pliny the Elder on Science and Technology. Oxford University Press.
pp. 17–7.
▪ Laërtius, Diogenes (1925). "The Peripatetics: Theophrastus" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/
Lives_of_the_Eminent_Philosophers/Book_V#Theophrastus). Lives of the Eminent
Philosophers. Vol. 1:5. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew (Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical
Library. § 36–50.
▪ Lang, Sidney B. (August 2005). "Pyroelectricity: From Ancient Curiosity to Modern Imaging
Tool". Physics Today. 58 (8): 31–36. Bibcode:2005PhT....58h..31L (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.ed
u/abs/2005PhT....58h..31L). doi:10.1063/1.2062916 (https://doi.org/10.1063%2F1.2062916).
▪ Long, George, ed. (1842). "Theophrastus". Penny cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge. Vol. 24. pp. 332–334.
▪ Orsini, Fulvio (1569). Imagines et elogia virorum illustrium. Rome.
▪ Walton, S. A. (October 2001). "Theophrastus on Lyngurium: medieval and early modern lore
from the classical lapidary tradition" (https://www.academia.edu/574602). Annals of Science.
58 (4): 357–379. doi:10.1080/000337900110041371 (https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00033790011
0041371). PMID 11724065 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11724065). S2CID 8649133 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:8649133).

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▪ Witztum, A.; Negbi, M. (1991). "Primary Xylem of Scilla hyacinthoides (Liliaceae): The Wool-
Bearing Bulb of Theophrastus" (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4255312). Economic Botany. 45
(1): 97–102. doi:10.1007/BF02860053 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF02860053).
JSTOR 4255312 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4255312). S2CID 35267741 (https://api.semantic
scholar.org/CorpusID:35267741).
▪ Negbi, Moshe (May 1989). "Theophrastus on geophytes". Botanical Journal of the Linnean
Society. 100 (1): 15–43. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1989.tb01708.x (https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1
095-8339.1989.tb01708.x).

Attribution:

▪ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wheeler, Emmanuel
(1911). "Theophrastus". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press. p. 787.
▪ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed.
(1870). "Theophrastus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 3.

Further reading
▪ Baltussen, H. 2016. The Peripatetics: Aristotle's Heirs 322 BCE–200 CE. London: Routledge.
▪ Fortenbaugh, W. W., and D. Gutas, eds. 1992. Theophrastus: His Psychological,
Doxographical and Scientific Writings. Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities 5.
New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Transaction Books.
▪ Mejer, J. 1998. "A Life in Fragments: The Vita Theophrasti." In Theophrastus: Reappraising the
Sources. Edited by J. van Ophuijsen and M. van Raalte, 1–28. Rutgers University Studies in
Classical Humanities 8. New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Transaction Books.
▪ Pertsinidis, S. 2018. Theophrastus' Characters: A new introduction. London: Routledge.
▪ Van Raalte, M. 1993. Theophrastus' Metaphysics. Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill.

External links
▪ Works by Theophrastus at Perseus Digital Library (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searc
hresults?q=+at+Theophrastus)
▪ Theophrastus (1956) [315 BC]. Theophrastus On Stones: Introduction, Greek text, English
translation, and Commentary (https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/32541/THEOP
HRASTUS_CALEY.pdf?sequence=1) (PDF). Translated by Richards, John F.; Caley, Earle
Radcliffe. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University. p. 238. hdl:1811/32541 (https://hdl.handle.net
/1811%2F32541).
▪ Theophrastus (January 1956). Theophrastus on stones (https://books.google.com/books?id=C
5AGAQAAIAAJ). Translated by Caley, Earle Radcliffe. Ohio State University.
ISBN 978-0-8142-0033-9.
▪ Theophrastus (1916). Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants. Vol. 1. Translated by Hort, A. F. New
York: Loeb Classical Library/G.P. Putnam's Sons. Book I–V.
▪ "Theophrastus" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Theophrastus.aspx#1). HighBeam
Research. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
▪ Stratton, George Malcolm (1917). Theophrastus and the Greek physiological psychology
before Aristotle (https://archive.org/details/theophrastusgree00stra).—Contains a translation of

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Theophrastus - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophrastus

On the Senses by Theophrastus.

▪ Katerina Ierodiakonou. "Theophrastus" (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/theophrastus/). In
Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
▪ "Peripatetic Logic: The Work of Eudemus of Rhodes and Theophrastus of Eresus" (http://www.
ontology.co/theophrastus-eudemus-logic.htm).
▪ Project Theophrastus (https://web.archive.org/web/20140715031240/http://www.rhodes.aegea
n.gr/tms/Theophrastus/) (in Greek)
▪ Online Galleries, University of Oklahoma Libraries (http://hos.ou.edu/galleries//01Ancient/Theo
phrastos/)
▪ Theophrastus of Eresus at the Edward Worth Library, Dublin (http://botany.edwardworthlibrary.i
e/ancient-botany/theophrastus/)
▪ Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants, Hort's English translation of 1916 (http://topostext.org/work.
php?work_id=242), as html tagged with geolocated place references, at ToposText (http://topos
text.org/)
▪ Works by Theophrastus (https://librivox.org/author/12773) at LibriVox (public domain
audiobooks)
▪

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