Hisdosus Explained

Hisdosus (fl. c. 1100), also known as Hisdosus Scholasticus, was a writer and scholar who lived in the early 12th century.[1] Nothing is known about his life. His first name is unknown, but he states that "I call myself Hisdosus, taken from the name of my father."[2]

History

A Latin commentary by him on Calcidius' translation of Plato's Timaeus survives in manuscript.[3] He comments on the passage in the Timaeus (34b - 36d) that deals with the World Soul.[4] The commentary depends on the glosses by the French scholastic philosopher William of Conches on the Timaeus, and it has been supposed that he may have been a pupil of William of Conches.[4]

Hisdosus' commentary is the only source (albeit in Latin paraphrase) for Heraclitus' comparison of the soul to a spider and the body to the spider's web (DK 22B 67a).[5]

Notes and References

  1. Terence Irwin, (1995), Classical philosophy: collected papers, p. 206. Taylor & Francis
  2. Book: Jeauneau, Édouard. Rethinking the School of Chartres. University of Toronto Press. 120. 2009. 978-1442600072.
  3. Codex Parisinus Latinus 8624
  4. Book: Jeauneau, Édouard. Rethinking the School of Chartres. University of Toronto Press. 76. 2009. 978-1442600072.
  5. [Charles H. Kahn]