Aristus of Ascalon

Aristus (Ancient Greek: Ἄριστος; fl. 46 BC) was a philosopher of ancient Greece from Ascalon (Ashkelon), aligned with the "Academic" school of philosophy, also known as Platonism. He was the pupil of and later successor to his brother, the more famous and renowned Academic philosopher Antiochus of Ascalon, and was generally considered to be the inferior philosopher.[1][2]

Aristus taught philosophy at Athens and counted a number of historical luminaries among his associates: he was a contemporary and friend of Cicero, and appeared in Lucullus's entourage in the Alexandrian episode in Cicero's Lucullus.[3] Aristus counted Marcus Junius Brutus among his students, as well as other notable philosophers such as Cratippus of Pergamon and Aristo of Alexandria, though these philosophers apparently did not have a high opinion of him.[4][5][6]

After his brother Antiochus died around 68 BCE, Aristus took over running his school of philosophy, probably for around two decades, as it seems likely he lived until at least 46 BCE.[7][8][9] Several of his high-profile students were not happy about this. Cratippus of Pergamon and Aristo of Alexandria were said to have "defected" to become Peripatetic philosophers after Aristus took over the school.[10] He was probably succeeded as head of the school by Theomnestus.[1]

It has been speculated by some scholars that this Aristus is the same person as the historian Aristus but there is not broad scholarly consensus for this conjecture.

  1. ^ a b Curnow, Trevor (2006). "Aristus". The Philosophers of the Ancient World: An A-Z Guide. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 48. ISBN 9780715634974. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  2. ^ Karamanolis, George E. (2006). Plato and Aristotle in Agreement?: Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry. Clarendon Press. p. 81. ISBN 9780191532634. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  3. ^ Balla, Chloe; Baziotopoulou-Valavani, Effie; Kalligas, Paul; Karasmanis, Vassilis, eds. (2020). Plato's Academy: Its Workings and Its History. Cambridge University Press. p. 375. ISBN 9781108574280. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  4. ^ Cicero. Tusculan Disputations. Loeb Classical Library. pp. xvi. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  5. ^ Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther, eds. (2012). "Ariston(3)". Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199545568.
  6. ^ Verde, Francesco (2022). "Cratippus's Life". Peripatetic Philosophy in Context: Knowledge, Time, and Soul from Theophrastus to Cratippus. De Gruyter. pp. 156–157. ISBN 9783110772722. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  7. ^ Tsouni, Georgia (2019). Antiochus and Peripatetic Ethics. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN 9781108420587. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  8. ^ Brittain, Charles (2001). Philo of Larissa: The Last of the Academic Sceptics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198152989. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  9. ^ Dillon, John M. (1996). The middle platonists, 80 B.C. to A.D. 220. Cornell University Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780801483165. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  10. ^ Wilson, Stephen G. (2014). "Dissidents and Defectors: The Limits of Pluralism". In Dunderberg, Ismo; Tuckett, Christopher; Syreeni, Kari (eds.). Fair Play: Diversity and Conflicts in Early Christianity: Essays in Honour of Heikki Räisänen. Novum Testamentum, Supplements. Vol. 103. Brill Publishers. p. 453. ISBN 9789004268210. Retrieved 2023-04-23.