Andronikos of Rhodes (Ancient Greek:Ἀνδρόνικος ὁ Ῥόδιος,romanized: Andrónikos ho Rhódios;Latin:Andronicus Rhodius;fl. c. 60 BC) was aGreek philosopher fromRhodes who was also thescholarch (head) of thePeripatetic school. He is most famous for publishing a new edition of the works ofAristotle that forms the basis of the texts that survive today.[1]
Little is known about Andronicus' life. He is reported to have been the eleventhscholarch of the Peripatetic school.[2] He taught inRome, about 58 BC, and was the teacher ofBoethus of Sidon, with whomStrabo studied.[3]
Andronicus is of special interest in the history of philosophy, from the statement ofPlutarch,[4] that he published a new edition of the works ofAristotle andTheophrastus, which formerly belonged to the library ofApellicon, and were brought toRome bySulla with the rest of Apellicon's library in 84 BC.Tyrannion commenced this task, but apparently did not do much towards it.[5] The arrangement which Andronicus made of Aristotle's writings seems to be the one which forms the basis of our present editions and we are probably indebted to him for the preservation of a large number of Aristotle's works.[6]
Andronicus wrote a work upon Aristotle, the fifth book of which contained a complete list of the philosopher's writings, and he also wrote commentaries upon thePhysics,Ethics, andCategories. None of these works are currently known to be extant. Two treatises are sometimes erroneously attributed to him, oneOn Emotions, the other a commentary on Aristotle'sEthics (really byConstantine Paleocappa in the 16th century, or byJohn Callistus of Thessalonica).[7]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Andronicus of Rhodes".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 976.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Andronicus of Rhodes".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.