Timaeus (Greek text with commentary)

INTRODUCTION.

Justification for the high value placed on the Timaeus by ancient thinkers.

§ 1. Of all the more significant writings of Plato, it is likely that none has received less attention from modern scholars than the Timaeus. The reason for this relative neglect is easy to find. The extreme difficulty of its philosophical content—made even more obscure by the consistently symbolic original: "allegorical" style of explanation—the wealth of theoretical original: "a priori" speculation in a field that modern science now claims as its own, and the vast, multi-faceted scope of the project have all worked together to ensure that only a handful of the most dedicated students of Plato’s philosophy have produced any major work on this dialogue. It has been dismissed as a fanciful, though clever and poetic, theory of the universe's origin cosmogonical: relating to the origin or evolution of the universe, mixed with mysterious fragments of hidden philosophy and the raw guesses of a science that was hardly yet in its infancy.

But this was not the status given to the Timaeus by the thinkers of antiquity, who lived "nearer to the king and the truth" A reference to Plato's Philebus 16c, suggesting that ancient thinkers were closer to the source of divine wisdom.. On the contrary, not one of Plato’s works had such a powerful impact on later Greek thought; not one was the subject of such intense study or such frequent citation. Aristotle critiques it more often and more extensively than any other dialogue, and perhaps has borrowed more from it than any other. Cicero, living during a time when deep philosophical thought was almost completely stalled, felt compelled to translate it into Latin. Appuleius, in providing an account of Platonic philosophy, gives little more than a partial summary of the Timaeus, adding some moral philosophy from the Republic. Plutarch wrote several detailed essays on various topics discussed within it. As for the Neoplatonic school A philosophical movement starting in the 3rd century AD that expanded on Plato's ideas with mystical elements., their thought was entirely ruled by the philosophy of the Timaeus, despite the inconsistent and almost