Paul the Persian

Paul the Persian or Paulus Persa was a 6th-century Persian philosopher who worked at the court of the Sassanid king Khosrau I. and figure in the Church of the East (also called Nestorian Church). He wrote several treatises and commentaries on Aristotle, which had some influence on medieval Islamic philosophy. Having once aspired to be the metropolitan bishop of Persia, he later converted to Zoroastrianism. Paul’s apostasy is described in a similar manner in the Arabic Chronicle of Séert, but the modern scholar Teixidor has questioned the historical value of these reports[1]. He is identified by some scholars with Paulus of Nisibis (d. 571 CE)[2] and with Paul of Basra.[3] According to Jackson, he was "a Christian who may have studied Greek philosophy in the schools of Nisibis and Gundeshapur".[3] He is remembered for his writings in Syriac for his royal patron.[4] These include his notes in Syriac on Aristotle's Logic, in which he declares the superiority of science over faith.[5]

Contents

Life

Paul the Persian is known from the 9th-century The Chronicle of Seert and from the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of the 13th-century Jacobite historian Bar-Hebraeus. These sources indicate that he was born in Dershahr in Persia. Bar-Hebraeus mentions that he lived during the time of the Nestorian patriarch Ezekiel (567-580). According to Bar-Hebraeus, Paul was a cleric in the Church of the East and well versed in ecclesiastical and philosophical matters.

Paul wrote two known works. He produced an introduction to the philosophy of Aristotle, which was delivered before the Persian King Chosroes I, and later translated into Syriac by Severus Sebokht. The same work was also translated into Arabic at a later date.[6] The other work extant is On Interpretation, which has never been published.

Both the Chronicle of Seert and Bar-Hebraeus record that he aspired to become metropolitan of Fars, and, failing to be elected, converted to Zoroastrianism.[7] However this is not otherwise documented and may merely be the product of the rivalry between the Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Church and the Nestorian Church of the East. The entry in the Chronicle of Seert reads:

(Chosroes) was very learned in philosophy, which he had studied, it is said, under Mar Bar Samma, bishop of Qardu, and under Paul the Persian Philosopher, who, being unable to obtain the metropolitan see of Persia, renounced the Christian religion.[8]

Works

References

  1. ^ Byard Bennett, "Paul the Persian" in Encyclopaedia Iranica
  2. ^ C. H. M. Versteegh, Greek elements in Arabic linguistic thinking, BRILL, 1977, ISBN 9004048553
  3. ^ a b A. V. Williams Jackson, Zoroastrian Studies, Kessinger Publishing, 2003, ISBN 0766166554
  4. ^ Tjitze J. Boer, transl. Edward R. Jones, The History of Philosophy in Islam, 1904 (republished 1933 as ISBN 1605066974)
  5. ^ Abd al-Raḥmān Badawī, Quelques figures et thèmes de la philosophie islamique, Maisonneuve & Larose, 1979, ISBN 2706807792
  6. ^ D. Gutas, Paul the Persian on the classification of the parts of Aristotle's philosophy: a milestone between Alexandria and Baghdad, Der Islam 60 (1983), 231-67, esp. 250-254 on the Arabic translation, attributing it to Abu Bishr Matta.
  7. ^ Article on Priscianus of Lydia
  8. ^ Addai Scher, ed., Histoire Nestorienne (Chronique de Seért), Patrologia Orientalis, 7 (1910), 147.
  9. ^ History of civilizations of Central Asia, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., ISBN 8120815408
  10. ^ Byard Bennett, "Paul the Persian", Encyclopaedia Iranica, accessed 2009-07-10. Contains a detailed bibliography of works on Paulus Persa.
  11. ^ J. P. N. Land, Anecdota Syriaca, vol. 4, v. 4, IV, Leiden, 1875

External links

See also