Boethus of Sidon

For the Stoic philosopher, see Boethus of Sidon (Stoic).

Boethus of Sidon (Greek: Βόηθος; c. 75 – c. 10 BC) was a Peripatetic philosopher from Sidon, who lived towards the end of the 1st century BC.[1]

As he was a disciple of Andronicus of Rhodes,[2] he must have travelled at an early age to Rome and Athens, in which cities Andronicus is known to have taught. Strabo, who mentions him and his brother Diodotus among the celebrated persons of Sidon, speaks of him at the same time as his own teacher (or fellow pupil) in Peripatetic philosophy.[3] Among his works, all of which are now lost, there was one on the nature of the soul, and also a commentary on Aristotle's Categories, which is mentioned by Ammonius in his commentary on the same work of Aristotle. Ammonius quotes also an opinion of Boethus concerning the study of the works of Aristotle, viz. that the student should begin with the Physics, whereas Andronicus had maintained that the beginning should be made with the Logic writings of Aristotle.

Notes

  1. "Commentators on Aristotle", A. Falcon, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, August 2005, webpage: UVA-Aristotle.
  2. Ammonius Hermiae, Comment, in Aristotle's Categories.
  3. Strabo, Geographica, 16.2.24

References