Aristophanes of Byzantium and the Lost Works of Aristotle

Aristophanes of Byzantium (ca. 257 to 185/180 BC) was (inter alia) a grammarian and Homeric scholar, who served as the head of the Library of Alexandria. He composed an Epitome of the Works of Aristotle on Animals, in four books. This work is lost, but the first two books (complete or nearly so) have been preserved in a tenth century Byzantine zoological anthology. This Element is an examination of the extant parts of his Epitome as a source for fragments of two lost works of Aristotle: the Zoïka (Animal Matters) and the Dissections. A passage is a candidate for consideration if there are no clear parallels in Aristotle's extant works. Thirty-five passages are examined, and it is demonstrated that this work of Aristophanes has been a largely untapped source of evidence for these two lost works.