Taurus of Beirut

Federico M. Petrucci is a Junior Research Fellow at the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University, UK.

"Federico M. Petrucci offers a lucid and fascinating overview of Calvenus Taurus, a thinker who played an important, and so far unnoticed, role in the history of post-Hellenistic philosophy. Through a fresh analysis of extant sources, he brilliantly shows that Taurus did radically reshape the coordinates of Platonism, especially in the fields of cosmology and theology, and at the same time makes a case for the existence of a distinctive methodological core of Middle Platonist exegesis. Written in a clear style and singularly rich in its conclusions, this book will certainly become a reference point for all interested in the philosophy of the Imperial age."- Mauro Bonazzi, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy"This book is remarkable in its mastery of philology and the rigor of its interpretation."- Luc Brisson, Centre Jean Pépin, CNRS-ENS Paris, France"It is no exaggeration to describe Petrucci’s study as an impressive and revolutionary portrayal of Taurus, embedded in an exciting account of the battle for Middle Platonic doctrine."- Christina Hoenig, University of Pittsburgh, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

• Preface, Abbreviations, Introduction, Chapter 1: Taurus in Context, Chapter 2: Taurus on Plato’s Cosmogony. Middle Platonism and Literalism, Chapter 3: Taurus’ Cosmology. The Other Side of Middle Platonism, Chapter 4: Taurus and Middle Platonist Exegesis, Epilogue, Appendix: Taurus of Beirut: A New Collection of Texts with English Translation, Concordances, Bibliography, Index