The reception of Aristotle in Byzantium: the first critical edition of George Pachymeres' Commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

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This project seeks to compose the first-ever critical edition of the influential Commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics by the distinguished Byzantine scholar George Pachymeres (1242-ca. 1310). The edition will be accompanied by an English translation, extensive introduction and indexes at the end, and will be published in an open-access environment, freely available to both specialist and lay audience for use in many contexts. The proposed edition has been commissioned for publication by De Gruyter (series: 'Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca et Byzantina' = CAGB) and is part of a comprehensive editorial venture, which will make available a large number of unedited Byzantine commentaries on Aristotle's works, eventually contributing to the reception of the Aristotelian tradition in Byzantium and the development of Aristotelian studies more broadly. The project is of significant academic impact. A reliable text for Pachymeres' Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics is imperative for a wider reassessment of late Byzantine philosophy, as it will emphasise the original contributions made by scholars in this period. At the same time it will establish and help to consolidate the as yet unknown importance of the Late Byzantine period (1261-1453) as an age of considerable philosophical engagement with Aristotle. The edition and translation will throw light on contemporary educational practices by exploring the extent to which Aristotelian commentaries acted as didactic manuals. Relatedly, it will raise the need for an all-encompassing study of late Byzantine education, a topic that is still little explored and poorly understood. Furthermore, it will stimulate further research on the connections between Byzantine philosophy and Western theology and philosophy, and make us reflect on the transfer of knowledge with Arabic philosophy too. The project will help to refine our understanding of Aristotle's reception in Christian religious thought, and thus will tackle the heated question of how pagan (i.e. ancient Greek) philosophy was more or less easily incorporated into the Christian scholarly community of the later centuries of Byzantium. Last but not least, this study is intended to act as a seed project for the investigation of the undervalued topic of the function of Late Byzantine ethics both as a theoretical discipline and as a practical source of advice on how the good life was expected to be led in Constantinople and other significant parts of the Byzantine Empire.Apart from the edition and translation, this project will publish an edited volume arising from an international conference organised by the research team. The volume will be the first comprehensive study of Byzantine ethical works produced from the 10th to the 15th century and will bear the title 'Ethical works in Byzantium: continuities and transformations'. The project's findings will be communicated to the interested public via its interactive online portal, through which users may contribute their insights into the editorial process and especially some fascinating diagrams featuring in the margins of the manuscripts. Another form of public engagement will be a showcase of sample Greek manuscripts from the rich repositories of the Special Collections of the University of Glasgow Library, which will be targeted at pupils from local schools. This is envisaged as an educational introduction to medieval manuscript culture. The project illuminates a momentous period of Byzantine literary culture. More generally, it will therefore help to revisit the issue of how Byzantine studies are seen in the wider fields of intellectual and cultural history today.