Everything about Philip Of Opus totally explained
Philip (or
Philippus) of
Opus, Greece, was a philosopher and a member of the
Academy during
Plato's lifetime. Philip was the editor of
Plato's Laws. Philip of Opus is probably identical with the Philip of
Medma (or
Mende), the astronomer, who is also described as a disciple of Plato.
Plato's Laws and Epinomis
According to
Diogenes Laërtius, Philip of Opus was a disciple of
Plato, who was responsible for transcribing Plato's
Laws into twelve books, and writing the thirteenth book (the
Epinomis) himself:
Some say that Philip the Opuntian transcribed his [Plato's] work, Laws, which was written in wax [woodentablets coated with wax]. They also say that the Epinomis [thethirteenth book of the Laws], is his.
In the
Suda, Philip is listed anonymously under the heading of
philosophos ("philosopher"), his name being lost from the beginning of the entry:
Philosopher who divided the Laws of Plato into 12 books; for he himself is said to have added the 13th. And he was a pupil of Socrates and of Plato himself, occupied with the study of the heavens. Living in the time of Philip of Macedon, he wrote the following: On the distance of of the sun and moon; On gods; On time; On myths; On freedom; On anger; On reciprocation; On the Opuntian Lokrians; On pleasure; On passion; On friends and friendship; On writing; On Plato; On eclipse(s) of the moon; On the size of the sun and moon and earth; On lightning; On the planets; Arithmetic; On prolific numbers; Optics; Enoptics; Kykliaka; Means; etc.
Since the entry is located under the heading
philosophos, the defect presumably existed in the source from which the
Suda borrowed. It wasn't until the 18th century when Ludolf Kuster, the editor of the
Suda, identified this anonymous entry with the Philip of Opus mentioned by Diogenes Laërtius.
Philip the astronomer
Because he's indentified in the Suda as an
astronomer, it's generally assumed that Philip of Opus is the same person as Philip of
Medma, (also called Philip of
Mende) who was an astronomer and
mathematician and a disciple of Plato.
Philip of Medma is mentioned by several ancient writers, such as
Vitruvius,
Pliny the Elder,
Plutarch, (who states that he demonstrated the figure of the
Moon),
Proclus, and
Alexander of Aphrodisias. His astronomical observations were made in the
Peloponnese and in
Locris (where
Opus was a principal city), and were used by the astronomers
Hipparchus,
Geminus of Rhodes, and
Ptolemy. He is said by
Stephanus of Byzantium to have written a treatise on the winds.
Further Information
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