1. The ancient origins. “After physics”, τά μετά τά φυσικά was originally a heading in a catalogue of a library. When editing the Corpus Aristotelicum, Andronicus of Rhodes used this heading to range “after the writings on physics” the fourteen books in which Aristotle developed a “first science” (πρώτη φιλοσοφία) distinct from all other sciences. This placing of the subject was possibly inspired by pedagogical motives, to suggest that this supreme science could only be properly dealt with and assessed after the treatm…