Author(s):
Baltes, Matthias (Münster)
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Meister, Klaus (Berlin)
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Eder, Walter (Berlin)
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Hübner, Wolfgang (Münster)
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Matthaios, Stephanos (Cologne)
(Τίμαιος;
Tímaios). [German version] [1] Main speaker in Plato's [1] Timaeus T. of Locri [2] Epizephyrii in southern Italy (Τίμαιος Λοκρός/
Tímaios Lokrós), the main speaker in Plato's [1]
Timaeus, was in Antiquity regarded as a Pythagorean [1.83-85]. The Suda s.v. T. (IV p. 553,26f. Adler) and the scholia to Pl. Tim. 20 A Greene report that he wrote on mathematical problems, on nature and on the life of Pythagoras [2] (μαθηματικά, περὶ φύσεως, περὶ τοῦ Πυθαγόρου βίου/
M
athēmatiká, Perì phýseōs, Perì toû Pythagórou bíou) [1.85]. One treatise, in the Doric dialect [2.11-19], entitled 'On the Nature of the Cosmos and of the Soul' (Περὶ φύσιος καὶ κόσμω καὶ ψυχᾶς/
Perì phýsios kaì kósmō kaì psychâs ) is preserved: it positions itself as the model for much of the Platonic
T. Although the treatise was generally taken for authentic in Antiquity, studies have shown it to be a forgery of the late 1st cent. BC [2.1-3, 20-26]. It thus needs to be seen in the context of the allegations of plagiarism levelled at Plato in Antiquity in respect of the
T. in particular [2.3; 4.169-174]. Apart from abbreviations and some transpositions, the little treatise is essentially consistent with the Platonic dialogue in content and structure. It is not important to the history of Neopythagoreanism, but it is esp. for that of Platonism, as it does betray traces of earlier interpretations of the entire Platonic dialogue which bridge the gap between the exegeses of the Old Academy and the early Imperial Period [2.4-11, 20-26]. The treatise was seen in the Im…