- Classics DX 650 114
North Terrace
The University of Adelaide
Australia SA 5005
Han N Baltussen
University of Adelaide, Classics, Faculty Member
- Philosophy, Literacy, Humanities, Classics, Cultural History of Medicine, Hellenistic Philosophy, and 25 moreCensorship, Intellectual History, Late Antiquity, Byzantine Studies, Ancient Philosophy, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Neoplatonism and late antique philosophy, Aristotle, Medical History, Censorship (History), Ancient Greek ethics, Grief and Loss, Commentary Traditions, Alexander of Aphrodisias, Book Censorship (history), Ancient commentators on Aristotle, Philosophy of perception, Intuition, Dialectic, Aristotle's Commentators, History Of Platonic Tradition, Stoicism, Theophrastus, History of Medicine, and History Of Emotionsedit
- I am the Walter W. Hughes Professor of Classics at the University of Adelaide, specialising in intellectual history o... moreI am the Walter W. Hughes Professor of Classics at the University of Adelaide, specialising in intellectual history of ancient Greece and Rome. I have been working on several projects (3 with funding by the ARC): ancient consolation viewed as psychotherapy, for which I am writing a final synthesis in a monograph with the working title "The Therapeutic Turn in Antiquity. Consolation Strategies from Antiphon to Galen"; ancient censorship (ed. vol. 2015); a brief history of the Peripatos (Routledge 2016). My latest project is a collaborative study of the Stoic influence on political theorists in the 17th-18th c. I have also started a new translation of Eunapius' Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists, partnering with a new project from the University of Tasmania, and colleagues in Melbourne and Munich on "Becoming Godlike".edit
From flowers and perfumes to urban sanitation and personal hygiene, smell—a sense that is simultaneously sublime and animalistic—has played a pivotal role in western culture and thought. Greek and Roman writers and thinkers lost no... more
From flowers and perfumes to urban sanitation and personal hygiene, smell—a sense that is simultaneously sublime and animalistic—has played a pivotal role in western culture and thought. Greek and Roman writers and thinkers lost no opportunity to connect the smells that bombarded their senses to the social, political and cultural status of the individuals and environments that they encountered: godly incense and burning sacrifices, seductive scents, aromatic cuisines, stinking bodies, pungent farmyards and festering back-streets.
The cultural study of smell has largely focused on pollution, transgression and propriety, but the olfactory sense came into play in a wide range of domains and activities: ancient medicine and philosophy, religion, botany and natural history, erotic literature, urban planning, dining, satire and comedy—where odours, aromas, scents and stenches were rich and versatile components of the ancient sensorium. The first comprehensive introduction to the role of smell in the history, literature and society of classical antiquity, Smell and the Ancient Senses explores and probes the ways that the olfactory sense can contribute to our perceptions of ancient life, behaviour, identity and morality.
The cultural study of smell has largely focused on pollution, transgression and propriety, but the olfactory sense came into play in a wide range of domains and activities: ancient medicine and philosophy, religion, botany and natural history, erotic literature, urban planning, dining, satire and comedy—where odours, aromas, scents and stenches were rich and versatile components of the ancient sensorium. The first comprehensive introduction to the role of smell in the history, literature and society of classical antiquity, Smell and the Ancient Senses explores and probes the ways that the olfactory sense can contribute to our perceptions of ancient life, behaviour, identity and morality.
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This edited volume offers 8 in-depth studies of the ancient consolation, featuring a detailed analysis of the "genre" and individual studies of Greek tragedy, Cicero, Seneca, ps. Plutarch, Lucian, Augustine and al-Kindi.
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Proceedings of a conference on philosophical commentaries in honour of R. Sorabji, ranging from the beginnings of exegetical notes on Homer to the early modenr Arabic tradition.
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This study offers a new and stimulating interpretation of Theophrastus' De sensibus, a treatise unique in content and method, as it reports and criticizes the theories of sense perception of the Presocratics and Plato. Most of the... more
This study offers a new and stimulating interpretation of Theophrastus' De sensibus, a treatise unique in content and method, as it reports and criticizes the theories of sense perception of the Presocratics and Plato.
Most of the material on the Presocratics is found nowhere else, which explains why many passages can be found scattered over the Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. As an antidote to this fragmented approach the Presocratics are here studied in context, a text informed by a distinctly Peripatetic perspective. The analysis of the reports and (long neglected) criticisms of … read morePlato (ch.4) and the Presocratics (ch.5) offers new insights into Theophrastus' exegetical procedure by succesfully using Peripatetic dialectic as a heuristic tool. The Epilogue outlines some implications for the role of the treatise in the doxographical tradition
Most of the material on the Presocratics is found nowhere else, which explains why many passages can be found scattered over the Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. As an antidote to this fragmented approach the Presocratics are here studied in context, a text informed by a distinctly Peripatetic perspective. The analysis of the reports and (long neglected) criticisms of … read morePlato (ch.4) and the Presocratics (ch.5) offers new insights into Theophrastus' exegetical procedure by succesfully using Peripatetic dialectic as a heuristic tool. The Epilogue outlines some implications for the role of the treatise in the doxographical tradition
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Commentary was an important vehicle for philosophical debate in late antiquity. Its antecedents lie in the rise of rational argumentation, polemical rivalry, literacy, and the canonization of texts. This essay aims to give a historical... more
Commentary was an important vehicle for philosophical debate in late antiquity. Its antecedents lie in the rise of rational argumentation, polemical rivalry, literacy, and the canonization of texts. This essay aims to give a historical and typological outline of philosophical exegesis in antiquity, from the earliest alle-gorizing readings of Homer to the full-blown " running commentary " in the Pla-tonic tradition (fourth to sixth centuries CE). Running commentaries are mostly on authoritative thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle. Yet they are never mere scholarly enterprises but, rather, springboards for syncretistic clarification, elaboration, and creative interpretation. Two case studies (Galen 129–219 CE, Simplicius ca. 530 CE) will illustrate the range of exegetical tools available at the end of a long tradition in medical science and in reading Aristotle through Neoplatonic eyes, respectively.
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How many questions does it take to understand the sense of smell? Books 12–13, dedicated to odours in the pseudo-Aristotelian Problemata, entitled ὅσα περὶ τὰ εὐώδη and ὅσα περὶ τὰ δυσώδη, seem to suggest at least twenty-five. But such an... more
How many questions does it take to understand the sense of smell? Books 12–13, dedicated to odours in the pseudo-Aristotelian Problemata, entitled ὅσα περὶ τὰ εὐώδη and ὅσα περὶ τὰ δυσώδη, seem to suggest at least twenty-five. But such an assessment would be overstating the intent and outcomes of these short sets of " Q&A " dramatically. As we will see, one hardly gains a comprehensive and thorough understanding of smell and odours from these books. Much is assumed or not articulated, even more not covered. The questions asked in the Problemata refract a scattered set of issues, which to us seem of variable quality and relevance: why ask about the effect of the rainbow on fragrance in trees? Should one ask why fragrant plants are diuretic? The apparent random-ness of choice and sequence of the questions will baffle a first-time reader, while further analysis will not dispel all mysteries. For a proper understanding of the work it is important that we do not consider these books (or the work) an Aristotelian treatise in the normal sense of the word: it clearly does not have a sustained argument, is far from comprehensive, and even lacks clear statement of aim or purpose.1 That is not to say that the work does not have an underlying coherence in philosophical outlook or a broadly thematic organisation. In outline the 38 books present a thematic arrangement that is Aristotelian. It is within the books that structure and coherence are far from flawless. The primary aim of this paper is to examine the content and structure of the two books, in particular the theoretical positions on the sense of smell and odours in Pr. 12–13 in order to assess their relationship to early Peripatetic doctrine. One reason to compare them to the first scholarchs (Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Strato) is that the overall work is generally considered to derive its content from their works. Although the exact purpose of the work (assuming it has one, and only 1 Well outlined in Mayhew (2011, xxiii): the issues concern " authorship and date, purpose, organisation, sources and influences, connections " which the present volume is beginning to answer.
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discusses the evidence for Aristotelian philosophers in the Roman empire and their relation to the so-called Second Sophistic
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An overview and analysis of literary formats for philosophical commentaries in late antiquity
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A conversation with Han Baltussen, regarding literary fragments of all sorts. Rather provocative.
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... 8 pp. Imprint: BRILL. Language ... Contributors include: Geoffrey Bakewell, Egbert Bakker, Han Baltussen, Anna Bonifazi, Edwin Carawan, Thomas Hubbard, André Lardinois, Elizabeth Minchin,Alexandra Pappas, Ruth Scodel, Niall Slater,... more
... 8 pp. Imprint: BRILL. Language ... Contributors include: Geoffrey Bakewell, Egbert Bakker, Han Baltussen, Anna Bonifazi, Edwin Carawan, Thomas Hubbard, André Lardinois, Elizabeth Minchin,Alexandra Pappas, Ruth Scodel, Niall Slater, and Jocelyn Penny Small. Readership. ...
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an examination of Presocratic fragments, their nature and context
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Overview of research in doxography
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Publikationsansicht. 53861034. Plato Protagoras 340-48: commentary in the making? (2004). Baltussen, Han. Abstract. "This two volume supplement to the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies represents the proceedings ...
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THe article places this famous consolation letter in the tradition of consolatory writing, emphasising the underlying philosophical ideas and advocating an empathic reading.
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(Forthc.) Analyses the remarkable document on grief management, which represents a significant stage between the work of Petrarch and the early modern era. Nicholas' approach to grief includes innovative insights into human psychology and... more
(Forthc.) Analyses the remarkable document on grief management, which represents a significant stage between the work of Petrarch and the early modern era. Nicholas' approach to grief includes innovative insights into human psychology and organises the emotions surrounding grief in an ingenious way.
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a new synthesis of research on Simplicius of the past century (transl. into German by A. Schatzmann); Bibliography on pp. 2174–2181.
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Ancient Readings of Plato’s Phaedo, ed. by S. Delcomminette, M.-A. Gavray & P. d'Hoine (E.J. Brill: Leiden), 37-62. (Sept. 2015)
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Examines the specific techinques used by Simplicius to perform his exegesis. Two types are highlighted: those that clairfy earlier interpretations and those that he himself applis.
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Forthc. in Classical Commentaries, ed. by Christina Kraus and Chris Stray (accepted by Oxford University Press)
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This paper undertakes a comparison between three ancient medical codes (Greece, India, and China), and argues that the special relationship between doctor and patient seems to be responsible for a remarkable uniformity in the ethical... more
This paper undertakes a comparison between three ancient medical codes (Greece, India, and China), and argues that the special relationship between doctor and patient seems to be responsible for a remarkable uniformity in the ethical rules that emerge to safeguard confidentiality and professional working method.
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Shows how paying attention to Simplicius' discussions on primary causes we can learn more about his synthetic method, in which he makes use of a multitude of sources to produce a new account of the creation of the cosmos from first... more
Shows how paying attention to Simplicius' discussions on primary causes we can learn more about his synthetic method, in which he makes use of a multitude of sources to produce a new account of the creation of the cosmos from first principles.
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Research Interests: Peripatos and Problemata
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This paper offers an analysis of an unusual ‘Hymn to Stalin’, written in Homeric Greek, but found in a twentieth century Czech novel. The examination of the style and context of the Ode reveals the allusive use of language, which... more
This paper offers an analysis of an unusual ‘Hymn to Stalin’, written in Homeric Greek, but found in a twentieth century Czech novel. The examination of the style and context of the Ode reveals the allusive use of language, which illustrates how veiled criticism in a fictional account can inform us about historical events, even if it has an autobiographical origin. The analysis shows how the author, the Czech Václav Pinkava (pseudonym Jan Křesadlo), skilfully appropriates the hymnal style of both Stalinist and ancient Greek precedents, and argues that the use of Homeric vocabulary ingeniously transfers shades of meaning from the original Homeric context into the modern context (‘cracking the code’). The elaborate framing of the poem (authored by the protagonist in the novel, which is published under a pseudonym) also contributes to the overall impression that Pinkava used this format both as a send-up of the Stalinist literature of praise and as an example of ‘safe criticism’ or ‘Aesopian language’ – the subversive strategy of criticising an oppressive regime by way of a cleverly constructed literary work for a knowing reader.
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Cicero's self-consolation is, to use his own words, "like no other" (nullam .. talem, Att. 12.14.3). This paper aims to review the reconstruction of the work based on all surviving fragments of the work and sets out clarify what the... more
Cicero's self-consolation is, to use his own words, "like no other" (nullam .. talem, Att. 12.14.3). This paper aims to review the reconstruction of the work based on all surviving fragments of the work and sets out clarify what the phrase may mean (unparalleled? unequalled? both?).
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... her, exhorting her not to wait for him on decisions she deems appropriate for making her grief ... that he knows she was not prone to either of these negative elements in mourning practices ... the balancing act he will continue to... more
... her, exhorting her not to wait for him on decisions she deems appropriate for making her grief ... that he knows she was not prone to either of these negative elements in mourning practices ... the balancing act he will continue to perform, that between the private and the public sphere ...
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ABSTRACT This paper presents a new analysis concerning the grief of the Roman politician Cicero over the death of his daughter. I argue that existing characterisations suffer either from methodological weaknesses or from a misguided... more
ABSTRACT This paper presents a new analysis concerning the grief of the Roman politician Cicero over the death of his daughter. I argue that existing characterisations suffer either from methodological weaknesses or from a misguided perspective on the appropriateness of ...
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A detailed examination of CIcero's personal motivation to write philosophical works as a result of his bereavement. The paper argues that Cicero's translation / transformation of Greek philosophy into Latin is part of his grief-work.
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CHAPTER NINE PHILOLOGY OR PHILOSOPHY? SIMPLICIUS ON THE USE OF QUOTATIONS' HAN BALTUSSEN Introduction The recent shift of attention in classical studies to the Hellenistic period and Late Antiquity is proving to be a very... more
CHAPTER NINE PHILOLOGY OR PHILOSOPHY? SIMPLICIUS ON THE USE OF QUOTATIONS' HAN BALTUSSEN Introduction The recent shift of attention in classical studies to the Hellenistic period and Late Antiquity is proving to be a very fruitful one as part of a ...
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E. Hussey.'The Enigmas of Derveni', Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 17 (1999) 30324 (305). A similar comment linking the Protagoras with interpretation is found in A. Ford, 'Protagoras' head:... more
E. Hussey.'The Enigmas of Derveni', Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 17 (1999) 30324 (305). A similar comment linking the Protagoras with interpretation is found in A. Ford, 'Protagoras' head: interpreting philosophic fragments in Theaetetus', AJPh 115 (1994) ...
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... Publisher: Australian Society for Classical Studies. Issue Date: 2002. ISSN: 0066-4774. School/Discipline: School of Humanities : Classics. Statement of Responsibility: Han Baltussen. Keywords: Homicide; literature; historiography;... more
... Publisher: Australian Society for Classical Studies. Issue Date: 2002. ISSN: 0066-4774. School/Discipline: School of Humanities : Classics. Statement of Responsibility: Han Baltussen. Keywords: Homicide; literature; historiography; ancient history. RMID: 0020031972. ...
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Assesses the standard edition of Eudemus' fragments by Wehrli, "Die Schule des Aristoteles," vol. VIII and, in the process, present some additional material relevant for Eudemus'... more
Assesses the standard edition of Eudemus' fragments by Wehrli, "Die Schule des Aristoteles," vol. VIII and, in the process, present some additional material relevant for Eudemus' "Physics." Improvements in "Die Schule des Aristoteles," from the earlier edition ...
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... Braun, L.(1973) L'histoire de l'histoire de la philosophie (Paris). ... Platonic Doxography and Chronography'in Cambiano (ed.), Storiografia e Dossografia nella Filosofia Antica (Torino) 1 ... la méthode... more
... Braun, L.(1973) L'histoire de l'histoire de la philosophie (Paris). ... Platonic Doxography and Chronography'in Cambiano (ed.), Storiografia e Dossografia nella Filosofia Antica (Torino) 1 ... la méthode (Louvain/Paris) Meier, M.(1930)'Aristoteles als Historiker', in: Philosophia Perennis ...
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... Themistius. Then there is the largest group, the commentators writing in the Neoplatonist manner, some of the later ones Christians, between 250 and about 610, when Stephanus was called from Alexandria to Constanti-nople. Finally ...
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I discuss the explosion of finds of ancient papyri and manuscripts in the I am running late. eta 7 19th and 20th centuries (as predicted by Mommsen), and focus on three significant examples: Empedocles (found in 1990), Galen (found in... more
I discuss the explosion of finds of ancient papyri and manuscripts in the I am running late. eta 7 19th and 20th centuries (as predicted by Mommsen), and focus on three significant examples: Empedocles (found in 1990), Galen (found in 2005), and Archimedes (palimpsest rediscovered in 1998). The talk emphasises the important collaboration between scholars and scientists which made it possible to read carbonised papyri and palimpsests with the latest technologies (e.g. X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging; tomography).
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[final draft] examines a private letter from 1583 which comments on the authenticity of the forged Cicero Consolatio
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[in prep.] surveys the philosophical ideas on (multi-)sensory experiences from Empedocles to Theophrasus from the perspective of sensory archaeology
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New account of the remains of Peripatetic claims in epistemology
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Research Interests: Plato and Plato's Timaeus
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JJ C (ed.): Traditions of Platonism. Essays in Honour of John Dillon. Pp. xxv + 416. Aldershot, etc.: Ashgate, 1999. Cased, £55. ISBN: 1-84014-684-2. This collection of essays in honour of John Dillon brings together an interesting... more
JJ C (ed.): Traditions of Platonism. Essays in Honour of John Dillon. Pp. xxv + 416. Aldershot, etc.: Ashgate, 1999. Cased, £55. ISBN: 1-84014-684-2. This collection of essays in honour of John Dillon brings together an interesting set of twenty-two papers (in English, ...
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(1) Fortenbaugh (W.W.) Theophrastean Studies. (Philosophie der Antike 17.) Pp. 345. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2003. Cased, €72. ISBN: 3-515-07808-8. (2) Fortenbaugh (W.W.), Sharples (R.W.), Sollenberger (M.G.) (edd.) Theophrastus of Eresus: On Sweat, On Dizziness and On Fatigue. (Philosophia Antiqua 93.) Pp. viii + 324, ills. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2003. Cased, €85, US$99. ISBN: 90-04-12890-5 (review)more
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Project grown out of a study of ancient consolations. A planned monograph on the rise of ‘grief management’ in classical antiquity (450 BCE–200 CE) and beyond will synthesise and integrate ancient writings on consolation (philosophical/... more
Project grown out of a study of ancient consolations. A planned monograph on the rise of ‘grief management’ in classical antiquity (450 BCE–200 CE) and beyond will synthesise and integrate ancient writings on consolation (philosophical/ rhetorical analyses, self-consolations) with modern grief theories and first person accounts in order to highlight an important stage in intellectual history, which I label the ‘therapeutic turn’.
Preliminary studies were made on Cicero, Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius (see Papers)
Preliminary studies were made on Cicero, Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius (see Papers)
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This chapter examines the relationship between the Aristotelian philosophers (30 BCE to 200 CE) and the so-called Second Sophistic. It discusses how the study of Aristotle's works experienced a revival, leading to a new text-based... more
This chapter examines the relationship between the Aristotelian philosophers (30 BCE to 200 CE) and the so-called Second Sophistic. It discusses how the study of Aristotle's works experienced a revival, leading to a new text-based approach to his corpus. The evidence for the main protagonists of those interested in Aristotle is fragmentary. Some were leading thinkers of the school (Andronicus of Rhodes), others eclectic readers of Aristotle (Xenarchus of Seleucia, Galen of Pergamum). The views of both styles of scholar on Aristotle arose mostly in a didactic context, clarifying the texts to students. Thus philosophers began to engage in scholarly commentary as a standard way to practice philosophy. This trend quickly culminated in the running commentary, the prime example of which is the work of Alexander of Aphrodisias (ca. 200 CE), who also had connections to the imperial court.