Theophrastus(372/1–282/1 Bce)
Born in Eresus on the Aegean island of Lesbos, Theophrastus moved to Athens, studying under Plato briefly and then Aristotle, soon becoming the latter's colleague. In 322/1 BCE he succeeded Aristotle as head of the Lyceum. The picture arising from his extant works is that of a conscientious scholar and researcher, with a marked emphasis on natural philosophy. His place as Aristotle's first successor has for a long time created the impression of a dogmatic and docile pupil, but a comparison with his master is invidious. A more acceptable perspective, established in antiquity (e.g., frag. 72A), is to view his work as trading on the presence of the Aristotelian corpus, while expanding and adjusting even fundamental aspects of the system where required. Exciting recent finds in Arabic and Syriac sources and the new 1992 edition of fragments (edited by Fortenbaugh et al.) have given us a better idea of his learning, independence of thought, and influence (all references to fragments are to 1992). Diogenes Laertius lists some two hundred titles in the Theophrastan corpus (D.L. 5.42–50), and only a fraction of these works survives. Yet what survives is sufficient to reveal him as a clever and productive philosopher and scientist with wide-ranging interests.
