Abstract
The name of the Greek philosopher Proclus figures quite prominently in the Arabic philosophical literature. However, his doctrines are often changed beyond recognition. Fourteen Proclean works were allegedly translated into Arabic and Syriac, but today none of these translations is known to be extant in its entirety. Among them, his Proofs that the World is Eternal and his Elements of Theology were the most influential ones. The latter was reworked in several recensions and became a main source for Neoplatonic thought in Arabic: the One identified with pure Being was established as the first principle and the cause of everything else; the concept of emanation and creatio mediante intelligentia was expounded; the hierarchy of being was arranged in the scheme One – Intellect – Soul – Nature, and the dichotomy between spiritual and corporeal world was stressed.
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Bibliography
Primary Sources
Editions of Arabic Translations of Proclus’ Works:
Badawī ʿAbdurraḥmān (1971) Commentaires sur Aristote perdus en grec et autres épîtres, Beirut: Dar el-Machreq (contains the Arabic edition of Prop. 77 of Proclus Arabus under the name of Alexander of Aphrodisias, p 42)
Badawī ʿAbdurraḥmān (1977) al-Aflāṭūniyya al-muḥdatha ʿinda l-ʿArab, al-Kuwayt: Wakālat al-Maṭbūʿāt (contains Arabic edition of Proofs that the world is eternal, pp 34–42; Exposition of the pure Good, pp 3–33; Minor elements, pp 257–258; Ten questions on physical problems, pp 43–49)
Endress Gerhard (1973) Proclus Arabus. Zwanzig Abschnitte aus der Institutio Theologica in arabischer Übersetzung. Orient-Institut der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft in Kommission bei F. Steiner, Wiesbaden/Beirut (contains 20 Proclean propositions in an alleged excerpt of Alexander of Aphrodisias from Aristotle’s Theology in Arabic and German with a study and a detailed discussion of Proclean works in Arabic)
Linley Neil (1984) Ibn aṭ-Ṭayyib. Proclus’ commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Verses. Arethusa Monographs, Buffalo (Arabic and English)
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Editions of Works by Arabic Authors Using No Longer Extant Translations of Proclean Works:
Badawī ʿAbdurraḥmān (21978) Arisṭū ʿinda l-ʿArab, al-Kuwayt: Wakālat al-Maṭbūʿāt (contains Plato’s proofs of the soul’s immortality (Arabic), pp 73–74)
Badawī ʿAbdurraḥmān (21980) Aflāṭūn fī l-Islām, Beirut: Dār al-Andalus (contains Delicate result of Plato’s syllogisms that the soul does not decay (Arabic), pp 331–332)
Endress Gerhard (1984) Yaḥyā Ibn ʿAdī’s critique of atomism. Three treatises on the indivisible part. Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften 1:155–179 (on Yaḥyā’s use of Proclus’ Elements of Physics pp 169–172)
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Sezgin Fuat (1990) Facsimile-Edition of The Hippocratic Treatments. Al-Mu‘lajt al-Buqr?iya by Abu l-?asan al-?abari A?mad b. Mu?ammad, Frankfurt am Main: Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic Islamic Science, Series C, 47:1–2 (short quotation of On the Existence of Evils, p 25)
Wakelnig Elvira (2006) Feder, Tafel, Mensch. Al-´Āmirīs Kitāb al-Fuṣūl fī l-Ma´ālim al-ilāhīya und die arabische Proklos-Rezeption im 10. Jh. Brill, Leiden/Boston (al-´Āmirī’s paraphrase of a recension of the Exposition of the pure Good in Arabic and German with a study)
Yaḥyā ibn. ʿAdī (1988) al-Maqālāt al-falsafiyya. In: Khalīfāt S (ed) Manshūrāt al-Jāmiʿa al-Urdunīya, Amman (using Proclus on providence, p 335)
Primary Sources Containing Information on Proclus’ Life, Works and Doctrines in Arabic:
Holmberg Bo (1989) A treatise on the unity and trinity of God by Israel of Kashkar (d. 872). Introduction, edition and word index. Plus Ultra, Lund (contains a doxographical account of Proclus in Arabic: pp (Arabic) 10 and 24)
Ibn al-Nadīm (1871–1872) Kitāb al-Fihrist mit Anmerkungen hrsg. von G Flügel, nach dessen Tode besorgt von J Rödiger und A Müller. F. C. W. Vogel, Leipzig (I, p. 252)
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Rowson Everett (1988) A muslim philosopher on the soul and its fate: Al-´Āmirī’s Kitāb al-Amad ʿalā l-Abad. American Oriental Society, New Haven (contains a mention of the “eternalist” Proclus in Arabic and English, pp 84–85)
Rudolph Ulrich (1989) Die Doxographie des Pseudo-Ammonios. Ein Beitrag zur neuplatonischen Überlieferung im Islam. Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft Kommissionsverlag F. Steiner, Wiesbaden/Stuttgart (contains a doxographical account of Proclus in Arabic and German, partly under Democritus’ name, pp 108–111)
al-Shahrastānī (1993) Livre des Religions et des Sectes II, traduction avec introduction et notes par J Jolivet et G Monnot. Peeters/UNESCO (contains an account of a number of Proclus’ arguments for the world’s eternity and doxographical material similar to the one in Ps.-Ammonius in French translation, pp 339–347)
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Wakelnig, E. (2011). Proclus, Arabic. In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_420
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