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PHILO OR PHILIO OF LARISSA?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2022

Kilian Fleischer*
Affiliation:
Universität Würzburg
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Abstract

The article argues that the genuine first name of Philo of Larissa was in fact ‘Philio’. This claim is based on two new readings ‘Philio’ in our earliest (certain) source for the name, Philodemus’ Index Academicorum, which put other early evidence into perspective. Three other essentially independent and reliable witnesses have the reading ‘Philio’ too. Furthermore, several Cicero manuscripts preserve various examples of the alternative reading ‘Philio’. The reading ‘Philo’ in some other sources might be a mistake or a kind of nickname.

Type
Research Article
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association

1. INTRODUCTION

Philo of Larissa (probably 159/8–84/3 b.c.) enjoys a certain popularity beyond scholars with a special interest in ancient philosophy. Charles Brittain labels him ‘The last of the Academic Sceptics’ in the title of his monograph.Footnote 1 Indeed, Philo succeeded Clitomachos as scholarch in 110/9 b.c.Footnote 2 and seems to have never questioned the core principles of Academic scepticism, albeit introducing some innovations. The last renowned scholarch of the Sceptical Academy is chiefly famous for having taught the young Cicero in Rome, where he spent the last years of his life (approximately 88–84/3 b.c.). We owe to Cicero, and particularly to his account in the Academica, a good deal of our knowledge on Philo. The controversy with his disloyal Old Academic pupil Antiochus, provoked by the Roman Books, is almost legendary and its exact content has been heatedly discussed among modern scholars.Footnote 3

To the best of my knowledge, all the modern literature refers to the Sceptic Academic from Larissa as Philo. The spelling or authenticity of his first name have never been called into question in any major publication or encyclopedia. Here I present some new evidence concerning his name, which puts already existing evidence into a new perspective and makes it seem quite possible that Philo of Larissa is either the wrong name for this philosopher or only an alternative name, while the real name of the Academic scholarch was Philio.

2. NEW READINGS: TWICE ‘PHILIO’ IN PHILODEMUS’ INDEX ACADEMICORVM

Let us first turn to the new evidence. I am preparing a new edition of Philodemus’ Index Academicorum (P.Herc. 1021), which will increase the amount of text available by about 25 per cent.Footnote 4 Two passages mentioning Philo are of outstanding interest—on account of a single letter.

First, I have restored a passage in col. 25, which probably marks the end of a list of Clitomachus’ pupils. The Academic Heraclitus of Tyrus is mentioned as someone who later also attended Philo's lectures (in addition to those of Clitomachus), which is confirmed by Cic. Luc. 16.Footnote 5 The passage reads as follows (the context is irrelevant for our purposes):Footnote 6

Phld. Ind. Acad. col. 25.34–6 (Fleischer)

34 Ἡράκλε̣[ι-

τος, ὃς καὶ] Φιλίωνοςθ⟧ ὕστερον

36 δ̣ι̣[ή]κ̣ο̣[υ]σ̣[ε].

Figure 1: HSI and MSI for Phld. Ind. Acad. col. 25.35 (second part of the line): the reading is clearly Φιλίωνος.

The Multispectral Images (MSI) of the papyrus and especially the new Hyperspectral images (HSI) of the Index Academicorum, which display a stronger contrast between letters and background,Footnote 7 clearly show λιων. The second iota is also depicted in the Oxford and Neapolitan disegno. There are not many errors in the papyrus that were not corrected by the professional corrector (diorthōtēs) and/or another person revising the text. The philosophers’ names are normally written correctly, viz. in accordance with their spelling in other ancient authors. This strongly suggests that Φιλίωνος too was intended to be written in the papyrus—though whether correctly or not remains to be discussed.

Philo's name is also to be read in another passage of the Index Academicorum, specifically in col. 33.1. Bücheler (1869) transcribed it in the editio princeps as Φίλων, and Mekler (1902) followed him by printing Φί̣λ̣ων̣; Mette (1986–7) accepted a preliminary suggestion by Dorandi (Φ{α}ί<λ>ων), who in his edition of the Index Academicorum (1991) chose the transcription Φ<ί>λ̣ων, later adopted by Brittain (2001).Footnote 8 For col. 33 only the Neapolitan disegno exists.Footnote 9 Let us compare it with the images.

Figure 2: Phld. Ind. Acad. col. 33.1 (end of line): HSI, MSI, Neapol. disegno – Φιλίων

The draughtsmen (disegnatori) of the Herculanean papyri did not know Greek and committed countless mistakes, often to be excused on account of the extremely dark and deceptive surface of the carbonized papyri, which makes it difficult to distinguish the carbon-based ink from the carbonized papyrus background. The stroke after the φ is almost a vertical and cannot be the left part of the α. It seems very probable that there was a λ written rather close to the first ι, so that the combination ιλ gave the disegnatore the impression of an α. The missing connection of the middle stroke is a hint that ιλ was in the original. Ink traces of this λ still survive. The disegno, then, has an ι, whose top is still visible in the original. It is highly unlikely that the sequence of letters in the disegno is the miswriting of an original φιλων, especially if we take into account what is still visible in the original. Consequently, the original papyrus had the name Φιλίων; the transcription of the name should be Φιλίων.Footnote 10

This means that our earliest source certainly mentioning the name of Philo of Larissa, Philodemus’ Index Academicorum (68–57 b.c.),Footnote 11 spells the Academic's name on two occasions as ‘Philio’, a spelling not corrected in either passage, although the papyrus has practically no miswritten words that were not corrected. For the beginning of col. 33 Philodemus might depend on Apollodorus’ Chronica, which would suggest that also the Chronica had the name ‘Philio’.Footnote 12 Indeed, it cannot be excluded that also parts of the passage in col. 25—but certainly not the whole passage—somehow depend on Apollodorus. The Chronica was most likely published between 110 and 105, in any case when Philo was still alive.Footnote 13 Philodemus makes an interesting self-reference in col. 34.4–6, which implies that he arrived in Athens around 86 (or shortly afterward), when Philo had already (just) left.Footnote 14 Several years ago, a new reading by Blank revealed that Philodemus was on good terms (that is, acquainted) with Antiochus of Ascalon (col. 34.42–35.2).Footnote 15 There can hardly be any doubt that in Athenian philosophical circles—even Epicurean ones—the name of Philo was somehow still known. Philodemus’ presentation of Philo's biography and of a list of his pupils suggests that some oral information was embedded by Philodemus.

At this point, one should point out that ‘Philio’ is basically not a proper miswriting of a name but a genuine name, which is attested for seventy-three individuals in the LGPN and appears, for instance, in various Attic inscriptions. None of these ‘Philio's was famous enough to deserve an entry in the RE, where, however, many dozens ‘Philo's without an iota are included. The LGPN lists just over 1,000 different ‘Philo's.Footnote 16 The reading/spelling ‘Philio’ is the lectio difficilior in comparison with ‘Philo’: rarer, but not exotic.

3. ‘PHILIO’ IN OTHER EARLY SOURCES (DUKE PAPYRUS, NUMENIUS, DEMETRIUS LACO)

The testimonies on Philo collected by Mette (1985) and by Brittain (2001) provide more evidence for the spelling ‘Philio’. An Egyptian papyrus with a list of scholarchs from different philosophical schools, copied by the lawyer Ammonius ‘scholasticus’ of Panopolis, has this spelling. Since we have several documents (in papyrological terms, an archive) from Ammonius, the papyrus can be fairly certainly dated to around a.d. 350. There are no misspellings of philosophers’ names on the list. In the ‘Academic’ section we read:

P.Duke. Inv. G 178 = P. Ammon 1, col. II.1–16Footnote 17

1–4 desunt

5 Σπεύσιππ̣[ος Ἀθηναῖος

Πλάτων[ος ἀδελφιδοῦς

Ξενοκράτης̣ [Χαλκηδόνιος

Πολέμων Ἀ̣[θηναῖος

Ἀρκεσίλαο̣ς̣ [ἐκ Πιτάνης

10 Καρνεάδης [Κυρηναῖος

Ἀκαδημ[ίας μέσης?

Κλιτόμαχο[ς Καρχηδόνιος

Φιλίων ἐ̣[κ Λαρίσσης

[Ἀ]ν̣τ̣ίοχ[ο]ς̣ [Ἀσκαλωνίτης

τ̣ῶν ἀρχηγ̣[ετῶν ? τῆς

15 τρ[ί]της Ἀκαδ̣[ημίας

κτλ.

The papyrus is also included as the first item in the Cοrpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini (CPF 1.1.* 1), edited by Dorandi and Willis (1989). Concerning the reading ‘Philio’, Dorandi remarks: ‘The form Φιλίων which also occurs in the MSS of Eusebius PE XIV 8.15; 9.1–3 is noteworthy. Given the education of Ammonius, one may hypothesize that it is not a mistake, but the form he believed to be correct.’Footnote 18 Dorandi does not maintain this view in later publications. Goulet (2012) too mentions the variant ‘Philio’ in the Duke papyrus and in Eusebius without further comments.Footnote 19

Indeed, all Eusebius manuscripts have the reading ‘Philio’ with a second iota. However, we should be more precise and say that in all ‘Philio’-passages Eusebius is introducing or quoting Numenius’ Περὶ τῆς Ἀκαδημαϊκῶν πρὸς Πλάτωνα διαστάσεως (frr. 24–8 Des Places).Footnote 20 In the edition by Mette (n. 1), the passages (Euseb. Praep. evang. 14.8.15–9.3) read:Footnote 21

14.8.15 ταῦτα καὶ περὶ Καρνεάδου λέγεται. διάδοχος δ’ αὐτοῦ τῆς διατριβῆς καθίσταται Κλειτόμαχος, μεθ’ ὃν Φίλ{ι}ων, οὗ πέρι ὁ Νουμήνιος μνημονεύει ταῦτα·

θʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΦΙΛ{Ι}ΩΝΟΣFootnote 22

14.9.1 ὁ δὲ Φίλ{ι}ων ἄρα οὗτος ἄρτι μὲν ἐκδεξάμενος τὴν διατριβήν . . . 14.9.3.1 Φίλ{ι}ωνος δὲ γίνεται ἀκουστὴς Ἀντίοχος, ἑτέρας ἄρξας Ἀκαδημίας. Μνησάρχῳ γοῦν τῷ Στωϊκῷ σχολάσας ἐναντία Φίλ{ι}ωνι τῷ καθηγητῇ ἐφρόνησε μυρία τε ξένα προσῆψε τῇ Ἀκαδημίᾳ.

The more common name ‘Philo’ was familiar to Eusebius, who, for instance, often refers to Philo of Alexandria and never writes the name with a second iota. This implies that the scribes of the Eusebius manuscripts also read the name ‘Philo’ very often in the Praeparatio evangelica, even in headings, before copying the above-cited passage. All this strongly suggests that the name variant ‘Philio’ was already in the original Eusebius manuscript. Even more significantly, it suggests that it was in Numenius’ work (written around the mid second century a.d.), or at least that the name was used in the Numenius manuscript which Eusebius exploited. Numenius’ treatise Περὶ τῆς Ἀκαδημαϊκῶν πρὸς Πλάτωνα διαστάσεως is an important and rather trustworthy source for many biographical and prosopographical facts on certain Academics. When the information is also transmitted by other sources, Numenius is normally in accordance with them. He mentions many philosophers’ personal names and ethnica, which are correctly used and spelled. It seems unlikely that Eusebius corrected the spelling in Numenius from ‘Philo’ to the rare ‘Philio’, since he seems to know practically nothing about the Academic philosopher, whom he does not otherwise refer to.Footnote 23

There could even be a fourth, very early witness—in fact, the earliest—for the spelling ‘Philio’. Toward the end of an exegetical-philological treatise preserved in a Herculanean papyrus (P.Herc. 1012), the Epicurean Demetrius Laco—probably somewhat older than Philodemus and roughly a contemporary of Philo of Larissa—mentions a certain Philio in an epistemological-sceptical context.Footnote 24 So far, scholars have identified him either with Philinos of Cos or with Philo, a pupil of Pyrrho, assuming a miswriting in both cases.Footnote 25 Neither suggestion is convincing, but a sceptical philosopher is likely in this context. In the light of the new reading ‘Philio’ in Philodemus, it seems possible that the name in the papyrus is spelled correctly and that Demetrius Laco is referring to the Academic philosopher. He is the only ‘Philio’ fitting such an epistemological-sceptical context and Epicureans were engaged in controversies with Sceptics, so a reference to the most prominent contemporary (Academic) Sceptic is not unexpected at all.

4. AN APPRAISAL OF THE ‘PHILIO’ EVIDENCE

Let us draw a provisional appraisal of the positive evidence for the spelling ‘Philio’. From two new readings we learn that our earliest (certain) witness for the name, Philodemus’ Index Academicorum, gives the name ‘Philio’ twice, which has not been corrected, although there are several corrections in the papyrus and barely a mistake was left. The reading might even be traced back to Apollodorus. Philodemus arrived in Athens not long after Phil(i)os fled to Rome and was an acquaintance of the latter's pupil Antiochus. Therefore, the two mentions of ‘Philio’ in the Index Academicorum should enjoy a certain credibility and not be discarded a priori. Numenius too, who is not unreliable in terms of Academic philosophers, most probably had the spelling ‘Philio’ (second century a.d.). He is an important witness and direct dependence on Philodemus is rather unlikely. A list of scholarchs from a papyrus (c.350), whose spellings are otherwise sound, also contains the name ‘Philio’.Footnote 26 The new evidence from the Index Academicorum increases the value of the other two sources, as it were, and diminishes the probability of a merely random variant spelling by Numenius and the Duke papyrus. So far, no one has ever pointed out that the spelling of the Eusebius manuscripts is most likely the original spelling by Numenius around 150. Concerning the reading ‘Philio’, one should point out that it is the lectio difficilior, although this concept has to be used with some restrictions, when it comes to personal names. Probably also Demetrius Laco's mention of one Philio in an epistemological-sceptical context is very early (and significant) evidence for the spelling of the philosopher's name.

5. AN APPRAISAL OF THE ‘PHILO’ EVIDENCE (WITH HIDDEN ‘PHILIO’ EVIDENCE)

We now have to discuss the negative evidence, compiling testimonies for the name ‘Philo’ as printed in the main text of modern editions. The basis is Brittain's collection (2001).Footnote 27 It becomes clear that there is some hidden ‘Philio’ evidence.

The vast majority of attestations of the name ‘Philo’ are to be found in Cicero (32 times), whose first teacher was Philo. Most passages in the Lucullus (12 out of 18) have the reading ‘Philio’, often corrected to ‘Philo’, in at least one or more manuscripts. The number (percentage) of cases is rather surprising and one wonders whether all the ‘Philio's can be explained away by means of the corruption of an original ‘Philo’. In addition, three other passages in Cicero could hint at an original writing with an i, but personal names are always vulnerable to corruption and so that is not entirely certain. One wonders whether the editors of the other texts have at least partly silently corrected ‘Philo’ or not reported this variant in the apparatus criticus. Moreover, there are three ‘Philio’ variants in manuscripts H and P for Augustine. Augustine probably depends on Cicero's (lost) Academic treatises for the passage in question. Plutarch too is likely to be drawing on Cicero for the information he gives, and Tacitus only paraphrases Cicero's statement in the Brutus. Galen, Sextus Empiricus, StobaeusFootnote 28 and Ioannes Italos do not depend directly on Cicero, but some intermediary influence cannot be excluded; all Greek authors might go back to a similar doxographical tradition (if not the same one). For sure, it cannot be completely ruled out that the comparatively rare name ‘Philio’ got corrupted into the more common name ‘Philo’ in some sources over the course of the transmission, but this was hardly the case in all sources. In other words, ‘Philo’ may have already been used by some ancient sources and is most probably not an independent corruption occurring in all manuscripts.Footnote 29

The assumption that Cicero (and all or most other sources) had the original spelling ‘Philo’ and that, at the same time, the spelling ‘Philio’ in the sources discussed in section 4 above is not a blunder would afford a reasonable explanation. Considering that Cicero heard Philo in Rome, should we not assume that he knew his teacher's correct name and, hence, that ‘Philio’ is not tenable? The name ‘Philio’ with an i is practically unattested in Latin literature,Footnote 30 whereas ‘Philo’ was more common as a Greek name—even a fourth-century b.c. Roman consul had the name Quintus Publilius Philo.Footnote 31 Perhaps after settling in Rome, Philo deleted the iota in his name for the benefit of a Roman audience, since ‘Philo’ was more common (note also ‘Philo-’ as prefix in many Greek names); and Cicero may then have adopted this alternative form of the name.Footnote 32 Our sources do not suggest that Cicero had read any work of Philo's. Apart from the Stobaeus testimony, there are no written remains (‘genuine fragments’) of Philo's writing, and even the Stobaeus fragment may have been patched together from second-hand excerpts by an intermediary source. Consequently, even if Philo's works were subscribed ‘Philio’ at the end of the papyrus scrolls, it seems that they were not widely circulated and had no significant Nachleben. For his Academic treatises Cicero relies on sources other than Philo, among them Antiochus, but no work of Philo's can be identified in Cicero's presentation of Academic scepticism. Phil(i)o's name must have been mentioned by Antiochus, but even in this case Cicero may have changed it to the more common Philo. Even Antiochus may have used this alternative short form. The other authors on the list above might have used the more common ‘Philo’, since they were only aware of this name. Yet one wonders whether the obvious conclusion from the manuscript tradition really is that Cicero had the spelling ‘Philo’.

6. CONCLUSION: THE CASE FOR ‘PHILIO’ AS GENUINE BIRTH-NAME

What does all this add up to? I would like to discuss three basic hypotheses, based on the evidence presented here, and draw a conclusion.

  1. 1. The early sources Philodemus (possibly following Apollodorus), Numenius and the Duke papyrus (and very probably Demetrius Laco) preserve the correct name ‘Philio’. These sources are normally reliable and well informed when it comes to historiographical-prosopographical matters. Philio is the lectio difficilior. The manuscript tradition has been corrupted and all or most of the authors with ‘Philo’ originally had ‘Philio’ in their manuscripts. In particular, this is supported by the various ‘Philio’ variants in the manuscripts not only of Cicero's Lucullus but also of other Cicero (and Augustine) passages.

  2. 2. The early sources Philodemus (possibly following Apollodorus), Numenius and the Duke papyrus (and probably Demetrius Laco)—normally reliable and well informed when it comes to historiographical-prosopographical matters—preserve the correct name ‘Philio’. However, Cicero introduced the more common name ‘Philo’ (and the Greek sources somehow depend on him). Alternatively, ‘Philio’ was already nicknamed ‘Philo’ by others and this name was adopted by Cicero and several other sources, even though ‘Philio’ was the philosopher's real name (and his works were subscribed with this name).

  3. 3. The early sources Philodemus (possibly following Apollodorus), Numenius and the Duke papyrus, though mostly reliable, made a blunder and misspelled the name ‘Philo’ as the rarer ‘Philio’ (and so did Demetrius Laco, unless he was referring to a different Philio). Perhaps these sources somehow belong to the same erroneous ‘Philio’ tradition. Cicero (partly) and other authors preserve the correct name ‘Philo’, which was not a nickname or an alternative name but Philo's only real name.

Given the authoritativeness of Philodemus’ quasi-contemporary Index Academicorum (and probably that of his contemporary Demetrius Laco), as well as the trustworthiness of Numenius and, to a lesser extent, that of the list of scholarchs in the Duke papyrus, I find it hard to reject the spelling ‘Philio’ with an iota as a genuine error. Moreover, the manuscript tradition of Cicero too might suggest that Cicero (correctly) called his teacher ‘Philio’. Consequently, the spelling ‘Philo’ in some other sources might be a simplification or nickname, if not a real mistake. We have to keep in mind that, while the name ‘Philio’ is the lectio difficilior, it is not too rarely attested as a genuine name. Some authors may have turned ‘Philio’ into ‘Philo’, but it is less likely that Philodemus, Numenius, Demetrius Laco and perhaps Cicero turned an original ‘Philo’ into ‘Philio’. The Duke papyrus corroborates the ‘Philio’ tradition. The (wrong) alternative ‘Philo’ may have become popular soon after Philio's death (or already during his lifetime) and may have replaced the genuine birth-name ‘Philio’ to some extent. Hence, I would draw the conclusion that ‘Philio’ was indeed the philosopher's correct name, with ‘Philo’ either being a nickname/variant or even a genuine misspelling.

One of the core arguments of the Sceptical Academy is the impossibility of attaining certain knowledge, since there are no cataleptic impressions and the phenomenal content of any true impression is potentially indistinguishable from that of a false impression—meaning that nothing can actually be known for sure.Footnote 33 There is an irony in the fact that the name of the last renowned scholarch of the Sceptical Academy—the one thing modern scholars were sure that they knew about him, regardless of the uncertainty concerning his exact sceptical views and their development—was probably not ‘Philo’ but ‘Philio’. This is almost a kind of unintentional confirmation of his sceptical view, namely that nothing can be so certain that it cannot be false. No doubt, Phil(i)o would have been pleased at the ambiguity concerning his genuine name, an ambiguity ignited by the carbonized remains of the ashes of Vesuvius.

Footnotes

I would like to express my gratitude to Graziano Ranocchia for several valuable suggestions. This contribution was written during the course of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft-funded project ‘Philodems Geschichte der Akademie’. The disegno, the Multispectral Image (MSI) and the Hyperspectral Image (HSI) of P.Herc. 1021 are reproduced by courtesy of the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo (© Biblioteca Nazionale, Napoli – Brigham Young University, Provo, USA – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche). All rights are reserved.

References

1 On Philo of Larissa see, for instance, W. Görler, ‘Philon aus Larisa’, in H. Flashar (ed.), Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie 4.2 (Basel, 1994), 915–37; Brittain, C., Philo of Larissa. The Last of the Academic Sceptics (Oxford, 2001)Google Scholar; R. Goulet, ‘Philon de Larissa’, in R. Goulet (ed.), Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques V.1 (Paris, 2012), 404–38. For new information concerning his biography, see K. Fleischer, ‘Starb Philo von Larisa im Alter von 63 Jahren?’, APF 63 (2017[a]), 335–66; id., ‘New evidence on the death of Philo of Larissa (P.Herc. 1021, col. 33,42–34,7)’, CCJ 63 (2017[b]), 69–81. For a collection of fragments, see Mette, H., ‘Philon von Larisa und Antiochos von Askalon’, Lustrum 28–9 (1986–7), 963Google Scholar, at 9–24, partly revised and supplemented by Brittain (this note), 345–70.

2 Alternatively, he may have succeeded Clitomachus first in 107/6 b.c.: see the new reading in Phld. Ind. Acad. col. 25.16–17 (Fleischer, K., The Original Verses of Apollodorus’ Chronica [Berlin, 2020], 42–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar).

3 Brittain (n. 1), 129–68.

4 The Index Academicorum (also Historia Academicorum or similar) represents a part (book) of Philodemus’ Σύνταξις τῶν φιλοσόφων, which consisted of at least ten books (Diog. Laert. 10.3). The bulk of our preserved text is represented by P.Herc. 1691/1021, a preliminary draft and Philodemus’ actual working manuscript, whereas P.Herc. 164 preserves some poor remains of the final version (T. Dorandi, Nell'officina dei classici. Come lavoravano gli autori antichi [Rome, 2007], 40–2). The new edition is scheduled for 2022/3.

5 Cic. Luc. 16: at ille ‘cum Alexandriae pro quaestore’ inquit ‘essem, fuit Antiochus mecum, et erat iam antea Alexandriae familiaris Antiochi Heraclitus Tyrius, qui et Clitomachum multos annos et Philonem audierat, homo sane in ista philosophia, quae nunc prope dimissa reuocatur, probatus et nobilis.

6 First edition of the passage in Fleischer (n. 2), 42. For the context, see K. Fleischer, ‘Antiochus von Askalon und Heraklitus von Tyros in einer Schülerliste des Kleitomachos? (P.Herc. 1021, Kol. 25, Mitte)’, in M. Capasso (ed.), Proceedings of the 29th International Congress of Papyrology (Lecce, 2022), 409–18. Explanation for the symbols: bracket = supplemented letters (lacuna in the papyrus); upper square brackets = letter only preserved in the disegno or better preserved in the disegno; diagonal strokes = insertion/correction from the scribe of the papyrus; double square brackets = deletion in the original papyrus; suprascript t = empty space in the papyrus. The sources for the reconstruction of the text are the original papyrus, the Hyperspectral Images (HSI), the Multispectral Images (MSI), and the drawings of the papyrus (the so-called Oxford disegno [made 1795–8] and the Neapolitan disegno [made 1807–11]—the disegni are relevant since the papyrus suffered from subsequent deterioration and many letters are nowadays lost or faded).

7 A. Tournié, K. Fleischer, I. Bukreeva, F. Palermo, M. Perino, A. Cedola, C. Andraud and G. Ranocchia, ‘Ancient Greek text concealed on the back of unrolled papyrus revealed through shortwave-infrared hyperspectral imaging’, Science Advances 5/10 (2019) – https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/10/eaav8936 [URL checked 17th February 2021].

8 F. Bücheler, Academicorum philosophorum index Herculanensis (Greifswald, 1869), an edition based on the so-called ‘Collectio altera’ (a book of engravings of the papyrus, Naples, 1862), which reproduces the Neapolitan disegni (drawings of the papyrus) with only minor adjustments; S. Mekler, Academicorum philosophorum index Herculanensis (Berlin, 1902)—Oxford and Neapolitan disegni as well as autopsy; Mette (n. 1), T 2; T. Dorandi, Filodemo. Storia dei filosofi. Platone e l'Academia (P.Herc. 1021 e 164). Edizione, traduzione e commento (Naples, 1991); Brittain (n. 1), T 1.

9 The Neapolitan disegno was executed by Giuseppe Casanova between 1807 and 1811; cf. Dorandi (n. 8), 108.

10 I have taken the iota from the original and regarded the right part of the ‘mutilated α’ in the disegno as a partly preserved λ.

11 For this dating, see K. Fleischer, ‘New readings in Philodemus’ Index Academicorum: Dio of Alexandria (P.Herc. 1021, col. XXXV, 17–19)’, in T. Derda, A. Łajtar and J. Urbanik (edd.), Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Papyrology (Warsaw, 2016), 459–70. However, unlike the terminus post quem of 68 b.c., the terminus ante quem of 57 is not entirely certain. This dating is not surprising, because the work has been already assigned to 75–50 on palaeographical grounds: G. Cavallo, Libri, scritture, scribi a Ercolano (I Supplemento a CERc 13) (Naples, 1983), 51.

12 Fleischer (n. 2), 20–1, 40–51.

13 Fleischer (n. 2), 51. To be precise, the fourth book of the Chronica (Appendix), covering Philo's early scholarchate, was published at that time.

14 Fleischer (n. 1 [2017(b)]), 79–80.

15 Blank, D., ‘The Life of Antiochus of Ascalon in Philodemus’ History of the Academy and a tale of two letters’, ZPE 162 (2007), 8793Google Scholar.

16 Based on an LGPN online-search in early 2020.

17 Edition in W.H. Willis and K. Maresch, The Archive of Ammon Scholasticus of Panopolis (p. Ammon). Vol. I: The Legacy of Harpocration (Opladen, 1997).

18 This view is adopted in Willis and Maresch (n. 17), ad loc. However, Willis—in, W.Two literary papyri in an archive from Panopolis’, ICS 3 (1978), 140–53Google Scholar, at 149—still remarked: ‘Ammon makes his only mistake by misspelling Philo Φιλίων: Surely Philo of Larissa is meant.’

19 Goulet (n. 1), 410.

20 E. Des Places, Numénius. Fragments (Paris, 1973) (frr. 24–8). Frr. 27–8 include the name of Philio.

21 Conveniently, Mette (n. 1) relies on K. Mras, Eusebius Werke (8.2): Die Praeparatio evangelica. Die Bücher XI–XV (Leipzig, 1956), but does not adopt his conjectures or corrections (‘Philio’ into ‘Philo’) and prints the reading of the manuscript tradition. Brittain (n. 1), T 7.23 does not give an apparatus criticus and adopts Mras's correction ‘Philo’ without further indications.

22 The headlines of the sections may have been already inserted by Eusebius (K. Mras, Eusebius Werke (8.2): Die Praeparatio evangelica. Die Bücher I–X [Leipzig, 1954], VIII). Even if this were not the case, they would in any case attest to the version ‘Philio’ in the manuscripts.

23 Even in the unlikely case that Eusebius corrected ‘Philo’ to the rare ‘Philio’, he must have known this spelling from another source, since he would not have substituted a rare name for a common name without good reason.

24 Demetrius Laco, P.Herc. 1012, col. 72.7–9: καθὼς γὰρ | ἔλεγεν ὁ Φιλ̣ίων̣, οὐδεὶς αἰσθη[– – –]̀αύ [ – – –| (E. Puglia, Demetrio Lacone. Aporie testuali ed esegetiche in Epicuro [Naples, 1988]). I have checked the original (MSI) and there can hardly be any doubt that the restoration of the name is correct; it is also supported by the disegni. The article suggests that the philosopher was either well known or had been mentioned before.

25 On the passage and on the philosopher's identity, see R. Polito, The Sceptical Road: Aenesidemus’ Appropriation of Heraclitus (Leiden, 2004). W. Crönert, Kolotes und Menedemos (Leipzig, 1906), 119 and M. Gigante, Scetticismo e Epicureismo (Naples, 1981), 170–5 assumed that it was Philinos of Kos, whereas V. De Falco, L'epicureo Demetrio Lacone (Naples, 1923), 52 thought of Philo, a pupil of Pyrrho's, mentioned in Diog. Laert. 9.69. Puglia (n. 24), 312 suggests an otherwise unknown Epicurean.

26 However, Dorandi's statement on Ammonius’ education (quoted in the main text above) is somewhat problematic, in so far as Ammonius scholasticus was hardly an expert on Late Academic Scepticism and certainly not very familiar with Philo (and, consequently, with the spelling of his name). He may have copied the text from another source, but if we assume that this source was wrong in giving the name ‘Philio’, I doubt that Ammonius scholasticus would have been able to correct the name to ‘Philo’ independently. He would simply have adopted the name found in his source. Philo was no longer a prominent figure in the fourth century and even educated people would hardly have known whether his name was ‘Philo’ or ‘Philio’.

27 I have not included T 10 (Jerome), on which see Goulet (n. 1), 405. The apparatus criticus follows Mette (the standard edition).

28 It is very doubtful whether Stobaeus, who alone records Philo's ethnic origin, really drew upon Arius Didymus: Brittain (n. 1), 277 n. 45.

29 Sext. Emp. Pyr. 220 (T 5 Brittain) misspells the name of Charmadas with iota, which is of course no strong hint that he blundered at ‘Philo’.

30 Plin. HN 5.135.

31 A. Drummond, ‘Publilius (RE 11) Philo, Quintus’, in OCD 4 (Oxford, 20124), 1239.

32 A rough or remote comparison in modern English might be the names ‘Marcus (Philio)’ and ‘Marc (Philo)’. Both are genuine names, which are given to children. However, many people named Marcus are called by the abbreviated or modified version Marc. This short form of the name will sometimes be used for a person so frequently that most people are unaware that his original name is actually Marcus, not Marc—whereas other Marcs are ‘real’ Marcs, in so far as this is the name they received at birth. Cicero may have known Philio only under the simplified name ‘Philo’ or may have used this form because it sounded more familiar to Roman ears than the rare ‘Philio’. It is even possible that Philio was already being called ‘Philo’ in Athens or that both names were used at the same time. To return to our modern example, some Marcuses are only occasionally nicknamed Marc and both names are used more or less in parallel for the same person. The modern comparison may fall short, inasmuch as it does not reflect the relative scarcity of the name ‘Philio’ compared to ‘Philo’.

33 For this core argument of the Academic Sceptics, see Brittain, C., Cicero. On Academic Sceptics (Indianapolis and Cambridge, 2006), xxiiGoogle Scholar.

Figure 0

Figure 1: HSI and MSI for Phld. Ind. Acad. col. 25.35 (second part of the line): the reading is clearly Φιλίωνος.

Figure 1

Figure 2: Phld. Ind. Acad. col. 33.1 (end of line): HSI, MSI, Neapol. disegno – Φιλίων