Ancient Physics in the Mid-Byzantine Period: The Epitome of Theodore of Smyrna, Consul of the Philosophers under Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118)

Theodore of Smyrna (11th-12th c.) is author of an epitome of natural philosophy transmitted in an incomplete form in only an early thirteenth-century manuscript (Wien ONB, cod. theol. gr. 134). Theodore was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy and head of the school of philosophy in Constantinople; in this article, Theodore’s approach to ancient physics, the contents, sources and intended audience of his work on the Physics are investigated for the first time. Finally, the author suggests that the Theodore’s epitome shows remarkable similarities with the work of other scholars from the earlier generation, a proof of the fact that the condemnation in 1082 of John Italos, Theodore’s predecessor as Consul of the Philosophers, for heterodoxy had no real impact on the way philosophy was later taught and studied in Byzantium.