Pythagoreanising Aristotle: Eudorus and the systematisation of Platonis

The paper investigates the role played by Eudorus of Alexandria in the renewal of Platonism in first century b.C. It is first argued that Eudorus opposed the skeptical reading of Plato endorsed by the Hellenistic Academy by stressing the convergence between Plato and the Pythagorean tradition. The affinities with the treatises attributed to Archytas and Timaeus (apocryphal texts written in this period) are particularly important with this regard. But what is really relevant is the confrontation with Aristotle. Eudorus' aim was to defend Plato from Aristotle's criticisms. But in so doing he also introduced in his Platonist philososphy several Aristotelian tenets (especially in the case of the doctrine of the categories and principles). This confrontation shaped in a substantial way the new metaphysical Platonism of the Early Imperial centuries.