The Early Reception of Aristotle’s Categories: Comments on Michael Griffin, Aristotle’s Categories in the Early Roman Empire

Griffin’s book provides a compelling narrative to tell the intricate story of the rediscovery of the Categories and its subsequent appropriation by philosophers working in different traditions between Andronicus of Rhodes (first century BC) and Alexander of Aphrodisias (late second and early third century AD). Andronicus is clearly the hero in this story. By placing the logical writings at the outset of the Aristotelian corpus, and the Categories at the head of the logical writings, Andronicus gave a prominent position to this hitherto obscure work. But a slightly different story could be told. In this alternative story, the focus is shifted away from Andronicus of Rhodes in order to concentrate on Boethus of Sidon (first century BC) and his important contribution to the reception of the Categories in the ancient commentary tradition.