Aetius
1st- or 2nd-century AD Greek doxographer and philosopher
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Philosophy
Why Is Aetius Influential?
(Suggest an Edit or Addition)According to Wikipedia, Aetius was a 1st- or 2nd-century AD doxographer and Eclectic philosopher. Works None of Aetius' works survives today, but he solves a mystery about two major compilations of philosophical quotes. There are two extant books named De Placita Philosophorum and Eclogae Physicae . The first of these is Pseudo-Plutarch and the second is by Stobaeus. They are clearly both abridgements of a larger work. Hermann Diels, in his great Doxographi Graeci , discovered that the 5th-century CE theologian Theodoret had full versions of the quotes which were shortened in the abridgements. This means that Theodoret had managed to procure the original book which Pseudo-Plutarch and Stobaeus had shortened. He calls this book "Aetiou tên peri areskontôn sunagôgên " and therefore we ascribe the original Placita to Aetius.
