Title: Platon et Hipparque ont lu la Bible: l’Hexaéméron de Jean Philopon
Abstract: The creation of the world according to Moses, which Jean Philopon wrote around 546-549 in a controversial context against non-Hellenic conceptions of the world, is the Christian Hexaemeron most influenced by Greek philosophy. In this book, Philopon explains to pagan philosophers not only how the world was created according to the Bible, but that the universe resulting from this Creation is compatible with the Hellenic perception of the cosmos. Philopon insists on the creation ex nihilo of space, matter and time, and discusses the question of the moment of creation of angels who, according to him, are incorporeal and were created before the world. Following this Christian part of cosmology, Philopon presents a world completely compatible with the model of Ptolemy, by providing details which we do not find in other Hexaemerons, like the fact that the planetary spheres are either eccentric or they carry epicycles. In order to prove to Christian theologians that Hellenic cosmology is valid, Philopon writes a chapter in which he affirms that Plato, “the flower of philosophy”, imitated Moses in his Timaeus in his account on the origin of the world. Hipparchus and Ptolemy were inspired by the existence, according to Moses, of the firmament which is below the sphere delimiting the world, to conjecture a ninth sphere without stars, external to all, which would imprint the movement of the world of West to East.
Publication Year: 2020
Publication Date: 2020-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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