Sophia Xenophontos | |
---|---|
Occupation(s) | Classicist, author |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Magdalen College, University of Oxford |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Classicist |
Sub-discipline | Ancient Greek literature, Byzantine literature |
Institutions | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Glasgow |
Main interests | Plutarch, Galen; reception of ancient Greek literature and thought in Byzantium; Aristotelian commentaries; emotions, practical ethics and psychotherapy in antiquity and the medieval period; textual criticism and translation [1] [2] |
Notable works | Ethical Education in Plutarch: Moralising Agents and Contexts (2016) |
Sophia Xenophontos FHEA is a Greek-Cypriot classicist and associate professor of Greek at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. [3] She is also affiliate scholar with the University of Glasgow, [4] where she was previously lecturer in Classics and principal investigator and director of the Byzantine Aristotle project [5] [6] funded by the AHRC. [7] Xenophontos is an external collaborator for the Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca et Byzantina project (under the auspices of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities) and the founder and editor-in-chief of the book series ‘Theorising the Greek and Roman Classics’ ( Routledge, UK). [8]
She specializes in the Greek literature of the 1st-2nd century AD, with particular focus on Plutarch. She has made significant contributions to the field, with her novel approaches to Plutarch's Lives and Moralia, which have been acclaimed by several reviewers. Xenophontos has expanded her scholarly pursuits to include the physician Galen of Pergamum, investigating the interplay between his psychological/moral writings and medical theory and practice. She has received recognition, including a Wellcome Trust University Award. [9] Its main output is the monograph ‘Medicine and Practical Ethics in Galen’ published in 2024 by Cambridge University Press, which was highly praised. [a] Her research on Galen has had an impact beyond academia, featuring in the German Der Spiegel, thus also contributing to popular understandings of ancient psychotherapy and emotions.
Active in the Aristotelian commentary tradition and the study of Byzantine philosophical works, Xenophontos has published critical editions and translations, [11] [12] focusing mainly on Theodore Metochites and George Pachymeres in whom she is considered a leading authority.
The volume under review, the seventh to appear in this series, is an excellent work that lives up to this double aspiration. Xenophontos' edition of George Pachymeres' Commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is accompanied by a comprehensive introduction, a precise yet readable translation by Xenophontos and Crystal Addey, and indexes of parallel passages and of Greek terms. Modern readers are well-supported here in their first encounter with this hitherto unknown material. [...]The English translation of the text is among the commendable achievements of the volume as it is both precise and readable.[5] All in all, the volume is well-produced and deserves the attention of scholars and students who are interested in enhancing their understanding of Aristotle's practical philosophy as well as of those who are interested in familiarizing themselves with Byzantine philosophy.
This new companion to the reception of Plutarch is most welcome. The breadth of coverage in its thirty-seven chapters is unprecedented […] The depth of coverage is likewise unprecedented, for which it is all but required to have such a team of scholars to achieve this.
In general, this is an excellent discussion of Plutarch's views on ethical education, based on a thorough familiarity with both the Corpus Plutarcheum and with existing scholarly literature. The different chapters contain many innovative insights and rest on a varied methodology that does justice to the particular character of the source texts. Furthermore, Xenophontos correctly presents her study as "the first sustained attempt to show that both the Parallel Lives and the Moralia offer comprehensive and intriguingly sophisticated ways of reading and gauging Plutarch's mental mapping on ethical pedagogy" (p. 195). This is definitely one of the greatest merits of the book. It is only fairly recently that the unity of Plutarch's works and the many interconnections between Moralia and Parallel Lives have received more attention, and by adopting this line of approach, Xenophontos sets the standard for further studies in this field.
Sophia Xenophontos | |
---|---|
Occupation(s) | Classicist, author |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Magdalen College, University of Oxford |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Classicist |
Sub-discipline | Ancient Greek literature, Byzantine literature |
Institutions | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Glasgow |
Main interests | Plutarch, Galen; reception of ancient Greek literature and thought in Byzantium; Aristotelian commentaries; emotions, practical ethics and psychotherapy in antiquity and the medieval period; textual criticism and translation [1] [2] |
Notable works | Ethical Education in Plutarch: Moralising Agents and Contexts (2016) |
Sophia Xenophontos FHEA is a Greek-Cypriot classicist and associate professor of Greek at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. [3] She is also affiliate scholar with the University of Glasgow, [4] where she was previously lecturer in Classics and principal investigator and director of the Byzantine Aristotle project [5] [6] funded by the AHRC. [7] Xenophontos is an external collaborator for the Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca et Byzantina project (under the auspices of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities) and the founder and editor-in-chief of the book series ‘Theorising the Greek and Roman Classics’ ( Routledge, UK). [8]
She specializes in the Greek literature of the 1st-2nd century AD, with particular focus on Plutarch. She has made significant contributions to the field, with her novel approaches to Plutarch's Lives and Moralia, which have been acclaimed by several reviewers. Xenophontos has expanded her scholarly pursuits to include the physician Galen of Pergamum, investigating the interplay between his psychological/moral writings and medical theory and practice. She has received recognition, including a Wellcome Trust University Award. [9] Its main output is the monograph ‘Medicine and Practical Ethics in Galen’ published in 2024 by Cambridge University Press, which was highly praised. [a] Her research on Galen has had an impact beyond academia, featuring in the German Der Spiegel, thus also contributing to popular understandings of ancient psychotherapy and emotions.
Active in the Aristotelian commentary tradition and the study of Byzantine philosophical works, Xenophontos has published critical editions and translations, [11] [12] focusing mainly on Theodore Metochites and George Pachymeres in whom she is considered a leading authority.
The volume under review, the seventh to appear in this series, is an excellent work that lives up to this double aspiration. Xenophontos' edition of George Pachymeres' Commentary on Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is accompanied by a comprehensive introduction, a precise yet readable translation by Xenophontos and Crystal Addey, and indexes of parallel passages and of Greek terms. Modern readers are well-supported here in their first encounter with this hitherto unknown material. [...]The English translation of the text is among the commendable achievements of the volume as it is both precise and readable.[5] All in all, the volume is well-produced and deserves the attention of scholars and students who are interested in enhancing their understanding of Aristotle's practical philosophy as well as of those who are interested in familiarizing themselves with Byzantine philosophy.
This new companion to the reception of Plutarch is most welcome. The breadth of coverage in its thirty-seven chapters is unprecedented […] The depth of coverage is likewise unprecedented, for which it is all but required to have such a team of scholars to achieve this.
In general, this is an excellent discussion of Plutarch's views on ethical education, based on a thorough familiarity with both the Corpus Plutarcheum and with existing scholarly literature. The different chapters contain many innovative insights and rest on a varied methodology that does justice to the particular character of the source texts. Furthermore, Xenophontos correctly presents her study as "the first sustained attempt to show that both the Parallel Lives and the Moralia offer comprehensive and intriguingly sophisticated ways of reading and gauging Plutarch's mental mapping on ethical pedagogy" (p. 195). This is definitely one of the greatest merits of the book. It is only fairly recently that the unity of Plutarch's works and the many interconnections between Moralia and Parallel Lives have received more attention, and by adopting this line of approach, Xenophontos sets the standard for further studies in this field.