3. DOSSIER « LES SCHEMATA ISAGOGICA DE L’ANTIQUITÉ TARDIVE AU MOYEN Âge : REGARDS CROISÉS SUR LA PHILOSOPHIE, LA GRAMMAIRE, LA RHÉTORIQUE ET LA MÉDECINE » – p. 86.

DOSSIER RASSEMBLÉ PAR SOPHIE VAN DER MEEREN

1. SOPHIE VAN DER MEEREN

Les schemata isagogica et l’enseignement des disciplines: enjeux d’une recherche comparatiste – p. 91-116.

Abstract: This paper focuses on the use of schemata isagogica in scientific and technical literature from Late Antiquity to Middle Ages. It points out that Late Antiquity was the period when schemata isagogica reached their peak in terms of codification and complexity, and that this highly codified usage was found mainly in the scholastic and exegetical texts of the philosophical schools of Athens and Alexandria in 5th and 6th centuries. Two main types of schemata isagogica are taken in consideration : those that introduced the study of disciplines and were organised according to Aristotle’s four “scientific questions” (Type 1); and those that introduced the exegesis of a treatise and were divided into six to eight kephalaia (Type 2). Starting with a brief study of the structure of the two types of schemata isagogica in late antique philosophy, the paper draws on parallels between this and other disciplines – grammar, rhetoric, medicine – to highlight the multiple issues of transdisciplinary and trans-secular research on the subject: epistemological issues; historical and cultural issues; rhetorical and pedagogical issues.

2. MARIA GIOVANNA SANDRI

The Prolegomena Vossiana and the Scholia Vaticana to Dionysius Thrax, between grammar and philosophy – p. 117-130.

Abstract: This article examines how the Prolegomena Vossiana and the Scholia Vaticana – two Byzantine introductions to the Grammar attributed to Dionysius Thrax – adapt and integrate the philosophical schemata isagogica within grammatical pedagogy. Through a comparative analysis of parallel passages, the study highlights both the convergence and divergence between these grammatical prolegomena and the broader philosophical tradition of introductory texts. While the Scholia Vaticana consistently reflect a more systematised philosophical framework – incorporating kephalaia such as authenticity, order within a corpus, classification of genre, and teaching methods – the Prolegomena Vossiana often depart from these conventions, offering independent solutions and a more limited treatment of isagogic categories. The article demonstrates the central role of isagogic schemata in Byzantine grammatical instruction, illustrating how these tools were reshaped across centuries to meet the pedagogical needs of students and teachers, and how philosophical and grammatical traditions remained closely intertwined.

3. CRISTINA PEPE

Abstract: In the rhetorical Prolegomena of Late Antiquity and Byzantium the notion of the genre of discourse (or of rhetoric) and its tripartite division into the judicial, deliberative, and epideictic (or panegyric), ultimately derived from Aristotle’s Rhetoric, occupy a position of particular prominence. The first part of this article examines how this tripartition is presented and employed within the Prolegomena, highlighting not only its continuity with earlier rhetorical discussions but also the emergence of new and, at least in part, original developments. The second part analyses the treatment of the three genres in isagogic and exegetical texts of philosophical orientation, particularly within the Neoplatonic tradition, where comparable formulations and concerns frequently occur. Taken together, these materials show that the tripartition of genres provides a revealing case study for exploring the intersections, convergences, and mutual influences between rhetorical and philosophical schemata isagogica.

4. ELISABETTA BARILI

Abstract: This paper examines the role of schemata isagogica in Byzantine rhetorical commentaries, with particular focus on Middle Byzantine exegeses of Hermogenes’ corpus – the cornerstone for rhetorical education. By analyzing the prolegomena of commentators such as John Sikeliotes, John Doxapatres, and John Tzetzes, the paper explores how isagogical schemes – originally developed in philosophical traditions – were appropriated and adapted for rhetorical purposes, creating a significant point of intersection between the two disciplines. This approach not only harmonized rhetorical theory with principles of logic but also revealed the deep mutual influence and interdependence between rhetoric and philosophy. Furthermore, the paper traces isagogical strategies from Late Antique rhetorical exegesis into the Byzantine period, demonstrating their persistence as a didactic, methodological, and hermeneutic tool that shaped knowledge and interpretation across disciplinary boundaries.

5. OLIVER OVERWIEN

Abstract: In late antique Alexandria (5th-7th century), there were several medical teachers known in modern research as Iatrosophists. They had developed a very sophisticated teaching programme in order to compete with the other centres of learning in the Roman Empire. To this end, they adopted various pedagogical and didactic innovations from the contemporary philosophers in Alexandria, the Neoplatonists. These innovations probably included the Prolegomena. Several versions of the medical Prolegomena have survived in the Greek, Latin, and Arabic traditions. None of them are identical. In my article, I discuss five of these versions: two Greek fragments, one Latin version, and three Arabic Prolegomena. First, I analyse their structure and some central ideas. Second, I compare them with each other and with the structure of the Neoplatonic Prolegomena (esp. David’s). Third, I consider what purpose the medical Prolegomena served in their preserved form.

6. NICOLETTA PALMIERI

Abstract: My research concerns the shape of introductions to the art of medicine which seems to arise as a novelty in western Europe around the middle of the twelfth century. About that time, the master commentators of the Tegni (i.e. the Latin translation of Galen’s Art of Medicine from the Greek) present their readers with a double kind of accessus before approaching the topic in greater detail: the first part of the introduction deals with the general principles of medicine; this is followed by a traditional prologue aiming at facilitating the understanding of the text to be studied. This twofold introductory approach has an interesting parallel in the lectures delivered by Agnellus of Ravenna, a sixth-century archiatros who adopts the didactic style then current in Alexandria, which has Neoplatonic roots. Agnellus’s commentary on Galen’s De sectis begins with a double accessus whose structure reminds us of the introductions of the Salernitan masters. Nevertheless a closer examination of the content and the transmission of these Salernitan prefaces (accessible in most cases only in manuscript), shows clearly that we find no clues linking the Salernitan masters with Agnellus’s commentaries. Their introductions clearly show the mould of the Western Latin tradition associated with Chartres, and the rare signs of an influence of Eastern Greek models hailing from Alexandria that we notice must be due to indirect transmission via the Arabic that we can attribute to Constantine the African, active as a monk at Monte Cassino late in the 11th century.