Theophrastus
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Theophrastus
Theophrastus (thēˌōfrăsˈtəs) [Gr.,=divinely speaking], c.372–c.287 B.C., Greek philosopher, Aristotle's successor as head of the Peripatetics. The school flourished under his leadership. He wrote on many subjects, but his works on plants are perhaps the most important of his technical writings. His Characters, a series of sketches of various ethical types, provides a valuable picture of his time. It anticipates such studies as those by Sir Thomas Overbury, John Earle, and La Bruyère.
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Theophrastus
(“possessor of divine speech”; real name, Tyrtamos). Born circa 372 B.C. in Eresus, Lesbos; died circa 287 B.C. in Athens. Greek philosopher and natural scientist. One of history’s earliest botanists.
Theophrastus studied first with Plato and then with Aristotle. He was the author of A Manual of Rhetoric, which has not been preserved, and of Characters, a collection of 30 short sketches of character types, such as the flatterer and the idle talker. Characters has served as a model for many modern moralists.
WORKS
Les Caractères. Edited by O. Navarre. Paris, 1952.In Russian translation:
Issledovanie o rasteniiakh. Moscow, 1951.
In [Menander] Komedii [Herodas] Mimiamby. Moscow, 1964.
REFERENCE
Stroux, J. De Theophrasti virtutibus dicendi. Leipzig-Berlin, 1907.The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Theophrastus
?372--?287 bc, Greek Peripatetic philosopher, noted esp for his Characters, a collection of sketches of moral types
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