Theo ̄n of Alexandria (not the astronomer), geometry and other sciences with M,
and philosophy with Ze ̄nodotos and A; his greatest intellectual influence, how-
ever, was Isido ̄ros of Gaza. Some works and fragments survive: a treatise on metaphysics
Peri Proto ̄n Arkho ̄n, a treatise on Number, Place and Time, a Commentary to Parmenides, lecture
notes from his commentaries on P’s Phaedo and Philebus, fragments from a commen-
tary on A’s de Cael. (possibly Meteor.) (preserved in I P, In
Meteor.), fragments from either a biography of Isido ̄ros or a philosophical history commonly
cited as Vita Isidori. Above all, Damaskios was a metaphysician who, unlike his predecessors,
was less preoccupied to harmonize Platonic and Aristotelian doctrines, but more concerned
to explain soundly the tenets of Neo-Platonism. His philosophy is characterized by pains-
takingly detailed analysis, and he is not shy to come into conflict with orthodox doctrines,
mainly Proklean. His metaphysics strives to take on Neo-Platonist ontology in its relation-
ship to how it is comprehended, thus converting it into a very interesting and challenging
philosophy of the mind.
Ed.: M.C. Galperine, Damascius, Des premiers principes. Apories et résolutions (1987); Westerink and Combès
(1986–1991); Athanassiadi (1999).
DPA 2 (1994) 541–593, Ph. Hoffmann; Cosmin Andron, “Damascius on knowledge and its object,”
Rhizai 1 (2004) 107–124.
Cosmin Andron
Damaste ̄s (200 – 150 BCE)
Mentioned by S (Gyn. 2.18 [CMG 4, p. 65; CUF v. 2, pp. 26–27]) as a medical writer
on pediatrics. Damaste ̄s thought mothers should breastfeed immediately and appealed to
nature apparently in a type of Aristotelian teleological argument which So ̄ranos found
unacceptable. So ̄ranos mentions A A (B) as among “those who
agree with him,” giving a terminus ante quem.
The Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence preserves an 11th c. MS (Laur. 74.2, f.381V, lines
3 – 26) with a short excerpt under “Dam{n}astes.” The chapter “Concerning those who are
able to conceive and carry to term” is a calendar outlining stages in fetal development, from
his book On the Care of Pregnant Women and Infants, combining obstetrics and child care. The
calendar outlines the steps of foam-blood-flesh-shape-motion-birth for seven-, eight-, nine-,
and ten-month children, based on Pythagorean models but considering viable the eighth-
month child.
Holt N. Parker, “Greek Embryological Calendars and a Fragment from the Lost Work of Damastes, On
the Care of Pregnant Women and of Infants,” CQ 49 (1999) 515–534.
Holt N. Parker
Damaste ̄s of Sigeion (440 – 410 BCE)
A prose writer immediately preceding T, considered a student of Hellanikos.
He wrote an Events in Greece, possibly covering the Persian Wars; a genealogical work,
On the ancestors of those who fought at Troy; On Poets and Sophists, a work of literary criticism;
and a geographical work, variously titled Catalogue of Peoples and Cities, On Peoples, or
Periplous. This was considered derivative of H M, and criticized as
faulty: Damaste ̄s thought the Arabian Gulf was a lake; he accepted a story of the Athenian
ambassador Diotimos that it was possible to sail up the Kudnos river in Kilikia to the
DAMASTE ̄S