A’ Ko ̄nika in Eutokios’ commentaries probably derive from Isido ̄ros’ revision
(Decorps 2000: 82). The Isido ̄ros in question may be either the uncle or the nephew, since
both were famous me ̄khanikoi.
Heath (1926) 3.519–520.
Alain Bernard
Isidorus (Isidore) of Hispalis (Seville) (ca 610 – 636 CE)
Encyclopedist, historian, theologian. Isidore was born ( possibly in Cartagena, Spain ca 560)
to a noble family in Visigothic Spain and was educated by his brother, Leander, whom he
succeeded as Bishop of Seville in 600; he died April 4th, 636. His works (extant in several
hundred medieval MSS), covering Biblical exegesis, canon law, theology, history, philosophy
and science, served throughout the Middle Ages as handbooks for various disciplines.
They preserved philosophical and scientific ideas current in late ancient Rome that had
ultimately derived from Greek sources. Isidore was among the late ancient encyclopedists
(C, M, M C, B, and C) whose
works contained both texts and diagrams, setting the model for the genre of the medieval
encyclopedia and serving as its sources.
Isidore’s chief scientific works include Etymologiae or Origines, De natura rerum, De ordine
creaturarum (brief explanations of various natural phenomena), and De differentiis uerborum and
De differentiis rerum (concepts and distinct nature of difference present in words and in things
respectively).
The encyclopedic De natura rerum includes the division of time, and the description of the
planetary system and Earth with its parts and connected astronomical and natural phenom-
ena. Isidore’s natural philosophy centers on his theory of elements, visualized in a cubic
diagram and a series of circular (rota) diagrams that became the standard visual means of
depicting elemental concepts during the Middle Ages. His theory of elements relies on
Calcidius’ Commentary on P’s Timaeus (combining Aristotelian and Platonic concepts)
and on medical sources (connecting elemental qualities with humors of the human body
and temperaments based on them). He linked the mikrokosmos (man) with the makrokosmos
(universe) through their parallel elemental structure and described atoms conceptually as
the smallest invisible particles present in bodies and time or even in numbers or letters.
In Etymologiae (20 books), Isidore organized a large body of diverse encyclopedic know-
ledge around the etymology of words on the principle that the name of a thing is key to its
nature. Though his etymologies are often farfetched and misleading, they represent a new
approach towards organizing knowledge. The first two books discuss the trivium (grammatica,
rhetorica, dialectica), the third book the quadrivium (arithmetica, musica, geometria, astronomia). Books
4, 11, and 12 discuss medicine, man, and the animal world respectively. Books 13 and 14,
describing the parts of the universe and natural phenomena, provide a theory of elements
and atoms; Book 16 treats stones and metals.
By using Christian as well as pagan sources, Isidore secured not only survival but also
broad acceptance for ancient concepts.
Ed.: Opera omnia in PL 81 – 84; W.M. Lindsay, Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX (1911); J. Fontaine, Traité
de la nature (1960).
J. Fontaine, Isidore de Séville et la culture classique dans l’Espagne Wisigothique vv. 1–2 (1959), v. 3 (1983).
Anna Somfai
ISIDORUS (ISIDORE) OF HISPALIS (SEVILLE)