Circle 1: Canto 4 Flashcards

Question

Dioscordes

Answer 1

(40 - ca. 90 CE) was a Greek physician who gathered material for his major work, on the medicinal properties of plants, during his travels with armies of the Roman emperor Nero; this work was widely consulted in translation (De materia medica) in the Middle Ages and beyond.

Answer 2

a mythical Greek poet and musician (from Thrace) whose song captivated the spirits and monsters of the underworld when he journeyed there to bring his wife Eurydice back to life (only to lose her again when he looked back), a story well known to Dante from moving accounts by Virgil and Ovid; distraught over this loss, Orpheus withdrew from civilization, charming trees and rocks as well as wild creatures with his music, until - savagely killed by a horde of frenzied women enraged by his rejection of their love - he was able to reunite with his beloved in the afterlife.

Answer 3

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BCE) was a distinguished Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher; Dante frequently cites Cicero's treatises - particularly On Friendship, On Duty, On Moral Ends, and On Old Age.

Answer 4

Virgil pairs Linus, a mythical Greek poet-musician, with Orpheus and praises him as a shepherd of 'divine song' while Augustine classifies both Linus and Orpheus as theological poets in City of God.

Answer 5

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (ca. 4 BCE - 65 CE) was a powerful Roman statesman and prolific writer, was a tutor and advisor to the emperor Nero and the author of scientific and philosophical treatises promoting the Stoic life, as well as tragedies and moral epistles; Dante praises Seneca for his love of wisdom, his demonstration of the dangers and inadequacies of wealth, and his status as an illustrious teacher.

Answer 6

(flourished ca. 300 BCE) a Greek mathematician whose 'Elements' served as the authoritative source for geometric knowledge in Dante's day

Answer 7

Claudius Ptolemy (ca 100 - ca. 170 CE) an Egyptian of Greek descent, enjoyed an authoritative reputation in the filed of astronomy. His 'Almagest' presented a geocentric model of the universe (commonly known as the Ptolemaic system), which held sway until it was superseded by Copernicus's heliocentric model in the sixth century.

Answer 8

Hippocrates (ca 460 - ca. 377 BCE) and Galen (129 - ca. 216 CE). Hippocrates was celebrated as the founder of Western medicine; the 'Hippocratic oath,' which sets out the physician's obligations. Galen served the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was renowned for contributions, particularly in anatomy and physiology, that stood until the late Renaissance.

Answer 9

a brilliant Muslim scholar best known in the West for his 'Canon of Medicine' and parts of his 'Book of Healing,' though he authored nearly two hundred treatises on a wide range of topics.

Answer 10

Author of the 'great commentary' on Aristotle, was a Spanish Arab who, in opposition to the fundamentalists of his day integrated islamic and ancient Greek traditions to promote the philosophical sturdy of religion; his argument for the immortality of the soul was deemed controversial (if not heretical) by Christian theologians, who believed his concept of an eternal active intellect implies immortality of the human species but not the individual.

Answer 11

'the Philosopher'

Circle 1: Canto 4 Flashcards

(35 cards)