Scholia: Difference between revisions
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→Other uses: Took out reference to the ''Scholiasts'' at Balliol, Oxford (they are ''Skoliasts'', 'singers of Greek drinking songs'' and have no connection with scholia. I have transferred the section to the article on Skolia. Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
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* In modern mathematics texts, scholia are marginal notes which may amplify a line of reasoning or compare it with proofs given earlier. A famous example is [[Thomas Bayes|Bayes]]' scholium, in which he presents a justification for assuming a [[uniform distribution]]{{dn|date=March 2018}} for the [[Prior distribution|prior]] of the parameter of a [[Bernoulli process]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Murray, F. H. |title=Note on a scholium of Bayes |journal=[[Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society]] |date=February 1930 |url=https://projecteuclid.org:443/euclid.bams/1183493827 |accessdate=January 3, 2018 |number=2 |pages=129–132 |publisher=American Mathematical Society |volume=36}}</ref> Another famous example of a somewhat different use is to be found in [[Brook Taylor]]'s ''Methodus Incrementorum'', in which the propositions demonstrated are often followed by a scholium which further explains the significance of the proposition. |
* In modern mathematics texts, scholia are marginal notes which may amplify a line of reasoning or compare it with proofs given earlier. A famous example is [[Thomas Bayes|Bayes]]' scholium, in which he presents a justification for assuming a [[uniform distribution]]{{dn|date=March 2018}} for the [[Prior distribution|prior]] of the parameter of a [[Bernoulli process]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Murray, F. H. |title=Note on a scholium of Bayes |journal=[[Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society]] |date=February 1930 |url=https://projecteuclid.org:443/euclid.bams/1183493827 |accessdate=January 3, 2018 |number=2 |pages=129–132 |publisher=American Mathematical Society |volume=36}}</ref> Another famous example of a somewhat different use is to be found in [[Brook Taylor]]'s ''Methodus Incrementorum'', in which the propositions demonstrated are often followed by a scholium which further explains the significance of the proposition. |
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* ''Scholia'' is an academic journal in the field of [[classical studies]].<ref>[http://www.otago.ac.nz/Classics/scholia/ ''Scholia''], [http://www.classics.und.ac.za/reviews/ ''Scholia'' reviews]</ref> |
* ''Scholia'' is an academic journal in the field of [[classical studies]].<ref>[http://www.otago.ac.nz/Classics/scholia/ ''Scholia''], [http://www.classics.und.ac.za/reviews/ ''Scholia'' reviews]</ref> |
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* At [[Balliol College]], Oxford, "Scholiasts" is the classics-oriented drinking society. |
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== References == |
== References == |
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Revision as of 14:29, 2 May 2018
Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from Ancient Greek: σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments, either original or extracted from pre-existing commentaries, which are inserted on the margin of the manuscript of an ancient author, as glosses. One who writes scholia is a scholiast. The earliest attested use of the word dates to the 1st century BC.[1]
History
Ancient scholia are important sources of information about many aspects of the ancient world, especially ancient literary history. The earliest scholia, usually anonymous, date to the 5th or 4th century BC (such as the "a" scholia on the Iliad). The practice of compiling scholia continued to late Byzantine times, outstanding examples being Archbishop Eustathius' massive commentaries to Homer in the 12th century and the scholia recentiora of Thomas Magister and Demetrius Triclinius in the 14th.
Scholia were altered by successive copyists and owners of the manuscript, and in some cases, increased to such an extent that there was no longer room for them in the margin, and it became necessary to make them into a separate work. At first, they were taken from one commentary only, subsequently from several. This is indicated by the repetition of the lemma ("headword"), or by the use of such phrases as "or thus", "alternatively", "according to some", to introduce different explanations, or by the explicit quotation of different sources.
Important sets of scholia
The most important are those on the Homeric Iliad, especially those found in the 10th-century manuscripts discovered by Villoison in 1781 in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice (see further Venetus A, Homeric scholarship). The scholia on Hesiod, Pindar, Sophocles, Aristophanes and Apollonius Rhodius are also extremely important. In Latin, the most important are those of Servius on Virgil, of Acro and Porphyrio on Horace, and of Donatus on Terence.
List of ancient commentaries
Some ancient scholia are of sufficient quality and importance to be labelled "commentaries" instead. The existence of a commercial translation is often used to distinguish between "scholia" and "commentaries". The following is a chronological list of ancient commentaries written defined as those for which commercial translations have been made:
- Asconius (c. 55 AD) on Cicero's Pro Scauro, In Pisonem, Pro Milone, Pro Cornelio and In Toga Candida
- Servius (c. 400 AD) on Virgil's Aeneid
- Macrobius (c. 400 AD) on Cicero's Dream of Scipio
- Proclus (c. 440 AD) on Plato's Parmenides and Timaeus and Euclid's Elements
- Boethius (c. 520 AD) on Cicero's Topics
Other uses
- Spinoza provided his own scholia to many of the propositions in his Ethics, commentaries upon and expansions of the individual propositions, or sometimes short conclusions to sections of argumentation running over a number of propositions.
- In modern mathematics texts, scholia are marginal notes which may amplify a line of reasoning or compare it with proofs given earlier. A famous example is Bayes' scholium, in which he presents a justification for assuming a uniform distribution[disambiguation needed] for the prior of the parameter of a Bernoulli process.[2] Another famous example of a somewhat different use is to be found in Brook Taylor's Methodus Incrementorum, in which the propositions demonstrated are often followed by a scholium which further explains the significance of the proposition.
- Scholia is an academic journal in the field of classical studies.[3]
References
- ^ Cicero Ad Atticum 16.7.
- ^ Murray, F. H. (February 1930). "Note on a scholium of Bayes". Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. 36 (2). American Mathematical Society: 129–132. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ Scholia, Scholia reviews
Bibliography
- Dickey, Eleanor. Ancient Greek Scholarship: A Guide to Finding, Reading, and Understanding Scholia, Commentaries, Lexica, and Grammatical Treatises. Oxford: OUP for the APA, 2007. ISBN 0-19-531293-7.
- Reynolds, L.D. and N.G. Wilson. Scribes & Scholars: a Guide to the Transmission of Greek & Latin Literature, 3rd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. ISBN 0-19-872146-3.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Scholium". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
