Professor Edith Hall

No, he didn't think it had souls. He didn't think it had souls. That's much more Pythagorean, actually. Okay, right. But he did think it was life. And actually, a lot of his really, really important thinking about what is it to be human, what is an anthropos, a human, is that I share this with plant life, but they don't share consciousness and language.

Or I share this with animal life, but they don't share the ability to deliberate. So he starts from all of life, a living thing, a zoan, like our word zoo, and then he gradually refines and refines and refines what's different about the human animal.

Or I share this with animal life, but they don't share the ability to deliberate. So he starts from all of life, a living thing, a zoan, like our word zoo, and then he gradually refines and refines and refines what's different about the human animal.

We've lost Book Two of the Poetics. How did we lose it? Where did it go? I just basically think we lost most of the stuff we lost because Byzantine monks didn't like it. Oh, you think trashed. We've lost almost all of Sappho because various Christian bishops said we don't want any of that lesbian pornography. Right. That kind of thing.

We've lost Book Two of the Poetics. How did we lose it? Where did it go? I just basically think we lost most of the stuff we lost because Byzantine monks didn't like it. Oh, you think trashed. We've lost almost all of Sappho because various Christian bishops said we don't want any of that lesbian pornography. Right. That kind of thing.

I suspect there was an awful lot that wasn't really appropriate to the Greek Orthodox Church in Aristotle. On company. Yeah. So I don't know what was in it. I have read everything that Aristotle wrote in his surviving works about humour. And so I'm sad to say that he says that... We've all got to be humorous. We've got to be a good person is going to be humorous.

I suspect there was an awful lot that wasn't really appropriate to the Greek Orthodox Church in Aristotle. On company. Yeah. So I don't know what was in it. I have read everything that Aristotle wrote in his surviving works about humour. And so I'm sad to say that he says that... We've all got to be humorous. We've got to be a good person is going to be humorous.

But he says that there are two extremes. You can be a sullen person who never laughs at anything. Don't do that. You can be a buffoon who makes really crude jokes and is always making jokes and messing around and larking around and won't have a serious conversation. He says there is a mean, which is just to be appropriately witty. And that isn't very promising. Yeah. Yes, Dan, appropriate wit.

But he says that there are two extremes. You can be a sullen person who never laughs at anything. Don't do that. You can be a buffoon who makes really crude jokes and is always making jokes and messing around and larking around and won't have a serious conversation. He says there is a mean, which is just to be appropriately witty. And that isn't very promising. Yeah. Yes, Dan, appropriate wit.

I think he thought he was an appropriate wit. And he does sometimes tell some slightly dry anecdotes. So the one I like best is when he's talking about weird ways of predicting the weather, weather forecasting.

I think he thought he was an appropriate wit. And he does sometimes tell some slightly dry anecdotes. So the one I like best is when he's talking about weird ways of predicting the weather, weather forecasting.

So he talks about a guy who lived in Byzantium who kept pet hedgehogs and used to tell in Byzantium, which is now Istanbul, and he could tell what was going to happen to the weather depending on what direction his hedgehogs were walking in. And Aristotle does find that funny.

So he talks about a guy who lived in Byzantium who kept pet hedgehogs and used to tell in Byzantium, which is now Istanbul, and he could tell what was going to happen to the weather depending on what direction his hedgehogs were walking in. And Aristotle does find that funny.

He was, to my mind, a rather boring mathematician and nobody's ever heard of him, but he was also related to Plato. Oh, nepotism.

He was, to my mind, a rather boring mathematician and nobody's ever heard of him, but he was also related to Plato. Oh, nepotism.

Partly nepotism, but I suspect it was much more envy that all the other people at the academy just couldn't stand the fact that this guy so outclassed them that instead of saying, great, we make him in charge and we're in his slipstream and we can all benefit, it's bye-bye Aristotle.

Partly nepotism, but I suspect it was much more envy that all the other people at the academy just couldn't stand the fact that this guy so outclassed them that instead of saying, great, we make him in charge and we're in his slipstream and we can all benefit, it's bye-bye Aristotle.

Yeah. Okay. And off he goes to Assos, which is where? It's absolutely stunning. It's on the western coast of Turkey, but further down. And it's all, the nearest island is Lesbos. So as you can see, it's about sort of halfway down. And he's invited by a guy called Hermias. Yes. Who is a former slave who's now ended up as king. That's what they say. There's been some sort of coup.

Yeah. Okay. And off he goes to Assos, which is where? It's absolutely stunning. It's on the western coast of Turkey, but further down. And it's all, the nearest island is Lesbos. So as you can see, it's about sort of halfway down. And he's invited by a guy called Hermias. Yes. Who is a former slave who's now ended up as king. That's what they say. There's been some sort of coup.

He may have committed murder. He may have murdered the tyrant. He's become... King or tyrant, which means somebody who's come into monarchical power, but not through hereditary. Yeah. And he invites Aristotle over, apparently, to help him write a constitution.