Remedium memoriae. The peripatetic construction of the intellectual history of Greece. Dicaearchus' biography of philosophy

The Peripatetic Dicaearchus composed a series of works dedicated to the intellectual history of Greece. In a sense, he was the first ancient author to write a comprehensive history of philosophy, centered on such key figures, as the Seven Sages, Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato. The sages are known for their highly practical maxims and general rules of right conduct; Pythagoras developed a new lifestyle and promulgated it in his public and private teaching; Socrates introduced a new form of intellectual and moral pursuit; while Plato founded an institutional framework for philosophical studies having thus paved the way to a systematic research, conducted by the Peripatetics. The evidences are translated on the basis of a new edition of Dicaearchus' fragments, prepared by Mirhady (2001).