The Shelves · Philosophy

On the Nature of the World and the Soul

Περὶ φύσιος κόσμω καὶ ψυχᾶς

Known · Probablein Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

◇ Doubted: pseudonymous; where it was written is uncertain. A Doric-dialect summary of Plato's Timaeus written to look like its Pythagorean source; place of composition unknown.

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I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Philosophy

Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

'Timaeus of Locri' (pseudonymous)

On the Nature of the World and the Soul

Περὶ φύσιος κόσμω καὶ ψυχᾶς

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

◇ Doubted: pseudonymous; where it was written is uncertain. A Doric-dialect summary of Plato's Timaeus written to look like its Pythagorean source; place of composition unknown.

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives whole

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Probable

Probably held in the Library.

In the cupboard: no source names the Alexandrian copy, but its scholars' use of it makes one very likely.

Read it today

Greek text and English translation in Tobin (1985).

III · In the show

The show has not yet spoken of this work.

IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references (2)
  • Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras
  • Proclus, Commentary on the Timaeus
Modern scholarship (3)
  • T. H. Tobin, Timaios of Locri: On the Nature of the World and the Soul (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1985).
  • H. Thesleff, The Pythagorean Texts of the Hellenistic Period (Abo: Abo Akademi, 1965).
  • J. Dillon, The Middle Platonists: 80 B.C. to A.D. 220, rev. ed. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996).

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

ΠΕΡΙ ΦΥΣΙΟΣ ΚΟΣΜΩ ΚΑΙ ΨΥΧΑΣ

Beside it in the cupboard