Stobaeus Lexicon

A companion for reading

The Stobaeus Lexicon offers 610 entries for readers of the Greek-English edition of Volume One. It follows the vocabulary across philosophy, theology, arithmetic, astronomy, weather, living bodies, the senses, and the soul. Each entry joins a Greek headword to English renderings, an explanation of its use, and passages where that use can be examined.

The Lexicon contains 610 main articles and 85 subsidiary treatments within related articles. Its 1,132 annotated references lead to 605 distinct passage locations. Terms are selected for their attested use and interpretive value. The reading lists guide readers through the volume without claiming an exhaustive concordance.

Stobaeus preserves many voices. A poet’s image, a school definition, a dialogue’s provisional argument, and a Hermetic address can use the same word differently. The entries therefore preserve attributions, qualifications, and disagreements. “In Stobaeus” means in the texts collected by him; it does not make every statement his own doctrine.

This companion focuses on the wording and arguments preserved in the first volume, rather than a general history of each term across ancient literature.

How to read an entry

The word introduces the meanings needed for the cited passages. In Stobaeus explains how the term works in particular accounts. The places supplies an annotated reading list. Additional sections develop contrasts, images, or important groups of sources when the entry needs them. In this edition explains choices in the English translation. See also connects related entries.

Greek and transliteration appear beneath each English headword. Greek accents are retained; ē and ō indicate the long vowels eta and omega. The transliteration is a reading aid, not a reconstruction of pronunciation. Headwords use dictionary forms; cited passages may contain an inflected form or a related verb or adjective. Related words may share an entry when that makes their relation clearer.

The Greek index provides a route from the printed Greek term to the article, including terms treated within a broader entry. Subsidiary treatments are not counted as additional main articles. The English–Greek index pairs main English headwords with Greek and transliteration and adds lookup references for the 85 subsidiary treatments. The thematic index groups all 610 main entries into nine areas of study; an entry’s placement is a navigational choice, not an assertion that it belongs to only one subject.

The footnote attached to each entry gives the original printed pages for its selected passages and any additional editorial qualification. In the PDF and Word editions these are footnotes; Markdown uses linked note definitions, and EPUB provides linked notes following each entry. Cross-references are linked in the digital editions.

References and translation

The base text is Curt Wachsmuth, Ioannis Stobaei Anthologii libri duo priores, volumen I (Berlin: Weidmann, 1884). The running Greek occupies printed pages 15–502; preliminary testimony and ancient contents occupy pages 3–10. Source footnotes refer to this printed pagination, not the scan’s page count.

An identifier such as I.49.1a.3 means Book I, chapter 49, excerpt 1a, modern comparison subdivision 3. Arith.9 identifies the ninth arithmetic excerpt. These identifiers match the accompanying bilingual edition. The subdivisions help compare the languages and are not additional ancient chapters.

Passage identifiers are the primary references throughout this Lexicon. Links lead to the corresponding location in the bilingual book.

The Lexicon follows the Diotimos English translation and edited Greek text. It does not offer an independent diplomatic transcription or complete collation of the nineteenth-century source. English equivalents vary with context; conversely, one English word can render more than one Greek term. Entries explain important distinctions, such as breath and spirit, form and shape, or knowledge and belief, where a fixed one-word substitution would obscure the argument.

Supplied attributions, conjectural readings, rejected additions, and gaps retain their qualifications. A restored heading with missing running text provides evidence for the chapter’s question, not a surviving answer. Ancient wordplay is identified as such. Reports about bodily processes and weather are described in their historical terms rather than rewritten as present-day scientific accounts.