Selected Publications by Christian Vassallo
Fragments of the Early Stoics (FESt), I. Zeno of Citium, Edited with introduction, translation, and commentary by C. Vassallo, E. Zimbardi, and F. Ruge, 2 vols., Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Brill, 2026 (Open Access)
Zeno of Citium (ca. 334/333–262/261 BCE), the founder of the Stoic school in Athens, substantiall...
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Zeno of Citium (ca. 334/333–262/261 BCE), the founder of the Stoic school in Athens, substantially shaped the thought of subsequent generations of Hellenistic philosophers, both his followers and his opponents. Since he is one of the most renowned Stoic philosophers, alongside Chrysippus, a new edition of his numerous fragments is an indispensable tool for studying in depth the origins of Stoicism, including Zeno’s legacy in significant philosophers of the imperial age, such as Seneca and Epictetus. This long-awaited new edition of Zeno’s fragments gathers all the testimonies that Hans von Arnim had already collected about 120 years ago, adds a significant number of new testimonies (based on a reassessment of Greek and Latin literature, new insights into the Herculaneum and Graeco-Egyptian papyri, as well as on Arabic and Syriac sources) and restructures their presentation by thematic and philosophical criteria. The sections on the Life and the Works of Zeno provide a detailed overview of the information dealing with his life, as well as with his vast literary output – in spite of the unfortunate loss of nearly all his work. Similarly, the reconstruction of Zeno’s philosophical doctrine is enhanced—within the tripartition of philosophy into logic, physics, and ethics—by the granularity of each section, divided into headings and sub-headings that identify single topics of philosophy. In addition, this is the first collection of Stoic fragments to assemble the Arabic tradition of Zeno’s sayings, along with those transmitted in Greek and Latin sources. A rich apparatus of commentary notes accompanies the fragments and guides the reader through the current scholarly debates. This groundbreaking volume of Zeno’s fragments is intended as the definitive reference-work for both experts in ancient philosophy and non-experts. Its principal aim is to provide an easy and authoritative access to a revolutionary figure of Antiquity: a man at the crossroads of Phoenicia and Greece that shaped Western philosophy with the novelty of his doctrines.
Diogenes of Babylon, also known as Diogenes of Seleucia, was a pupil of Chrysippus and, after Zen...
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Diogenes of Babylon, also known as Diogenes of Seleucia, was a pupil of Chrysippus and, after Zeno of Tarsus, the fifth head of the Stoic school in Athens, serving until his death, with Antipater of Tarsus and Panaetius among his students. The dates of his birth and death remain uncertain (ca. 238/228–150/140 BCE). Together with the Academic Carneades and the Peripatetic Critolaus, he participated in the embassy of philosophers sent to Rome to petition for the abolition of the 500-talent fine imposed on Athens for the sack of Oropos. From the key information about his surviving treatises, we know that their subjects can be traced back to the three parts into which Diogenes of Babylon divided philosophy—namely, logic, physics, and ethics—as Zeno of Citium had also done. One of the greatest difficulties in reconstructing his thought lies in its transmission: almost 80% of the testimonies about him, collected by von Arnim (SVF III, pp. 210–43 = frs. 1–126), are preserved in the papyri, especially the Herculaneum papyri, sometimes in rolls that have awaited a new critical edition for over a century. About 120 years after the publication of the Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, this volume, after critically collecting the scanty evidence for Zeno of Tarsus, presents a new systematic and comprehensive edition of the fragments of Diogenes of Babylon, with an introduction, a translation, and a running commentary. The collection increases by more than a half the number of known testimonies considered by von Arnim. This enterprise will significantly enhance our knowledge of the final stage of the early Stoa and its relation to the rival schools of Hellenistic philosophy. Most importantly, the volume brings to the fore one of the greatest and most revolutionary figures in the history of ancient philosophy, so far undeservedly neglected, whose doctrines contributed substantially to the development of logic, linguistics, ontology, and ethics in the Western thought.
New Presocratic Studies, Texts, and Collections: Sources, Papyri, and Interpretations, in: «The Classical Review», forthcoming
A critical discussion on recent Presocratic studies, editions, and collections: M.L. Gemelli-Marc...
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A critical discussion on recent Presocratic studies, editions, and collections: M.L. Gemelli-Marciano, Presocratici, voll. I–III; K.S. Kingsley, Herodotus and the Presocratics. Inquiry and Intellectual Culture in the Fifth Century BCE; C. Ferella, Reconstructing Empedocles’ Thought; J.-C. Picot, Empédocle. Sur le chemin des dieux; T. Tsiampokalos und G. Wöhrle, Mit Beiträgen von E. Wakelnig, Archelaos von Athen; N. Carlig, A. Martin, and O. Primavesi, L’“Empédocle du Caire” (P.Fouad inv. 218). Introduction, texte, commentaire.
Sources for Presocratic Philosophy, in: J. Bryan, L. Cantor, and S. Tor (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Presocratic Philosophy, New York/London: Routledge, forthcoming
This paper provides a systematic and up-to-date outline of the sources available to us for Presoc...
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This paper provides a systematic and up-to-date outline of the sources available to us for Presocratic philosophy. It considers both the extant fragments, including papyri, and the so-called ‘testimonies’ as transmitted by ancient authors across the broad history of ancient thought, from the 5th-4th centuries BCE (Hippias, Plato, and Aristotle) to the late-antique Commentators and the Church Fathers.
This volume situates itself at the intersection of two rapidly developing research areas: the inv...
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This volume situates itself at the intersection of two rapidly developing research areas: the investigation of Seneca’s reception of the Stoic tradition and the comparative study of the history of the emotions as culturally constructed phenomena. Impassiveness (apatheia) is usually regarded as the ultimate goal of the Stoic therapy of the emotions, since, by acting rationally, the Stoic wise person is expected to extinguish all emotions (pathē) except the ‘good’ ones (eupatheiai). Although a broad consensus exists on Seneca’s adherence to the Stoic worldview, no comprehensive study has ever been undertaken to assess the role of the notion of apatheia in the Senecan corpus in light of its connections with individual and social ethics, the physical constitution of the mind and the world, and the therapeutic task of philosophical writing. The contributions gathered in the present volume, written by a team of international scholars with recognized expertise in the area, aim to fill this gap by offering a fresh and critical overview of some of the most representative Senecan works, both in prose and in verse, which will be useful to classicists, ancient philosophers, cultural historians, and scholars of cognitive and psychological sciences.
(With T. Ottobrini) Der Neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der Antike (Supplement Band, 16) — Philosophie, in: P. Sänger (hrsg.), Ägypten als Teil der hellenistisch-römischen und byzantinischen Welt; F. Reiter und M. Zellmann-Rohrer (hrsgg.), Wissenschaft, Technik und Magie, Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2026 (AoP)
Philodemus of Gadara (RE n. 5), in: Trends in Classics – Greek and Roman Humanities Encyclopedia (GROH), Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Brill, 2026 (Open Access)
Trends in Classics – Greek and Roman Humanities Encyclopedia is an innovative reference work. Whi...
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Trends in Classics – Greek and Roman Humanities Encyclopedia is an innovative reference work. While it presents itself as one comprehensive encyclopedia of Ancient Greek and Roman Humanities, it is organized as a set of interconnected encyclopedias, each one providing a validated and balanced representation of a specific subject. Scholars and readers will find extensive and detailed up-to-date treatment of key topics in each entry of GROH, ranging from the history of research to open perspectives and new trends. Besides the classic encyclopedic approach, extensive metadata will allow to search the content for persons, periods, places, and subjects.
Tracing the Stoic Aristobulus: Insights into Philodemus’ On Sense Perceptions (PHerc. 19/698), Col. 19 Monet, in: «Analecta Papyrologica», 41 (2026) AoP
This paper re-examines and provides new readings for PHerc. 19/698, col. 19 Monet, where a refere...
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This paper re-examines and provides new readings for PHerc. 19/698, col. 19 Monet, where a reference to Aristobulus and an epistemological work by him is made. It argues through further elements that this Aristobulus can only be the Stoic philosopher, pupil of Chrysippus, for whom von Arnim unfortunately did not reserve a place in the third volume of the Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta.
This is the first Italian edition of Ludwig Edelstein’s book The Meaning of Stoicism (Cambridge, ...
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This is the first Italian edition of Ludwig Edelstein’s book The Meaning of Stoicism (Cambridge, MA: published for Oberlin College by Harvard University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1966). Written by one of the greatest scholars of antiquity and experts on Stoicism of the last century, the volume contains the lectures delivered by Edelstein at Oberlin College, under the auspices of the Charles Beebe Martin Foundation, in April of 1956.
This paper provides a detailed description of the important contribution made by Amedeo Peyron (T...
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This paper provides a detailed description of the important contribution made by Amedeo Peyron (Turin, 1785-1870) to the history of Coptic papyrology. The general content of the ‘Fondo Peyron’ preserved at the Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria di Torino (BNUTO) is outlined, offering a bibliological analysis of two still unpublished Coptic magical texts, discovered by Christian Vassallo and of which Korshi Dosoo, Nathan Carlig, and Christian Vassallo are preparing the editio princeps.
This volume is the first of its kind entirely devoted to Crantor of Soli, an extraordinary figure...
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This volume is the first of its kind entirely devoted to Crantor of Soli, an extraordinary figure of the Old Academy and shall provide the most complete picture of the aspects of Crantor’s philosophy (including its connection to early Stoicism), and, as such, benefit scholars of Ancient Philosophy, Greek and Latin Literature, and Ancient History.
This paper attempts to demonstrate how the ‘deterministic’ paradigms (often expressed through fam...
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This paper attempts to demonstrate how the ‘deterministic’ paradigms (often expressed through famous metaphors) found in Heraclitus’ corpus of testimonies and fragments can be seen as forms of justification and explanation of the (physical and human) world. The analysis focuses first of all on the doxographical pieces of evidence available to us. Some confirm that a clear notion of Fate and Necessity can be ascribed to Heraclitus. The extant fragments, however, reveal that it is not possible to work out a univocal understanding of ‘determinism’ from the close relationship of Fate and Necessity. This issue is further explored via five case studies: Ekpyrosis (viz. the cosmic conflagration), Dike, Nomos, Moira, and Daimon. In the end, this investigation demonstrates that according to Heraclitus, the concepts of Fate and Necessity never justify suppressing human will: they seem to establish an embryonic ‘philosophy of freedom’ in the history of Greek thought, rather than an iron ‘deterministic’ doctrine.
This paper provides a new edition of the extant testimonies to the Stoic Apollophanes of Antioch ...
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This paper provides a new edition of the extant testimonies to the Stoic Apollophanes of Antioch (3rd century BCE), a close follower of Aristo of Chios, and a full overview of his bios and doctrine as it emerges also from important new evidence not taken into account in von Arnim’s Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta. It is shown that defining Apollophanes as a ‘heterodox’ Stoic tout court does little justice to the complexity of his positions, especially those which distinguish him from his teacher, sometimes in a striking way.
This paper examines Anaxagoras’ influence on Stoic cosmology and physics. In particular, it empha...
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This paper examines Anaxagoras’ influence on Stoic cosmology and physics. In particular, it emphasizes the importance of the Anaxagorean notion of Mind (Nous) for the early Stoics, who make significant changes and adjustments to it as they integrate it into their philosophical system. In addition, it further analyzes Anaxagoras’ contributions to the Stoic development of the notion of continuity and infinite divisibility of matter. Despite the obvious differences, both theoretical and lexical affinities show that the early Stoics were well aware of Anaxagoras’ book On Nature and were influenced by him perhaps no less than they were by Heraclitus.
Please note this paper is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license.
The paper is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers
under this same license.
This volume provides for the first time in scholarship a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of t...
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This volume provides for the first time in scholarship a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the relationship between Stoicism and early Greek philosophy, from Orphism to the Monists and the Pluralists. Going beyond the common assumption that the Stoics refer exclusively to Heraclitus, it is shown that almost the entire Presocratic tradition (sometimes mediated decisively by Plato and Aristotle) has made a fundamental contribution to the foundation of Stoic thought, especially in the field of physics (i.e., cosmology, ontology, and theology).
Please note this paper is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license.
The paper is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers
under this same license.
This volume provides for the first time in scholarship a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of t...
more
This volume provides for the first time in scholarship a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the relationship between Stoicism and early Greek philosophy, from Orphism to the Monists and the Pluralists. Going beyond the common assumption that the Stoics refer exclusively to Heraclitus, it is shown that almost the entire Presocratic tradition (sometimes mediated decisively by Plato and Aristotle) has made a fundamental contribution to the foundation of Stoic thought, especially in the field of physics (i.e., cosmology, ontology, and theology).
Please note this volume is published with Brepols Publishers as a Gold Open Access article under a Creative Commons CC 4.0: BY-NC license.
The volume is also freely available on the website of Brepols Publishers
under this same license.
This paper analyzes in depth the use that Diogenes of Babylon made of Plato’s Laws in his treatis...
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This paper analyzes in depth the use that Diogenes of Babylon made of Plato’s Laws in his treatise devoted to musical subjects, of whose content we are informed thanks to one of the best preserved Herculaneum texts: Book 4 of Philodemus’ On Music. The Platonic legacy in Diogenes is examined from three points of view: a) the ethical-pedagogical effects of music (Leg. 2); b) the educational role of gymnastics and the classification of dances (Leg. 7); c) the problem of nomos and its relationship to the Stoic concept of justice (Leg. 6 and 9). The paper attempts to demonstrate that, if it is true that Diogenes refers to Plato sometimes even with literal quotations, he emancipates himself from the political project of the Laws (only apparently less radical than that of the Republic) in the name of a principle of adaptation to social reality that represents one of the most important ethical claims in the last stage of early Stoa.
Per una ricostruzione della bio-dossografia di Diogene di Babilonia (da Ercolano all’Egitto e oltre), in: «Aegyptus», 104 (2024) 47-68
This paper offers a complete overview of all the problems raised by the bio-doxography of Diogene...
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This paper offers a complete overview of all the problems raised by the bio-doxography of Diogenes of Babylon, the fifth scholar of the Stoic School. In particular, all the most important innovations that have emerged in recent decades from research on papyri (especially the Herculaneum rolls) and their consequences on the historical-philosophical level are illustrated. After a re-examination of the debated question of the chronology of Diogenes of Babylon, an updated review of the known titles of his works is finally given.
This ‘monographic’ paper presents the editio princeps of the first part of PHerc. 1004, almost en...
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This ‘monographic’ paper presents the editio princeps of the first part of PHerc. 1004, almost entirely neglected in Siegfried Sudhaus’ edition of Philodemus’ On Rhetoric. We demonstrate that all this first part is divided into two sections: the first directed against an unknown author (possibly a Sophist), the second to Bion of Borysthenes. All these columns precede the section of PHerc. 1004 entirely devoted to the criticism of Diogenes of Babylon and pave the way to the systematic attack of Philodemus against the Stoic concept of rhetoric, possibly extending to the fourth and last part of the book as well, where Aristo is criticised.
(With S. Coen), Notes on Philodemus’ De Stoicis (PHerc. 155 and 339), in: «Analecta Papyrologica», 38 (2024) 101-117
In this paper we offers new readings and some textual and exegetical notes on cols. XI, XII–XIV, ...
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In this paper we offers new readings and some textual and exegetical notes on cols. XI, XII–XIV, and XX Dorandi of Philodemus’ On the Stoics (PHerc. 339 + PHerc. 155).