Works

#1807

Seventeen-Article Constitution

Prince Shotoku · 604 CE (traditional date)

Seventeen articles of moral-political injunction · Japanese Asuka-period statecraft; Buddhist-Confucian political synthesis

Harmony is to be valued — seventeen articles that made Buddhism and Confucianism the moral foundations of the Japanese state

35% mahayana-buddhism 30% confucianism 15% legalism 10% shintoism 10% humanism +2

#1808

Definitions of Philosophy

David the Invincible · c. 5th–6th century (precise date uncertain)

Philosophical prolegomenon (introduction to philosophy) · Alexandrian Neoplatonist commentary tradition

What is philosophy? — six answers from the Greek tradition harmonised into a single propaedeutic for the Armenian philosophical curriculum

35% neo-platonism 25% aristotelianism 20% platonism-classical 10% eastern-orthodox-christianity 10% classicism +2

#1809

Ecclesiastes (Qohelet)

Solomon (traditional attribution); anonymous sage (scholarly consensus: c. 3rd century BCE) · c. 3rd century BCE (traditionally attributed to 10th century BCE)

Wisdom literature — meditative reflections and proverbs · Israelite wisdom tradition

Vanity of vanities — all is vanity; the most searching meditation on meaninglessness in the Hebrew Bible

35% rabbinic-judaism 25% pessimism 15% existentialism 10% stoicism 10% natural-theology 5% absurdism 5% israelite-wisdom +4

#1810

Book of Isaiah (chapters 1-39)

Isaiah ben Amoz · c. 740–700 BCE (oracles); redacted and compiled later

Prophetic oracles, vision narratives, historical prose · Israelite prophetic tradition

Holy, holy, holy — the prophet who saw God high and lifted up and demanded justice for the oppressed

30% rabbinic-judaism 25% christianity 15% liberation-theology 15% mysticism 10% natural-law 5% pacifism 5% hebrew-prophecy +4

#1811

Book of Jeremiah

Jeremiah ben Hilkiah (with Baruch ben Neriah as scribe) · c. 627–580 BCE (oracles); redacted and expanded through the 6th–5th centuries BCE

Prophetic oracles, biographical prose, confessional poetry, historical narrative · Israelite prophetic tradition

The suffering prophet who promised a new covenant written on the heart — from the ruins of Jerusalem

30% rabbinic-judaism 25% christianity 15% christian-existentialism 15% liberation-theology 10% mysticism 5% jewish-philosophy-maimonidean 5% hebrew-prophecy +4

#1812

Book of Ezekiel

Ezekiel ben Buzi · c. 593–571 BCE (oracles); compiled and edited in the exilic and early post-exilic period

Prophetic oracles, vision narratives, symbolic actions, temple blueprint · Israelite prophetic and priestly tradition

The glory departs and the glory returns — exile, resurrection, and the new temple in visionary geometry

25% rabbinic-judaism 20% kabbalah-lurianic 20% christianity 20% mysticism 10% hermeticism 5% natural-theology 5% hebrew-prophecy +4

#1813

On Nature (fragments)

Anaximenes of Miletus · c. mid-6th century BCE

Philosophical prose treatise (fragments and testimonia) · Pre-Socratic natural philosophy / Milesian school

Air as arche — rarefaction yields fire, condensation yields wind, cloud, water, earth, stone: the first quantitative mechanism of change

35% milesian-school 25% naturalism 20% materialism 10% panpsychism 10% classical-greek +2

#1814

On Floating Bodies

Archimedes of Syracuse · c. 250 BCE

Mathematical-physical treatise (axioms, propositions, proofs) · Greek mathematical physics

A body immersed in fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced — the birth of mathematical physics

30% mechanism 25% classical-greek 20% rationalism 15% realism 10% naturalism +2

#1815

On the Measurement of the Earth (reconstructed)

Eratosthenes of Cyrene · c. 240 BCE

Scientific treatise (reconstructed from secondary sources) · Hellenistic mathematical geography and astronomy

Shadow, distance, geometry — and the size of the world is known: the first precision measurement of the Earth

30% empiricism 25% classical-greek 20% rationalism 15% realism 10% naturalism +2

#1816

Conics

Apollonius of Perga · c. 200 BCE

Mathematical treatise (definitions, propositions, proofs) · Greek higher geometry

Parabola, ellipse, hyperbola — the curves that would become the orbits of planets, defined here in pure geometry

30% classical-greek 25% rationalism 15% realism 15% platonism-classical 10% formalism 5% mechanism +3

#1817

Lectures and Sayings

Gaius Musonius Rufus · c. 60–100 CE (lectures delivered); excerpts preserved 5th c. CE

Diatribes (lecture-discourses) and aphoristic excerpts · Roman Stoicism

The Roman Socrates on practical ethics — women deserve philosophy, food should be simple, exile is no evil, and virtue is practised, not theorised

50% stoicism 20% virtue-ethics 15% cynicism 15% feminism +1

#1818

Discourses (Orations)

Dio Chrysostom (Dio of Prusa) · c. 70–115 CE

Orations (speeches) and diatribes · Second Sophistic; Stoic-Cynic popular philosophy

Eighty orations from the golden-mouthed wandering sage — kingship, cosmology, the simple life, and philosophy as civic duty

35% stoicism 25% cynicism 20% platonism-classical 10% cosmopolitanism 10% classical-roman +2

#1819

Letters (fragments) and Testimonia

Apollonius of Tyana · c. 1st century CE (letters); testimonia collected 2nd–4th c. CE

Epistolary fragments and biographical testimonia · Neo-Pythagoreanism; late antique pagan piety

The voice of the wandering sage — Pythagorean piety, cosmic sympathy, and the reform of worship, surviving in fragments and the memories of later writers

45% pythagoreanism 20% middle-platonism 15% mysticism 10% hermeticism 10% perennial-philosophy +2

#1820

Elements of Theology

Proclus Lycaeus (Proclus Diadochus) · c. 450–470 CE

Axiomatic philosophical treatise (propositions with proofs) · Neoplatonism; Athenian Academy

211 propositions from the One to matter — the architecture of emanation, procession, remaining, and reversion in deductive form

55% neo-platonism 20% platonism-classical 10% aristotelianism 10% mysticism 5% scholasticism +2

#1821

On Dreams (De Insomniis)

Synesius of Cyrene · c. 404 CE

Philosophical treatise · Alexandrian Neoplatonism; Christian Platonism

Dreaming as philosophy — the imaginative spirit as gateway between body and intellect, cosmic sympathy as the medium of nocturnal revelation

40% neo-platonism 25% mysticism 20% christian-platonism 15% philosophy-of-mind +1

#1822

Tome of Leo (Epistola XXVIII)

Pope Leo I (Leo the Great) · 449 CE

Theological epistle · Latin patristic theology; Chalcedonian Christianity

"Peter has spoken through Leo" — the Christological formula of two complete natures in one person, each acting according to its proper character

40% catholicism 20% catholic-thomistic 15% eastern-orthodox-christianity 15% augustinianism 10% natural-law +2

#1823

Confessio

Patrick of Ireland (Patricius) · c. 450–461 CE

Spiritual autobiography and apologia · Latin patristic Christianity; insular Christianity

"I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned" — Providence working through weakness, captivity turned to mission, faith as the answer to exile

40% christianity 20% augustinianism 20% biblicism 10% christian-mysticism 10% catholic-thomistic +2

#1824

The Marriage of Philology and Mercury

Martianus Capella · c. 410–420 CE

Prosimetrum (alternating prose and verse); encyclopedic allegory · Late Latin encyclopedism; Neoplatonic-Stoic syncretism

The cosmic wedding that shaped a thousand years of education — Grammar, Dialectic, Rhetoric, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy, and Music as the seven bridesmaids

30% neo-platonism 20% stoicism 20% classicism 15% hermeticism 15% pythagoreanism +2

#1825

Platonic Theology (Mature (Ficino's philosophical magnum opus, composed during the height of his work at the Florentine Academy))

Marsilio Ficino · 1469–1474 (completed 1474; published 1482)

Systematic philosophical treatise in 18 books · Renaissance Christian Platonism / Neoplatonism / prisca theologia

The soul is the copula mundi — the knot binding divine and corporeal, immortal by its own nature as the Platonic tradition demonstrates and Christian faith confirms

30% platonism-classical 25% neo-platonism 15% catholic-thomistic 10% hermeticism 10% christian-platonism 10% rationalism +3

#1826

Oration on the Dignity of Man (Early (Pico was 23 years old; this was his first major philosophical statement))

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola · 1486 (composed as the opening address for the planned Roman disputation of the 900 Theses; the disputation never took place)

Oration (philosophical address) · Renaissance humanism / Christian Platonism / prisca theologia / syncretism

God gave man no fixed nature — placed at the centre of creation, he can freely fashion himself as beast or angel

35% humanism 20% platonism-classical 15% kabbalah-lurianic 10% hermeticism 10% perennial-philosophy 10% neo-platonism +3

#1827

Notebooks (Codex Atlanticus and others) (Lifelong (the notebooks span Leonardo's entire adult career))

Leonardo da Vinci · c. 1478–1519 (across Leonardo's entire career, from Florence through Milan, Rome, and Amboise)

Private notebooks, sketches, and treatise drafts · Renaissance natural philosophy / empirical investigation / art-science synthesis

Experience is the mother of all certainty — the greatest Renaissance mind's direct encounter with anatomy, mechanics, optics, and the natural world

35% empiricism 25% naturalism 15% rationalism 15% philosophy-of-science 10% aestheticism +2

#1828

The Prince (Mature (Machiavelli was 44 and writing from the bitter experience of political defeat and exile))

Niccolo Machiavelli · 1513 (composed in exile at Sant'Andrea in Percussina; published posthumously, 1532)

Political treatise in 26 chapters · Renaissance political thought / political realism / mirror of princes (inverted)

The effective truth of the thing — how states are actually maintained, not how one might wish they were

40% political-realism 20% naturalism 15% classical-roman 10% civic-republicanism 15% historicism +2

#1829

On the Differences between Plato and Aristotle (Late (Pletho was approximately 84; the work is the product of a lifetime of Platonist conviction))

Georgius Gemistus Pletho · c. 1439 (composed in connection with Pletho's attendance at the Council of Florence)

Philosophical treatise / polemical comparison · Byzantine Platonism / Renaissance Plato-Aristotle controversy

Plato is superior to Aristotle in theology, ethics, and metaphysics — and the Latin West has been led astray by preferring the student to the master

45% platonism-classical 25% neo-platonism 15% aristotelianism 10% perennial-philosophy 5% eastern-orthodox-christianity +2

#1830

Gutenberg Bible (Mature (the culmination of approximately 15 years of experimentation with movable type))

Johannes Gutenberg (Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden) · c. 1452–1455 (printed in Mainz; approximately 180 copies produced)

Printed book (two volumes, 42 lines per page) · Technological-cultural artifact / Vulgate biblical tradition / European print revolution

The technology that broke the manuscript monopoly — 180 identical Bibles produced in the time it would have taken a scribe to copy one

35% dataism-information-ontology 20% catholic-thomistic 15% protestant-reformation 15% humanism 15% cybernetics +2

#1831

Bijak (Lifelong (the poems represent Kabir's entire career; the collection is posthumous))

Kabir · c. 15th century (oral composition across Kabir's lifetime; collected and written down by disciples; the Bijak as a text dates from the 17th century)

Collection of poems, songs (pads), and couplets (sakhis) · North Indian bhakti / Sufi mysticism / Sant tradition

Neither Hindu nor Muslim — the fish in the water is thirsty: the divine is found within, and the seekers who look elsewhere are looking in the wrong direction

25% hinduism 25% sufism-wahdat-al-wujud 20% mysticism 15% advaita-vedanta 15% sikhism +2

#1832

Book of Amos

Amos of Tekoa · c. 760–750 BCE

Prophetic oracle collection (9 chapters) · Israelite prophetic literature

Let justice roll down like waters — the first literary prophet condemns a prosperous nation for grinding the poor

35% rabbinic-judaism 30% liberation-theology 20% natural-law 15% christianity 5% hebrew-prophecy +2

#1833

Book of Hosea

Hosea · c. 750–720 BCE

Prophetic oracle collection (14 chapters) · Israelite prophetic literature

I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice — the covenant as marriage, betrayal as adultery, restoration as remarriage

35% rabbinic-judaism 25% christianity 20% mysticism 20% liberation-theology 5% hebrew-prophecy +2

#1834

Poems and Laws (fragments)

Solon · c. 594–560 BCE

Elegiac and iambic verse fragments; law code (attested in later sources) · Archaic Greek lyric poetry / Athenian legal tradition

Eunomia or dysnomia — the citizen-poet argues that only justice can save the city from itself

40% classical-greek 25% civic-republicanism 20% natural-law 15% virtue-ethics +1

#1835

Fragments and Testimonia

Thespis of Icaria · c. 534 BCE onward

Dramatic fragments and ancient testimonia · Archaic Greek tragedy / Dionysiac festival

The first actor steps out of the chorus — ritual becomes theatre, and a new way of knowing the human condition is born

60% tragedy 25% classical-greek 15% aestheticism

#1836

Fragments (Silloi and On Nature)

Xenophanes of Colophon · c. 540–475 BCE

Satirical elegies (Silloi) and didactic hexameter (On Nature) — fragmentary · Pre-Socratic Greek philosophy / Ionian natural theology

If horses had gods they would look like horses — the first systematic critique of anthropomorphic religion

25% milesian-school 25% rationalism 20% pyrrhonism 15% spinozist-pantheism 15% naturalism +2

#1837

On Nature (fragments)

Alcmaeon of Croton · c. 5th century BCE

Prose treatise (fragmentary — surviving in Aristotle, Theophrastus, Aëtius) · Pre-Socratic natural philosophy / early Greek medicine

The brain is the seat of thought and health is the balance of opposing powers — empirical medicine meets Pythagorean cosmology

30% pythagoreanism 30% empiricism 25% naturalism 15% philosophy-of-mind +1

#1838

On Nature (fragments)

Philolaus of Croton · c. 440–400 BCE

Prose treatise (fragmentary — surviving in Stobaeus, Diogenes Laertius, Nicomachus, Iamblichus) · Pythagorean cosmology / pre-Socratic philosophy

Nature was fitted together from unlimiteds and limiters — the first mathematical cosmology, with the Earth in motion

50% pythagoreanism 20% structuralism 15% platonism-classical 15% rationalism +1

#1839

Fragments and Testimonia

Speusippus · c. 347–339 BCE

Prose treatises (fragmentary — surviving in Aristotle, Proclus, Iamblichus, Athenaeus) · Academic Platonism / Pythagorean-Platonic synthesis

The One is not the Good — mathematical entities, not transcendent Forms, are the primary realities

35% platonism-classical 30% pythagoreanism 20% logicism 15% aristotelianism +1

#1840

Natural History

Pliny the Elder · 77 CE

Encyclopedia (37 books) · Roman encyclopedic naturalism

Nature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallest creations — the ancient world catalogued

35% naturalism 25% stoicism 25% empiricism 15% classical-roman +1

#1841

Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian · c. 95 CE

Pedagogical treatise (12 books) · Roman rhetorical tradition

The good man speaking well — a complete programme of education from the nursery to the forum

35% classical-roman 25% virtue-ethics 25% humanism 15% civic-republicanism +1

#1842

Geography

Strabo · c. 7 BCE – 24 CE

Geographical treatise (17 books) · Hellenistic geography and Stoic philosophy

Geography as the philosopher's discipline — the known world surveyed with Stoic cosmology and empirical rigour

30% stoicism 30% empiricism 20% classical-greek 20% classical-roman +1

#1843

Satyricon

Petronius · c. 60s CE

Prose fiction with verse inserts (Menippean satire / novel) · Roman satire and the ancient novel

Trimalchio's feast as the mirror of empire — a picaresque masterpiece of social comedy and moral nihilism

30% epicureanism 25% cynicism 25% classical-roman 20% materialism +1

#1844

De Architectura

Vitruvius · c. 30–15 BCE

Technical treatise (10 books) · Roman architectural and engineering tradition

Firmitas, utilitas, venustas — the only surviving ancient treatise on architecture and the origin of the Vitruvian Man

30% classical-roman 25% mechanism 25% classical-greek 20% pythagoreanism +1

#1845

Elements

Euclid · c. 300 BCE

Mathematical treatise (13 books) · Greek axiomatic mathematics

There is no royal road to geometry — the most successful textbook in the history of mathematics

35% rationalism 25% platonism-classical 20% classical-greek 20% logicism +1

#1846

On the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and Moon

Aristarchus of Samos · c. 280 BCE

Geometric-astronomical treatise · Greek mathematical astronomy

The sun is far larger than the earth — the geometric proof that made heliocentrism thinkable

35% rationalism 25% classical-greek 20% realism 20% naturalism +1

#1847

On Pneumatics

Ctesibius of Alexandria · c. 270 BCE

Technical treatise (surviving only in secondary descriptions) · Alexandrian engineering and applied mathematics

The father of pneumatics — compressed air, flowing water, and the birth of experimental engineering

40% mechanism 25% empiricism 20% classical-greek 15% naturalism +1

#1848

Rule of St Benedict

Benedict of Nursia · c. 530 CE

Monastic rule (73 chapters of practical and spiritual legislation) · Catholic / Western monastic

A school for the Lord's service — ora et labora as the balanced path to God

45% catholicism 25% augustinianism 20% christian-mysticism 10% natural-law +1

#1849

Against the Nestorians and Eutychians

Leontius of Byzantium · c. 527–536 CE

Theological treatise in three books · Eastern Orthodox / Chalcedonian

Enhypostasia — a nature subsists within a hypostasis, solving the riddle of Christ's two-natured unity

40% eastern-orthodox-christianity 30% aristotelianism 20% cappadocian-theology 10% scholasticism +1

#1850

Nahj al-Balagha

Ali ibn Abi Talib (compiled by al-Sharif al-Radi, d. 1015) · c. 7th century CE (compiled c. 1010 CE)

Collection of sermons (khutab), letters (kutub), and sayings (hikam) · Islamic (Shia and Sunni)

The Peak of Eloquence — theology, governance, and wisdom from the gate of prophetic knowledge

35% islam 25% sufism-wahdat-al-wujud 20% islamic-philosophy-falsafa 20% natural-law +1

#1851

History of the Franks

Gregory of Tours · c. 575–594 CE

Prose history in ten books · Catholic / Merovingian Gaul

Providential history — God's judgement and mercy in the rise and fall of Merovingian kings

35% catholicism 25% augustinianism 25% historicism 15% classicism +1

#1852

Letter on Qadar

Hasan al-Basri · c. 700 CE

Theological epistle (risala) addressed to Caliph Abd al-Malik · Islamic (early Kalam / proto-Mu'tazili)

God does not compel sin — the earliest Islamic argument for human moral freedom against fatalism

35% islam 30% islamic-philosophy-falsafa 20% sufism-wahdat-al-wujud 15% pietism +1

#1853

Legal and Theological Teachings of Ja'far al-Sadiq

Ja'far al-Sadiq (compiled by al-Kulayni, al-Saduq, and others) · c. 720–765 CE (compiled 9th–10th century)

Hadith reports (akhbar) covering jurisprudence, theology, ethics, and exegesis · Islamic (Shia / Ja'fari)

The Truthful Imam's legacy — jurisprudence, theology, and esoteric knowledge from the Prophet's lineage

35% islam 25% sufism-wahdat-al-wujud 20% islamic-philosophy-falsafa 20% natural-law +1

#1854

Commentary on the Awakening of Mahayana Faith

Wonhyo · c. 660 CE

Exegetical commentary (so) on the Awakening of Faith treatise · Mahayana Buddhist (Korean / East Asian)

One Mind, two aspects — tathagatagarbha and alayavijnana are not two but one, and all beings can awaken

40% mahayana-buddhism 25% yogacara 20% pure-land-buddhism 15% madhyamaka +1

#1855

Vexilla Regis and Selected Hymns

Venantius Fortunatus · 569 CE

Liturgical hymns (iambic dimeter and trochaic tetrameter) · Catholic / Western liturgical

Vexilla Regis prodeunt — the Cross as royal banner, where classical verse meets Christian mystery

40% catholicism 30% classicism 20% christian-platonism 10% aestheticism +1

#1856

Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems

Al-Masudi · c. 947 CE

Encyclopaedic universal history and geography (30+ volumes) · Islamic historiography and geography

The Herodotus of the Arabs surveys every civilisation he can reach — universal history grounded in the traveller's own eyes

35% empiricism 25% islamic-philosophy-falsafa 25% historicism 15% islam +1

#1857

Shahnameh (Book of Kings)

Ferdowsi · c. 977–1010 CE

Epic poem in masnavi couplets (c. 50,000 couplets) · Persian epic and Zoroastrian mythological tradition

I revived the Persians with this Persian language — fifty thousand couplets against the erasure of a civilisation

30% classicism 30% zoroastrianism 25% tragedy 15% historicism +1

#1858

Hymns of Divine Love

Symeon the New Theologian · c. 1000–1022 CE

Lyric hymns in free verse and political verse (58 hymns) · Byzantine Orthodox mystical theology

I have seen the Light — the uncreated fire breaks into the monk's cell and transforms the body itself

40% eastern-orthodox-christianity 30% mysticism 20% christian-mysticism 10% christianity +1

#1859

Letters and Scientific Writings

Gerbert of Aurillac (Pope Sylvester II) · c. 980–1003 CE

Epistolary collection, mathematical treatises, and astronomical descriptions · Latin Carolingian-Ottonian scholarship

The abacus, the astrolabe, and Arabic numerals — the first mediaeval scholar-pope transmits Islamic science to Latin Christendom

30% scholasticism 25% rationalism 25% islamic-philosophy-falsafa 20% aristotelianism +1

#1860

Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions

Al-Muqaddasi · c. 985 CE

Descriptive geography (14 regional divisions) · Islamic geography (Balkhi school)

I have not described what I have not seen — the fourteen regions of the Islamic world through the geographer's own eyes

40% empiricism 25% islam 20% naturalism 15% historicism +1

#1861

Fragments

Archilochus · c. 680–645 BCE

Lyric, iambic, and elegiac fragments (c. 300 surviving fragments) · Greek archaic lyric and iambic poetry

Some Thracian delights in my shield — the first-person singular erupts into Western literature

40% classical-greek 25% aestheticism 20% cynicism 15% pessimism +1

#1862

Fragments (War Elegies)

Tyrtaeus · c. 650s BCE

Elegiac couplets (fragments) · Greek martial elegy

It is a beautiful thing to die in the front ranks — the Spartan war-poet redefines arete as civic sacrifice

35% classical-greek 25% virtue-ethics 25% communitarianism 15% conservatism +1

#1863

Fragments

Alcaeus of Mytilene · c. 620–580 BCE

Lyric stanzas in Alcaic and other metres (fragments) · Greek archaic Aeolian lyric

The ship of state is driven by the storm — wine, war, and exile in the world's first political lyric

35% classical-greek 25% civic-republicanism 20% political-realism 20% pessimism +1

#1864

Attributed Sayings and Wisdom Traditions

Imhotep · c. 2650–2600 BCE (original period; surviving references from later periods)

Wisdom sayings, medical case reports, and architectural principles (reconstructed from later references) · Egyptian wisdom literature (sebayt)

The lost voice of the first sage — wisdom, healing, and sacred architecture at the dawn of civilisation

30% natural-law 25% humanism 25% empiricism 10% perennial-philosophy 10% naturalism 5% egyptian-wisdom +3

#1865

The Exaltation of Inanna (Nin-me-šara)

Enheduanna · c. 2285–2250 BCE

Hymn (153 lines on cuneiform tablets) · Sumerian temple hymn literature

"Lady of all the me" — the first named author's cosmic hymn, personal lament, and theological revolution in a single voice

30% perennial-philosophy 25% mysticism 20% feminism 15% natural-law 10% humanism +2

#1866

Code of Hammurabi

Hammurabi · c. 1754 BCE

Legal code inscribed on a diorite stele (prologue, 282 laws, epilogue) · Mesopotamian legal tradition

"An eye for an eye" — the first great code of written law, balancing divine justice, royal authority, and social hierarchy

30% natural-law 25% legalism 20% political-realism 15% conservatism 10% deontological-ethics 5% mesopotamian-wisdom +3