The first writings of Alexander translated into Arabic were some of his personal works, and two commentaries lost in Greek: on the Physics, and on the De gen. et corr. We are told in the K. al-Fihrist that Qusta ibn Luqa, the translator of the Placita philosophorum (see above, ‘‘Aetius’’) translated the first book of Alexander’s commentary on the De gen. corr. (p. 251.4 F); as for the commentary on the Physics, Qusta ibn Luqa translated Aristotle’s text ‘‘with Alexander of Aphrodisias’ commentary” as for the ‘‘fourth book,’’ which is said to contain further subdivisions; Ibn al-NadIm mentions also books V and VII, still under the heading of Aristotle’s text with Alexander’s commentary (see Lettinck 1994:3). Within the ‘‘circle of al-Kindl,’’ some of the so-called Quaestiones were translated, mostly of cosmological nature (see Fazzo and Wiesner 1993). In the Istanbul MS that contains the collection under scrutiny, Alexander’s Quaest. have been transmitted together with some propositions of Proclus’ Elements of Theology, under the general heading ‘‘What Alexander extracted from Aristotle’s book called Theology’’ (see van Ess 1966; Endress 1973). The Istanbul MS contains also two writings whose Greek antecedent is lost, and whose linguistic and doctrinal features are akin to the other translations of the ‘‘circle of al-Kindl’’: On Providence and On the Regimen of the Heavens (both edited by Ruland 1976). Another cosmological writing is attributed to Alexander, which shares the features of this group of translations: a treatise (unknown in Greek) On the First Cause, Its Effects and the Latter’s Movements (edition: Endress 2002). Finally, the translation of Alexander’s question On Colours, while attributed to Ishiaq b. Hunayn, has been connected to the productions of the ‘‘circle of al-Kindl’’ (edition: Gatje 1967).
World History
