On the Arabic Translations of Aristotle’s Metaphysics

The article aims at providing a comprehensive account of the process of translation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics into Arabic during the Middle Ages. It consists of four sections. In the first three, the historical sources regarding the translations are taken into account. Section 1 offers a new interpretation of the available testimonia, and, on their basis, determines more precisely the original extent of the two major Arabic translations of the Metaphysics (by Us†æÚ and ïsÌæq Ibn Îunayn). Section 2 surveys the extant translations themselves. Section 3 focuses on the translation of one of the books of the Metaphysics (A), and argues for the existence of an Arabic version of this book different from the extant one, as attested by its quotations in Avicenna and al-Šahrastānī. The fourth section, finally, reconsiders the data gathered in the previous three sections: the Arabic translations of the Metaphysics are divided into three consecutive but distinct phases (IX century; first half of X century; second half of the X century-beginning of the XI century), and the main features of each of these phases are indicated.