Theodoros of Smyrna. Epitome of Nature and Natural Principles according to the Ancients

Theodoros Smyrnaios […] is rather well-known as a “curo-palate”, “protoedros”, “koiaistor” and “hypatos ton philosophon” at Constantinople. A beautiful lead seal on display in the Numismatic Museum of Athens bears the inscription ΘΕΟΤΟΚΕ, ΒΟΗΘΕΙ ΤΩι ΣΩι ΔΟΥΛΩι ΘΕΟΔΩΡΩι ΑΕΔΡΩι ΚΑΙ ΚΟΙΑΙΣΤΩΡΙ ΤΩι ΣΜΥΡΝ<ΑΙ>Ωι. […]
His “Epitome of the Ancients’ Discussions on Nature and its Principles” (Επιτομή των όσα περί φύσεως και των φυσικών αρχών τοις παλαιοίς διείληπται), only survives in one codex at Vienna: Codex Vindobonensis Theologicus Graecus 134, f. 238r-262v, ca. 1300 written by many scribes as a miscellany originating from the Monastery of Stoudion (subsequent owners were Marcus Mamounas the Cretan and Janos Zsamboky, aka Johannes Sambucus), is the sole -unpublished to date- extant philosophical work by Theodoros; it is telling that it is kept in the Collection of Theological works of the great Library of Greek manuscripts of the Austrian capital, as the codex is a miscellany of theological works (Basil the Great, Gregorios of Nyssa, Anastasios of Sinai a.o.). […]
The philosophical work of Theodoros of Smyrna represents an original, rather early Byzantine contribution to the history of ancient Greek philosophy, more specifically in the field of the Philosophy of Nature. Arguably it follows the time-honoured tradition of the “Placita”, i.e. the philosophical doxography that has a Byzantine precedent (under Michael VII Doukas, 1071-78) in Symeon Seth’s “Conspectus rerum naturalium” (edition A. Delatte, 1939). Notwithstanding several similarities and common sources, among the four Byzantine philosophers of the 11th-12th centuries (Michael Psellos, loannes Italos, Symeon Seth) there is no coincidence or conformity in the sense of the acceptance of ready material. The phrasing is original, the texts are structured differently and each author approaches his subject in light of the theme of each text. As becomes apparent in the title, Theodoros wishes to provide his students with a useful textbook, with the explicit caveat of the Christian author that it deals with the beliefs and teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers. […]

(From the publisher)