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Symeon Seth (c. 1035 – c. 1110)Antonie Pietrobelli (2016), Qui est Syméon Seth ? Le Projet Syméon Seth. was a Byzantine Empire scientist, translator, and official under Emperor Michael VII. He is often said to have been Jewish, but there is no evidence for this.Robert Singerman, Jewish Translation History: A Bibliography of Bibliographies and Studies (John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2002), p. 69. Either of Syrian Jews background, or Syriac Orthodox, or Nestorian, or a Rūm, Symeon was definitely a non-Muslim Syrian. He wrote four original works in Byzantine Greek and translated one from Arabic,Petros Bouras-Vallianatos and Sophia Xenophontos, "Galen's Reception in Byzantium: Symeon Seth and his Refutation of Galenic Theories on Human Physiology", Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 55 (2015): 431–469, at 436–442. and offered early proofs that the Earth was round.
During the reign of Isaac I Komnenos, Symeon witnessed a total solar eclipse in Fatimid Egypt on either 23 February 1058 or 15 February 1059. Probably he moved to Constantinople around 1071. There he sought the patronage of Michael VII and entered into literary competition with fellow polymath Michael Psellos.
According to the Alexiad (c.1148), the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos asked Symeon to translate the Arabic fable collection Kalīlah wa Dimnah into Greek. The Alexiad describes him as a mathematician and astrologer capable of predicting the future through calculations. He supposedly predicted the death of Robert Guiscard (17 July 1085). For a time he fell out of imperial favour and was imprisoned in Raidestos.
Around 1112, Symeon appears to have sold a gospel book bound between wood covers to the monastery founded by Michael Attaleiates in Constantinople. He probably died not long after. No letters written by or to Symeon survive. Nor is there evidence that he ever practiced medicine, as commonly stated.
Simeon's work Σύνοψις τῶν φυσικῶν (Conspectus rerum naturalium, "On the things of nature") is a treatise on the natural sciences divided into five books. The first concerns the earth; the second, the elements; the third, the sky and the stars; the fourth, matter, form, nature and the soul (sense perception); the fifth, the teleology and divine providence. The work is heavily influenced by the philosophy of Aristotle.A. Delatte, Anecdota Atheniensia et alia, Volume 2 (Paris, 1939), 1-89 (edition of text with historical introduction).
He learned astronomy from Arabic sourcesDavid Pingree, "Gregory Chioniades and Palaeologan Astronomy", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 18:133-160 (1964) and translated the book of fables Kalīlah wa Dimnah from Arabic to Greek in about 1080. Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 s.v. Kalilah wa-Dimnah; date from G.H. Gérould, "The Ballad of the Bitter Withy" (not seen), cited by Phillips Barry, "The Bridge of Sunbeams", The Journal of American Folklore 27:103. (January–March 1914), pp. 79-89 at JSTOR; edition and German translation by Kai Brodersen, Symeon Seth, Fabelbuch, Speyer 2021. The protagonists in the Greek version are named "Stephanites" and "Ichnelates".L.-O. Sjöberg, Stephanites und Ichnelates: Überlieferungsgeschichte und Text (Uppsala, 1962).
Seth advanced several proofs that the Spherical Earth. He noted that since the sun rises in the east before it sets in the west, it can be afternoon in Persia when it is still morning in Byzantine lands. He points out that the same eclipse that was recorded as having taken place in the afternoon by the Persians was recorded in the morning by the Greeks. Nautical and astronomical proofs are also given.
Works
He revised Psellos's Σύνταγμα κατὰ στοιχείων περὶ τροφῶν δυνάμεων (Latin Syntagma de alimentorum facultatibus or De cibariorum facultate, "On the Properties of Foods"),The full texts of the 1658 Paris edition and of Langkavel's 1893 Teubner edition are available online. The work is found in Paris manuscripts Codd. parisini græci 36, 1603, 1251, 2154, 2181, 2224, 2228, 2229, 2230, 2231, 2235, 2260, 2301, 2302, 2303, 2308, 2316, 2324, 2510, 2650; Supplément grec nos. 64, 634, 637, 1327; Paris. Coislin 335; and Parisinus latinus 7049, as well as many non-Paris mss. (see Moore, pp. 438-444). which criticizes Galen and emphasizes eastern medical traditions."Simeon Seth was the great Orientalist of Byzantine medicine... he selected the best, not only from the Greek materia medica but also from Persian, Arabic, and Indian sources". Owsei Temkin, "Byzantine Medicine: Tradition and Empiricism", Dumbarton Oaks Papers 16:95-115 (1962) at JSTOR Paul Moore says "the text is really an explanation of Aetius Amidenus Iatricorum libri xvi, with material drawn from Dioscorides Liber de alimentis. Apparently, Psellos wrote the work for the emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. It was then revised for Michael VII Doukas by Symeon Seth, who wrote a brief introduction (the proem.), made some corrections in the text, omitting some chapters. The work deals with some two hundred and twenty-eight plants and animals."Paul Moore. Iter Psellianum: a Detailed Listing of Manuscript Sources for All Works Attributed to Michael Psellos, Including a Comprehensive Bibliography (Subsidia Mediaevalia 26). Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2005 (), p. 437 (entry no. 1045 (CET.DISC.26)). The Syntagma is an important source for Byzantine cuisine and dietetics.
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