Editing Crantor

{{Short description|3rd-century BC Greek Academic philosopher}}
{{About|Crantor the Academic philosopher|other uses|Crantor (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| name              = Crantor of Soli
| birth_date        = Mid 4th century BC
| birth_place       = [[Soli (Cilicia)|Soli]]
| death_date        = {{circa|276/5 BC}}
| death_place       = [[Athens]]
| notable_works     = ''On Grief''
| era               = [[Ancient philosophy]]
| region            = [[Ancient Greek philosophy]]
| school_tradition  = [[Old Academy]]
| institutions      = [[Platonic Academy]]
| notable_students  = [[Arcesilaus]]
| main_interests    = [[Ethics]]
| notable_ideas     = 
}}
'''Crantor of [[Soli (Cilicia)|Soli]]''' ({{langx|el|Κράντωρ}}, ''gen''.: Κράντορος; died 276/5 BC{{sfn|Dorandi|1999|p=48}}) was an [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greek philosopher]] and member of the [[Old Academy]] who was the first philosopher to write [[Commentaries on Plato|commentaries on the works of Plato]].

==Life==
Crantor was probably born around the middle of the 4th century BC, at [[Soli, Cilicia|Soli]] in [[Cilicia]] (modern-day [[Turkey]]). He moved from [[Cilicia]] to Athens in order to study philosophy,{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 24}} where he became a pupil of [[Xenocrates]] and a friend of [[Polemon (scholarch)|Polemon]], and one of the most distinguished supporters of the philosophy of the older Academy. As Xenocrates died 314/3 BC, Crantor must have come to Athens prior to that year, although the date of his birth is not known. He died  before both Polemon and [[Crates of Athens|Crates]], who succeeded Polemon as [[scholarch]]. [[Dropsy]] was the cause of his death.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 27}} He left his fortune, which amounted to twelve [[Attic talent|talents]], to [[Arcesilaus]], who had been his pupil and who later succeeded Crates as scholarch of the Academy.{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 25}}{{sfn|Smith|1870}}

==Writings==
His works were very numerous; but of these, only fragments have been preserved.  They appear to have related principally to moral subjects, and, accordingly, [[Horace]]<ref>Horace, ''Ep.'' i. 2. 4</ref> classes him with [[Chrysippus]] as a moral philosopher, and speaks of him in a manner which proves that the writings of Crantor were much read and generally known in [[Rome]] at that time.{{sfn|Smith|1870}} 

He also made some attempts at poetry; and [[Diogenes Laërtius]] relates, that, after sealing up a collection of his poems, he deposited them in the temple of [[Athena]] in his native city, Soli. He is accordingly called by the poet [[Theaetetus of Cyrene|Theaetetus]], in an epitaph which he composed upon him,<ref>Anth. Plan. ii. 28.</ref> the friend of the [[Muses]]; and that his chief favorites among the poets were [[Homer]] and [[Euripides]].{{sfn|Laërtius|1925}}

===''On Grief''===
The most popular of Crantor's works in Rome seems to have been that "On Grief" ({{langx|la|De Luctu}}, {{langx|el|Περὶ Πένθους}}), which was addressed to his friend Hippocles on the death of his son, and from which [[Cicero]] seems to have heavily relied upon in his ''[[Tusculan Disputations]]''.<ref>Marcus Tullius Cicero  and Margaret Graver ''Cicero on the Emotions: Tusculan Disputations 3 and 4'' 2009 {{ISBN|0226305783}} p188</ref> According to Cicero, the [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher [[Panaetius]] called it a "golden" work, which deserved to be learnt by heart word for word.<ref>Cicero, Acad, ii. 44.</ref> Cicero also made great use of it while writing his celebrated ''[[Consolatio (Cicero)|Consolatio]]'' on the death of his daughter, [[Tullia (daughter of Cicero)|Tullia]]. Several extracts from it are preserved in [[Pseudo-Plutarch]]'s treatise on Consolation addressed to Apollonius, which has come down to us. Crantor paid special attention to [[ethics]], and arranged "good" things in the following order - virtue, health, pleasure, riches.<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Crantor|volume=7|pages=378–379}}</ref>

===''Commentaries on Plato''===
[[Diogenes Laërtius]] says that Crantor left behind 30,000 lines of Commentaries (ύπομνήματα),{{sfn|Laërtius|1925|loc=§ 24}} but of these only fragments have been preserved.{{sfn|Smith|1870}} Crantor seems to have been the first member of the [[Platonic academy]] to write [[Commentaries on Plato|commentaries on the works of Plato]];{{sfn|Dillon|1996|p=42-43}} [[Proclus]] credits Crantor with the first commentary on the [[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]],<ref>In Tim, I 76,2</ref> and [[Eudorus of Alexandria]] makes use of Crantor's work in his own commentary, which is in turn preserved by [[Plutarch]].<ref>Plutarch, Proc. An. 1020B</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
===Ancient testimony===
*{{cite LotEP|chapter=Crantor|§=24-27}}
* [[Cicero]], ''[[Academica (Cicero)|Academica]]''
* {{cite web |last1=Plutarch |title=On the Generation of Soul in Timaeus |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0386%3Asection%3D1 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=26 June 2023 |author1-link=Plutarch }}
* [[Pseudo-Plutarch]], Consolation to Apollonius

===Modern scholarship===
*{{cite book |last1=Dillon |first1=John M. |title=The Middle Platonists, 80 B.C. to A.D. 220 |date=1996 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-8316-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJQ9dvgh6BwC |access-date=26 June 2023 |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last=Dorandi  |first=Tiziano |chapter=Chapter 2: Chronology |editor-last=Algra |editor-first=Keimpe |display-editors=etal |year=1999 |title=The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory00algr  |url-access=limited  |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory00algr/page/n67 48] |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521250283 }}
*{{cite DGRBM|title=Crantor|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dcrantor-bio-1}}
*{{cite book |last1=Vassallo |first1=Christian, De Simone, Pia, and Fleischer, Kilian |display-editors=etal |title=Brill's Companion to Crantor of Soli |date=2025 |publisher=Leiden-Boston, Brill |doi=10.1163/9789004708785 |isbn=978-90-04-70878-5 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004708785}}

{{Platonists}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:4th-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Academic philosophers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek ethicists]]
[[Category:Greek-language commentators on Plato]]
[[Category:Deaths from edema]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:270s BC deaths]]