RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Arias Aristotle
ARISTIDES, ar"is-tai'diz, MARCIANUS: An Athenian philosopher, who, according to Eusebius (Hist. eccl. , iv. 3), wrote a popular Christian apology. Little was known of the work till 1891, when Harris and Robinson published a complete Syriac version and proved at the same time that the greater part of the apology is contained in the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat (q.v.), extant in many Greek manuscripts and numerous translations . Since that time much attention has been paid to the work. It is addressed to Antoninus Pius and has points of contact with the Kerygma of Peter, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Didache, and Justin, but more especially with the letter to Diognetus. After speaking of the true idea of God (chap, i.), it takes up the origin of the nations which followed error and those which followed the truth. The barbarians are treated in chapters iii.-vii., the errors of the Hellenes in viii.-xiii. with an excursus on the Egyptians (xii.), chapter xiv. is devoted to the Jews, and xv.-xvii. speak of the Christians, especially of their life and customs, in an attractive and instructive manner. Through the apology the name Aristides obtained a certain literary popularity among the Armenians. A homily " On the Call of the Thief and the Answer of the Crucified " (Luke xxiii. 42-43) and a fragment of a letter " To All Philosophers " are ascribed to him. Other names from old Christian literature besides that of Aristides were applied to literary frauds in Armenia from the fifth to the seventh century (cf. F. C. Conybeare, in The Guardian, July 18, 1894).
(A. Harnack.)
Bibliography: The Greek and Syriac texts (the latter from a manuscript of Mount Sinai), with introduction and translation, were published by J. R. Harris and J. A. Robinson in TS, i., Cambridge, 1891; there is a translation by D. M. Kay in ANF, ix. 259-279; the Armenian text was published by the Mechitarists at Venice in 1878. Consult Harnack, Litteratur, i. 96, 1893; J. R. Harris, The newly recovered Apology of Aristides, its Doctrine and Ethics, London, 1891; M. Picard, L'Apologie d'Aristide, Paris, 1892; R. Raabe, in TU, ix., 1892; P. Pape, in TU, xii., 1894; R. Seeberg, Der Apologet Aristides, Erlangen, 1894; J. A. Robinson, Apology of Aristides, Edinburgh, 1896; Kriiger, History, where a bibliography of the principal contributions to periodical literature up to 1897 is given.
(( ARISTO OF PELLA: Reputed author of a " Dialogue between Jason and Papiscus concerning Christ. " The work was known to Celsus, and Origen (Contra Celsum, iv. 52) defends it against his contemptuous opinion without naming the author. Maximus Confessor in his scholia to the " Mystic Theology " of Dionysius the Areopagite (chap, i., p. 17, ed. Corderius) ascribes it to Aristo of Pella, and Eusebius (Hist, eccl., iv. 6) quotes from Aristo (without naming the work) concerning the war of Bar-Kokba. Citations in Jerome show that the author used the Bible-version of Aquila. A letter, wrongly attributed to Cyprian (Opera, iii. 119-120, ed. Hartel), states that a certain Celsus made a Latin translation of the Dialogue, probably in the nith century, and tells that Jason was a Jewish Uiristian and Papiscus an Alexandrian Jew and that the former converted the latter. The work was probably written between 140 and 170 and was
used by Tertullian and Cyprian, and made the basis of other works of a similar character.
(A. Harnack.)
Bibliography: A. C. McGiffert, Dialogue between a Christian and a Jew, New York, 1889; Harnack, Litteratur, i. 92-95; Kriiger, History, 104-105; Schurer, Geschichte, i. 63-65, Eng. transl., I. i. 69-72.
ARISTOBULUS, ar"is-to-biu'lus : 1. The name of several notable persons in the last period of Jewish history, belonging to the Hasmonean and Herodian families. See Hasmoneans; Herod and his Family.
2. A Jewish Alexandrian writer of the time of Ptolemy VI. Philometor, according to Clement of Alexandria (Stromata, II. xv. 72; xxii. 50; V. xiv. 97; VI. iii. 32), Origen (Contra Celsum, iv. 17), Anatolius (in Eusebius, Hist, eccl., vii. 32), and Eusebius (Prwp. evan., vii. 14; viii. 10; xiii. 12; Chron., ed. Schoene, ii. 124-125). In II Mace. i. 10 an Aristobulus is mentioned as teacher of one of the Ptolemies and the most influential member of the Jewish Alexandrian diaspora, and a letter is addressed to him written under Philometor. Clement and Eusebius identify the author quoted by them with the one mentioned here. Accordingly Aristobulus flourished about 170-150 B.C. Clement (V xiv. 97) states that he wrote " abundant books to show that the peripatetic philosophy was derived from the law of Moses and from the other prophets," and Eusebius (Chron.) that he wrote expositions of the writings of Moses, which he dedicated to Philometor. Fragments are found in Eusebius (Prwp., viii. 10 and xiii. 12; cf. Hist, eccl., VII. xxxii. 16-19). They express two of the fundamental thoughts of the Alexandrian Jewish apologists, — that the heathen writers derived their wisdom from the writings of Moses, and that the anthropomorphisms of the Old Testament must not be taken literally. It is questionable, however, whether this Aristobulus is a historical person. Hody, Willrich, and others have brought forward weighty reasons for thinking him a Jewish fiction. Whether the instructor of Philometor was first invented and afterward the apologist or vice versa must be left undecided.
(W Bousset.)
Bibliography: H. Willrich, Juden und Griechen vor der makkabaischen Erhebung, Gottingen, 1895; M. Joel, Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte zu Anfang des zweiten Jahrhunderts, 79-100, Breslau, 1880; Elter, De Aristobulo Judceo, Bonn, 1894-95 (of value); Schurer, Geschichte, iii. 384-392, 1898, Eng. transl., II. iii. 237-243 (very full in its list of books, for which the article in KL is also worth consulting).
ARISTOTLE, ar'is-tet-1: Greek philosopher; b. at Stagira, in Thrace, 384 B.C.; d. at Chalcis, on the island of Eubcea, 322 B.C. At the age of seventeen he became a scholar of Plato in Athens and remained with him twenty years; after Plato's death (347 B.C.) he went to the court of Hermias, at Atarneus in Mysia; in 343 B.C. he was summoned by King Philip of Macedon to become teacher of his son Alexander. After the latter became king, Aristotle opened a school in Athens (probably in 334 B.C.) near the temple of Apollo Lykeios (whence it was called the Lyceum, while from his habit of giving instruction while walking back and forth the school has been called peripatetic, from Gk.
Aristotle
Ark of the Covenant