The Byzantine Scholia to Aristotle and Empedocles’ Cosmic Cycle

Abstract Some Byzantine scholia to Aristotle offer numerical indications on the time-length of some phases of Empedocles’ cosmic cycle. In recent years an interpretation has become established, according to which the scholia pro-vide evidence for a cycle with three periods: the Sphairos and two opposite phases of Love’s and Strife’s unfolding. This paper emphasizes, in contrast, that the picture of the cycle we can draw from the scholia is not as clear-cut as generally supposed. On the contrary, the scholia can be adapted to dif-ferent, even contrasting, reconstructions of the Empedoclean cycle. Moreo-ver, they seem to challenge the received idea of Empedocles’ cycle as the Sphairos and two symmetrical phases of increasing Love and Strife. Rather, they can conform to a picture of the cycle with two cosmic periods: a period of rest and union under Love (Sphairos) and a period of movement and separation under Strife. Ultimately, this contribution emphasizes the highly problematic nature of the scholia, indicates the difficulties in drawing whole cosmological systems from them and advises against any ‘orthodoxy’ in their interpretation.