Libraries and Intellectual Debate in the Late Republic: the Case of the Aristotelian Corpus

Abstract

The present chapter explores the catalyzing function of libraries in the intellectual debate of the late Roman Republic, by focusing on the significant case of the Aristotelian esoteric corpus. A careful analysis of the literary and historical evidence concerning the use of Peripatetic texts allows to detect the presence of at least two important libraries containing Aristotle's 'pragmatiai' in Roman Italy: Lucullus' collection in Tusculum and Sulla's one in Cumae. Several Greek and Latin sources bear witness to the vicissitudes of such libraries, and the present paper reassesses their accounts in order to point out the close connection between intellectual patterns and material culture - ideological trends and library resources - in the Roman world.