Aristotle Beyond the Academy

Aristotle and the Eyes of Lady Logic

Encounter
See Aristotle gazing into Lady Logic’s eyes on the famous “Liberal Arts” fresco in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Le Puy-en-Velay in Auvergne. Aristotle was the first to codify the rules of formal logic; his Organon or compilation of logical works was central to the medieval curriculum celebrated in this late 15th-century artwork. Alongside him sits Cicero, chosen accomplice of Lady Rhetoric.

Flanking Aristotle are Priscian, the prolific 6th-century Latin grammarian and Virgil scholar, whose 18-volume “Institutiones Ggrammaticae” was also a standard feature of the medieval school curriculum. Music is attended by Tubal, also known as Jobal, "the father of all such as handle the harp and the organ" (Genesis 4:21-22), said to have invented music even before the Flood.

The details of Aristotle and Logic are clearer in this 19th-century monochrome engraving; why Logic is holding a scorpion and a salamander has not been fully explained.

Encounter
Encounter

Durham UniversityDurham University Centre for Classical ReceptionLeverhulme Trust