The phrase ἐγχέλυές τε καὶ ἰχθύες (‘eels and fish’) appears twice inIliadBook 21, in descriptions of actions involving the river Xanthus:τὸν μὲν ἄρ’ ἐγχέλυές τε καὶ ἰχθύες ἀμφεπένοντο (203)the eels and fish dealt with him [sc. Asteropaeus].τείροντ᾽ ἐγχέλυές τε καὶ ἰχθύες οἱ κατὰ δίνας (353)distressed were the eels and fish beneath the eddies.The context in which these verses appear is not that important here, as this combination of words itself raised an interpretative problem in the minds of some ancient Homeric (...) scholars: why did Homer distinguish eels and fish when eels are a kind of fish? For instance, according to Aristonicus, Aristarchus flagged both passages ‘because Homer distinguished the eels from the fish’—and Homer would not have done that, is the implication, or it is puzzling that he did so, as he must have known that eelsarea kind of fish. (shrink)

Diogenes Laertius' list of Aristotle's works includes a Homeric Puzzles in six books, as does the list in the biography of Aristotle attributed to Hesychius. This latter also includes a Homeric Problems in ten books, which appears to be the same as an item in the biography attributed to Ptolemy al-Gharib. The later and more derivative Vita Marciana attributes to Aristotle a Homeric Questions. The only other reference to the title of such a work by Aristotle is from the anonymous (...) Antiatticista, a second-century a.d. lexicon : ‘They say Alcaeus the comic poet and Aristotle in Homeric Puzzles said this.’ Finally, Poetics 25 – which begins περὶ δὲ προβλημάτων καὶ λύσεων – is a summary, with examples, of just such a work, and a description of how to undertake such an inquiry. (shrink)

This book argues that the main focus of the life and work of Aristotle was on the natural sciences. Of central importance are his scientific expeditions, which can be reconstructed from scattered geographical statements. Comparison with modern biology confirms the empirical nature of his biological writings, and the philological approach taken here offers a corrective against premature philosophical systematizing.