Physiognomonics

Physiognomonics

Author: Pseudo-Aristotle

3.00 of 6

Click the button below to register a free account and download the file


Download PDF

Download ePub

"Physiognomonics (Greek: Φυσιογνωμονικά, Latin: Physiognomonica) is an Ancient Greek treatise on physiognomy casually attributed to Aristotle (and part of the Corpus Aristotelicum) but now believed to be by an author writing approximately 300 BC.

The treatise is divided into sections on theory (805a1-808b10) and method (808b11-814b9). The connections between bodily features and character are treated in detail, cataloguing, for example, twelve kinds of nose, and the distinctive features of the cinaedus.

The pseudo-Aristotelian treatise begins with an allusion to Aristotle's Prior Analytics (II.27, on the body-soul correlation), and many of the physiognomic connections discussed are mentioned specifically in the History of Animals.

The author's systematic scheme of physiognomic relationships was not adopted by later writers on the subject; the proliferation of incompatible teachings had "the cumulative effect of undermining the authority of the profession as a whole.""

-- Wikipedia