 | Bekker numbers: Encyclopedia - Bekker numbers
Bekker numbers
Bekker numbers are the page numbers used in the Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of the complete works of Aristotle. They take their name from the editor of that edition, the classical philologist August Immanuel Bekker (1785-1871).
Bekker numbers take the format of four numbers, a letter for column 'a' or 'b', then the line number. For example, the beginning of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is 1094a1, which corresponds to page 1094 of Bekker's edition of the Greek text of Aristotle's works, first column, line 1.
All modern editions or translations of Aristotle intended for scholarly readers use Bekker numbers, in addition to or instead of page numbers. Contemporary scholars writing on Aristotle use the Bekker number so that the author's citations can be checked by readers without having to use the same edition or translation that the author used.
Some works of Aristotle do not have Bekker numbers. Most notably, the Constitution of Athens, the text of which was only discovered in 1890, was not available to Bekker and so was not included in his edition. While Bekker numbers are the dominant method used to refer to the works of Aristotle, Catholic or Thomist scholars often use the medieval method of reference by book, chapter, and sentence, albeit generally in addition to Bekker numbers..
Stephanus pagination is the comparable system for referring to the works of Plato.
Bekker numbers - Specific numbers
The following list is incomplete. Works with an '*' are disputed works.
- (1a) Categories
- (16a) On Interpretation
- (24a) Prior Analytics
- (71a) Posterior Analytics
- (100b) Topics
- (164a) Sophistical Refutations
- (184a) Physics
- (268a-313) On the Heavens
- (314a) On Generation and Corruption
- (338a) Meteorology*
- (391a-401) On the Cosmos* or "De Mundo" (spurious)
- (402a) On the Soul
- (436a) Parva Naturalia
- (486a) History of Animals
- (715a) On the Generation of Animals
- (805a) Physiognomics*
- (830a) On Marvellous Things Heard*
- (859a) Problems*
- (980a) Metaphysics
- (1094a) Nicomachean Ethics
- (1214a) Eudemian Ethics
- (1249a) Virtues and Vices*
- (1252a) Politics
- (1343a) Economics
- (1354a) Rhetoric
- (1447a) Poetics
Category: Classical studies
Other related archives1890, Aristotle, August Immanuel Bekker, Categories, Catholic, Classical studies, Constitution of Athens, Eudemian Ethics, History of Animals, Metaphysics, Meteorology, Nicomachean Ethics, On Generation and Corruption, On Interpretation, On the Cosmos, On the Generation of Animals, On the Heavens, On the Soul, Physics, Poetics, Politics, Posterior Analytics, Prior Analytics, Rhetoric, Stephanus pagination, Thomist, Topics
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Bekker numbers", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
