ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the philosophical background of the thirteenth century ‘Syriac Renaissance’, and in particular with that of its most significant writer, Bar Hebraeus. It looks in particular at his statements on the character of the translations of Aristotle and his assessments of the interpretations of Aristotle by Arabic authors. Working from these it offers a rationale for the manner in which he made use of Syriac translations but leaned heavily on Arabic interpretations (especially that of Avicenna) in his own commentaries on the Aristotelian corpus.
