ABSTRACT
The main purposes of this paper are twofold: I would like to show how, in the early Peripatos, the doctrine of sleep was a very important topic, especially because it was related to psychology; and second, I would like to validate the idea that the theoretical approaches to that topic varied greatly. In order to achieve this purpose, I will take into account two philosoph ers, Clearchus of Soli, one of the direct disciples of Aristotle, and Strato of Lampsacus, another relevant Peripatetic philosopher. Both Clearchus (see, e.g., 6A = Joseph. Adv. Ap. 1.22 § 175, cf. Eus. PE 9.6.2) and Strato (see Diog. Laert. 5.59 = Strato 1 Sharpies) wrote works On Sleep (Περὶ ὕπνου = 6-9), both of which are almost completely lost, aside from the title. It is undeniable that interest in the 340“phenomenon” of sleep is mainly related to the doctrine of the soul. Nevertheless, both Clearchus and Strato, members of the school of Aristotle, dealt with sleep for very different reasons. This confirms a very significant element: the atmosphere of the early Peripatos was particularly open to discussions of widely varying philosophical positions, even on the same topic.
