How we came to have the Aristotle books we have — the fragility of historical preservation

Aristotle died in Greece in 322 BCE. In 86 BCE, the Roman general (and soon-to-be dictator) Sulla captured Athens. He confiscated the library of a man named Apellicon of Teos, whose collection included manuscripts of Aristotle and Theophrastus. Sulla had the library transported to Rome, where the meticulous Andronicus of Rhodes edited the texts, forming […]