Philosophers, Scholarship on

This entry examines ancient scholarship on philosophers in two interconnected domains: the philological and exegetical treatment of philosophical texts, and the biographical and doxographical investigation of figures identified as philosophers. It traces the development of these practices from Classical Greece to Late Antiquity, distinguishing between Greek and Latin traditions while recognising their many points of contact. In the Greek world, scholarship ranged from the preservation, editing, classification, and interpretation of philosophical writings to the systematic production of commentaries, introductions, lexica, and bio-doxographical compilations. Particular attention is given to Aristotelian, Platonic, Epicurean, and later Neoplatonic traditions, as well as to major figures such as Aristotle, Andronicus, Diogenes Laërtius, Porphyry, and Proclus. The Latin section highlights the more selective but still significant contribution of authors such as Cicero, Apuleius, Calcidius, and Boethius, especially in the fields of translation, doctrinal systematisation, and commentary. Overall, the entry presents ancient scholarship on philosophers as a broad and dynamic field that combined textual criticism, exegesis, canon formation, translation, and the construction of philosophical biographies and successions.