About our staff
Dr Benjamin Harriman
Teaching Fellow in Greek; Greek
- Tel: +44 (0)131 651 5198
- Email: Benjamin.Harriman@ed.ac.uk
- Room 00M.02,William Robertson Wing, Old Medical School
Office hours
Biography
I read classics at St Andrews before moving south to study ancient philosophy at Cambridge. There I completed my PhD work on Melissus of Samos, a Presocratic monist in the Eleatic tradition. I taught Greek and ancient philosophy at Durham, and I have now, happily, moved further north to Edinburgh.
Summary of research interests
Places:- Europe
- Mediterranean
- Ancient Civilisations
- Language & Literature
- Medicine, Science & Technology
- Politics
- Antiquity
Research interests
Greek and Roman philosophy, with a particular focus on natural philosophy and metaphysics.
Current research activities
My current research project is aimed at addressing the place of physics in the philosophy of the Stoics. How does natural philosophy inform logical and ethical discourse? Does the status of natural philosophy change during the development of Stoicism; how do account for that change? I have a particular interest in the Stoicism of the Roman Empire and how these Stoics incorporated physics in their works. Articles on Heraclitus and the early Stoics, and Marcus Aurelius and natural philosophy are in progress.
Undergraduate teaching
- Greek Intermediate (Greek 1c/1d, 2a/2b, 2a/b-ex beginner)
- Socrates and Plato
- Socrates and Plato: Five Dialogues
- The Greek World
Books - Authored
Harriman, B. (2018) Melissus and Eleatic Monism. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressDOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108236324
Articles
Harriman, B. (2021) Establishing the Logos of Melissus: A note on Chapter 1, Hippocrates' De natura hominis. Revista Archai, pp. 1-21DOI: https://doi.org/10.14195/1984-249X_31_24
Harriman, B. (2021) A note on Cleanthes and early Stoic cosmogony. Mnemosyne: A Journal of Classical Studies, 74(4), pp. 533-552DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525X-12342771
Harriman, B. (2020) Musonius Rufus, Cleanthes, and the Stoic community at Rome. Elenchos, 41(1), pp. 71-104
Harriman, B. (2015) The beginning of Melissus' On Nature or On What-Is: A reconstruction. Journal of Hellenic Studies, 135, pp. 19-34DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S007542691500004X
Chapters
Harriman, B. (forthcoming) Marcus Aurelius and the earlier Stoic tradition. In: Sellars, J. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius. Cambridge University Press
Harriman, B. (forthcoming) Philosophical development in the WEST. In: The World of the Western Greeks. Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Harriman, B. (forthcoming) That man is born with an inclination towards virtue. In: Sellars, J. and Gloyn, L. (eds.) Brill’s Companion to Musonius Rufus. Brill