Bekker numbers

Bekker numbers are the page numbers used in the Prussian Academy of Sciences edition of the complete works of Aristotle. They take their name from the editor editor of that edition, the classical philologist August Immanuel Bekker (1785-1871).

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Bekker numbers take the format of four numbers, a letter for column 'a' or 'b', then the line number. For example, the beginning of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is 1094a1, which corresponds to page 1094 of Bekker's edition of the Greek text of Aristotle's works, first column, line 1.

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All modern editions or translations of Aristotle intended for scholarly readers use Bekker numbers, in addition to or instead of page numbers. Contemporary scholars writing on Aristotle use the Bekker number so that the author's citations can be checked by readers without having to use the same edition or translation that the author used.

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Some works of Aristotle do not have Bekker numbers. Most notably, the Constitution of Athens, the text of which was only discovered in 1890, was not available to Bekker and so was not included in his edition. While Bekker numbers are the dominant method used to refer to the works of Aristotle, Catholic or Thomist scholars often use, generally in addition to Bekker numbers, the medieval method of reference by book, chapter, and sentence.

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Stephanus pagination is the comparable system for referring to the works of Plato.

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Constitution of Athens: REDIRECT Constitution of the Athenians...

1890: 1890 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar)....

Catholic: Catholic (literally meaning: according to (kata-) the whole (holos) or more generally "universal" in Greek) is a religious term with a number of meanings:...

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