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Wellsprings
greek-cosmologyfeatured in 30 works

Seed-Principles

The cosmos carries fiery "seed-principles" within it — rational germ-codes that shape raw matter into every ordered thing.

Logoi spermatikoi ("seminal" or "generative reasons") are the Stoic principles by which the divine cosmic Logos — pictured as a creative fire running through all matter — gives the world its structure, the way a seed unfolds into a full organism. The early Stoa formulated the idea: Zeno of Citium and, above all, Chrysippus (3rd c. BCE). Later Stoics carried it forward, it entered Neoplatonism, and it eventually shaped Christian thought, most notably the rationes seminales of Augustine.

How it traveled

  1. Ad Se Ipsum
    Vindobona (Vienna) · 170
    explains
  2. Adversus Mathematicos
    Alexandria · 190
    explains
  3. Enneades
    Rome · 270
    explains
  4. Sha'arei Orah
    Guadalajara · 1260
  5. Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)
    Cairo · 1523
  6. Pardes Rimmonim
    Tzfat · 1548
  7. Sha'ar Ma'amarei Rashbi
    Tzfat · 1570
  8. Pri Etz Chaim
    Tzfat · 1572
  9. Reshit Chokhmah
    Tzfat · 1575
  10. Sha'ar HaHakdamot
    Tzfat · 1610
  11. Ohr HaChammah on Zohar
    Tzfat · 1620
  12. Mikdash Melekh, RaMaZ Commentary on Zohar
    Tzfat · 1680
  13. Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah
    Padua · 1730
  14. Derekh Hashem
    Amsterdam · 1740
  15. Mikdash Melekh on Zohar
    Tzfat · 1750
  16. Tanya
    Liadi · 1797
  17. Maor VaShemesh
    Krakow (Cracow) · 1817
  18. Sha'arei HaYichud VeEmunah
    Strashelye · 1820
  19. Likutei Halakhot
    Breslov (Ukraine) · 1840
  20. BePardes HaChasidut VeHakabbalah
    Warsaw · 1910
  21. Talmud Eser HaSefirot
    Jerusalem · 1939
  22. Sulam on Zohar
    Jerusalem · 1945
  23. Fragmenta Logica et Physica
    Athens
    explains
  24. Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena)
    —
    explains
  25. Commentarii In Evangelium Joannis
    —
    explains
  26. Praeparatio Evangelica
    —
    explains
  27. Commentarii in evangelium Joannis (lib. 19, 20, 28, 32)
    —
    explains
  28. De Aeternitate Mundi
    —
    explains
  29. In Nicomachi Arithmeticam Introductionem
    Apamea
    explains
  30. Apologia secunda
    —
    explains

Key passages(20)

Origin Anchor — gr-logoi-spermatikoi↗origin

Fragments & Testimonia · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Moralia 141↗explains

Fragmenta Moralia · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 713↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Epiphanius, Panarion (Adversus Haereses) 64.16.7↗explains

Panarion (Adversus Haereses) · Epiphanius

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Methodius, De Resurrectione 3.10.3↗explains

De Resurrectione · Methodius

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Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Mathematicos 9.103↗explains

Adversus Mathematicos · Sextus Empiricus

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Eusebius of Caesarea, Praeparatio Evangelica 14.16.9↗explains

Praeparatio Evangelica · Eusebius of Caesarea

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 1027↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 1074↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 1132↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 499↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 580↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 747↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 749↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Chrysippus, Fragmenta Logica et Physica 986↗explains

Fragmenta Logica et Physica · Chrysippus

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Cleanthes, Testimonia et Fragmenta 497↗explains

Testimonia et Fragmenta · Cleanthes

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Eusebius of Caesarea, De Ecclesiastica Theologia 2.13.2↗explains

De Ecclesiastica Theologia · Eusebius of Caesarea

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Eusebius of Caesarea, Praeparatio Evangelica 3.9.5↗explains

Praeparatio Evangelica · Eusebius of Caesarea

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 5.7.25↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) 7.21.3↗explains

Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus

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