Michael of Ephesus

Michael of Ephesus (c. 1090 – c. 1155 CE) was a Byzantine scholar and one of the most prolific Aristotelian commentators of the medieval Greek tradition. He worked in Constantinople and is associated with the philosophical circle organized by the princess Anna Komnene, which undertook to produce commentaries on Aristotle's works. He commented on a wide range of treatises, with a notable focus on the biological works—including the Movement of Animals, Generation of Animals, Parts of Animals, and Progression of Animals—as well as the Parva naturalia, parts of the Nicomachean Ethics (books 5, 9, and 10), the Metaphysics, the Politics, and the first sustained commentary on the Sophistical Refutations. His exegesis helped fill gaps left by the late-antique Neoplatonic commentators, and his work later circulated in the Latin West through translation.