Challenging Mainstream Reception: Theodore Prodromos on Aristotle’s Theory of Colors

In this paper, I examine Theodore Prodromos’s treatise To the Caesar or For the Color Green. This work, addressed to an unnamed Caesar—most likely Nikephoros Bryennios—embodies a unique reaction to an individual who praised the superiority of white and black over other colors. By employing a humorous tone and clever wordplay, Prodromos refutes his opponent's views and presents a counterargument that is, for the most part, rooted in Aristotle’s Categories, Sense and Sensibilia, On the Soul, and Generation and Corruption. This treatise becomes even more peculiar when considering that, around the same period, Michael of Ephesus wrote a commentary on the Pseudo-Aristotelian treatise "On Colors". Conspicuously, Prodromos takes a completely different approach from his scholarly peer. Not only does he avoid using this work, falsely attributed to Aristotle, but he also rejects the mainstream Peripatetic views followed by Michael of Ephesus. Instead, Prodromos closely follows Aristotle’s own works and argues that none of the four basic elements have inherent color, thus diverging from the mainstream Peripatetic tradition. As I argue, this treatise not only reveals the depth of Prodromos’s mastery of Aristotle’s works but also discloses the intricate philosophical debates on perception and natural philosophy in twelfth-century Byzantium. Additionally, a close reading of this work enables us to see how Prodromos strategically uses invective, rhetorical skill, and philosophical erudition to secure patronage within the Byzantine intellectual landscape.