Le cause dei terremoti in De Ostentis 53. Le fonti della sismologia di Giovanni Lido

John Lydus’ De ostentis 53 preserves an interesting section dedicated to seismic phaenomena. While dealing with the explanation of the causes of earthquakes, the author appears to be following the Pneumatic school of thought, and even though there is abundance of evidence suggesting that Lydus derives much information from Pseudo-Aristotle’s Περὶ κόσμου and Apuleius’ De mundo, this paper aims at focusing on specific traits (i.e. the author’s use of particular words, as ἐξαραίωσις [«rarefaction»]) which point towards the direction of original reinterpretation of multiple sources by John Lydus.