In the margins of the main manuscript preserving Pachymeres’ Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Marcianus gr. 212) we come across some fascinating branch-diagrams (see Image 1), which were used as didactic tools for beginners. More specifically, they were meant to compartmentalise philosophical knowledge through visualisation of terms making them easier for students to remember.

Interested users are invited to transcribe the headings of the diagrams using an on-screen keyboard. We would also like to see how these diagrams are translated by the 21st-century audience and what impact they may have especially on people that have no prior familiarity with Greek philosophy, in view of the extensive use of “concept mapping” or “conceptual diagrams” as successful pedagogical techniques of learning in higher education nowadays.

You can access the online exercise from here.