Retracing the "Art of Arts and Science of Sciences" from Gregory the Great to Philo of Alexandria.

This study considers the phrase "art of arts and science of sciences," and its variants, in antiquity. Often scholars who note the phrase in a particular ancient author's writing may make reference to another ancient author, but without considering the breadth or depth of its occurrences in antiquity. Beginning with the late sixth-century Gregory the Great's Book of Pastoral Rule, this article retraces the idea through history until reaching Philo of Alexandria. Philo's two uses of the phrase have been neglected in secondary scholarship, and yet his contributions foreshadow the semantic range that will subsequently be seen.