[Arist.] Physiogn. 812 b 6 Bekker/ 812 b 16 Förster: οἰνωποί/ αἰγωποί. Manuscript tradition and conjecture.

The passage of the Physiognomonica of the Aristotelian Corpus discussed here has been of interest to editors and commentators since the 16th century. It has been argued that the term οἰνωποί is not the genuine reading as it seems inappropriate for describing the 'real' colour of goats' eyes. Conrad Gessner and Giovan Battista Della Porta suggested emending the mss reading to αἰγωποί on the basis of Aristotle's biological works. This is an exemplary and instructive case, where textual criticism is placed before the vast range of issues involved, as well as a number of very deep cultural factors, all of which require a broader evaluation and go far beyond the problematic nature of the single term.