  Despite arousing the disapproval of many of his contemporaries, both pagan and Christian, Philoponus’ immediate influence may have been considerable among fellow-monophysites in Egypt. The anathema of 681, however, made the further proliferation of his theological ideas impossible. Likewise, his arch-enemy Simplicius, also a pupil of Ammonius, submitted the Grammarian’s anti-eternalism almost immediately to thundering pro-Aristotelian criticism (in his commentaries on the De Caelo and the Physics, written sometime in the late 530s). It was that polemic which resounded through the ages; its shockwaves can still be felt in later thinkers like Thomas Aquinas (1224–1274) and Zabarella (1533–1589) who carefully examined, though in the end rejected, Philoponus’ anti-eternalist arguments.  Philoponus’ work was studied extensively by the Arabs, who referred to him as Yahyâ an-Nahwî or Yahyâ al-‘Asqalânî. Al-Kindi (ca. 800–870) in particular is heavily indebted to Philoponus for his own attack on eternalism. Later on in the West, the arguments against the eternity of the world also persuaded Bonaventure (1217–1274) and Gersonides (1288–1344), and impetus theory was reaffirmed by Buridan (1300–1361) and his pupil Oresme (1325–1382).  In the sixteenth century, the first editions and numerous translations (into Latin) of Philoponus’ commentaries and the treatise Against Proclus began to appear in print. Eventually, Philoponus’ criticism of Aristotelian dynamics in the Physics commentary was widely discussed and persuaded such diverse thinkers as Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola (1469–1533) and, for different reasons, Galileo Galilei (1564–1642). In a sense, Philoponus is a Renaissance figure avant la lettre. However, historically positioned at a half way point between the Classical period and the Renaissance, he symbolizes more than anything else the Western mind’s excruciatingly slow struggle for emancipation from Aristotelianism on the one hand and blind faith in Church dogma on the other. 