Arche tou kosmou and arche tou logou. A new hypothesis on the beginning of the world in Plato's Timaeus

This paper suggest a new hypothesis on the beginning of the world in Plato's Timaeus, according to which the beginning of the universe does not really exist as such, but depends on the need to fix a starting point for the discourse concerning it. To start the discourse on the cosmos, a beginning has to be chosen in the context of its eternal becoming. This choice, however, means that the beginning chosen for the discourse, the arche tou logou, becomes an arche tou kosmou, i.e., a beginning to the story, which is nevertheless eternal, of the becoming world itself