Correspondence between chapters and Bekker numbers in Metaphysics

Question

Where can I find a table of correspondences such that if one work cites Aristotle's metaphysics by book and chapter, I can find the passage in an edition with Bekker numbers but no chapter divisions?

Answer 1

The general format to cite Aristotle's works using Bekker numbers is as follow (there may be some minor stylistic variations):

[title,][book number.][chapter number,][page number][column letter][line number]

Here, the definitive pointer is the Bekker number (except Constitution of the Athenians and the fragments):

[page number][column letter][line number]

since each work of Aristotle has a distinct starting Bekker number (see the table). Thus, one should reckon that a citation to Topics falls between the Bekker numbers 100a and 164b (164b falls partly into On Sophistical Refutations) and vice versa. Notice that the column letter is either a or b.

Hence, one does not actually need a chapter number to find out the corresponding line in the Bekker edition. The publishment itself ought to provide enough information for the Bekker number (with a correspondence table, etc.). For example, the Loeb edition of Nicomachean Ethics indicates the correspondence on the right of the original text.

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If no information is supplied, one has to find out the correspondence by checking out other sources. I recommend The Complete Works: The Revised Oxford Translation, edited by Jonathan Barnes, volume 1 and volume 2.