Shaping the "Divine Man": Holiness, Charisma and Leadership in the Graeco-Roman World 3515133984, 9783515133982

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Shaping the “Divine Man” Holiness, Charisma and Leadership in the Graeco-Roman World Edited by Marco Alviz Fernández and David Hernández de la Fuente

Classical Studies Franz Steiner Verlag

P o tsdamer Altertumswissenschaftliche Altertums wissenschaftliche Beiträge

84

Potsdamer Altertumswissenschaftliche Beiträge Herausgegeben von Elisabeth Begemann (Erfurt), Daniela Bonanno (Palermo), Filippo Carlà-Uhink (Potsdam) und Anna-Katharina Rieger (Graz) Band 84

Shaping the “Divine Man” Holiness, Charisma and Leadership in the Graeco-Roman World Edited by Marco Alviz Fernández and David Hernández de la Fuente

Franz Steiner Verlag

Gedruckt mit freundlicher Unterstützung des Instituto Universitario de Ciencias de las Religiones (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) und der Forschungsprojekte HAR2017-83613-C2-1-P und EUIN2017-85631 des spanischen Forschungsministeriums.

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek: Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Dieses Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist unzulässig und strafbar. © Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2023 Layout und Herstellung durch den Verlag www.steiner-verlag.de Druck: Beltz Grafische Betriebe, Bad Langensalza Gedruckt auf säurefreiem, alterungsbeständigem Papier. Printed in Germany. ISBN 978-3-515-13398-2 (Print) ISBN 978-3-515-13406-4 (E-Book)

Contents Foreword by the editors

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Part 1 ‘Holiness’ Concepts and Cases of Holiness in the Graeco-Roman World David Hernández de la Fuente Θεῖοι ἄνδρες vs ‘Greek Shamans’ The Case of Pythagoras and the Animals

17

Jorge Cano Cuenca Healing and Exceptionality Theia physis in Letters 1 and 2 of the Hippocratic Corpus

39

Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal The Sixteen Women of Elis

53

Manuel Albaladejo Vivero The Wise Men of India according to the Alexander Historians and Megasthenes

67

Haris Papoulias On the Notion of ἰσόθεος in Longinus’ Treatise on the Sublime

77

Ignacio Pajón Leyra The Sage as a Leader and as a Holy Man in the Cynicism of the Imperial Era Two Polemics

93

José María Zamora Calvo Elevation to the Divine in Plotinus

107

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Contents

Aitor Blanco Pérez The Social and Political Context of 4th Century Neoplatonism The Case of Lydia

119

Part 2 ‘Charisma and Leadership’ Marco Alviz Fernández The Charismatic Community as a Key Element to Understand Late Antique Higher Education

135

Edward Watts Roman, Pagan Philosophers in a Christian Empire

149

Clelia Martínez Maza The Construction of Legitimate Models of Female Auctoritas in Neoplatonism

163

Sergi Grau Guijarro Philosophers as θεῖο ἄνδρες between Diogenes Laertius and Eunapius of Sardis Tradition and Discontinuities in the Shaping of Miracle Workers

177

Marina Díaz Bourgeal Julian’s ideal Priests as Θεῖοι ἄνδρες

191

Regina Fichera The Portrait of the Philosopher as Divine Man in Late Antique Philosophical Biographies The case of Isidore of Alexandria in Damascius’ Historia Philosophica

199

Sonsoles Costero Quiroga “Very dear to the Gods” The Role Model of Neoplatonism or Proclus as a ‘Holy Man’

217

Silvia Acerbi Therapeutic δύναμις in Marinus’ Life of Proclus

229

Contents

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Part 3 ‘Transmission and Reception’ From Holiness to Leadership Raúl Serrano Madroñal Symeon the Stylite The Best Archetype of a ΘΕIΟΣ AΝHΡ in Late Antiquity?

245

José Ángel Castillo Lozano Bishop Masona’s Charismatic Construction Through Vitas Sanctorum Patrum Emeritensium

259

Anne Sheppard Neoplatonic Themes in Late Antique Poetry Pantomime Dancing as a Case Study

271

Arianna Magnolo Divinity and Humanity Some Remarks on Nonnus’ Christology in the Paraphrase

281

Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis Translation and Interpretation in the Arabic Reception of Platonism

297

Francisco López-Santos Kornberger Ἡ μόνη τῶν πασῶν ἐλευθέρα A Narrative Approach to Zoe Porphyrogennete’s Mysterious Charisma as Depicted in Michael Psellos’ Chronographia

311

Nuria Sánchez Madrid The Return of the Θεῖος ἀνήρ in the Dadaist Avant-Garde Hugo Ball’s Byzantine Christianity

325

Bibliography

339

Foreword by the Editors οὔπω γὰρ αὐτὸ τοὔνομα τῆς τύχης λέγοντες, εἰδότες δὲ τὴν τῆς ἀτάκτως καὶ ἀορίστως περιφερομένης αἰτίας δύναμιν ἰσχυρὰν καὶ ἀφύλακτον οὖσαν ἀνθρωπίνῳ λογισμῷ τοῖς τῶν θεῶν ὀνόμασιν ἐξέφραζον, ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς καὶ πράγματα καὶ ἤθη καὶ νὴ Δία καὶ λόγους καὶ ἄνδρας εἰώθαμεν δαιμονίους καὶ θείους προσαγορεύειν Plutarch, Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat 24a–b

The expression theios aner, alluded to in ancient Graeco-Roman sources, and studied in Bieler’s seminal essay in 1935, used to be generally equated with the concept of “holy man”, “divine man” or even “saint”: a charismatic leader, in Weberian terms, with a special aura of inspired wisdom and whose main prerogatives are the privileged role of mediator with the divine sphere and the cohesion of the community gathered around him From the 1970’s onward Peter Brown and his school drew scholarly attention to the nuances between holiness, charisma and spiritual leadership focusing on the holy men of Late Antiquity A distinction and categorization of sanctity, divinity, charisma, and spiritual leadership, among other areas of action of the theioi andres or, in other words, a classification of the charismata depending on the sources of their supernatural prestige, seemed at that time especially relevant As Brown pointed out in his 1971 paper “The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity”: “The holy man is frequently confused with the theios aner of late classical times, merely because both share an ability to perform miracles This is a superficial parallel: for while the theios aner continued to draw his powers from a bottomless sense of occult wisdom preserved for him in and by society – whether this is the palaios logos of the Neoplatonists, the Egyptian temple lore of the astrologer or the Torah of the Rabbi – the holy man drew his powers from outside the human race: by going to live in the desert, in close identification with an animal kingdom that stood, in the imagination of the contemporaries, for the opposite pole of all human society” 1

1

Brown 1971, 92

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Foreword by the Editors

This seems, even today, a basic task to be accomplished when studying this question The sapiential tradition is, no doubt, a differentiating mark of divine men in the GraecoRoman world, who often lived in the polis, in opposition to the ascetic saints of the desert, but these distinctive lines are frequently blurred if we consider that, sometimes, the theios aner draws his lore ultimately from divinity and transmits it to his fellow humans That is the reason why we devoted a research project, funded by the Spanish Research Ministry,2 to these basic questions: the functions of the “divine men” (and some “divine women”, as well, of course) as charismatic leaders and their cohesive role in a given socio-political community, especially in the cases of scholarly communities in late Antiquity In fact, a sort of charismatic figure, with a deep socio-political influence, a theios aner between religion, philosophy, and politics, is present throughout Graeco-Roman Antiquity, from Archaic Greece to Roman times: we only need to mention such mythical names as Pythagoras of Samos or Apollonius of Tyana But the core of the development of the theios aner as a socio-political key figure is no doubt to be found in the Roman World, combining the pagan tradition with the growing Christian influence, and based on charismatic leadership, social networking, and a henotheistic worldview, plus what we could call a ‘(neo)Platonic vulgata’ Arguably, the Late Antique version of the divine man is central to the later acceptance of this figure, in Christian or Islamic milieux Its key aspects, the combination of philosophical contemplation and socio-political praxis, will be of great relevance for later times: if we were to summarise this, we could describe it as a trio of notions: holiness, charisma, and leadership Under such premises, we have addressed the basic questions on the notion of theios aner, its origin, typology, and repercussion in a series of research seminars and, finally, in an International Conference, “Charisma and Leadership in Late Antique Schools”, held at Complutense University, Madrid, from October 2–4, 2019 The contributions presented in this volume were discussed at this conference as the main result of the joint research team This collective book aims to gather some of the methodological considerations and case studies presented then, regarding the key intersection of politics and religion in some well-known figures of the Graeco-Roman World (esp 2nd– 6th c ) The focus was laid not only on concrete individuals, but part of the contributors attempted to offer panoramic, transdisciplinary, and comparative views of divine men and women, in their cultural and intellectual context, and, above all, to examine what was the role of these figures during the Late Roman times as steps towards a social history of holiness in Antiquity The scholarly contributions are organised along three sections – 1) ‘Holiness’, 2) ‘Charisma and Leadership’, and 3) ‘Transmission and Reception’ – aiming at an overall analysis of the patterns involving charismatic leadership of the intellectual and spiritual figures in the sources and in the socio-political context, with the central axis of Late Antiquity It is, obviously, not a complete treatment or an

2

Project ref EUIN2017–85631 and HAR2017–83613-C2–1-P

Foreword by the Editors

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exhaustive panorama of the matter, but rather a collection of tesserae in the mosaic of charismatic leadership in educational communities in the Graeco-Roman World Let us first review and summarise some of the views presented in the congress and gathered in the following pages The first section, entitled ‘Holiness: Concepts and Cases of Holiness in the GraecoRoman World’ opens with some views on the philosophical and historical precedents of the θεῖος ἀνήρ and its interaction with politics and society They appropriately begin with the sage Pythagoras of Samos, considering his Late Antique biographic tradition in Porphyry and Iamblichus His problematic definition as “shaman” or “divine man” is examined by David Hernández de la Fuente in the wake of diverse scholarly tendencies which favoured terminologies and historiographical categories sometimes outdated and some other reused Not far from the idea of the θεῖος ἀνήρ is the semi-legendary physician Hippocrates of Cos, addressed by Jorge Cano Cuenca An analysis of Letters 1 and 2 of the pseudepigrapha is extremely useful to redefine Hippocrates’ therapeutic exceptionality in comparison with later figures of healing δύναμις and θαύματα Thirdly, Ana Jiménez San Cristobal deals with some “holy women” of the cult of Dionysos, the Frauengott, for Bachofen Dionysian communities of Classical and Hellenistic Times are addressed with the case study of the “Sixteen women” of the Greek city of Elis, as a precedent case for the later notion of female socio-political holiness In the fourth chapter, Manuel Albaladejo Vivero presents a review of the sources on the “wise men” of India from the point of view of the Greek mentality of Alexander’s historians The focus is laid on the encounter of the “wise men” from India with the expedition of Alexander the Great The tradition of the gymnosophists in Greek literature will leave important traces for the history of philosophy, if we consider the impact of India as a “land of wonders and wisdom” in later theioi andres such as Apollonius or Plotinus Chapter 5, by Haris Papoulias, draws attention to the meaning of the term ἰσόθεος in Longinus’ treatise On the Sublime, as a particular type of θεῖος ἀνήρ, relating it both to the figure of the artist in the ancient world and with the long-lasting idea of Deus Artifex and divino artista, to put it with the expression of Ernst Kris and Otto Kurz Ignacio Pajón Leyra, in the sixth contribution, examines the idea of the wise man in Cynicism as an exemplum of philosophical life in the biographic genre of figures such as Socrates or Diogenes of Sinope José María Zamora Calvo, in the seventh paper of this section, studies the Plotinian school in Rome as a key attempt to systematise Platonic philosophy as the best way of life in the sense of the ascent of the soul to the divine This section ends with the analysis by Aitor Blanco Pérez on the Platonic διαδοχή in the Eastern Empire, concretely in the region of Anatolia, and its socio-political influence from the local institutions to the imperial administration The second part of the volume, under the title ‘Charisma and Leadership’, begins with a methodological paper where Marco Alviz Fernández explores the concept of

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Foreword by the Editors

charismatic community, following the Weberian Sociology of Religion, and proves its significance for a better understanding of the social grounds of late antique higher education Secondly, Edward Watts raises the question of the “romanness” of pagan philosophers in Late Antiquity, an interesting reminder of a key feature of the epoch which is usually forgotten: later on, Roman and Hellenic philosophy will, as Watts puts it, “no longer fit together” In the third chapter of this section Clelia Martínez Maza offers a gender outlook on the legitimacy of women as philosophers in Late Antiquity, for pagan “divine women” appeared in the biographies not devoid from the ideological obstacle of prejudice In this kind of works prodigies or θαύματα also appeared as the main characteristic of the theios aner, a topic with which Sergi Grau Guijarro deals with in Chapter 4, in accordance with the biographical literary tradition from Diogenes Laertius to Eunapius of Sardis In this context, the fifth chapter, by Marina Díaz Bourgeal, approaches the alleged renewal of the imperial pagan religion through the scrutiny of the features of the priesthood, which she compares to the concept of θεῖος ἀνήρ Chapter 6, by Regina Fichera, studies the portrait of a late antique scholarch of the so-called “divine Platonic succession”, Isidore of Alexandria, as seen in the apologetic biography written by his disciple Damascius Still on the issue of the late antique biographies of charismatic “divine men”, the seventh contribution, by Sonsoles Costero Quiroga, reviews the Neoplatonic scale of virtues in which the Neoplatonist Proclus is devoutly placed by his disciple Marinus in his Vita Procli In the same vein, the last chapter of this section, by Silvia Acerbi, brings us to the oneiric and therapeutic rituals which appear in Marinus’s almost hagiographical Life, specially to the prodigium described in the Athenian temple of Asclepius in 485 A D framed by the conflict between paganism and Christianity Thirdly, the perspective of classical tradition and the longue durée of the concept of theios aner gives coherence to a final section on ‘Transmission and Reception: from Holiness to Leadership’ This section presents seven chapters dealing with the transition of the traditional Graeco-Roman views on holiness and leadership in the pagan world to the new Christian worldview, from the Late Roman and Byzantine Worlds onwards: the case studies deal with religious models, literature, art, and power This part begins with a pair of Christian holy men, from East to West: firstly, Raúl Serrano Madroñal examines the most renowned of the Stylites, Simeon the Elder, and attempts to redefine the concept of late antique θεῖος ἀνήρ through his figure Holy bishops as a major Christian development of our theme are addressed by the second paper, where José Ángel Castillo Lozano shows the literary portrait of the Late Antique Hispanian bishop Masona as a saint intertwined with the political struggles of the Visigothic reign The influence of Neoplatonism in poetry is addressed in the third chapter by Anne Sheppard, more specifically the use of pantomime dance as a metaphor of their cosmological doctrine in Nonnus’ mythological epic, the Dionysiaca (5th century) In the same vein, Arianna Magnolo scrutinises in Chapter 4 Nonnus’ Christian epic, his Paraphrase to the Gospel of Saint John The focus is put on the words the poet employed

Foreword by the Editors

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to refer to the divinity and humanity of Christ Chapter 5, by Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis, deals with the strong bond of Islamic schools of knowledge to Graeco-Roman paideia, with the example of the translation of Plotinus into Arabic The philosophical doctrines of Platonic philosophy were swiftly adapted into what was to become a new Mediterranean language of the “holy men” of Late Antiquity: Arabic Chapter 6, by Francisco López-Santos Kornberger, takes the research paths of gender studies and narratology in order to focus attention on the extraordinary charisma of the Byzantine empress Zoe Porphyrogennete To finish with, the last contribution, both of the section and of the volume, deals with the reception of the concept theios aner in modern philosophy: Nuria Sánchez Madrid explores the legacy of this concept in the 20th century through the examples of Carl Schmitt and Hugo Ball This foreword is not, obviously, the place for a thorough discussion of the aforementioned themes: concepts such as holiness, sanctity, and divine status applied to human leaders, both in religion and politics are too complex to be addressed here However, and after the fruitful discussions of the conference, we could define the wording theios aner as a conceptual articulation that comprised holiness, charisma, and leadership, following the motto of this volume The theios aner is an individual who, as inferred mostly from the biographical sources, innately possesses an extraordinary capacity to attract or fascinate (“charisma”) thanks to his mastery of a series of supernatural qualities (theiai technai) of the spiritual, socio-political, or pedagogical levels Before all, needless to say, most of the figures dealt with in this volume are masculine, as the very coinage of the notion theios aner goes to show, but it is evident that this category includes also female figures, and some well-known “divine women” of Graeco-Roman paideia are also mentioned in this volume Regarding “holiness”, firstly, most of the figures studied here show extraordinary spiritual qualities or some kind of supernatural aura Secondly, regarding charisma and leadership, late antique figures, mostly of teachers, challenge and complement the traditional definition of charismatic community in Weber: this society “is generally characterised by a naturally emotional dedication to and trust in the leader, which tends to result in an inclination to follow the most extraordinary, most promising leader who deploys the most attractive means of persuasion” 3 For the German philosopher, charismatic leadership stood in contrast to legal and traditional authority, the latter especially important for philosophical teaching4 But in the philosophical schools of the Roman Empire, especially in Neoplatonism, there was an evident and close connexion between the tradition of paideia and the charisma of religion

3 4

Weber 2019, 408 See the contribution by Alviz Fernández in this volume

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Foreword by the Editors

Finally, neither arbitrary nor unfounded is the inclusion of the figure of the master as a charismatic individual in the studies on theioi andres, as Peter Brown himself justifies it in a recent contribution, where he defined late antiquity as “An Age of Teachers” 5 The question of the adequacy of Weberian categories to characterise theioi andres was especially addressed both in the research project and in the conference Some of the features of Weberian charisma, such as the leaders’ succession and their recognition by the community, clearly apply to Late Roman “divine men”, but in philosophical or religious schools the weight of traditional and institutionalised authorities should be considered Probably, Weberian charismatic society should be completed here with some features of traditional society and, as it was discussed in the conference, could be also explained by some other categories of contemporary philosophy, such as Gramsci’s cultural hegemony and Bourdieu’s habitus 6 In conclusion, we believe that this research endeavour has shown the value of an interdisciplinary revision of the concept of “divine man” A reassessment of the notions of holiness, charisma, and leadership in its political and social contexts, both through the revision of the sources and the application of diverse historical-cultural paradigms and models, can shed new light upon some key figures for our understanding of the transition between the Ancient and the Medieval World This group of scholarly contributions demonstrates, in our view, that it is worth approaching these questions from the perspective of the longue durée of Graeco-Roman Antiquity We hope that this volume will open new perspectives for this historiographical debate Finally, the editors would like to thank the support of the Spanish Research Ministry, the Department of Classics, and the Barbaricum Association for the Study of Late Antiquity, both at the Complutense University, and especially both their chairwomen, Isabel Velázquez Soriano, and Rosa Sanz Serrano We are grateful for the inspiring work, support and presence of Peter Brown and Pedro Barceló in the series of conferences “New Perspectives on Late Antiquity”, from which this volume ultimately stems, for this colloquium was the sixth within this series celebrated in Spain from 2009 to date, and inaugurated by both scholars

5 6

Brown 2016, 29 See the contribution by Díaz Bourgeal in this volume

Part 1 ‘Holiness’ Concepts and Cases of Holiness in the Graeco-Roman World

Θεῖοι ἄνδρες vs ‘Greek Shamans’ The Case of Pythagoras and the Animals David Hernández de la Fuente 1. Introduction In the framework of this volume dedicated to the figure of the theios aner, I propose to study the figure of Pythagoras in the wonderful biographies of late antiquity and with special attention to his relationship with animals and the miracles that are told about him In addition, I will also address above all the current rebirth of this conceptual juncture of the “divine man” as compared to another historiographic category, that of “Greek shamanism”, which used to be fashionable for a time and then fell into disuse Both junctures are controversial and have aroused a very lively debate in the last 100 years It is curious to see how the advances that have been made in the sciences of religions, in the history of philosophy, or in classical philology throughout the 20th and 21st centuries have often been made based on the review of sources, themes, motifs, or forms transmitted by Greek antiquity upon historiographic categories from other disciplines which offered a new standpoint But fashionable concepts and categories turn very quickly to be outdated This is what happened throughout the 20th century with these two mentioned junctures, “divine man” vs “Greek shaman” The first one rose, as is well known, from the realm of theology and was developed from Bieler’s monograph at the beginning of the 20th century But there were serious criticisms against the “theios aner” paradigm, which arose as a conflationary construct in the wake of the Religionsgeschichtliche Schule 1 The same happened to the idea of shamanism to explain several figures from the Greek world, but this time through the field of anthropology, ethnology, and folklore, with the use that was done by Meuli, Eliade and Dodds, among others It was soon discredited as the school of Religious Studies questioned Eliade’s unorthodox work and labelled it as non-academic and literary 1

See e g , Carl Holladay, Theios aner in Hellenistic Judaism; Barry Blackburn, Theios Aner and the Markan Miracle Traditions; M David Litwa, Iesus Deus: The Early Christian Depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean God, among other scholars)

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David Hernández de la Fuente

Both categories have been applied with preference to certain characters of the philosophical and sapiential tradition, such as Pythagoras and specifically to some Late Antique sources It is significant that the two categories flourished in the early and mid-20th century, then fell into disgrace at the end of the last century, and now they appear to be somewhat reborn Therefore, in this contribution, the objective is, on the one hand, to review this conceptual juncture of “Greek shamanism” in parallel to that of “divine men”, following one of the purposes of this volume, which is to give an update to this notion On the other hand, after reviewing some examples and problematizing how, to what extent and in what sense the idea of “Greek shamanism” has been rehabilitated lately by some scholars, we will then inquire whether it makes any sense to reuse any of them it in the context of the divine man by analysing the case of Pythagoras As a case study we will work on the relationship of the Samian sage with animals in miraculous legends And then we will be able to ask ourselves if it makes any sense to use categories such as “divine man” or “shaman” to describe the activities of a figure such as Pythagoras But let us take this in parts and start with antiquity In the Western world, the first figure of a divine man with political and sapiential charisma was undoubtedly Pythagoras of Samos Wiseman, scientist, priest and politician, Pythagoras was considered already in antiquity “divine” (theios) The Greek vocabulary referring to this philosophical, religious, and political concept and its use in late antique literature can provide an overview of the characteristic features of the providential man 2 This idea is expressed in all its fullness through the expression aner theios (“divine man”) which has traditionally been applied to Pythagoras and some so-called pre-Socratics such as Empedocles,3 and later to the pagan holy men during Hellenistic and Roman times 4 Intellectual inspiration was divine for the Greeks and the sages’ closeness to the gods is often underlined as, of course, was the case of the divine (theios) Homer and his work which was considered to be the “most divine” (theiotaton) 5 It is also a concept applied to philosophy: in the Platonic tradition, the discourse also seems an independent and almost divine entity, a logos theios,6 inspired by a supernatural principle The divine madness that inspires poets, priests, prophets, or philosophers, according to the famous classification of Plato’s Phaedrus,7 can be interpreted as a mystical alienation towards the divine whose maximum level is the final contemplation of the truth By

2 3 4 5 6 7

Cf Cornelli 2003, 59–80 Kingsley 1995 Bieler 1935–1936 is still a key reference Plutarch, Cons Apol 104 Plato, Phd 85b Plato, Phdr 244a, 249d and 265b Within divine madness: the first is poetic, due to the muses; the second, the mystical, to Dionysus; the third, the prophetic, to Apollo and the fourth, the amatory, to Aphrodite According to the Platonic interpretation of love, this is, of course, philosophical

Θεῖοι ἄνδρες vs ‘Greek Shamans’

19

such inspiration, the divine man differs from the normal one8 by participating platonically in the divine (to theion) or in divine things (ta theia) 9 The derived adverb (theiôs) is also used in philosophy for divinely inspired speech 10 But in the Greek biographical tradition of exceptional characters, from Plutarch and his Parallel Lives,11 to the lives of pagan saints (Porphyry, Philostratus, etc ) and Christians saints (Athanasius, the desert fathers, etc ), the idea of the man marked by divine signs is based on the adjective theios and some interesting derivatives We cannot go into these interesting derivatives in detail, but several are covered in some chapters of this volume, such as the adjective isotheos (“similar to a god”),12 the noun theiotes (“holiness”) and the verbs theiazo (“to act as a god”, “interact with a god”, or “act in the name of a god”) and its variant theazo 13 Nor can we address other ethics that refer to the soul or daimon In any case, these adjectives often appear in the context of biographies – or hagiographies  – that are gestated, almost parallel to Christianity, in the context of the Neoplatonic Schools and around their charismatic teachers Not only Plotinus, Iamblichus, or Proclus, in their well-known lives written by Porphyry, Eunapius or Marinus respectively, but also the ancient Pythagoras were taken as ideals In addition to the biographical pages dedicated to the latter by Diogenes Laërtius, those who rescued Pythagoras were the Neoplatonists Porphyry of Tyre (c 234–305) with his Life of Pythagoras and Iamblichus of Chalcis (c 245–325), with On the Pythagorean Life In these texts there is a thematic nucleus of ancient origin that refers to the religious doctrines of ancient Pythagoreanism combined with a new philosophical agenda at a time marked by the decline of paganism and by a transformation of classical traditions in the new context of an empire on its way to Christianization during Late Antiquity 14 The reader of the Neoplatonic lives of this sage of Samos will thus obtain a motley overview and a mixed vision of Pythagoras as a historical, forerunner, shamanic, and semi-divine figure15 that, in any case, produces an enormous revitalization of this philosopher and his school Thus, the two Pythagorean biographers mentioned above collect the traditions that seem most relevant to them about Pythagoras to make the legendary Samian philoso-

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Plutarch, Ad Colotem 1119b Plato Soph 232c Plato, Teet , 154 d, Aristotle, Met 1074 Cf for the origin of this tradition Gentili and Cerri 1983 on the birth of the subgenre of biography Homer, Il II 565, Od I 324, XX 124, Plato, Phdr 255a, Isocrates II 5, 5,145, Antiphon I 47 2 Thucydides, VIII 1, in the same way that theiasmos is also referred to as divination in VII 50 Cf also Plutarch, Themistocles 126a, Camillo 137a, Damascius, Vit Isid 36 As epitheazo also, cf Plutarch, Quaest Conv I 5 623c, Plato, Leg 682a This field was reestablished in modern times since Peter Brown’s 1971 classic book See also the massive and thorough guide by Bowersock, Brown and Grabar, 1995 Scharinger, 2017, 213–229

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David Hernández de la Fuente

pher the patron of the mystical and ascetic current that, progressively, Neoplatonic thought takes on certain issues The figure of Pythagoras as mediator is a point of union for these two authors, who account for the various legends and teachings that were attributed to this wiseman some eight centuries after his death 16 The old Platonic idea of theo homoiosis is joined to the Pythagorean akolouthein to theo thanks to the idea of divine filiation of the wiseman, evident in the figure and concept of theios aner 17 Not only does Pythagoras appear as a model of a renewed type of pagan holy man, but it is also at the time of Septimius Severus when the key biography of Apollonius of Tyana18 appeared, which became the prototype of the neo-Pythagorean divine man These texts will greatly influence later biographies of charismatic leaders of Neoplatonism, contemporary to the time or their precursors, in Rome, Syria, Athens or Alexandria: the Pythagorean heritage is very conscious and significantly vindicated in this golden chain Be that as it may, the concept and vocabulary around the divine man, that is to say that he acts as a god, will have a major revival in late antiquity, when Neoplatonism assumed and adapted the Pythagorean legacy: this combination of science, religion and philosophy, following a literary portrait such as the one outlined in this series of words, has suggested to modern scholars the idea to apply various categories – sometimes metaphorically or anachronistically – for the study of this type of figure, following diverse historiographic tendencies à la mode in each period, from the 19th century onwards Thus, Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism witness, as Cornelli (2013) has studied, a long story of interpretations For our purpose we can quote the description of the philosopher as a “divine man”, following a theological approach to the philological or philosophical sources, to the more anthropological approach of taxonomies such as “medicine-man”, “shaman”, “miracle-worker”, passing, of course, through categories more typical of the history of religious beliefs, such as “holy”, “deified”, “magician” or “sorcerer” The debate on these notions in antiquity would surely need an in-depth survey in many sources, considering its longue durée: this is certainly not the scope of this contribution, although we will seek diverse examples throughout these centuries But let us firstly focus on the idea of shamanism 2. On the controversial juncture of “Greek shamanism” The historian of religions Mircea Eliade once defined the concept of shamanism as a “technique of ecstasy” that can be used in various ways for the benefit of the human community and to obtain divine favours 19 Of course his controversial figure and theo16 17 18 19

O’Meara 1989 and Bonazzi, Lévy and Steel, 2007 Lavecchia, 2006, Des Places, 1964, Alviz, 2016 Bernabé, 2002, 14 Eliade, 1968

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ries are now somewhat outdated, if we consider the current tendencies of anthropology and religious studies, and his manyfold and personal approach to the sources But some of his views on myth and religion were deeply influential in his time, from his chair of religious studies in Chicago, including his pioneering theories on shamanism, now outdated but still widely read In the following section we will summarise some of Eliade’s views on shamanism Among men and gods, the shaman performs various mediation functions that range from medicine, poetry, religion, divination, as well as contact with the divine world and the collective and mystical memory of the tribe or the guidance of souls to the otherworld, which can involve a one-way or round-trip for the shaman Stricto sensu, shamanism as a religious phenomenon can be located in the plains of Central Asia, although its interpretative schemes have been successfully applied by anthropologists to other groups of people, and it is characterised by the mediating role of this figure in the community, since he or she is in charge of exercising communication or connection between our world and the world beyond what is sensible, that is the world of gods, demons, or spirits of the dead Spirit mediation, trance practice, hibernation, incubation, metamorphosis (into another being or the other sex), divine possession, and the ability to travel to the afterlife and return, rescuing in the process from the other side a particular spirit to come to communicate something or simply to live again, fall into this category One of the first characteristic points of the shaman, then, is this brief stay in the otherworld, of the soul alone or accompanied, according to which they come to assist in the cognitive and initiatory experience of undergoing a “death before death” Nevertheless, a second characteristic strongly associated with the shamam, is the power they have over animals, for example, the ability to understand, converse, and persuade animals and, finally, the possibility of transforming into an animal These powers are related to the intermediate nature of the animal kingdom itself, between our world and the world of the gods: in Siberia, shamans perform their mediation dressed in clothing alluding to their transformation into the totemic animal of each clan,20 being the most frequent typologies the bear, the bird, the deer, and the elk In Asian shamanism, animals have access to intermediate structures and are a symbolic vehicle for divine will, both in epiphanies and in prophecies, so communication with them is a priority But there is something else: in a remote time, in a sort of Edenic paradise of the past, men and animals shared a primeval language This is another key motif for Eliade’s studies on compared religions: the myth of the golden age Golden age or paradise, as a religious utopia, as a deep connection with the shamanic world: this myth refers to the past happiness of humanity in a primordial state, before the rupture that involved the separation of the human and divine spheres, which generated the current state of affairs In this sense, the shaman appears as a mediating figure capable of restoring, even

20

Basilov, 1990, 31

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temporarily, that primitive and happy state, recovering the language of animals and reestablishing the, once simple, communication between men and gods 21 Precisely what concerns us today is that shamanic prerogative that involves talking to animals and access through transformation to their intermediate world, as applied to the ancient Greek world, using a comparative analysis that has been enormously productive in the history of classical studies throughout the 20th century In comparing these models of anthropology and the history of religions with the Greek world, certain studies, such as those done by E R Rohde (1891), those of the so-called “Cambridge Ritualists”, those by K Meuli (1935), in line with the “Vienna School”, and, especially, the very influential book by E R Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational (1951), tended to speak of a possible “Greek shamanism” According to these studies, the round trip to the other world, which in Greek mythology was carried out not only by gods such as Hephaestus or Dionysus, or heroes such as Orpheus, but also by characters of the sapiential tradition such as Epimenides or Pythagoras, would be characteristic of this shamanic activity 22 It would seem then, for the first time, that the cultural barriers that for so long had separated the study of the classical Greek world, considered by civilised Europeans the brilliant origin of civilization, and that of other peoples usually dubbed “primitive”, have finally been crossed Jane Harrison, Gilbert Murray, or E R Dodds encouraged the comparison of religious phenomena of the Greek world such as Maenadism or ecstatic divination, with other similar manifestations of peoples from Africa or Asia Something unthinkable a few years ago, when Greece seemed surrounded by that rationalistic halo that led, in an inexorable progression towards the light, from mythos to logos In this sense, it is also possible to point out that certain mythical sages and Greek diviners were also capable of transforming themselves into animals, talk to the otherworld, gather spirits, and summon the dead to use their knowledge in their prophecies However, Eliade himself was reluctant to speak of a “Greek shamanism”, although he did recognize in certain myths, such as Orpheus’, clear features of shamanic methods Later, this type of approach to the figure of the Greek theioi andres as shamans fell into discredit and again the cultural differences were emphasised again It was alleged that Greek society was not shamanic and a similar phenomenon was once again circumscribed to the realm of these “other peoples”, far from the “dawn of the Western Civilization” 23 However, the comparison of the shaman continued to be used by the so-called “School of Paris” of scholars of Greek mythology, with a strong anthropological imprint, and specifically by some of them

21 22 23

Eliade 1953 Classical studies are Meuli 1935 and Dodds 1951, somewhat outdated For an up-to-date overview of so-called Greek shamanism, cf Martin 2004 Cf Bremmer 1983, 48, with a wide critical apparatus of Eliade, and Graf 1987

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such as Marcel Detienne 24 The comparison with these categories has been particularly successful in structuralist analysis 25 Lately, the juncture between the Greek world and shamanism has been vindicated by some scholars, despite the resistance of many others, as a useful tool for the analysis of certain facets of ancient culture 26 It is worth asking if we could reconsider nowadays the comparison of shamanism with those figures in which Eliade saw some potentially shamanic motifs, techniques or traces, such as miraculous cures, divination by sleep, ecstatic experiences, and, especially, transformations and conversations with animals, according to the subject of this volume Without speaking strictly of the existence of a Greek shamanistic tradition, perhaps the following pages can demonstrate that rethinking that comparison is very useful for a greater understanding of the world of Archaic and Classical Greek religion and, above all, of potentially shamanic figures of myth and the history of thought like Orpheus or Pythagoras We have already shown elsewhere how the models of modern sociology of religions and even of social work, from Weber, Schmitt, and others, illuminate little-known aspects of ancient Pythagoreanism 27 The same can be attempted with the present topic, which can be approached from anthropology, the history of religions and other comparative disciplines 28 Although some authors have proposed the existence of shamanic traces in Greece as a remnant of a pre-Olympic religious system,29 most of the evidence points to an origin on the margins of the Greek world, on the shores of the Black Sea There is no doubt that the Greeks of the Archaic period had already encountered peoples of clearly shamanic tradition such as the Thracians and the Scythians These religious shamanic currents found in Thrace were reflected in the figures such as Orpheus, Zalmoxis, Aristeas and Abaris, which are usually interpreted as a reflection of this tradition in the Greek world 30 In Scythia, a religion was practised which included the cult of animals – as evidenced by the abundant iconographic representations found in the burial grounds – and a series of gods that the Greeks assimilated to their own thanks to the interpretatio graeca There were rites of ecstasy and contact with the world of the dead, as is clear from the funeral customs that Herodotus refers to (IV 71–72) and which archaeology has confirmed After this contact with death, there were purification rites that are described in part as a shamanic ecstatic technique, with scrubs, hemp

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Detienne 1967 In the wake of Louis Gernet, some French Classical scholars discussed the schamanistic theory, cf Bremmer 2016,68–69 Brisson 1976 is a good example See Kingsley 1995 Martin 2004, Culianu 1983 or Benoît 2001, 93–120 On the other hand, one of the most critical scholars with this approach does not “preclude the possibility of […] influence from shamanistic cultures” (Bremmer 2016, 70) Hernández de la Fuente 2011 (3rd ed 2020) and 2012 Cf the comparison with African animism in Esteva 1999 Butterworth 1966 Eliade 1970

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censers and ecstatic screams In the Scythian world, priests and diviners were second in importance after warriors and of great importance in the life of the political community But this prestigious profession entailed a high risk because “the prophets are executed for countless reasons”: among others, when they did not protect the king with their powers and the king fell ill (Herodotus IV 68) But in addition to these historical-cultural traces, which were already examined in the classical description of the activities of shamans done by anthropologists  – i e mediation with the divine, practice of trance, journeys to the afterlife and the recovery of souls – other mythical traits can be recognized connected to a series of legendary Greek heroes capable of rescuing souls, dominating animals, and reciting prophecies In close relationship with these characters from the Scythian and Thracian north and especially with Orpheus and Zalmoxis, Pythagoras is configured as a historical and philosophical consolidation of those figures of myth, thanks to the elaboration of his theories on the immortality of the soul and reincarnations, as well as his use of divination, incubation, and other shamanic techniques The notion of the immortality of the soul and its journeys away from the body has been often analysed by the scholarship after observing the difference between the Homeric and the Platonic soul From Rohde to the present, the idea of the upward ascension of the soul has also been seen as an influence of “shamanic” origin in the Greek world 31 For Dodds, following this line, the journey of the soul to the otherworld from a posthomeric state of Greek culture was susceptible of comparison with one of the essential traits of the shaman: a figure who has received spiritual training and who, after performing bodily asceticism and an doing an underground retreat or anywhere else away from society, is capable of taking flight to the other side 32 The old hypothesis formulated by Meuli identified traces of shamanism in Scythia which could have caused, certain changes in Greek religion and the idea of the soul, which took place around the seventh century partly due, on the one hand, to the influence of the Scythian world, and, on the other hand, as the natural evolution of the Greek religious mentality Other authors, such as E R Dodds and F M  Conford,33 followed the path opened by Meuli and turned their inference into a more solid theory by relating (especially Dodds) shamanism to an “external” element with a historicalcultural note that was typical of archaic Greece such as the series of “divine men” (theioi andres) that populate the sources around this time, from the pre-Socratics to Herodotus Particular cases in this context were that of mythical figures such as Aristeas or that of the so-called iatromanteis that were studied as a peculiar type of holy men, prophetic as well as healers, about whom scholars such as W Burkert pointed 31 32 33

See the well-known and pioneering study by Rohde 1890–1894 For an account of early comparisons of shamanism with classical culture see Bremmer 2016 Dodds 1951 138 ff Cornford 1952

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out ecstatic characteristics that were shared with shamans 34 In any case, and as the historian of religions and disciple of Eliade, I P Culianu said, “whether or not they are called shamans is a mere conventional question […] Shamanic theory, although not very successful, has at least provided a very reasonable explanation of the origin of the Greek revelations […] and seems to be the more neutral”, which he examined in his essay when studying the origins of the “ascension of the soul” in the Greek world 35 But we will return later to the updated version of the juncture “Greek shamanism” in line with a mythical shaman: now let’s look at certain Greek figures in the light of their dominance of the animal world 3. From conversing with animals to becoming animals: divine man or shaman? After the revision of the juncture “Greek shamanism”, as an alternative or complementary category to that of “divine man”, it is now necessary to deal with the intersection of this type of figures with the animal kingdom There are several passages in Greek sources that especially highlight the privileged contact between these figures and the world of nature and animals, which is one of the defining characteristics of both “divine men” and “shamans” In Eliade’s words, “it is significant that, to prepare for his trance, the shaman uses a secret language or, as it is called in other regions, the language of animals The shaman imitates, on the one hand, the behaviour of animals and, on the other, tries to imitate their cries, especially those of birds” 36 The animal often appears much closer to the world of the gods or the otherworld than normal men can ever be, so they frequently serve as mediators or transmitters of prophetic messages and signs of divine will When talking about animals in the Archaic and Classical Greek world, it is necessary to underline first the enormous role that they played in religious worship This was, without a doubt, the basis for their later use in the field of philosophy and in that of morality, from Pythagorean and Neoplatonic vegetarianism to Aristotelian or Stoic views on the typology and behaviour of animals 37 In the field of religion, it must be remembered that animals were of great importance among the deities of the Greek pantheon, both in civic worship and in the world of mysteries Each god had certain animals attributed to them, which were perhaps in principle venerated as gods themselves and which, in any case, played a crucial role in their epiphanies The signs of these animals, in the origins of divination, were taken to be expressions of divine will 34 35 36 37

Burkert 1972, 162–166 Culianu 1983, 27 Regarding this expression, see Aguilar 1993 M Eliade 1953, 34 My translation Bodson 1994, 51–85, esp 55 ff

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On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that the central act of Greek religion was the sacrifice of an animal-victim and the distribution of its flesh, as established by the myth of Prometheus (Hes , Theog 535–557), between men and gods When gods and men went their separate ways, their relationships were regulated by the institution of sacrifice, in which Prometheus outlined his famous deception as follows: after Prometheus divided the ox into two, he put the usable parts on one side, covering them with the viscera, and on the other, the bones covered in white fat, the useless bits that would end up being for the gods, after Zeus consciously chose them In addition, transformations into animals play a fundamental role in Greek mythology: animals become the vehicle of divine will, as in Zeus’ multiple love conquests, or in the exemplification of legendary punishments (Arachne, Actaeon, etc ) 38 The theme of transformations from man to animal is a constant in the classical imaginary, both in literature and in the arts: methodologically one can distinguish, with Gilhus, the transformations of a single life (metamorphosis), when, for example, Actaeon is turned into a deer as his punishment from Artemis, and those that occur within a cycle of several lives (metensomatosis), according to the Pythagorean-inspired quote in Ovid (omnia mutantur, nihil interit, Met 15, 165) 39 They are the transformations that are of most interest to the thesis of metempsychosis, which appears in the oldest Pythagoreanism, and which will later take up, transformed, Platonism The idea of metensomatosis between men and animals is clear in the mocking quote from Xenophanes, so frequently referred to as testimony to this matter: “Once (Pythagoras) was walking near an abused dog and feeling sorry for it he said to its master: do not hit him for I have recognized the soul of a friend of mine when I heard the sound of his lamentations” (Diog Laert VIII 36) The idea that the soul transcends the boundaries between the bodies of men and animals in various evolutions, obviously in the Eastern tradition, places the animal again at an intermediate point in the transit of souls This function of the animal as a “haven” where the soul lands is also especially relevant from the point of view of comparison with Central Asian shamanism One would say, in short, that between man and god, animals mediate as a continuous presence through various transfers, sacrifices, prophecies, or metamorphoses that involve breaking the barriers that contain the forms of rational order in pursuit of a primordial world The animal is thus designated in the Greek mythical tradition almost as an intermediate being, straddling the world of the gods and of men, whose ascription is not clear and who can establish communication with both There is, from the oldest philosophy, a position favourable to the intelligence of animals that brings them closer to humanity in a way that is far removed from modern postulates that will gradually change throughout the Hellenistic era and completely change with Christi-

38 39

Cf v gr Frontisi-Ducroux 2003 Gilhus 2006, 78–92

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anity, when animals and humans will remain in categorically opposite sides 40 In the world of tragedy, for example, animals do not appear in opposition to human beings, but sometimes share common emotions and thoughts, which tragic poets strive to highlight 41 The connection with the divine is especially emphasised here, in the symbolism or epiphany of the god through the animal, or in the key moments of sacrifice and prophecy These are moments of communication between two worlds in which we must pay special attention to what animals have to tell us, since the success of human affairs may depend on it For all these reasons, it was vitally important to know how to interpret the signs transmitted by animals, their arcane language so to speak, to exercise the noble art of divination, as is clear from the mythical stories of the first diviners of the Greek world Of course, the matter of talking to animals is of paramount importance here As A Furlanetto says at the beginning of his essay on animals in the history of Greek divination, “understanding the language of animals and being able to communicate with them is one of the most universal utopias and tenaciously cultivated by men” 42 In some of the stories of the mythical golden age or “of Kronos”, when a race of happy men inhabited the world, according to the myth transmitted by Hesiod (Erga 109–201, cf also Ovid, Met I, 89–150), it seems that the ordinary human being was able to understand animals (Plato, Pol 272 b) If the religious restoration of this situation was contemplated under the sign of Dionysus,43 there will also be a philosophical restoration under the guidance of some theioi andres, which we will see later, that contemplates a recovered harmony with our animal brothers, who were not to be harmed and with whom we could again converse “Friendship with animals”– says Eliade in La nostalgie du paradis – “and knowledge of their language represent a paradisiacal syndrome In illo tempore, before the fall, this friendship was constitutive of the primordial human condition The shaman partially recovered the paradisiacal situation of the primordial man and this due to the recovery of animal spontaneity (imitation of their behaviour) and the language of animals (imitation of their cries)” 44 As can be seen, the theme of talking animals and human understanding of their language is key to the entire cultural history of Antiquity 45 In what follows we shall briefly review the main mythical figures of this folk and religious motif in the Greek world, as precedents of the case of Pythagoras The god of prophecy himself, Apollo, obtained his divinatory powers according to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo after inheriting it from a primal animal It is well-known that Apollo faced a huge serpent that guarded the oracle of the earth in mountain40 41 42 43 44 45

Gilhus 2006, 37–63 Thumiger 2008, 4 Furlanetto 2005, 155–163, esp 155 My translation This is obviously a tjheme in common with folk literature throughout the world Hernández de la Fuente 2009, 105–107, 114–115 M Eliade, 1953, 35 My translation Cf Gilhus 2006, 245 ff

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ous Delphi, ruling the predictions of “the first prophetess, Gaia”, as Aeschylus calls her (Eumenides 2) The serpent, called Python or Delphine according to tradition, had the gift of prophecy and was the daughter of the earth, like all monsters of the ancient pre-Olympian order Thus, Apollo killed Python, according to the founding myth of the oracle (Homeric Hymn to Apollo Pythicus 358 ss ) or received his power from him by inheritance In addition, the human diviner is connected to an inheritance, or a gift transmitted by animals, which grants them the possibility of that foreknowledge There is a foundational history of Greek divination that relates to this ability of animals for prescience The siblings, Cassandra and Helenus, descendants of Priam and Hecuba, are supposedly the founders of the Greek divination After their birth, the myth tells us, their parents took them to the temple of Apollo and when night came, they left, leaving the children behind, either inadvertently or intentionally, to sleep in the sanctuary of the god of prophecy When they came back the next morning, they found them still sleeping soundly, while two snakes, prophetic animals of the earth par excellence, licked their sense organs: specifically, it was their ears, which undoubtedly signified the ability to understand the diviner’s hidden language 46 The frightened mother chased away the snakes but since then the children had the gift of divination in its two traditional variants: Cassandra was the patron of ecstatic divination, as she prophesied possessed by the god, like the Pythia, while Helenus acquired a different ability, that of interpreting by technical means the signs and wonders in nature to divine the future Undoubtedly, another important example of the relationship between animals, prophecy, is that of the Thracian Orpheus, son of Apollo, the traveller to the afterlife par excellence The myth of his descent to retrieve the soul of his wife and the legend of his death, torn to pieces by the bacchantes, outline Orpheus as an exceptional guide on the paths to and from the afterlife Nevertheless, he was also known for his special relationship with animals, which obeyed his voice, and for his extemporaneous dedication to divination, after the failed rescue of his beloved There is a good summary of his qualities in this regard in Diodorus of Sicily (IV 25, 2–4) As the son of Apollo, Orpheus is characterised by his mastery of music, poetry, and musical enchantments, which gave him control of nature and animals In literature he is often remembered singing magically to dominate wild beasts and even to make trees and rocks move as he sang (Ps –Apollodorus, Bib I 3 2; Eur , Iphig Aul 1212, Bacch 562), in a motif that has had great fortune in the subsequent reception of the myth in European art As Ovid (Met X 142–3) evokes, Orpheus attracted “a forest and a council of beasts” and “even the rocks followed him” (Met XI 1–2) In addition, Orpheus also came to master divination, perhaps by virtue of that voice that was so close to the

46

Regarding the siblings cf Ps -Apollodorus, Bibl III 12 5 Regarding the snake episode, cf Eustathius, Comm Hom 663 40

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animal kingdom, and so much so that after being torn to pieces by the Maenads, his severed head went to a cave on the island of Lesbos, where he achieved great fame for his prophecies, until Apollo himself, his purported father, told him to shut up 47 Not surprisingly, Orpheus was the tutelary hero of certain historical oracles, such as the one of Antisa Another favourite son of Apollo, the healer Asclepius, is another mythical figure characterised by his close relationship with animals Following his exceptional birth to the Thessalian princess Coronis, who was burned by Apollo in revenge for her infidelity, the young Asclepius was raised as a hero by the centaur Chiron in the art of medicine, advancing so much the knowledge in this field that he defied the laws of nature not only by curing diseases, but death itself (Ps –Apollodorus, Bibl III 10 3) It is said that Asclepius learned the art of resurrecting the dead thanks to the experience he had with a snake: when Asclepius was visiting a certain Glaucus, who was terminal and already dying, he saw a snake coming towards him that curled itself around his staff Asclepius killed her with one blow, but soon another snake appeared carrying a magical herb with which he brought the first snake back to life By imitating the animal, Asclepius was able to bring Glaucus back to life using this herb and the serpent became his consecrated animal (Hyginus, Poet Astr II 40 and Fab 136; Aelianus, NA  V  2) However, Zeus could not tolerate this daring behaviour and struck Asclepius with his thunderbolt Later, Apollo would obtain a special dispensation for his son and Asclepius was promoted to Olympus as the god of medicine There are a few Greek resurrection myths that are related to the serpent and its ability to change skin, such as that of the Lydian hero Tylus48: this telluric animal, often related to healing and mystic rites, appears along other characters in the Greek myth of this category The diviner Melampus, whose antiquity is deduced from a Homeric reference (Od XV 224–241), was a pioneer in healing through religious medicine and purifications, which were also related to the world of the serpent (Ps –Apollodorus, Bibl , II 2 2 ) Herodotus recorded a tradition according to which this diviner acted as a pioneer in the Dionysian cult, without understanding very well how it worked, as later on other sages were in charge of completing his teachings (Herodotus II 49; VII 221; IX 34 ) 49 Herodotus also thought that Melampus was surely the inventor of the art of divination, about whose origin it is said, that he obtained by the gift of a snake: after discovering a snake’s nest, Melampus dreamed that the young licked his ears and when he woke up, he realised that he could understand the language of birds and was endowed with the gift of prophecy After dreaming of this symbolic animal, Melampus obtained the gift of listening to the future, as if the serpent had modified his sensory perception, leading

47 48 49

Flavius Philostratus, Vit Apol Tyan , IV 14 Cf M A Santamaría 2008 Herter 1965, Espinar and Hernández de la Fuente 2002 Regarding Melampus and Dionysus, cf Scarpi 1980

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him to contact the afterlife, with the ineffable and inaudible language that only certain animals and certain Greek mythical figures of this list were able to understand Another case is that of the blind prophet Tiresias, who due to his special relationship with animals and other archetypal characteristics, is considerably closer to the idea of the shaman As Delcourt observed, Tiresias is the only character in Greek mythology who retained traits of an androgynous shamanism 50 He is most famously mentioned in the Odyssey (X 490–495), as the Theban sage who reveals Odysseus’ path home, during his necromancy consultation in the Nekyia The most characteristic thing about his story is, as in the case of Melampus, the way in which he acquired the gift of divination, which in this case is related to his blindness According to the different versions that the mythical tradition collects, this was either a punishment for the violation of a taboo, as he got to see the goddess Pallas naked (Callimachus, Hymn V 77–136), or for revealing an ineffable secret (Hyginus, fab 75, Ps –Apollodorus, Bibl III 6 7) Regarding his transformation into a woman, it is said that it took place after Tiresias saw snakes copulating on Mount Cyllene and killed them (Hesiod, Frag 271) 51 Already as a woman, Tiresias had a husband and children and gave birth to the prophetess Manto, founder of many oracles in Asia Minor and mother of the prophet Mopsus, who participated in the Argonauts saga After Tiresias saw other snakes copulating, he returned to its masculine form In addition, as a man, Tiresias served as a mediator in the dispute between Hera and Zeus about which of the two sexes enjoyed sex more: Hera, angry at hearing from Tiresias that the woman enjoyed it more, left him blind, but Zeus gave him in exchange the gift of prophecy (Ps –Apollodorus, Bibl III 6 7 Ovid, Met III 87 ss ) 52 In any case, the mysterious lore of the serpent is, again, crucial for this figure at the beginning of his prophetic activity In fact, it is a common place in the legends about the childhood of the most famous prophets of ancient Greece, as we have seen in the case of Melampus, Tiresias, Cassandra and Helenus, the fact that they had a kind of initiation into the world of the divination due to the decisive intervention of some animal, either winged or meandering, which facilitated the first contact with the world of the divine 53 As Eliade has put it: “If one takes into account that, during his initiation, it is thought that the shaman has encountered an animal that has revealed certain secrets of his profession, that teaches him the language of animals, or that becomes his auxiliary spirit (familiar), one can understand even better the bonds of friendship and familiarity that are established between the animals and the shaman” 54

50 51 52 53 54

Delcourt 1958 [1970, 61] Cf Ugolini 1995, 56 ff Cf in general García Gual 1975 Furlanetto 2005, 158 Eliade, 1953, 35 My translation

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There are certain characters, such as the Thracian Zalmoxis or Aristeas of Proconnesus, who are situated on the margins of the Greek world and who could also be mentioned from this point of view Zalmoxis appears as a religious reformer who introduced into his country the ideas about the survival of the soul separated from the body According to Plato (Charmides 156d) he was a Thracian king for whom certain physicians who knew how to procure immortality and Herodotus (IV 93–96) refers the relationship of Zalmoxis with Pythagoras, who would have been his slave in Samos His relationship with the animal world can be inferred by one of the etymologies proposed for his name in Diogenes Laertius, which relates it to the word for “bear” in Thracian, one of the totemic animals par excellence of Asian shamanism Another mythical figure of the same style is that of the traveller and poet Aristeas of Proconnesus (Herodotus IV, 13), to whom an epic poem, the Arimaspea, was attributed, and who is supposed to have been capable of elevating his soul and leaving the body behind There are euhemeristic interpretations of Aristeas’ journey, such as Bolton’s, which focuses on his actual journey, and others on his shamanic character, such as Dowden’s 55 As for his relationship with animals, Aristeas said of himself that he had accompanied Apollo transformed into a raven, which adds to the list of figures with the ability to dominate nature or transform into animals Piquero has recently drawn an in-depth analysis of this figure by taking into consideration the “shamanic” view in relation to Aristeas and framed it in the ancient geography Piquero mentions that “it is possible that the Pythagoreans reinterpreted whatever Aristeas said as a journey of the soul” 56 But he does not seem to favour this view as Scharinger (2017) does in the case of Pythagoras, as we will see in detail Special attention must be given, apart from snakes, to birds Certain birds were also characteristic of Apollo, and therefore of the domain of divination, especially the swan, the kite, the vulture, and the raven As a matter of fact, observing the flight of birds was one of the ancient procedures for interpreting the future by priests who appropriately unravelled the meaning of the song or flight of these birds Among them, we must place special emphasis on the raven The aforementioned Asclepius based his strange birth on an incident starring a raven He was born, according to myth, precisely to Apollo and the Thessalian princess Coronis, a mortal Pindar tells that Coronis loved Apollo and became pregnant with him, but during her pregnancy she became attached to another mortal Apollo was warned of this by a raven – which before giving the bad news and being cursed was a white bird – and in revenge he burned the young woman alive (cf Ovid Met II 605 ff and Hyginus Poet Astr II 40) The raven was, in fact, a favourite animal for divination, said to be able to imitate the human voice and to have various shades of squawking (Pind , F 297 Bowra), one of which was prophetic and could be recognized by prophets and people endowed with

55 56

Bolton 1962, Dowden 1980 Piquero 2017, 101

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divining qualities There was even a treatise, attributed to the mathematician Theon of Alexandria, the father of the famous Hypatia, dedicated to the voice of the raven (Περὶ σημείων καὶ σκοπῆς ὀρνέων καὶ τῆς κοράκων φωνῆς, cf Suda s v ) In classical sources, the great diviners, such as Melampus, Helenus and Mopsus, can directly understand the language of the raven, which is an interpreter of the language of the world and is widely related to Apollo 57 Although, curiously, it seems that the bird itself does not know the meaning of what it prophetically announces (Pliny, HN X 33), since it works like a Pythia in ecstasy, as an instrument of the voice of the god 58 In this the bird would be distinguished from the serpent, as the latter seems to have a prominent role in the initiations of prophets and divine men of the Greek religious tradition, while the bird appears as a mere bearer of divine will, a sign of the future, or a vehicle of prophecy In any case, as we have seen in this brief list of Greek mythological figures related to the typical activities of the “shaman” or “divine man” (poetry, prophecy and healing), it is of the utmost importance to understand the language of the animals 4. Animals and Pythagoras in his late antique biographies The wonders regarding the animal world (the understanding of their language, the transformation into animals, animals as helpers, etc ) are key aspects of myths, folk tales and ritual traditions in diverse cultures In the Greek world, after this list of exceptional figures of divine men who had special contact with the animal world, we can end this contribution by devoting special attention to the most influential and most controversial pre-Socratic philosopher, perhaps because of his role as a guru of a sect of strict and rigorous life, Pythagoras of Samos We will not discuss the many facets of this theios aner of philosophy, whose legendary prodigies, very close to those already mentioned and that have been told in various biographies, included the separations of the body and the soul, incubations in caves, divination, bilocation, and other wonders 59 But in a recent essay focused on his miracles, the importance of the category of “shaman” for studying him has been highlighted and this section will examine it in detail Scharinger (2017) now justly reconsiders Pythagoras under the light of a potentially shamanic trace of his healing, divination, ecstatic, and especially animal-related thaumata In any case, as the author rightly concludes “Pythagoras can truly be characterised as a shaman through some of his miraculous actions” 60 He seems to favour this analogy, long outdated and old-fashioned, perhaps rehabilitating comparative trends among the Greeks and the “other peoples” We will now focus on his relationship with 57 58 59 60

Patera 2012, 159, 175 Furlanetto 2005, 160 See for the list of miracles attributed to Pythagoras, Hernández de la Fuente, 2011, 62–65 Scharinger 2017, 71

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the animal kingdom, since Pythagoras also appears outlined, in parallel to Orpheus, as an exceptional being capable of understanding, making himself understood, and being obeyed by animals Our last question here is whether shamanism as a historiographical or anthropological category, in combination with the idea of theios aner, can be still used productively in the case of Pythagoras This sage of Samos had a special relationship with nature and various stories are told about his mastery of the natural elements It is said, for example, that a river greeted him by name when he crossed it (Porphyry VP 27, Iamblichus VP 134, Diogenes Laërtius VIII 11, Aelian, VH IV 17, Apollonius, Hist Mir 6) and that he was able to control violent hurricanes and to calm storms (Porphyry VP 29 ) But among his legendary features we can mention above all, in this context, Pythagoras’ special relationship with animals, whose language he understood and whose faculties he shared He not only spoke with bears or oxen and could dominate a white eagle, which allowed him to caress it, but he also shared qualities of these animals and was able to act like one of them Let us now review the best-known miracles by comparing the different versions that are transmitted about them in Porphyry and Iamblichus and that seem to come from the same tradition: 1) The bear of Daunia Porphyry (VP 23) and Iamblichus (VP 60) narrate this passage on how Pythagoras dissuaded this wild animal from causing harm: 2) The ox of Taranto was convinced by Pythagoras to stay away from the beans (ἀποστῆσαι τοῦ κυαμῶνος Porphyry VP 24, βοῦν δὲ ἐν Τάραντι Iamblichus VP 61) 3) The eagle of Olympia, who flew over him and then perched himself on Pythagoras’ shoulder so he could caress it (Porphyry VP 25, αἰετὸν δ’ ὑπεριπτάμενον Ὀλυμπίασι προσομιλοῦντος …, Iamblichus VP 62) As seen above, Pythagoras seems to have been able to communicate with animals for various purposes, which follow the “shamanic” characteristics that have been previously discussed In the scenario that biographers draw about the Pythagorean way of life, we must not forget the respect for animals that this sect preached This obviously entailed abstinence from animal meat, a vegetarianism that tried to restore the blueprint of a previous golden age, when men and animals understood each other and conversed In passages 1) and 2) this type of direct conversation takes place, which deals with ethical aspects related to the bios promoted by Pythagoras and his School, that is, with living a just life and following the nutritional rules of the sect Thus, the old community that existed in that golden age and the ancient language of animals were restored The Pythagorean way of life prescribed a series of strict food taboos, including the abstinence from animal meat, which, as we will argue below, is related to that nostalgia for paradise that the ancient myth of the Golden Age and its temporary return to earth supposed under the guidance of certain divine and charismatic characters It is known that diet or lifestyle was one of the great concerns in Greek antiquity, not only on a

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philosophical level, of course, but also in a medical sense or even for sports, as seen in descriptions about the ideal diet of the Hippocratic corpus or in the rules for athletes 61 Although in this particular case there are hesitations in the sources, since sometimes it is stated that Pythagoras did not eat meat at all while other times it seems that the taboo only referred to certain animals or certain parts of their bodies (Porphyry, VP 7, 19 Diog Laërtius VIII 20 ) 62 For Diogenes Laërtius it was a matter of good health and physical shape (VIII 13 5) Precisely this passage is preceded by a discussion about whether Pythagoras was the coach of a famous athlete But in the case of Pythagoreanism, food had a much more relevant role to play due to its connection with the ideological aspects that were related to the core of the master’s doctrines These were significant in two respects: first, one that was related to reincarnation, which prevented eating meat, and second, because his doctrines advocated an ascetic way of life to meditate and meet the spiritual plane Both doctrines focused on an adequate diet 63 The authors who speak of a prohibition of all foods of animal origin (Aristotle, Rhet I 14 2, Sextus Empiricus IX 127) seem to point out this common precept to the Orphics and to the consideration of metensomatosis and the continuity of the soul in other bodies in the universe (Plutarch, de Esu Carn 993, 996, 997) Nevertheless, not all the members of the school were subjected to this prohibition, except for those from the highest or most purified classes (Iamblichus VP 107, 109, 149): “The most contemplative of the philosophers, who had reached especially the highest peaks, stripped them of superfluous and unfairly obtained foods, stating that they could neither eat anything animated nor drink wine at all nor sacrifice animals to the gods or harm them in any way […] However, it allowed the ingestion of some animals to those whose life was not totally pure, sacred, and philosophical”

In any case, abstinence from shedding animal blood is usually contrasted with a Pythagorean precept that asks, “what is the most fair?”, which answer was “sacrifice” (Iamblichus, VP 82) Animal sacrifice was one of the pillars of the Greek cult towards the gods, so the proverbial piety of Pythagoras should also involve this type of practice The solutions that have been proposed for this contradiction are intermediate and there are authors who attribute only bloodless offerings to it, while others say that the sacrifice of consecrated animals did not pose problems to the idea of reincarnation because the souls of men did not enter these animals (Iamblichus, VP 85) The Neoplatonist (and Pythagoras’ biographer) Porphyry promoted in his work De abstinentia (III 27) a vegetarianism with ascetic roots, following the Pythagorean example He thus intended to promote an asceticism in man through the abstinence 61 62 63

On food in the ancient world see Brothwell and Brothwell 1998 o Garnsey 1999 Cf García Gual 2000 For the food prescriptions of Pythagoreanism, see the analysis offered by Riedweg 2002, 93 ff or Huffman 2018 On its relationship to ideas about food in context, cf Scarborough 1982

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from meat of his animal brothers This was based on the idea that asceticism sought to separate the soul and the body, the return to the divine, and the departure from the sensible world Therefore, this progressively divinized the person To justify his vision and frame it within the history of humanity, Porphyry (De abstinentia IV 2 1–9 ) gathered a testimony of the Aristotelian Dicaearchus of Messana that was related to the discourse of the golden age Dicaearchus spoke about this golden ancient human race, relating their happiness, justice, and eternal youth with their respect for animals and their abstinence from eating their meat, something that had already been preaching first the Pythagoreans: “This is what Dicaearchus said, when he refers the antiquities of the Greeks and relates how blessed the life of the first humans was, which was due to abstinence from animal food, a contributing factor no less than other things Thus, there was no war, and injustice had been expelled But then, along with the injustice towards the animals, came war, and competition against each other; for this reason, I dare to say that the abstinence of animals is the mother of injustice” 64

This ancient golden human race lived close to the gods in terms of food, as their diet was bloodless This idea is close to the traditional myth of the ages, since, following Saunders, these were articulated “based on the three historical stages of food for the Greek race: the golden age, when men simply ate the spontaneous products of the land, without having to work for it; the pastoral age, characterised by the domination of animals and the ingestion of their meat, which I take as implicit by ‘they laid their hands on them’ (epsanto) and, the age of agriculture” 65 There are also traces of this food from the golden age related to the myth of the age of Kronus and the vegetal exuberance characteristic of Dionysus,66 and of the justice to the animals in the work of Plato, going so far as to sketch a utopian panorama of this golden age in which men and animals converse with each other When it comes to the discovery of agriculture in The Laws, Plato also alludes to the food of that mythical age, which was provided without bloodshed: “When these humans did not dare even to taste the ox and the divinities did not have animal offerings, but liquid mixtures of flour, honey and oil, fruits dipped in honey, and other such pure offerings, while turning away from the meat as if it were not pious to eat it or stain the altars of the gods with blood, but those of us who lived then came to have a kind of life called orphic” (Plato, Leg VI 782c )

In addition to this, the myth of Plato’s Statesman, told by the “Stranger from Elea”, presents a description of the golden age of great interest to Platonic political theory, 64 65 66

Cf Fortenbaugh and Schütrumpf, n  56A Saunders 2001, 242 As I have discussed in Hernández de la Fuente 2009

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in which he asks if the men of that time lived a life fairer and happier than those of the present age It is not the conditions of vegetal exuberance, a surplus of food and the absence of death or violence that are considered here, but rather the type of conversations to which men, gods, and animals were engaged in Their happiness depended on whether those men were dedicated to philosophy or if, on the contrary, “gorging themselves on food and drink until they were satisfied, they talked with each other and with the animals about myths such as those now told about them” (Plato, Statesman 272 b) Finally, it should be remembered that Pythagoras, according to the legendary traditions of his lives, not only established conversations with animals but, as can be inferred from some of the legends transmitted about his relationship with animals, he also imitated in a certain way their lifestyle and their qualities Perhaps this was done in a conscious mimesis which tended to recover that golden state of the paradisiacal past and bring it to the present, while emphasising that temporary metensomatosis back and forth to the animal kingdom and its knowledge There is a passage transmitted by paradoxography and by a part of the Pythagorean biographical tradition according to which Pythagoras faced a poisonous serpent with his same weapons, biting, and on an equal footing (Apolonius, Hist Mir 667 δάκνοντα θανάσιμον ὄφιν αὐτὸς δάκνων ἀπέκτεινεν; Iamblichus VP 141 τὸν μικρὸν ὄφιν, ὃς ἀπέκτεινε δάκνων) 5. Conclusion To give a brief conclusion to this contribution, we have reviewed the possibility of combining the controversial historiographic category of Greek shamanism, which was no doubt outdated and old-fashioned, but has been recently taken up again, with the idea of the divine man, another very criticised juncture Making a theoretical review of the fortunes of this historiographic conception, we can ascertain to which extent it is still possible to use it, at least to clarify in a comparative way some of the legends that are told about many of these charismatic and divine figures found in Greek literature and philosophy Furthermore, in the case of Pythagoras, whose legendary trail in lateantique biographies is so remarkable and so fruitful in the context of studies of divine men, the special relationship with animals that we have exemplified through the preceding cases provides yet another reason to use a comparative analysis with anthropology and folklore There are parallels in other cultural traditions, which go beyond the scope of this contribution, and which can illuminate some of these legendary aspects in the narrative cycles that refer to “shamans” or “divine men” of various geographical latitudes

67

Ed Giannini 1965

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Pythagoras not only imitated animals in terms of feeding and on certain behaviours, i e from speaking to acting like a snake, but he also followed his old tongue in communication with the afterlife, through cataleptic dreams in caves and hibernation in katabaseis that have been pointed out on various occasions Acts that had both philosophical and prophetic motivations 68 This semi-divine character thus embodies some typically shamanic characteristics that associate the flight of the soul and the privileged contact with the afterlife to the relationship of familiarity with the animal world The recent study by Scharinger is correct in establishing that, however, the sage of Samos in his legendary dimension cannot be understood solely on the basis of the concept of shaman, even if it is useful, but in combination with other historiographic categories such as holiness, implicit in the concept of theios aner, “divine man” 69 Pythagoras has a well-attested ability to understand animals and make himself understood by them, to obtain a type of communication useful for his interests Finally, we also believe that the possibility of becoming an animal is implicit in some passages, a “metensomatosis” as seen in the legend of the snake, which is surely only one of the stories that were transmitted on this subject Coinciding with the studies on Asian shamanism, moreover, it could be said that, if this hypothesis is confirmed, the sage of Samos, as the head of a school that offered an alternative way of life, proposed to recapture in a certain pristine way those old times in which animals and men lived in a community without feeding on each other and with the ability to understand each other in the same ancient and prestigious language The Edenic myth of the golden age is updated by the founder of these rules to live a just life, who intends to recover not only the language of animals but also the ancient communication with the divine Prophecy, utopia, shamanism, community of life with animals and communication with them seem related to Pythagoras, a fundamental figure of the Greek religious tradition Scholars throughout the ages have tried to find the most convenient analogies: “divine man” or Ancient Greek “saint”, for some, with theological terminology, “medicine-man” or “shaman” for others, in anthropological terms All of these views have aroused sometimes strong opposition of an important part of the critics But the very notion of Pythagoreanism or the figure of Pythagoras the sage as category, as Cornelli (2013) convincingly shows in an excellent monograph, is also a historiographic construction As we have seen, Pythagoras shares with other similar figures, of mythical significance, many of these characteristic points But that deserves a separate and more in-depth analysis In any case, recent scholarship is returning to those old junctures of “Greek shamanism” and “divine man”, which perhaps can be used in combination I think both can be used today to some extent as a working tool for interpretation, by way of example, but always taking care of underlining the differences along with the 68 69

P e the classical work by Burkert 1969 or the analysis between divination and politics of the experience of the katabasis in Hernández de la Fuente 2013 Scharinger 2017, 224

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analogies The example of the special relation with the animal world, in the list of miracles of Pythagoras that Scharinger has studied is a good instance together with other parallel cases both in the Greek world and in other cultures But we should always start with an inner comparison with the same culture David Hernández de la Fuente Professor of Greek Philology at the Complutense University of Madrid davidahe@ucm es

Healing and Exceptionality Theia physis in Letters 1 and 2 of the Hippocratic Corpus Jorge Cano Cuenca 1. Context: the pseudepigrapha and some news about Hippocrates and his exceptionality Hippocrates is known as the father of scientific medicine based on the empirical and notional analysis of nature However, he is attributed an exceptional natural condition in the collection of the Hellenistic pseudepigraphic texts, as well as exceptional practices in some of his Vitae These corpora make up an interesting biographical tradition that Émile Littré included in his laborious edition, published throughout the first half of the 19th century 1 Littré, a student of Auguste Comte and close to positivism, had the task of putting all the Hippocratic works at the disposal of the doctors of his time He analysed the data of the pseudepigraphic testimonies literally, seeing in them a sea of dating errors, of calculating the medical knowledge recorded in these texts which he considered fables that were not supported by any valuable evidence Undoubtedly, if it were possible to follow their connections, it would be noticed that, as the one who refers to them moves away from the time in which Hippocrates lived, the number of errors increased Littré argued against the fictional intervention of Hippocrates in the plague of Athens since Thucydides did not mention it and violated all chronological correspondence 2 He further added that recent experience – the cholera epidemic in Paris in 1832 – showed that human arts were useless to deflect plagues Despite the 1 2

Oeuvres complètes d’Hippocrate by Émile Littré, vol 9 Paris, 1861 This was followed by the editions of Ermerins (1859–1864), Hercher (1878) and Putzger (1914) For this article, I follow the edition of Smith, 1990 whose translations of the Letters belong to “Ce silence de Thucydide sur Hippocrate dans une maladie qui fut un événement historique, est décisif, et prouve que le médecin de Cos ne fit rien de ce qu’on lui attribue en cette circonstance Mais le récit porte en lui-même les preuves de sa propre fausseté Hippocrate est né en 460, la peste éclata à Athènes en 428, il n’avait donc que 32 ans A cet âge il ne pouvait avoir encore acquis la réputation que la légende lui suppose, et surtout il ne pouvait avoir ni fils, ni gendre, à envoyer dans les différentes villes de la Grèce De plus la légende intervertit complètement la marche de

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rejection that he showed for this group of texts, his philological rigour, on the other hand, made him include it in his edition of the medical treatises Evidently, Littré’s attachment to positive truth was alien to the interest that these biographical accounts have for other lines of inquiry The extensive collection of pseudepigrapha recounts both the life and events of Hippocrates and his role – and that of his children and students – in the history of the Island of Kos and, therefore, of Greece In addition, in this collection there is an alleged Athenian plan to carry out a military expedition against Kos, stopped by the intervention of Hippocrates through his son Thessalus before the assembly of Athens, an assembly that may have listened because of the service provided by the latter to the Athenian army in Syracuse or by the intervention of Hippocrates and his disciples in curing the plague in Athens and another devastating disease that affected all of Hellas Hippocrates presents himself as a Greek patriot who remains faithful to his people and disdains the honours and riches offered by the Persian barbarians, to whom he refuses to help In this case his “nationalist” character is more powerful than the traditional philanthropeia of the medical praxis Likewise, he offers his help to Democritus, the smiling philosopher, whom his fellow citizens considered mad for disdaining their values and ways of life and who teaches Hippocrates that his supposed disease is nothing more than his original way of understanding life All these narratives, which emerged in the Hellenistic period, appear in a set of texts that can be divided into two blocks, as established in the editions of W D Smith (1990) and J R Pinault (1992) The first block of texts (Letters, Embassy, Discourse from the Altar, Decree) is from the Hellenistic period, while the second spans a wide timeframe that can be dated from the first centuries of our era (second to sixth centuries in the case of Soranus’ Vita: VHSS) until the tenth and twelfth centuries (Suda, Tzetzes, Life of Brussels) The collection is not, in any case, thematically homogeneous, although it does show, at least in the Hellenistic pseudepigrapha, a knowledge of the geography and history of Kos that has led researchers to think that the original material arose in that geographical area 3 However, as Smith (2002: 218) has pointed out, the historical and political data are reformulated to fit the purpose of the narrative, although other pieces of information such as the

3

l’épidémie; elle la fait venir par l’Illyrie, la Thessalie, et la Béotie jusque dans l’Attique”, Littré vol  I, 1839, 41 All of this served as propaganda Smith and Pinault suggest that the Embassy and the Discourse from the Altar were the catalysts for the development of Hippocrates’ later “heroic” tale Smith (1990: 8) suggested the interesting hypothesis that the Embassy and the Discourse from the Altar were the only biographical-historical information about Hippocrates included in the collection of anonymous medical texts that were compiled in Alexandria Jouanna (1999, 9), on the other hand, considers the Embassy as one of the most reliable sources regarding Hippocrates’ historical figure E D Nelson (2005, 210 ff ) considers them texts extracted from the Koaka by Macareus and a way of promoting the Asclepians and their temple in Kos that, in Hellenistic Alexandria, elevated the figure of Hippocrates “from a Platonic footnote and Aristotelian reference to icon, and the Asclepiadai from cult priests to medical school, in short order” (Nelson 2005, 233)

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privileges enjoyed by the Asclepiads at Delphi, are not questioned since we preserve other epigraphic testimony to corroborate them 4 On the other hand, the collection is complex and does not serve as a mere hagiographic product that proclaims Hippocrates’ thaumata elevating him to the rank of theios aner, even though it does provide interesting documents on the relationship of the medical arts with its main patron, the god Asclepius, who, due to his lineage, grants Hippocrates himself the halo of theios, although it is not only his kinship with his divine ancestor, Asclepius, what justified such honours It is known that the process of divinization of Asclepius was the result of a late local cult that arose in Trikka or Epidaurus – at least contemporary with the last stages of the development of the Homeric epic before it was codified – that spread throughout the rest of Greece The Edelsteins concluded that the deification of the hero Asclepius occurred at the end of the sixth century BCE, from its original Thessaly (Trikka) to Epidaurus (Peloponnese) and throughout the continental and insular geography of Hellas, at a time when Asclepius started to absorb the previous relationship that the people had with Apollo Paean, the healer, which occurred at a time when the barrier between the heroic and the divine was becoming more blurred Although not all inventors of an art ascended to divinization, the patron of an art as fundamental to the human species as medicine deserved it 5 Even the author of On Ancient Medicine (14) affirms that the invention of an art such as medicine must be attributed to a god due to its complexity and the skill that it entails Likewise, it should be noted that both Machaon and Podalirius, the sons of Asclepius who participated in the Achaean contingent in Troy, also went through a process of divinization, although surely inferior to the cult that their father Asclepius received According to Aristotle (Fr 640 20 Rose), there was a cenotaph in Trikka in which the brothers were referred to as “formerly mortals, now companions (metochoi) of the gods” Also, Pausanias (3 26 9) mentions the existence of a sanctuary dedicated to Machaon in Gerenia in which healings were carried out 6 The medicine that we call Hippocratic was developed on the island of Kos, and in close connection with its temple, between the fifth and fourth centuries BCE Hippocrates is hardly reported by his contemporaries Centuries later, Apollonius of Cition, active doctor in the middle of the first century BCE, considered Hippocrates, the father of medicine, Hippokratou tou theiotatou (CMG 11 1 1; 10 5) Later Athenaeus (Banquet of the Wise Men (9 399 B) calls him Hippokrates ho hierotatos This exaltation of the therapeutic work coincides with the poem that the Stoic philosopher Serapion

4 5 6

Regarding the Delphic inscription and the discussion about whether the term “Asclepiad” refers to a local affiliation with a lineage of Kos doctors or if it is a generic term to refer to medical professionals, cf Smith 1990, 14–18; against this hypothesis see Nelson 2005, 232 Edelstein 1988, 236 ff Gerenia is a Messinian city, which complicates the question of the god’s ascription to Thessaly or Messinia (Edelstein 1998, I, 21, 92)

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(ca first century CE) inscribed on the base of a tripod comparing it with the saving action of a god (θεὸς οἷα [σ] αωτήρ, cf Temkin, 1995, 73) Other authors of the imperial era, such as Varro, Celsus, Pliny and Gallen himself, echo exceptional news about the father of medicine and show a fabulous development of his figure in the second century CE which places him, for example, in the plague of Athens, as well as in the plagues alluded to in the Hellenistic pseudepigrapha The inhabitants of Kos made offerings to him on the day of his birth, and it is reported that his grave became a popular place to visit for healing 7 In Planudes’ Appendix of the Anthologia Graeca, there are two epigrams (16 268 and 269, Paton) that echo the divine lineage and exceptional character of Hippocrates with the mention of the terms Paian and Paieon 8 Paieon refers to a divine physician and the epithet was applied to Apollo and his son Asclepius As Temkin (1995, 73) points out, its use with respect to mortals encompassed a series of meanings that merged the doctor with the saviour, although the former is not elevated to the ontological rank of immortal: Hippocrates was always considered to be a mortal, like the emperor Marcus Aurelius mentioned in his annotations (III, 3) 9 As has been mentioned (DuToit 1997, 16 and 512–39), the theios quality does not only mean the ascription of a figure to the class of gods, but an epistemological exceptionality typical of the archegetes or founders of knowledge that is also applied to the founders of philosophical schools On the other hand, the possession of a theia physis, as in the case of prophets and poets, is a quality that distinguishes ordinary human beings from those who have a special condition, regardless of their consideration as archegetes in an epistemological sense 10 In any case, as Temkin (1995, 71) underlines, Hippocrates has divine attributes, but he is neither a god nor works miracles, which coincides with an epigram in the Anthologia Graeca (VII, 135) that conveys his epitaph In this epigram, it is stated that Hippocrates of Kos is a descendant of the divine lineage of Apollo and achieved “multiple trophies” defeating diseases with the weapons of “Hygieia”, for which he achieved immense glory not by luck, but by his science 11 This vision of the father of medical techne connects with the content of Letter II of the collection and I consider that it differentiates Hippocrates from the theios aner as a miracle worker (Blackburn 1991, 92–96; Pilgaard 1995, 102) 12

7 8

9 10 11 12

VHSS 11; Temkin, 1995: 72 16, 268: Either Apollo (Παιάν) wrote thy words, Hippocrates, or thou art the witness (martys) of his healing power (τῆς κείνου μάρτυς ἀκεστορίης) and 16, 269: “This is he who opened the secret paths of medicine (ἀκεστορίης κρυφίας ὤιξε κελεύθους), the divine healer of men (Παιήων), Hippocrates of Cos” (Paton’s translation) “Hippocrates cured many illnesses and then fell ill and died himself ” (Gill’s translation) Zeller, 2003: 52 Θεσσαλὸς Ἱπποκράτης, Κῷος γένος, ἐνθάδε κεῖται, / Φοίβου ἀπὸ ῥίζης ἀθανάτου γεγαώς  / πλεῖστα τρόπαια νόσων στήσας ὅπλοις Ὑγιείης, / δόξαν ἑλὼν πολλῶν οὐ τύχᾳ, ἀλλὰ τέχνᾳ For a discussion of the term theios aner and its definition in the literature outside of its New Testament development, cf Pilgaard, 1995: 103–113

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As a general framework, it should be remembered that, together with the empirical and notional analysis of physis, exemplified in the Hippocratic techne, other essentially philosophical and magical or shamanic forms of approach to human physiology coexisted that rival the medical gaze It does not seem entirely possible to ignore at this point how the late biographies of Pythagoras underline this divine character and the many different miracles (thaumata) that are narrated in them (Hernández de la Fuente 2011, 62–67) 13 Faced with this approach to the healing work, certain episodes of the late Hippocrates show a kind of vulgarisation, or even a staging, of the Hippocratic theories and texts themselves, as seen in the episode of the plague The doctor does not perform miracles, as in the episodes that appear in the life of Apollonius of Tyre,14 but his achievements, as we will try to analyse, come from analytical practices of the geographic habitat and the relationship between its physical conditions (waters, winds, etc ) and the possibility of generating allopathic remedies that are added in the face of these dangers that arise narratively imminent and without the capacity for foresight, which shows them closer to the level of myth than of medicine (Pinault 1992, 47) In sum, it is the excellence in the practice of his art which endows him with its theios character, in an arete sense that is built on diverse elements from post-classical philosophical schools, medical propaganda, local Kos interests or popular culture 2. Hippocrates’ theia physis in the Pseudepigraphic Letters We have twenty-four letters related to Hippocrates that are mainly linked to two lines of argument, although there is a third group of letters that are not entirely ascribable thematically (Smith 1990, 32; Cottrell 2012, 5) 15 The first block (1–9) is a propagandistic revindication of Hellenic patriotism: the Persian king Artaxerxes demands Hippocrates’ medical knowledge to cure a disease that is decimating the Persian population, but he firmly refuses to collaborate with the enemies of the Greeks This provokes the fury of Artaxerxes, which is manifested in a series of threats to his land, the island of Kos, and its inhabitants who bravely close ranks around such an illustrious fellow citizen 16 The second block, somewhat longer (10–21), is a novella built on a relationship, which could have been chronologically possible, between Democritus and Hip13 14

15 16

Likewise, about Empedocles’ thaumata: D L 8 59; against this Hp Morb 4 Cf Vegetti and Manuli 2009, 74–75; Gemelli-Marciano 2005, 375; Kingsley 1995, 335 ff Philostr VA, 4 1; 4 10 As Zeller (2003: 59) points out in the case of Apollonius, his “miraculous feats” take on more importance than his therapeutic virtues: “In general, however, Philostratus subsumes Apollonius’ healing powers to his superior ‘foresight’ (called both πρόγνωσις and μαντική)” For the Arabic translation of the letters and the mss B L Or 12070 in which the order of the Persian and Democritus letters is reversed, cf Cottrell, 2012: 1–17 For more information, Smith, 1990: 18–19

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pocrates that contains cynical and humorous elements: the people of Abdera consult Hippocrates to attend to the supposed madness of their local philosopher The doctor travels to the city to attend Democritus and this generates an interesting series of discussions about medical practice and healing methods in which these ideas are interpolated and directly related to specific passages of the medical treatises of the Corpus 17 Letters 22–24 have a miscellaneous theme: a recommendation to Thessalus to study geometry and to consider studies on anatomy and regimen, with a clear vision of medicine as paideia (Smith 1990, 32) The letters are addressed between various correspondents (Artaxerxes, Paetos, Hystanes, Demetrius, Democritus, the people of Kos, the people of Abdera, Dionysius, Philopoemen, Dionysius, Thessalus, Damagetus, Crateuas) and share a rhetorical tone to which, sometimes, a humorous component is added 18 Like the rest of the Hippocratic pseudepigrapha, centred on the life and public performance of the father of medicine, the letters were created as a revival of a prestigious medical past through an imagined historical dramatization, They were intended for a non-specialized audience and had different propaganda purposes (Van der Eijk 1999, 12–1319) I am not going to go into the novella, the relationship between the doctor of Kos and the Persian emperor or his relationship with the Embassy, the Discourse from the Altar or the Decree of the Athenians, or other similar letters of rejection such as those of Pittacus to Croesus or Heraclitus to Darius (DL 1 81 and 9 14; Pinault 1992, 85–93) Within the set of Letters, I would like to focus on Letters 1 and 2 and analyse the presence of the terms theia and theios, as well as other statements that affect the divine lineage of Hippocrates In an interesting study, D Zeller (2003, 49–69), analysed the theia physis attributed to Hippocrates in the second letter of the collection considering the general discussion on theios aner in the Greco-Roman literature of classical and imperial times and its friction with other sources closer to Hellenic Judaism, the Neoplatonic current or the New Testament Zeller analyses and comments on Letter 2, where he reaches certain conclusions: 1) theios also means “excellence above the human level”; 2) for the epithet the performance of miracles is not a sine qua non condition; 3) the theia physis is a provision granted from birth; and 4) divine origin and veneration are not a denotation of the adjective theios, but a connotation of the epithet (Zeller, 2003: 69) On the

17

18 19

Smith (1990, 20–32) elaborates an internal thematic and stylistic analysis of this block of letters and groups them into two subgroups (10–17 and 18–21) considering the textual tradition and thematic particularities Letter 17 would be the intellectual and narrative climax of the novella For another classification, cf Cottrell 2012, 7 For the history of textual transmission, Smith 1990, 35–43 As Van der Eijk (1999, 13) has pointed out: “The tendency, in ancient intellectual biography and indeed in ancient biography as a whole, to focus on such episodes of spectacular achievement, was further enhanced by processes of selection and distortion which were inherent in ancient biographical traditions and caused the genre to acquire a rather anecdotal form, often verging on the sensational”

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other hand, the consideration of physis as an excellent capacity or disposition granted by the gods from birth is something traditionally present in certain traditional values of Greek culture (e g Pi N I, 8; VI, 4–5; Pl Meno 99c–d) Plato in Lg III 691 and Democritus 68 B 21 DK20 grant the gift of a divine natural condition to the legislator Lycurgus and Homer In both, this special quality is related to two spheres of action, legislation and poetry, in which this nature allows access to divinity and the possibility of mediation between them 21 At this point, it is worth addressing certain questions that have to do with the way in which the tension between physis and techne allows for the use of this epithet in Letter 2 and how they relate to specific aspects of medical science Letter 2 affirms the theios status of Hippocrates because of the exceptional rank obtained in the development of his techne Smith (1990: 18) considers that the first two letters form a cohesive grouping and different from the rest, which were composed at a later date, perhaps before Emperor Claudius 22 In Letter 1, there is a request made by the great king Artaxerxes to Paitos (or Petos) for remedies that could cure the plague (Νοῦσος … ἡ καλουμένη λοιμική) that has befallen on his army and that was decimating it, without giving any relief (ἔνδοσιν) Artaxerxes demands a solution that could come either from natural remedies (ἐκ φύσεως σου ἐπινοήμασιν), or from procedures of experimental wisdom (ἐκ τέχνης πρήξεων) or from any other possibility that could be used for healing (ἰήσασθαι) The disease is manifested with respiratory difficulties (ἀλύκη … πολὺς ἄλυς πνεῦμα μέγα καἰ πυκνὸν ἔχων) The image of a beast (θῆρα) that causes devastation among a herd (λυμαινόμενον τὰ ποίμνια), firing darts from top to bottom (πικρὰ βέλη βελῶν καταπέμπει) and leaving seriously wounded (δυσιάτους) whomever it reaches, is a direct reference to the plague scene of the Iliad I Artaxerxes, who appears over20 21

22

Plato on the legislator Lycurgus: φύσις τις ἀνθρωπίνη μεμειγμένη θείᾳ τινὶ δυνάμει; Democritus on Homer: φύσεως λαχών θεαζούσης (Zeller 2003, 54) Regarding poetry, Pl Ion 533c–534c (θείᾳ δυνάμει) For Homer (inter alia): Θεῖος ῞Ομηρος appears in an epigram on the Certamen Homeri et Hesiodi (309–312 Allen); also Anth Gr 9,204 (θεῖον Ὅμηρον); In an ostrakon (O Mich 9353) from Karanis (Egypt) from third century BCE, in which there is a writing exercise, it reads: θεῖος οὐκ ἄνθρωπος Ὅμηρος (https://quod lib umich edu/a/ apis/x-784 retrieved Aug 23, 2022) For Lycurgus, Hdt 1 65 2; Pl Lg 696a–b; Plu Lyc 6 2 Plutarch also attributes a natural exceptionality at the end of his comparison between Cimon and Lucullus (3 6: ὡς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ θείοις τήν φύσιν ἀμφοτέροις) On the divine character of the Stoic sages because they harbour divinity within them, D L 7 119: Θείους τ᾽ εἶναι: ἔχειν γὰρ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς οἱονεὶ θεόν In the case of Plato and Plutarch, theia physis implies that “true participation in divinity consists in piety and virtue” (Zeller, 2003: 62) “Letters 1 and 2 stand somewhat apart They are more expansive in style and introduce other dimensions to the exchange” Paitos may be the Hellenized form of the Roman name Paetus Given that the appearance of historical figures in the collection is frequent, it has been conjectured if this Paitos could be the Epicurean Papirius Paetus, a friend of Cicero; Caecus Paetus, proconsul in Asia who committed suicide in 42; although it makes more sense that it is the doctor mentioned by Lucian in his biography of the fraudulent prophet Alexander (60), or perhaps an Oriental, which would be more logical, or an Egyptian doctor who served in the Persian court (Sakalis 1983, 85–89; Smith 1990, 18; Zeller 2003, 63–64)

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whelmed (οὑ φέρω), unable to find advice among his own people, seems to grant his correspondent a ἀγαθῇ συνειδήσει that enables him to have accurate advice and the fulfilment of the work that was commissioned 23 In his reply letter to the king, Paitos elaborates a flowery eulogy of Hippocrates that contains all the traditional elements of praise (Zeller 2003, 64) The letter focuses specifically on two aspects: his excellence by lineage and his excellence as a doctor In response to the first request presented by Artaxerxes (ἐκ φύσεως σου ἐπινοήμασιν), Paitos responds that, left to its action, nature may solve diseases by taking them to their critical point;24 regarding the second, he mentions the possibility that medical techne could use a technical procedure to introduce a change in bodies that causes this krisis (τέχνη τεχνικῶς κρίνουσα τὴν τροπὴν τῶν σωμάτων), concluding that there is someone capable of doing it: “Hippocrates the physician (ἰητρὸς) cures this malady (ἰῆται τοῦτο τὸ πάθος)”, with an expression of marked rhetorical nuance due to the repetition of the stem * ἰητ and the rhythmic recurrence of the letter τ The capable techne is to act on the course of the physis by artificially causing (τεχνικῶς) a krisis 25 The use of krisis coincides with the medical treatises: the moment in which the affection worsens, diminishes, changes into another ailment, or ends (Hp Aff 8; Coac 213) 26 Hippocrates is presented as a technites capable of causing with his intervention, according to the kairos, a change of direction (τροπὴν), in case it does not occur due to the natural course of the disease 27 As Jouanna (2005, 14) has pointed out, in the Hippocratic Corpus there are no interventions in plagues, although in Epidemics general diseases are recorded Therefore, the image of Hippocrates as a plague healer is a novelty with respect to the

23 24 25

26

27

Smith (1990, 18) perhaps suggests an echo of Herodotus 7 35, with Xerxes ordering the Hellespont to be flogged with whips In any case, his amechania puts him in the opposite place from that of the determined Oedipus at the beginning of Sophocles’ tragedy “Natural remedies do not get rid of the visitation of the plague epidemic Diseases from nature herself judges (brings to a crisis: κρίνουσα) and heals” (Smith 1990, 49–51) It is possible that the doctor finds himself in the situation of having to force nature to collaborate with him, something that happens, for example, in hidden diseases, in which the visible or inferrable symptoms are not enough for him to determine the course of the disease or the intervention parameters Hp Art 13 This intervention on the physis is shown as an analogy with an interrogation before a judge, in which it is declared by oath or torture, in the case of slaves The doctor, on the other hand, does not exert violence on nature when he forces it to manifest itself ( Jouanna 1999, 347; cf , also, Hp Epid 1 11) Regarding the “critical days”, Hp Prog 5–6; Dieb Jud 1 Jouanna (2005, 4) points out: “Thus crisis is a significant point in the course of a disease, either in the good or the bad sense In order to establish the prognosis for the course of an illness, doctors attempted to identify the signs heralding these crises, but also to determine their periodicity” Diocles of Carystus also emphasised the importance of critical days in his discussion of fevers (Nutton 2004, 121) For the urgency of medical intervention, García Novo 1999, 75; Laín Entralgo 1987, 213; Jouanna: 4–5 Hp Loc Hom 46 1 In Aph 1 2 there is a similar dilemma: either spontaneous purging occurs, or one must intervene with treatment Regarding the link between kairos and diet, cf Craik 1988 209

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role of doctors in the Corpus and must have started from other sources that were used in conforming his legend over time 28 Next, the genealogy (τῷ γένει) of Hippocrates is traced up to the seventh generation: of Dorian origin, from the island of Kos, he is the seventh descendant of Chrysamis Between two genealogical mentions, the divine condition of his nature, which he has made and makes use of (κέχρηται) merge with his practical excellence, which took (προήγαγε) the medical art from small and crude practices to important and technical achievements (ἐς μεγάλα καὶ τεχνικὰ) Hippocrates is theios and is shown by his paternal lineage, in which we meet Asclepius in seventeenth place and Zeus in nineteenth, and by his maternal one: his mother Praxithea descends from the Heraclid lineage 29 In just a few lines he insistently repeats his divine status: (2 20: θείᾳ φύσει; 2 21: θεῖος; 2 25: θεῶν ἀπόγονόν) At no time is the figure of Apollo mentioned or his connection with Asclepius, which is quite interesting in this context Like other figures, Hippocrates appears as an archegetes of a techne that, due to the exceptional nature of his practice, has reached the rank of episteme In any case, the double lineage – Asclepius and Heracles – contributes, however distantly, to the divinity of Hippocrates, but its full condition is the product of both the divine character of the medical episteme (Hp VM 14) and of excellence in its performance 30 The panegyric underlines Hippocrates’ education and his nature: although he received medical training from his father Heraclides and his grandfather Hippocrates, who introduced him to the first mysteries of the iatrike (ἐμυήθη τῆς ἰητρικῆς), it was he who learned the techne himself by making use, again, of his divine nature (θείᾳ φύσει κεχρημένος), which made him surpass his predecessors both for the excellent disposition of his soul (τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς εὐφυΐᾳ) and for the virtue demonstrated by his knowledge of the techne (τῇ τῆς τέχνης ἀρετῇ) It is this internal disposition (physis) to learning and training that makes him self-taught: a physis, again, that is a divine concession, which allows him to reach levels that are not within the reach of humans and through which he purifies (καθαίρει) much of the land and sea: not eliminating the lineage of beasts,

28

29

30

However, although we do not preserve a medical testimony on which Thucydides could form his account, it seems that he was not alien to the medical lexicon on krisis (2 49 1: ἐς τοῦτο πάντα ἀπεκρίθη), which coincides with the definition of Aff 8 Likewise Thu 2 49 2: ἀπ᾽ οὐδεμιᾶς προφάσεως and Hp Epid VII: ἐξ οὐδεμιῆς προφάσιος The lexical coincidence is manifest, although the Hippocratic text is of a later date ( Jouanna 2005, 15) 2 18–20: “Son of Heraclides, son of Gnosidicus, son of Nebros, son of Sostratus, son of Theodorus, son of Cleomyttades, son of Chrysamis” 2 21–26: “The divine Hippocrates is eighth, you know, from King Crisarnis, seventeenth from Asclepius, nineteenth from Zeus, and his mother is Phainarete’s daughter Praxithea, from the Heraclid house” In the VHSS, the mother receives the name of Phainarete (Pinault 1992, 7) The genealogy of Hippocrates is recurrent in the Vitae: the Brussels Life traces it from Asclepius himself and his sons, Podalirius and Machaon (Pinault 1992, 25) The Decree and the Embassy insists on the provenance of Asclepius and Heracles Zeller 2005, 66

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but of violent bestial diseases (θηριωδῶν δὲ νοσημάτων καὶ ἀγρίων)31 In response to the image presented by Artaxerxes in Letter 1 (τὸν θῆρα λυμαινόμενον τὰ ποίμνια), diseases are compared to the monsters against which civilising heroes fought, such as Heracles, from whom Hippocrates himself descended by maternal lineage With his weapons, Hippocrates, like Heracles, cleanses territories of affections and threats to mankind Archaeology has confirmed this relationship between the doctor and the hero: we conserve a considerable number of surgical instruments, mainly from the imperial era, in which there are attributes that refer to Heracles or images of the son of Zeus and Alcmene (Bliquez, 2014: 19–20; 74–75, 156, 177) 32 It is doubtful that the καθαίρει can be related to the work of the healers-purifiers (kathartai) of miasma or plagues derived from offending the gods (Diogenes Laertius 1 109–110 on Epimenides) The kathartai performed purifying rites not therapeutic practices within a techne, as described in Letter 2 33 Likewise, in his work, Hippocrates resembles a benefactor of humanity: he scatters and sows the remedies (βοηθήματα) of Asclepius, just as Triptolemus does with the seeds (σπέρματα) of Demeter Such benefits have made Hippocrates famous

31

32 33

Unlike other later references and stories, Letter 2’s καθαίρει does not point to a specific purifying work In the stories that place Hippocrates in the plague of Athens, the proposed remedy involves burning bonfires of aromatic herbs to purify the air, a detail that is not found in the Hellenistic pseudepigrapha and that, for example, frames, with resonances between medical and rituals, the beginning of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (4–5) In Embassy 7, before the plague that attacks Illyrians and Paenonians and that threatens to reach Thessaly, it is mentioned “and he made inquiry what kinds of disturbances there were, area by area, in heat and winds and mist and other things that produce unusual conditions When he had gotten everyone’s information, he told them to go back, pretending that he was unable to go to their country” This methodology is very close to that set forth in Hp Aër 1 and Ep 1, where climatological and atmospheric phenomena and the natural constitution of the land are addressed as conditioning factors in the development of pathologies The Decree is limited to mentioning: “And whereas on the occasion of a plague coming from the land of the barbarians towards Hellas, he sent out his pupils to different places to proclaim what therapies they had to use to keep themselves safe from the imminent plague, and, in order that medical science bequeathed to the Greeks would preserve safe those that were ill from it he generously published bis writings on medical science because he wanted there to be many physicians who saved people” As Pinault (1992, 59) points out: “The absence of details about Hippocrates’ procedure in the Hellenistic legend was probably the greatest impetus for the development of the later story that he used fire to stop pandemics” Roman authors from the first century CE are aware of the legend (Varro, De re rustica 1 4 5; Pliny, Hist Nat 36 69, where he links Empedocles and Hippocrates in this healing and purifying action through fire; Gal De theriaca ad Pisonem 16) Regarding the tradition of Hippocrates and the plague and its link with Akron and Empedocles, cf Pinault 1992, 35–60 “The myths of Hercules entails labour and suffering thus, his image and accoutrements are appropriate décor on scalpels and other tools associated with pain” (Bliquez 2014, 75) For the work of the kathartai in Athens, cf Gorrini 2005, 135–156 Gorrini compares the action of the kathartai with the healing heroes Asclepius, Anphiaraus, Pancrates and Palaemon and Amino, fully mythical figures, linked to divinities or gods themselves, in which healing did not go through cathartic rituals, but through therapeutic prescriptions aimed at specific individuals, not at groups or cities (Gorrini 2005, 139–141)

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everywhere,34 and in Athens the inhabitants granted him (ἠξίωταί35) the same gifts that were bestowed upon Heracles and Asclepius, figures with whom he shares a partdivine and part-human origin, but who were ultimately promoted to the category of divinities 36 Paitos advises Artaxerxes to give Hippocrates whatever he asked for in gold and silver because he did not know a singular way to heal: he is the father of health (πατὴρ ὑγιείης), saviour (σωτὴρ) and the one who relieves pain (ἀκεσώδυνος), simply the leader of a divine science (ἁπλῶς ἡγεμὼν τῆς θεοπρεποῦς ἐπιστήμης) What happens in the rest of the novella is well-known: before such praise, Artaxerxes contacts Histanes, governor of the Hellespont, and asks him to write to Hippocrates to inform him of the honours and riches that he will receive as payment for his services As it is known, the doctor, displaying a Hellenic nationalism that was gold and silver-proved,37 rejected the offer, arguing that what he has to live on was enough for him and that he will never help the enemies of the Greeks In two respective letters to Demetrius and Gorgias, Hippocrates insisted that the logos sophies had more power for him than gold Histanes forwarded the reply to Artaxerxes who, insulted by the doctor’s insolence towards his majestic person, threatens to turn the city of Kos into dust The people of Kos, assuming the doctor’s declaration of independence as their own, replied to the king that they will not do anything unworthy of Merope, Heracles, or Asclepius, nor will they deliver Hippocrates to the king They continued saying that they were not afraid of the king’s attacks because they were coming from mortals equal to the rest of human beings Furthermore, finally, they said that the gods would not abandon them when the time comes At this point this line of the epistolary is interrupted, without Hippocrates carrying out more heroic feats than that of his patriotic confrontation with the Persian king The rest of the Letters, as Smith pointed out, have a different tone and show a different approach to Hippocrates

34

35 36

37

The Discourse from the Altar insists on the fame of Hippocrates, although the classical testimonies are few: “For, my friends, among whom I can truly say I am known to many of you and many of your cities, and to speak figuratively, my name has travelled even more widely than my form, and that, I think, is because out of my science comes the cause of health and life for men: not only to those in your country but to those many Greeks in your vicinity am I known” Zeller, 2005, 68, underlines the use of the perfect tense In VHSS 10: “For this he won brilliant honours from the Coans and also the Thessalians and Argives and Athenians The Athenians also initiated him at public expense in the Eleusinian Mysteries – the next after Heracles – and enrolled him as a citizen and granted him and his descendants the right to dine free in the Prytaneia” This Vita also records the episode of Hippocrates’ refusal to collaborate with the Persians (VHSS 8) In the second century of our era, this rejection had become a very famous anecdote, cited, among others, by Gallen in his Quod optimus medicus … (Kühn I 53–63; cf Jouanna, 1999: 23) The texts of VHSS 9 and 10 are extracted, respectively, from the Discourse from the Altar – request for help to the Thessalians in the face of the Athenian threat to Kos – and the Decree of the Athenians on the honours granted to Hippocrates (Smith 1990, 4–6; 107–9; Pinault 1992, 14–5 VHSS 8: τοσοῦτον δὲ φιλέλλην ὑπῆρξεν

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At the end of Letter 2, Hippocrates is presented as a human who achieved honours that were the purview of divinities, something that cannot be attested beyond the heroic sacrifice celebrated in Kos on the day of his birth (VHSS 3; Temkin, 1995: 72) As for the Athenians, the Embassy, the Discourse at the altar and the Decree indicate that the people of Athens granted him the honour of being initiated into the mysteries at the expense of the public purse, but there is no data to prove his heroization or worship 38 The title of Soter appears frequently connected with Asclepius39 and the parallel between Hippocrates and Triptolemus may relate to the Athenian link between the Asclepian and the Eleusinian cults 40 Asclepius begins in the mysteries of Eleusis when he arrives in Athens: he is a mystes This relationship is attested in Athens and in Epidaurus, where dedications to Demeter have been found 41 The fields of these two divinities, agriculture and medicine, are spaces of civilization that are beneficial for human life There is also a common liminal aspect that links Asclepius with Demeter: the initiation to Eleusis supposed to be a lesson about the afterlife, a metaphysical revelation about the otherworldly existence On the divine plane, not Hippocratic, Asclepius is a god who acts on those who are on the edge between life and death, in addition to even possessing the ability to resurrect those who have already crossed the line of death (Edelstein, 1998: 128) 3. Conclusion Considering the elaboration of Letter 2, which shows a different rhetorical and conceptual content from the rest of the epistolary that was linked to Hippocrates and that was transmitted in the pseudepigrapha, the theios character of Hippocrates is due to

38

39 40 41

On the interrelation of these three texts and the Persian Letters, cf Smith, 1990: 5–6: “Furthermore, the writer of the Decree has the Persian letters in his consciousness of him The inclusion of the Persian king in the Decree implies the existence of a coherent story on that subject; that is, it refers to at least some version of letters 3–6 The Decree’s phrase ‘common enemy of the Greeks’ seems to reflect the actual phrasing of letter 5 No other compelling verbal similarity argues knowledge of the letters in the form that we have them” In addition to its appearance in votive inscriptions (iamata), the famous temple of Pergamum was dedicated to Asclepius Soter (Petsalis-Domidis 2010, 202–3, 258–9) The representations of Triptolemus in his winged chariot granting the gift of Demeter over the entire world begin in the sixth century BCE (Burkert 1985, 289) In addition to the important sanctuary of Asclepius and Hygieia on the southern slope of the Acropolis, it appears that excavations in and around the Agora of Athens have shown that there was also a place of worship in the Eleusinion around 420 BCE during the time of the eponymous archon Astyphilus (420/419 BCE; Cf Lawton 2015, 25 ff ) It seems that, after the introduction of Asclepius in the Eleusinion, a temple related to the cult of Demeter, the association of Asclepius with him took place, since at the end of the fifth century or at the beginning of the fourth century BCE, an altar dedicated to Asclepius and Hygieia was erected next to the Cephissus river near the sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone

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his excellence in the techne that he practised, in the one that he surpasses the rest of mortals The appearance of miracles is not necessary, only wisdom, and it is the product of a theia physis, an individual disposition from birth itself, which was a gift of the gods As pointed out by Smith (1990, 51), the rest of the Letters do not mention the heroization or the cult of Hippocrates, which also appears on the VHSS It could be considered that the state of “divinization” of Hippocrates, as it appears in isolation in Letter 2, is still outside the attribution of thaumata or episodes of exceptional healing, as they appear in accounts written by Pythagoras (Porph VP 29 and 33; Iamb VP 110) or in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana This motif, that of the healer against an epidemic, is repeated in several imperial biographies of male benefactors for a community, both in the case of Pythagoras himself, and in that of Epimenides, who purifies with sacrifices, (DL I 110), or Empedocles who manages to end a plague with the correct mixis of two streams of water in Selinunte (DL VIII 70) The Embassy narrates Hippocrates’ philhellenic work in the course of a plague that advances towards Greece after having seriously affected Illyria and Paeonia, and the Decree shows him as general medical coordinator in the course of a plague that advances towards Greece from barbarian lands 42 In any case, as it appears in Letter 2, his theia physis comes on the one hand, from his lineage, from a natural condition that received gifts of divine origin and, on the other hand, from his own ability to push the limits of his practice much further than the rest of practitioners of the same art He did this by following the advice of Aër 2 20–21 about analysing seasonal changes, the rising and movements of the stars and other climatic and environmental data “to achieve the greatest triumphs in the practice of his art” (καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τυγχάνοι τῆς ὑγιείης καὶ κατοιείηί οῇταῇ κατοιείη η ὐνταἐ κατοιείηἐη ὐνταα κατοιεinandoηίη ῇνταῇ κατοιείη οὐναῇ This seems to blur the lines, perhaps even erasing them, that separated Hippocrates from Asclepius himself, god of medicine, a desire that, at the beginning of the year 2021, unfortunately, does not resonate at all alien Jorge Cano Cuenca Assistant Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid jocano04@ucm es

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In both cases, Hippocrates’ response fits with the rejection of Artaxerxes’ invitation in the Persian Letters, although cunning appears as a factor in the Embassy: Hippocrates interrogates the barbarian ambassadors about the climatic conditions and winds of their places of origin and, anticipating their entry into Greek territory, prescribes treatments for those affected Over time the tradition of the northern plague was confused with his intervention in the plague of Athens ( Jouanna 1995, 31–33 and 427 n 34: “Thus in chapter 16 of [Gallen] De theriaca ad Pisonem the plague treated by Hippocrates comes from Ethiopia, like the one described by Thucydides ”)

The Sixteen Women of Elis1 Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal 1. The Sixteen Women of Elis: documentary sources In his treatise on the Mulierum virtutes, Plutarch refers to a group of women in Elis who were consecrated to Dionysus and who he says they call, “the Sixteen” 2 Plutarch recounts the opposition of the Sixteen to the violence and excess of the tyrant Aristotimus who ruled Elis for a few months around 272 BCE The women took the supplicants’ branches and the crowns of the god and went out to the agora to meet Aristodemus to silently plead on behalf of other women from Elis who had been vexed by the tyrant’s henchmen In principle, his personal guard showed respect to the Sixteen and withdrew, although when Aristodemus noticed that they were operating against him he ordered his guard to remove the Sixteen from the agora and fine them This mistreatment was considered the height of impiety and led to the tyrant’s downfall Plutarch’s story reveals the roots and prestige of this group that he links only to the cult of Dionysus This contrasts with Pausanias, who links them to the cult of Hera According to the periegetes author, the Sixteen organised the Heraean Games in Olympia every four years, offered the goddess Hera a woven robe (peplos) and organised two choral dances, that of Hippodamia and of Physcoa 3 Although Pausanias does not mention the cult of Dionysus, in his long dissertation on the origins of the Sixteen 1 2

3

This work forms part of the research projects Female Cults of Dionysus and their eschatological projection (PID2019–107741GB-I00), financed by Ministry of Science and Innovation, and Cults, literature and iconography of Dionysus in the 5th and 4th centuries BC financed by the BBVA Foundation Plu Mul virt 251E–F On the Sixteen, see Weniger 1883; Nilsson 1906, 62–63, 291–293; Gardiner 1925, 214–216; Preisendanz 1936, cols 682–684; Nilsson 19673, 573–574; Bérard 1976, 70–71; Kerényi 1976, 181–184; Calame 1977, 210–214, 244; Kaldis-Henderson 1979, 187–195; 218–226; 245; Scanlon 1984, 77–78, 84–90; Mitsopoulos-Leon 1984; Arrigoni 1985, 95–100; Burkert 1985, 133, 223; Frasca 1991, 68–70; Scheid–Svenbro 1996, 10–15; Zoumbaki 2001, 70–71, 106; Goff 2004, 96, 190–193; Mirón Pérez 2004; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2021a, 313–316 Paus 5 16 2–8, see also 6 24 10 with the indication of the existence of a specific building where these women could weave the peplos for the goddess Hera For other examples of buildings with the same function, see Greco 1997, 195–197 with special attention to a building in the Heraion at the mouth of the river Sele, near Paestum

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he says that Physcoa had a son by Dionysus and, together with her offspring, she was the first to worship the god Plutarch and Pausanias are the only sources of information on these women, so the analysis and interpretation of these stories is essential if we are to assess their importance In this paper, I analyse first the information about the naming, number, and origins of the Sixteen as well as their functions and tasks At the end, I discuss why the Sixteen could serve both Hera and Dionysus at the same time, despite these seeming to be two very different gods, and I reflect on the leadership capacity of a group of “divine women” in antiquity and its political and social importance 2. Naming and history of the Sixteen Women Plutarch refers to these women as αἱ περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον ἱεραὶ γυναῖκες, ἃς ἑκκαίδεκα καλοῦσιν “the women consecrated to Dionysus, whom they call Sixteen” 4 Pausanias uses similar terms on various occasions when he mentions: αἱ ἓξ καὶ δέκα γυναῖκες5 and αἱ δὲ ἑκκαίδεκα γυναῖκες,6 “the Sixteen women”, αἱ γυναῖκες αἱ ἑκκαίδεκα καλουμέναι, “the women called the Sixteen”,7 or simply αἱ γυναῖκες “the women” 8 It is very likely, as we shall see, that Plutarch is also referring to these women in the Quaestiones Graecas and De Iside et Osiride when he says that the wives of the men of Elis, αἱ τῶν Ἠλείων γυναῖκες / αἱ δ᾽ Ἠλείων γυναῖκες sang a hymn to Dionysus asking him to come to them ‘with the foot of a bull’ 9 Plutarch and Pausanias, therefore, both give this collective a generic word, γυναῖκες, and a cardinal numeral adjective, ἑκκαίδεκα, which defines them as a group Modern scholars normally use the term ‘college’ or ‘priestly college’ to refer to them, but neither Plutarch nor Pausanias use either this term or the common names used for Dionysiac groups, such as θίασος, σπεῖρα, σύνοδος, κοινόν and βακχεῖον, which proliferated in the imperial period in which they write 10 The Sixteen are also not described as priestesses (ἱέρειαι) Plutarch simply says that they are ‘consecrated’ (ἱεραί) to Dionysus, using an adjective applicable to the faithful and to the priests Other details suggest, however, that they were not simply devotees and point to a hierarchical conception of the group Pausanias attributes the organisation of choral dances and the Heraean Games to them and affirms that the Sixteen had 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Plu Mul virt 251E Paus 5 16 2 Paus 5 16 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 Paus 6 24 10 Paus 5 16 5 Plu Is et Os 364F, Quaest Gr 299B On Dionysiac associations, cf Foucart 1873; Ziebarth 1896; Poland 1909; Jaccottet 2003 I, 16–29, 59–62

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the support of other women who were at their service (διακονούμεναι) 11 Their role as organisers and the presence of such assistants suggest that the Sixteen were effectively acting as priestesses at the head of a college, thiasus or women’s association As for the number sixteen, Pausanias explains it in relation to two traditions about the origins of the group 12 According to the first, Hippodamia gathered sixteen women and organised the Heraean Games with them for the first time in Antiquity, as a show of gratitude to Hera for her marriage to Pelops The other tradition links the Sixteen to a peaceful alliance between the inhabitants of Elis and those of Pisa, another city in the Elis region To put an end to the differences between them, upon the death of Damophon, who was tyrant of Pisa around 580 BCE, one woman was chosen from each one of the sixteen inhabited cities in the Elis region Later, in the 4th century BCE, with the division of the region into eight tribes, each one of these would have sent two women to join the college 13 These two apparently opposing traditions about the origin of the Sixteen can be reconciled if the latter is understood to refer to a reorganisation of the existing games and college of priestesses 14 In fact, it can be inferred from Pausanias’ account that the existence of the Sixteen dates back to Archaic Greece (ἐς τὰ ἀρχαῖα), if not earlier, and continued even in his times 15 One of the traditions links the origin to a marriage rite,16 while the other links it to enhancing social and regional cohesion, a task that the women from sixteen cities would have carried out among their fellow citizens 17 This fits well with the respect and recognition shown to the Sixteen in the Mulierum virtutes treatise and which is also reflected by Pausanias when he claims that the women chosen would have been those of the greatest age, prestige and reputation 18 The term γυναῖκες implies that they were adult women, and we assume that they were married, as opposed to παρθένοι, ‘maidens’ From the references to prestige and reputation we can deduce that the Sixteen must have belonged to the upper echelons of society and have an unblemished reputation We understand that these selection criteria would continue for centuries, judging by the political and social importance of the Sixteen in the times of Plutarch and Pausanias (respect, ability to organise and supervise choral dances) Three votive statues of women from Elis, dating from the 1st century BCE, with inscriptions that ex11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Paus 5 16 3 Paus 5 16 4–5 Paus 5 16 7, cf Kaldis-Henderson 1979, 187–193; Mitsopoulos-Leon 1984, 275 and n 4 Regarding the peacemaking function of these women, see Goff 2004, 191–192 Cf Scanlon 1984, 86; Mirón Pérez 2004, 227 Paus 5 16 4 Scanlon 1984, 84–87 relates the origin of the Heraean Games with prehistoric cults in Olympia Cf Brelich 1969, 456; Calame 1977, 212–213, 326, 417–419; Bremmer 1984, 283; Scalon 1984, 87–89; Serwint 1993, 418–422 Cf Arrigoni 1985, 96–98; Mirón Pérez 2004, 226 Plu Mul virt 251E–F; Paus 5 16 2, cf Kaldis-Henderson 1979, 193; Goff 2004, 191; Mirón Pérez 2004, 228

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tol their virtue (ἀρετή), good will (εὔνοια) and moderation (σωφροσύνη) were found in the Vestibule of the temple of Hera, the Heraion, and could be considered representations of the Sixteen 19 3. Functions and activities of the Sixteen Women The functions and activities of the Sixteen are political, cultural and religious I have mentioned that their original task was to politically and socially unite the inhabitants of Elis and Pisa and Plutarch’s testimony shows their opposition to the tyrant Aristodemus in the 3rd century BCE All of this demonstrates their ability and ‘activism’ to resolve political issues and thereby contribute to the well-being of the community It also shows the trust and respect they inspired in the world of politics dominated by men 20 It has also been reported that every four years the women wove a peplos for Hera, which was then offered at the Heraion The work was carried out in a building located in the agora of Elis and probably required prior purification 21 The weaving and offering of a robe to a goddess seems to be a well-known practice in Greece, since archaic times 22 The most obvious example of this is the offering to Athena in the Athenian Panathenaea 23 A parallel geographically closer to Olympia is found in Callimachus’ description of a ritual of purification of the women who weave Hera’s sacred garment, connected with the Argive spring Amymone 24 In addition, to celebrate Hera, women from Lesbos dressed in long peplos for a festival in her honour in which, according to some verses by Alcaeus, Zeus and Dionysus also play a part 25 What is remarkable in the case of Elis is that while weaving is essentially domestic work, here it was carried out in a public space This highlights the civic function of these women and the link they represent between the public and private spheres The peplos symbolises the peace between the different cities of the region that is commemorated every four years when it is given as an offering 26 The peplos they wove being interpreted as Hera’s wedding peplos and representing the renewal of her marriage to Zeus is revealing 27

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

IvO 429, 435, 438, cf Gardiner 1925, 98 fig 35; Scanlon 1984, 87 Goff 2004, 191–193; Mirón Pérez 2004, 227 Paus 5 16 2 and 8; 6 24 10, cf Mitsopoulos-Leon 1984, 280–281 and n 33, 42 with bibliography Nilsson 1927, 268; Brelich 1969, 321–322; Kaldis-Henderson 1979, 194–195; Scanlon 1984, 78, with bibliography Mansfield 1985; Parker 2007, 226–227, 265, 269; Sourvinou-Inwood 2011, 205–214, 270, 307–311, with sources and bibliography Call Aitia 3, fr 66 Pfeiffer, cf Harder 2012, 529–549 For other exemples, see Greco 1997, 192–197 Alc fr 130B Voigt, see infra § 4 Mirón Pérez 2004, 230–232 Arrigoni 1985, 97; Greco 1997, 194–197; Scheid–Svenbro 1996, 12–14; Mirón Pérez 2004, 232

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Among the tasks of the Sixteen, Pausanias mentions the organisation of the Heraean Games, which they did with the support of other women in their service These women were also adults, since the author once again uses the term γυναῖκες 28 The games were exclusively female and consisted only of foot races in the stadium, over a distance one sixth shorter than the distance for male races 29 The courses, organised by age, were strongly reminiscent of an initiation rite: running in honour of Hera implied preparation for the different stages that culminated in marriage 30 The role of the Sixteen was comparable to that of the Hellanodikai (ἑλλανοδίκαι), the judges or referees in the male games In fact, at the end of his narration Pausanias affirms that the role of the Sixteen, or the Hellanodikai from Elis, requires prior purification with a suckling pig and water This may imply a hierarchical equivalency, on a religious level, with priests and priestesses 31 In spite of everything, Pausanias does not use the specific term ἀγωνοθέτης, ‘judge of the contests’, to refer to the Sixteen, but instead the participle ἀγωνοθετούσαι, from the verb ἀγωνοθετέω, which suggests that the activity was not normally performed by women, but rather by men The most important task of the Sixteen from the religious point of view is undoubtedly the organisation of two choral dances, those of Hippodamia and Physcoa The Physcoa chorus, says Pausanias,32 owes its name to a woman who consorted with Dionysus and had a son called Narcaeus Physcoa and Narcaeus would have been the first to worship Dionysus in the city of Elis Physcoa herself is honoured in the city, including through the chorus named after her It can be inferred from the story of Physcoa and Hippodamia that the Physcoa chorus would participate in the Dionysus cult and the Hippodamia one in the Hera cult 33 They were therefore two choral dances for different cults and places: the choral dance of Hippodamia would have been for Hera in Olympia, while that of Physcoa would have been for Dionysus in Elis 34 Pausanias says that Physcoa’s eponymous choral dance was made up of sixteen women, suggesting a structure similar to the model of the college of Sixteen itself 35 We know nothing about the other chorus, but it cannot be ruled out that the same women who made up one chorus were also part of the other,36 since the activities of the two chorus did not necessarily

28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Paus 5 16 3 Cf Scalon 1984; Arrigoni 1985, 95–101; Frasca 1991, 68–70; Mirón Pérez 2004, 229–230 Calame 1977, 326; Scalon 1984, 79; Arrigoni 1985, 96–97; Mirón Pérez 2004, 229 Paus 5 16 8, cf Arrigoni 1985, 97; Mirón Pérez 2004, 227 See also n 24 for the parallel of the purification cited by Callimachus Regarding the Hellanodikai, see Zoumbaki 2001, 138–144 Paus 5 16 6–7 Cf Hanslik 1941, cols 1165–1166; Calame 1977, 244 Paus 5 16 4, see supra § 2 Weniger 1883, 2–3, 15; Nilsson 1906, 62–63, 291–292; Calame 1977, 61, 211–212; Scanlon 1984, 88–89 Paus 5 16 7, cf Calame 1977, 212 This seems to be the understanding of Weniger 1883, 18 and Scanlon 1984, 89

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have to take place at the same time What seems plausible is that the Sixteen simply led the choral dances but did not participate in them or in the dances 37 Pausanias tells us that in the Altis forest, the sacred forest of Zeus in Olympia, there was a one-metre-wide area surrounded by a wall, which could be entered once a year by women making sacrifices to Hippodamia and other rituals to honour her We do not know if by ‘the women’ Pausanias is referring to the Hippodamia chorus or the Sixteen 38 If, as mentioned above, these chorus were related to an initiation into adult life, the name of γυναῖκες fits better with the Sixteen than with the young members of the chorus, although, as we have just seen, Pausanias himself also uses this term to refer to the members of the Hippodamia chorus 39 Pausanias does not specify any rites for the Sixteen linked to the cult of Dionysus This contrasts with Plutarch, who, as we have seen, says in Mulierum virtutes that they carry olive branches and crowns Plutarch himself in Quaestiones Graecas and De Iside et Osiride says that the women of Elis sing a hymn to Dionysus asking him to come to them ‘with the foot of a bull’,40 probably with the intention of trying to ensure that the divine epiphany is beneficial to the worshipers Most scholars consider that the women who invoke Dionysus and invite him to come ‘with the foot of a bull’ were members of the college of the Sixteen,41 so their functions would also include invoking the god I have also argued elsewhere that the hymn with which the women from Elis invoked Dionysus could be sung during a Dionysiac festival which was essentially a wine festival, comparable to the Athenian Anthesteria, and about which we have information from different sources 42 Pausanias, for example, says that during this festival, called Thyia and celebrated about eight stades from Elis, priests deposit three empty cauldrons in a sealed room or enclosure and the next day the containers are found to have been miraculously filled with wine without the seals having been opened 43 The same story is also told by Athenaeus of Naucratis, attributing it to Theopompus of Chios (4th century BCE),44 and by the De mirabilibus auscultationibus collection attributed

37 38 39 40 41 42

43 44

Nilsson 1906, 292 and n 4; Preisendanz 1936, col 682; Hanslik 1941, cols 1165–1166; Calame 1977, 61, 212; Scanlon 1984, 89; Arrigoni 1985, 193 n 175 Against Weniger 1883, 15 Paus 6 20 7, cf Calame 1977, 212 and n 79 who doubts the identification instead made by Weniger 1883, 18 Paus 5 16 7 Plu Quaest Gr 299B; Is et Os 364E Nilsson 1906, 291: Halliday 1928, 156; Jeanmaire 1951, 216; Nilsson 19673, 573; Kerényi 1976, 182–184; Calame 1977, 244; Kaldis-Henderson 1979, 220; Brown 1982, 305; Burkert 1985, 223; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2021, 314 See, on the contrary, Preisendanz 1936, cols 682–684; Arrigoni 1985, 193 n 176 See Jiménez San Cristóbal 2021, 312–313 (regarding the hymn) and 316–324 (regarding the festival); see also, Jiménez San Cristóbal 2020, 399–402 Regarding the Anthesteria see, for instance, Burkert 1983, 213–247; Spineto 2005, 13–123, Jiménez San Cristóbal 2011, 170–177 and n 4, with bibliography About the wine and the Anthesteria, see Robertson 1993, 197–250 and Noel 1999a, 125–152 Paus 6 26 1 Ath 1 34A (1 61 1); Theopomp Hist FGrH 115, fr 277

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to Aristotle 45 In my opinion, the women of Elis invoking Dionysus to come ‘with the foot of a bull’ would be a call to drink in moderation at a festival where wine could flow freely, as suggested by the image of the miraculous filling of the cauldrons with wine and the comparison with the Anthesteria in Athens On the second day of this festival there was a drinking contest preceded by pleas and invocations to Dionysus 46 This hypothesis also fits with one of the interpretations that Plutarch himself gives of the expression ‘with the foot of a bull’, when he says that a bull’s foot is harmless compared to the terrible and dangerous horns, and that they make this call to the god so that he may come calm and cause no harm 47 Athenaeus, citing verses from Alcaeus, explains that Dionysus was compared to a bull because of the violence that drunkenness can cause 48 None of the three sources of information about the festival in Elis (Pausanias, Athenaeus of Naucratis and De mirabilibus auscultationibus) mention the presence of women and in Pausanias’ version, priests carry the cauldrons to the enclosure and seal it Women in Greece did not in general drink wine, even in Dionysiac rituals,49 so it is normal for them not to have direct contact with the cauldrons However, there is nothing preventing the hymn of invocation from being sung before or after the enclosure was opened, or before proceeding to the mass consumption of wine, as occurred in the Athenian Anthesteria In Elis, the Sixteen, respectable due to their age, rank and reputation, and for being abstemious, would be the perfect counterpoint to the excesses and would play a prominent role in this celebration This is like the role of the so-called Venerable ones, αἱ γεραραί, in the Athenian Anthesteria, which were also essentially a wine festival 50 None of the sources explicitly mentions the frequency of the Elean festival, which could have been annual following the Anthesteria model, or every two years, of which there are also examples In the passage we are discussing, Pausanias says that at Andros, in the Cyclades, the wine flows from the sanctuary during a Dionysiac celebration every two years 51 The women of Elis, and so the college of the Sixteen, perform a very frequent rite in the Dionysian cult: invocating the god, promoting its epiphany Dionysus is the absent god par excellence, who periodically arrives from the mountain, the sea, the 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

Ps Arist Mir 123 (p 842a25 Bekker), cf Farnell 1909, 329; Vanotti 2007, 5–10, 114–115, 199–200 Athenaeus (12 541 A [12 58]) already attributes this collection of tales to Aristotle Jiménez San Cristóbal 2021a, 317–318, 320–324 Plu Quaest Gr 299B Ath 2 38E (2 7 19 = Alc fr 369A Voigt), cf Porres 2013a, 158, 177 Henrichs 1982, 140 and n 13, with bibliography; Ustinova 2018, 182 About women and wine in Athens, see Noel 1999b, 147–185 For the comparison of the Venerable ones and the Sixteen, as well as other points of contact between the Anthesteria and the feast of Elis, cf Jiménez San Cristóbal 2020, 401–402 and 2021, 322– 323, with bibliography Paus 6 26 2 Nevertheless, Plin HN 2 231 says that the phenomenon occurs in the Nones of January, that is, the fith of January, which presupposes an annual frequency, cf Jiménez San Cristóbal 2021a, 320–321

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Netherworld 52 In Plutarch’s De Iside et Osiride, there is a reference to invocation rites to the god in different parts of Greece, and among these there is mention of the rites of the women of Elis and the Thyiades, who awaken Liknites, that is, Dionysus, as a newborn in his winnowing fan (λίκνον) 53 The Thyiades were the female followers of Dionysus, members of his thiasus, who celebrated the god particularly in Delphi with frenetic dances 54 The women of Elis, or rather the association of the Sixteen, have also been equated to the Thyiades in modern bibliography,55 probably due to the resemblance in the invocation rite and to similarities between the names of the Thyiades and the Thyia, the festival celebrated in Elis, cited by Pausanias 56 Nevertheless, such similarities do not justify them being seen as equivalent since this is not confirmed in classical sources Neither Pausanias nor Plutarch equate or connect the Thyiades with the women of Elis or the association of the Sixteen Furthermore, Plutarch talks about both in sections of Mulierum virtutes and De Iside et Osiride that are relatively close together but yet never links the two 57 Furthermore, the Thyiades were the Bacchae or the Maenads devoted to Dionysus in the summit of the Parnassus and it has been considered that the Thyia festival could be a more temperate form of the frenetic activity of the Maenads, which would be imitated in the dances and races 58 Nevertheless, nothing in the texts of Pausanias and Plutarch suggests a Maenadic behaviour in the passage re-

52 53

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55 56 57

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P Vindob 19996a II col 2 presents another example of the epiphany of the god invoked through the song, cf Jiménez San Cristóbal 2017a Regarding Dionysus as the god who arrives, see Otto 1965 (19482), 79–85; Kerényi 1976, 129–188; Detienne 1986, 17–83; Parker 2007, 302 Plu Is et Os 364 E–F For the different interpretations of the rite, see, ex gr , Nilsson 1957, 39–45; Kerényi 1976, 222–226; Casadio 1994, 240–242 with bibliography; Sourvinou Inwood 2005, 211– 240, Jiménez San Cristóbal 2007, 147–151; Valdés Guía 2020, 164–180 On the epithet Licnites, see Orph H 46; 52, 3; Hsch s v Λικνίτης (λ 1016 Latte); Seru Georg 1 166, cf Sourvinou Inwood 2005, 213–214, with bibliography See, ex gr , Alcm PMG 63; Aesch Eu 22–26; S Ant 1152–53; Eur Bacch 556–559, Hyps 1–3, Ion 552, 714–717; Ar Nu 603–606; Philod Scarph vv 19–23; Paus 10 4 3, 10 6 4, 10 19 4, 10 32 7; Plu Mul virt 249 E–F, Quaest graec 293 C–F; Is et Os 364E–365 A, Prim frig 953 D Regarding the Thyiades, cf , Kerényi 1976, 217–224; Henrichs 1978, 132, 152–153; Villanueva Puig 1986, 31–51; Henrichs 1994, 53–56; McInerney 1997, 263–283; Suárez de la Torre 1998, 21–23; Robertson 2003, 229–232; Goff 2004, 215–216, 223, 282–283; Sourvinou-Inwood 2005, 211–212, 335–340; Porres 2013a, 458–459; Budelmann–Power 2015, 273–275; Valdés Guía 2020, 163–180; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2023, in press Weniger 1883, 4–6, 10–12; Nilsson 1906, 291–293; Preisendanz 1936, col 680; Calame 1977, 244 See the opposing arguments in Jiménez San Cristóbal 2021a, 314–316 Paus 6 26 1 The name of the festival could be justified by the name of the month Thyios (Θυίω), recorded in a proxeny decret from Elis: IvO 39, l 3, Minon 2007, nr 34, l 3, cf Jiménez San Cristóbal 2021a, 319 Plu Mul virt 249E describes the arrival of the exhausted Thyiades to Amphissa Plu Mul virt 251E–F discusses how the Sixteen confronted Aristotimus, whom we have discussed at the beginning of § 1 Plu Is et Os 364E–365A cites the Thyiades twice (he says they awaken Liknites and that Clea, friend of Plutarch, is in charge of them) and the women of Elis once, but without relating them Weniger 1883, 8–10; Scanlon 1984, 89

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lated to the scream of the women of Elis or in other rites of the college of the Sixteen 59 Therefore, beyond the organisation as a group of women, also a characteristic of the Dionysiac cult, one cannot suggest the equivalence of both sacred colleges 4. At the service of Dionysus and Hera Throughout the paper we have seen that the functions and tasks of the Sixteen are divided between the cults of Hera and Dionysus: in Plutarch’s testimonies, the Sixteen appear consecrated to Dionysus, while Pausanias focusses more on their connection with Hera, but without losing sight of Dionysus Hera and Dionysus were important deities in the region of Elis but nothing seems to indicate that they were jointly worshipped Except for the sacrifices and rituals in honour of Hippodamia, the activities linked to the Hera cult (Heraean Games and the offering of the peplos) took place every four years, as opposed to the annual or two-year frequency of the Dionysus cult Both had their own temples in the region: Hera’s was the oldest in Olympia, perhaps from the 8th century BCE, and that of Dionysus was located between the agora and the Peneus and was home to an image of the god, the work of Praxiteles 60 Pausanias underlines the antiquity of the Heraean Games and, consequently, the deeply rooted nature and influence of Hera in the region, which could date back to the second millennium,61 and the author also insists that Dionysus was among the gods most worshipped by the people of Elis 62 The Homeric Hymn to Dionysus already testifies to the birth of Dionysus next to the Alpheus river, in the region of Elis, and his cult seems very well established in the area, partly due to the importance of wine, as we have seen above 63 We can assume that the rites of Hera and Dionysus came under the care of the same religious college, without this supposing a special connection, function or character between the deities in Elis 64 The essence of Greek polytheism consists precisely in that ability for multiple gods to be worshipped in the same place and by the same community, without the need for a close bond between them or for them to form a pair 65 59 60 61

62 63 64 65

Calame 1977, 244 and Kaldis-Henderson 1979, 226 support this idea as well Paus 5 16 1 and 6 26 1–2 Paus 5 16 4 The 11th century BCE has been considered as the probable date of the introduction of the cult of Hera in the region of Olympia and the 8th century BCE as the probable date of the establishment of the Heraion, cf Hermann 1972, 69; Kaldis-Henderson 1979, 179–180; Scanlon 1984, 85–87; Serwint 1993, 405–406; Mirón Pérez 2004, 227; Scott 2010, 149–154 Paus 6 26 1 Nilsson 1906, 291–293; Mitsopoulos-Leon 1984; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2020, 398–402; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2021 Paus 6 22 1 mentions vines planted over the entire district where Pisa, a city in Elis, stood On the relevance of wine production, cf Zoumbaki 2001, 47–48 Halliday 1928, 157 Burkert 1985, 216–221

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That said, there are, however, points of contact, in myth and in rite, between Hera and Dionysus that suggest that the Greeks could see them as not being too far apart We can examine some significant examples The cults the Sixteen preside over are essentially feminine; athletic competitions in Elis in honour of Hera are pre-nuptial rites par excellence and the goddess is the quintessential bride and wife 66 In addition, Dionysus is generally an exception to the rigid dichotomy of the Greek pantheon, according to which gods who embody male traits or activities, such as Apollo or Hephaestus, are usually worshipped by men, while the cult of goddesses like Athena, Artemis and Hera is practised mainly by women Dionysus embodies characteristics of both sexes and is dressed as a woman on certain occasions 67 In his myths, the god is always surrounded by women: nymphs and Maenads, who are part of his entourage Dionysus is worshipped by men and women in the civic aspect of his cult and to a greater extent by women in mystery cults 68 Hera is the goddess of marriage, and the bonds and obligations this entails, and Dionysus, on the other hand, represents the momentary release from these bonds during the celebration of mystery rites It is precisely their opposing nature that justifies the presence of both and each divinity’s need for the other 69 The μανία, the state of madness, euphoria or frenzy, is another point of contact between Hera and Dionysus As Plato puts it, the telestic μανία is under the patronage of Dionysus 70 Plato himself, in the Leges, states that Dionysus incited men to Bacchic delirium (τὰς βακχείας) and frenzied choral dance (τὴν μανικὴν χορείαν) as punishment because his stepmother Hera had deprived him of the discernment of the soul 71 The motif of the Dionysian μανία induced by Hera has been well documented since

66 67

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69 70

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Calame 1977, 210–214, 243; Scanlon 1984, 85 with bibliography For example, A fr 61 Radt calls him ποδαπὸς ὁ γύννις, ‘an effeminate guy’, and Eur Bacch 353 θηλυμόρφος ‘looking like a woman’ Apollod 3 4 3 tells that Hermes commissioned Ino to raise Dionysus as if she were a girl, cf Nonn D 159–170 On the feminine appearance of Dionysus, see Otto 1968 (19482) 175–176; Bremmer 1992, 189-198; Casadio 1999, 115 n 66, with bibliography Regarding the role of the woman in Dionysiac myths and cults, see, ex gr , Otto 1965 (19482), 171–180; Daraki 2005 (1985) 93–198; Casadio 1994, 51–222; Spineto 2005, 76–86, 154–157, 292–315, 337–341; Schmitt Pantel 2013, 119–136; Valdés Guía 2013; Faraone 2013; Valdés Guía 2020, 73–182 Regarding the Maenads, ex gr Rapp 1–22, 562–611; Dodds 1960 (1951) 249–261; Jeanmarie 1951, 157–219; Henrichs 1978, 121–160, Henrichs 1982, 143–147 and n 53, with the status quaestionis; Bremmer 1984, 267–286; Villanueva Puig 1986, 31–51; Villanueva Puig 2009; Alonso 2013, 185–199; Porres 2013b, 159–184 Cf Burkert 1983, 187; Mirón Pérez 2004, 226 Pl Phdr 265b Regarding the μανία and Dionysus, cf , ex gr , Otto 1965 (19482) 103–119; Dodds 1960 (1951), 69–100; Jeanmaire 1951, 105–156; Calvo 1973; Kerényi 1976, 131–134, 176; Henrichs 1978; Henrichs 1982, 143–147; Bremmer 1984; Burkert 1985, 161–162; Henrichs 1994; Seaford 2006, 105–110; Graf 2010; Perczyk 2018, 37–127; Bernabé, in press, § 6; Ustinova 2018, 169–216; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2021b, 175–232, with bibliography Pl Lg 672b, cf Glodowska 2013, 110

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classical times,72 and could even date back to Eumelus and Pherecydes,73 but it is Plato who turns it into an etiological explanation of the μανία that the god causes in men 74 The madness that affects the Proetides in the myth oscillates in literary sources between being caused by Hera or by Dionysus 75 As Burkert points out, Hera represents the normal order of the polis, whilst the inversion of this order is her anger And yet it is in this inversion that Dionysus fulfils his true nature; far from excluding each other, Hera’s and Dionysus’ cults define each other 76 Wine, the protagonist in the Thyia festival in Elis, also creates a link between Hera and Dionysus In mythology, the Dionysus-Hera interaction is common, but one meaningful episode tells how Hera was chained by Hephaestus for casting him out of Olympus Dionysus managed to convince a drunken Hephaestus riding a donkey to come back and release her 77 Dionysus thus demonstrated the power of the Dionysiac drink, and Hera had good reason to be grateful to him as the god of wine Dionysus is invoked in Elis as the god of wine, but the hymn that the women of Elis sing is a call to drink in moderation The Sixteen, married women and therefore under the aegis of Hera, try to ensure that the effects of the wine are less harmful Finally, the women of Elis invoke Dionysus to come ‘with the foot of a bull’ and both Hera and Dionysus are associated with the bovine species The equating or comparison of Dionysus with a bull is common in Greece 78 In addition, Homer gives Hera the name βοῶπις, ‘cow-eyed’, or ‘cow-face’, which becomes one of her usual epithets, and in general the goddess is associated with herds of cows 79 Moreover, in the Heraean Games, a cow was sacrificed to her and then partially divided among the female winners of the race 80

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76 77 78

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Achae TrGF I 20 F 20 Snell Διόνυσος ἀκατάσχετος; E Cycl 3; Pl Lg 672b; Euph fr 14 De Cuenca See also Apollod 3 5 1; Nonn D 32 98–150, 35 314–325 Regarding the madness of the god caused by Hera, see Otto 1965 (19482), 135 and n 22; Henrichs 1994, 42 and n 39, with bibliography; Schöpsdau 1994, 341; Graf 2010, 168–171; Bernabé in press, § 2 2 Pherecyd **91 Fowler = 102 Dolcetti, cf Martín Hernández 2013, 202–203; Eumel 27 West (Sch [D] Hom Il 6 131), cf Bernabé 2013, 56 and n 91; Bernabé, in press, § 2 2 Schöpsdau 1994, 342; Bernabé in press, § 2 2 By Hera: Bachil 11 40–112 By Dionysus: Apoll 2 2 2 (Hes fr 131), but in the same passage Apollodorus says that Acusilaus (FGrH 28) attributes the madness to the fact of having dishonoured a statue of Hera Regarding the complex myth of the Proetides, see in particular Dowden 1989, 71–96 and Casadio 1994, 51–122, with bibliography Burkert 1985, 165, 223 The myth may be reconstructed from H Bacch 1C, Alc 349 Liberman, Pi fr 283 and Paus 1 20 2, among others, cf Seaford 2006, 30–32; Porres 2013a, 170; Porres 2013b, 328–331 Regarding Dionysus and the bull, cf Farnell 1909, 125–127; Otto 1965 (19482), 166–167; Jeanmaire 1951, 45, 446; Bérard 1976, 65–73; Kerényi 1976, 52–55; Daraki 2005 (1985), 42, 52–53, 131–132, 167– 168, 260; Casadio 1994, 167–168, n 66 and 233, n 16, with bibliography; Seaford 2006, 23–24; Porres 2013a, 176–178, with sources and bibliography; Calderón 2017, 59–75 Hom Il 1 551; 4 50 passim Cf Burkert 1985, 64, 131 Paus 5 16 3, cf Serwint 1993, 406

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Besides Elis, the cults of Dionysus and Hera have points of contact in other parts of the Greek world, without necessarily becoming a shared cult For example, there are reports of statues of Hera adorned with a vine, a Dionysiac motif par excellence, around her hair in Samos and Argos 81 More relevant still, in Lesbos, an Aeolian colony, Sappho and Alcaeus record a triad made up of Zeus, Hera and Dionysus which is venerated in an annual festival held in honour of Hera and in which chorus of maidens and women take part and dance, and young women from Lesbos with long peploi compete on the basis of their beauty 82 The inclusion of Dionysus in the triad seems circumstantial and motivated by the relevance of the Dionysian cult and the importance of wine in Lesbos It cannot be ruled out that something similar might have occurred in Elis: the prominence of Dionysus and the relevance of wine could have led the college associated with the cult of Hera to also take on the Dionysiac cult Although it is merely testimonial, the father of Hippodamia was called Oenomaos, ‘thirsty for wine’, which could be one more link between the choral dances of Hippodamia and that of Physcoa 83 5. Conclusion By way of recapitulation, if we believe Plutarch and Pausanias, the only sources that document the existence of the Sixteen women of Elis, these make up a stable group whose origin dates back to Antiquity and was still active in the times of both authors The name ‘Sixteen’ refers to the number of members but it is a very generic name and does not explicitly mention any status as priestesses This ‘lack of definition’ in the name fits in well with the functions and tasks that the Sixteen perform, combining the ‘playful’ side in terms of the organisation of games, the political and social side, as guarantors of social and territorial unity among their fellow citizens, and the purely religious side with functions such as weaving and offering the peplos, carrying the typical branches of supplicants, making sacrifices, and invoking to the god Since its origins, the function of the Sixteen has been to mediate between men so they are assumed to be respected and recognised by their fellow citizens The participation of maidens in choral dances and athletics races clearly has the nature of an initiation rite to prepare them for marriage The organisation and supervision of these activities by the Sixteen represents a link between the public sphere of the

81 82 83

As it is described, for example, by Call Aitia 4, fr 101 Pfeiffer and 101a–101b Harder, cf Picard 1946, 466–468; Harder 2012, 767–770 Sapph fr 17 Voigt + PGC inv 105, fr 2, col II 9–25; Alc fr 129–130 B Voigt Regarding the triad and the festival, cf , ex gr , Picard 1946; Calame 1977, 223–224; Caciagli 2010; Neri 2014; Jiménez San Cristóbal 2017b, 165–169 with bibliography Paus 5 11 6, cf Weniger 1883, 17; Scanlon 1984, 89

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city and the private sphere of the οἶκος and the family Their hierarchical comparison at a religious level with the male Hellanodikai means giving them a relevance that they lack as women in the private sphere No less relevant is their role in the rite of invocation to Dionysus for the wine festival The women of Elis, married, respectable due to their age, rank and reputation, and abstainers, like Greek women in general, call for drinking in moderation at a celebration conducive to excess Their civic function is again clear The presence of female assistants to help the Sixteen in the organisation of the games suggests a pyramidal conception: at the head of the group would be the Sixteen and under them their attendants and the women who make up the two choral dances, those of Hippodamia and Physcoa Modern scholars normally use the term ‘college’ or ‘priestly college’ to refer to the Sixteen, but in the texts, they are never referred to using the terms θίασος, σπεῖρα, σύνοδος, κοινόν or βακχεῖον, which are commonly used to refer to Dionysian associations, especially during the imperial era when Plutarch and Pausanias wrote There could be several reasons for this First, the name ‘Sixteen’ already implies the idea of a collective group Second, the Sixteen were perhaps never considered a typical Dionysiac thyasus or college because they were not one originally If we give credit to one of the traditional stories about their origin, their first task would have been that of social cohesion It is possible, therefore, that the Sixteen or their predecessors had since time immemorial dealt with the cult of Hera and from Archaic times also took on that of Dionysus, at a time when the cult of this god was gaining prominence in the region, possibly due to the importance of wine in the area Hera and Dionysus were important deities in the Elis region, but the fact that their rituals came under the care of the same religious college does not imply the existence of a common cult However, a series of common points between the two gods have been noted, all of them present in the cultural panorama of Elis: female cults, the μανία, wine and the bovine species The cults the Sixteen preside over are essentially feminine; Hera is the bride and wife par excellence and Dionysus, unlike other male gods, is worshipped by both men and women Hera represents the bonds of marriage and Dionysus the momentary release from those bonds Both are necessary rivals Hera represents the normal order of the polis and Dionysus his reversal The telestic μανία is under the patronage of Dionysus, but if the god incites men to delirium in the rite it is because, according to myth, Hera has deprived him of discernment Under the effects of wine, Hephaestus frees Hera from her chains, so the goddess has reason to be grateful to the god of wine In the cult of Elis, the respectability of married women, under the aegis of Hera, represents the counterpoint to the possible excesses of wine Finally, the ties of Hera and Dionysus to the bovine world may have been yet another reason why they share a priestly college Parallels in areas such as Argos, Samos and Lesbos show that Elis would not be an isolated case in connecting the cults of Hera and Dionysus

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Ana Jiménez San Cristobal Associate Professor of Greek Philology at the Complutense University of Madrid asancristobal@filol ucm es

The Wise Men of India according to the Alexander Historians and Megasthenes Manuel Albaladejo Vivero For the ancient Greeks, India was the paradigm of the “country of wonders”, as can be seen in the work of practically all the Hellenic authors who wrote about India What we refer to as “Greek colonisation” or “overseas expansion” had, among many other consequences, the effect of forging contacts with a wide variety of peoples inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea This historical circumstance doubtless piqued travellers’ and writers’ curiosity about things such as these peoples’ lifestyle, customs and, in short, ethnography The expansion of the Achaemenid Persian Empire also roused Greek interest in India By the mid-sixth century BCE, the Achaemenid Empire was already in control of the ancient kingdom of Lydia as well as several Greek cities on the coast of Ionia, where the environment from which Western science and philosophy rose was in full swing The fact that the Greeks had such a huge political entity (with domains on three continents) as its neighbour and enemy had the positive effect of encouraging the Greeks to study and learn about their adversary Let us not forget that the Persian Empire stood between the Aegean Sea and India, so Greek knowledge of the Far East was often gained through the medium of the Achaemenid court and administration 1 In this contribution we just aim at pointing out one of the most relevant precedents or parallels in the Eastern world to the Platonic-Pythagorean “divine man” – the gymnosophists – in order to examine the fundamental literary traces It is important to review the main sources, Alexander’s historians, to realise the Greek attitudes and preconceptions regarding Indian “wise men” and the possible points in common to the theioi andres of the Greek tradition to which this volume is devoted Indeed, to find a reference to the “godly men” of India in Greek literature, as a possible parallel to Hel1

Miller 1997, passim; Panaino 2009, 19–53; Gómez Espelosín 2011, 107–117; Ruffing 2016, 165–190 For instance, there is the well-known case of the physician Ctesias of Cnidus, who worked in the Achaemenid court in the late fifth century BCE and there wrote his Persikà and Indikà; in the latter he drew a unique portrait of India and its inhabitants Lenfant 2004; Bichler 2010, 164–166

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lenistic and Roman theioi andres, we must wait for nearly two hundred years, until after the Persian Empire’s rapid expansion petered out It was then that the young king of Macedonia, Alexander the Great, led a bold military campaign that helped take down the Persian political organisation in a short span of years, while at the same time creating a new administrative entity that took advantage of the old Achaemenid structures, although, as we know well, Alexander’s new personal empire was short lived When campaigning Alexander surrounded himself with not only military aids, but also a coterie of artists and writers devoted to glorifying his feats, and when his expedition reached India in the winter between 327 and 326 BCE, these intellectuals filled many pages – and papyri – with descriptions of the nature, peoples and cultures of the country that was then considered the eastern edge of the ecumene Of all the authors who accompanied Alexander on his quest, three names stand out for their descriptions of India: Onesicritus of Astypalaia, Nearchus of Crete and Aristobulus of Cassandreia The first, Onesicritus,2 was educated by the founder of the Cynic movement, Diogenes of Sinope With a philosophical background like that, it was no wonder that Onesicritus was the man Alexander chose to speak with the “naked wise men”, as we shall see Onesicritus is also known to have been made helmsman of Alexander’s ship when the king sailed down the Indus River to its mouth Later, the Astypalaian served under Nearchus on the Macedonian fleet’s journey from the mouth of the Indus to the Pasitigris or Karun River, in Persia In his writings, which appeared in the late fourth century BC, Onesicritus described Alexander as a “philosopher in arms”, a king determined to civilise all peoples and thus to expand Greek culture throughout the world Nearchus,3 for his part, had in his youth been a companion of Alexander’s studies in Macedonia, and during the expedition he was made admiral of the fleet On the trip mentioned above – where he also navigated a prickly relationship with Onesicritus –4 Nearchus largely retraced the route Scylax of Caryanda took in the late sixth century BCE while in the service of Darius I, although he never touched the Arabian coasts 5 In fact, it has been speculated that Nearchus might have been familiar with Scylax’s

2 3 4 5

Brown 1949, passim; Pearson 1960, 83–111; Pédech 1984, 71–157; Koulakiotis 2006, 122–127; Winiarczyk 2007, 197–250 Pearson 1960, 112–149; Pédech 1984, 159–214; Bucciantini 2015, passim One good example is how the two argued over the route they should take after crossing the Strait of Hormuz en route for the head of the Persian Gulf Arr , Anab VII, 20, 9–10; Ind 32, 9–11 Scylax was a Caryandan mariner who explored the Indus Valley and the coasts of the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea to the area of Suez, as we know thanks to Hdt IV, 44 Reese 1914, 39–52; Karttunen 1989, 65–68

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account 6 Nearchus’ writings were published around approximately the same time as Onesicritus’7 Aristobulus8 was another author who participated in the expedition He was first brought on board for his technical knowledge, rather like one of today’s engineers, and, in work that he probably published around the year 290 BC, he fawned over Alexander, stressing claims of the monarch’s sobriety and prudence, two qualities for which Alexander was not precisely well known The last link in the chain of Greek authors who wrote about India was Megasthenes, who was sent as ambassador to King Seleucus I Nicator in the court of Chandragupta, in Pataliputra,9 a few years after Alexander’s death 10 Antiquity’s “canon” image of India was in fact the picture painted by the Alexander historians and Megasthenes Their work formed the primary basis that later authors who wrote about India used to recreate a country that they never knew first hand These hearsay authors included learned men, historians and geographers like Diodorus of Sicily, Strabo,11 Pompeius Trogus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Pliny the Elder, Plutarch and Arrian of Nicomedia One of the main facets of ancient India that Greek authors singled out was the devotion of part of the country’s inhabitants to the cultivation of wisdom 12 This portrayal is observed quite clearly in Greek descriptions of the gymnosophists, or “naked wise men”, who were in reality members of the Brahman caste It was Onesicritus who made the most active contribution to this image When Alexander learned of the wise men’s existence and their peculiar way of life based on enduring suffering and heard that the people held them in the highest esteem, it was Onesicritus whom Alexander sent to speak with the wise men The gymnosophists, on the other hand, were not accustomed to being summoned anywhere; anyone interested in meeting them had to seek them out in their usual location This was a site on the outskirts of Taxila, a city in the northern Indus basin which was home to a sort of major learning centre, since schools there taught the doctrines of Hinduism and, in later times after Alexander’s expedition, Buddhism 13 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13

Arguing that he did, Pearson 1960, 140; Pédech 1984, 166; Bucciantini 2015, 143 n  28 See all the hypotheses on this question in Bucciantini 2015, 146–147 Pearson 1952, 71–75; Pearson 1960, 150–187; Pédech 1984, 331–405; Albaladejo Vivero 2020, 99–114 Modern-day Patna, in the middle course of the Ganges River The date of Megasthenes’ embassy has been debated Bosworth 1996b, 113–127; Bosworth 1998, 173–203, proposed dating it at about 320/318 BCE, while most specialists place the date at about 304/303 BCE See also Zambrini 1982, passim; Zambrini 1985, passim; Karttunen 1997, 69–94; Koulakiotis 2006, 126 n  523; Winiarczyk 2009, 33; Zambrini 2014, 239–253 The best and most complete edition of book XV of Strabo that I know of is Leroy 2016, on whose erudite commentary I draw for all passages about India by the geographer and historian from Amaseia Ruffing 2016, 185–187 Karttunen 1990, 85–96; Powers 1998, 70–85

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One of the reasons Alexander sent Onesicritus to talk with the wise men was undoubtedly the fact that Onesicritus had been educated in the doctrine of the Cynics, having been a disciple of Diogenes of Sinope, the founder of Cynic philosophy Working through three translators, Onesicritus strove to learn what the wise men’s doctrine entailed When he reached the outskirts of Taxila, he found fifteen wise men, each in a different standing, sitting or recumbent position He asked one of them named Calanus for permission to hear their teachings 14 The gymnosophist laughed at him, because Onesicritus was wearing a mantle, a kausia15 and a pair of boots, and then Calanus loosed an apocalyptic diatribe upon the Greek, where he referred to the plenty of the lost Golden Age of humanity,16 wasted due to the pride of a people who became glutted with their easy way of life In response to their attitude, Zeus had no choice but to destroy the universe and doom human beings to work to earn their living The rest of Calanus’ discourse to Onesicritus went to demonstrate how, in the wake of Zeus’ destruction, continence and the other virtues arose together with a fresh abundance of goods So, the sage reasoned, now that humanity had worked its way back to a situation of immoderacy, the disappearance of the world was perforce drawing nigh Mandanis,17 who was the oldest of the wise men, then broke in and rebuked Calanus for his insolent words In addition, Mandanis invited Onesicritus to approach and confessed an admiration for Alexander as the only philosopher in arms he had ever known, even if Alexander governed such a large empire 18 From the royal envoy’s testimony, we know that Mandanis taught the doctrine that removed pleasure and pain from the soul, something the Indian wise men put into practice, inasmuch as they trained their bodies to endure All this incidentally enabled them to strengthen their capacity for understanding, and they could settle disputes and give good advice to all As it happens, Mandanis informed Onesicritus that he had advised Taxiles, who governed Taxila, to take Alexander in, telling him that he would profit from taking in

14

15 16 17 18

FGrHist 134 F 17a = Str XV, 1, 63–65; F 17b = Plut , Alex 65 Wilcken 1923, passim; Stoneman 1995, 99–114; Koulakiotis 2006, 122–127; Winiarczyk 2007, 214–219; Stoneman 2019, 290–300; Winiarczyk 2009, 34–40 Further mention of this Calanus appears in Str XV, 1, 68 and in Arr , Anab VII, 2, 4; 3, 1–6 We know that he eventually joined Alexander’s retinue and committed suicide in Pasargadae by throwing himself into the fire in the winter of 325–324 BCE when he realized he was ill for the first time in his life Bosworth 1998, 173–203; Winiarczyk 2009, 44–63 A broad-brimmed Macedonian hat It is true that Indian literature, like Greek literature, experienced a “Golden Age” when the god Yama reigned over the earth The Hellenic version of the Golden Age is found in Hes , Op 106–129 In Onesicritus’ version as reported by Strabo, his name appears as Μάνδανις, while Dandamis, Δάνδαμις, the more correct form that alludes to the state that characterises the ascetic, appears in Plut , Alex 8; 65 and in Arr , Anab VII, 2, 2 Chakraborti 1973, 116–119; Winiarczyk 2007, 215 n  102 Too glowing an affirmation to come from an Indian ascetic, and not terribly believable Winiarczyk 2007, 224–226

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a man better than himself, and if Alexander proved to be the worse man, then Taxiles would have helped Alexander benefit Mandanis asked Onesicritus if these doctrines were taught among the Greeks also Onesicritus answered that Pythagoras had instructed his disciples along similar lines and had ordered them not to eat animated beings, and so had Socrates and Diogenes, Onesicritus’ own teacher Mandanis replied that all these Greek thinkers had held sound opinions but had gone wrong in placing law before nature;19 otherwise they would not have been ashamed to go naked, as Mandanis did, and to live frugally Actually, the wise man’s arguments did not contain any doctrine attributable to Pythagoras, or the elimination of pleasure and pain, or the taking of pains to make one’s advice useful to others 20 Instead, it featured elements of the Cynic doctrine, most probably with the intention of lending prestige to a current of thought to which Onesicritus himself adhered, by placing it in the mouth of an individual like Mandanis 21 Furthermore, Aristobulus’ information about the wise men differs a good deal from that presented by Onesicritus and written about later by Megasthenes 22 Aristobulus wrote23 that in the early spring of the year 326 BCE, also in Taxila, he had the chance to see two wise men, whom he correctly identified as Brahmans;24 one was old, and the other, young While the elder Brahman’s head was shaved, the younger man wore his hair long, and each was followed by his disciples Wise men used to spend their free time in the marketplace, where their counsel earned them great prestige, and for that reason merchants would let them take anything they pleased Also, as a show of respect, the people anointed the head of each wise man with sesame oil In this sense, it is important to remember that receiving gifts formed part of Brahmans’ daily life 25 Aristobulus told how Alexander invited these men to his table, although they preferred to eat standing next to the king, and afterwards they gave him a lesson in selfcontrol during suffering: The old man lay face up, enduring the alternating heat and rain, while the young man stood on one leg while holding up a piece of wood about three cubits (1 33 metres) long, switching legs when he tired of the posture (quite possibly these were yoga exercises) 19 20 21

22 23 24 25

An antinomy native to Greek thought and foreign to that of ancient India Onesicritus’ original writings may have indeed covered contents such as these, but the fragment does not address, for example, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls Stoneman 2019, 293– 294 Brown 1949, 41; Pearson 1960, 99; Karttunen 1997, 61 However, Stoneman 1995, 103–104, rejected the explanation that Onesicritus embellished the gymnosophists’ doctrine with elements of Cynic thought Instead, he argued that Onesicritus had recorded elements that were genuinely drawn from Indian thought in this passage FGrHist 715 F 34 = Str XV, 1, 68 FGrHist 139 F 41 = Str XV, 1, 61 Pédech 1984, 375–376; Biffi 2005, 229–230; Winiarczyk 2009, 41–44 Bosworth 1996a, 93 Laws of Manu I, 88 (Doniger-Smith); Kautilya, Arth I, 3, 5

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This young Brahman spent the whole day in this way, and, after mingling with Alexander’s entourage, he returned to his home When the monarch called for him, the Brahman answered that, if Alexander wanted something, he should come to the Brahman This behaviour is extraordinarily reminiscent of that of the gymnosophists described by Onesicritus The old Brahman, on the other hand (who, judging by his physical appearance, must have completed his period of ascetic isolation26) stayed with Alexander for the rest of his life and even changed his dress and way of life, thus signifying his adoption of a new identity, just as Alexander did when he began to wear Persian clothing 27 As Aristobulus reports, there were some who censured the Brahman’s conduct, to which the Brahman replied that he had already completed the forty years of discipline to which he had promised to submit 28 At no time are the names of these two men mentioned, but the idea that they are the self-same Calanus and Mandanis is not accepted 29 I even think one might well wonder if Aristobulus was attempting to discredit the gymnosophist story as told by Onesicritus and Nearchus a few years before Aristobulus made his own work public Nearchus too spent a good deal of page space classifying and describing the gymnosophists, although it is true that, according to the report that has reached us through Strabo,30 Nearchus did consider the wise men of India as important as we know other authors did, especially Onesicritus and Megasthenes Since only fragments of the Cretan seaman’s work have survived, we obviously cannot know what real scope the Indian wise men’s presence occupied in Nearchus’ original work, but we can say the same of the fragments that have reached us from Onesicritus himself, from Aristobulus and from Megasthenes Seeing that Strabo devoted a certain length of his book XV to compiling all the testimonies available to him about the gymnosophists, it is logical to conclude that Strabo included as much information as Nearchus offered on this subject Another hypothesis that might explain Nearchus’ seeming lack of interest in the wise men is that he might have wished to avoid devoting overmuch discussion to a feature of the expedition that his rival Onesicritus regarded as rather important, since it was Onesicritus himself whom Alexander had tasked with interviewing the gymno-

26 27 28

29 30

The Laws of Manu VI, 52 (Doniger-Smith) contains the rule that a priest initiated in the Vedas must lead an ascetic life in a forest for a pre-fixed time, and ever after he must wear his hair, nails and beard short See also Hammond 1993, 130–133 and Stoneman 1994, 500–510 Arr , Anab VII, 29, 4 As pointed out in Bosworth 1996a, 93, this forty-year period seems to be a reference to the first ashram or time of learning and asceticism that comes before a Brahman shoulders his responsibilities by founding a family This, by the way, this particular wise man had already done Given that Strabo’s fragment says that Alexander gave the Brahman a gift for his children, he may have been a heterodox Brahman, or Aristobulus may even have been mistaken on this point See Winiarczyk 2007, 215 n  100, with all its bibliography FGrHist 133 F 23 = Str XV, 1, 66 Bucciantini 2015, 108–110

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sophists of Taxila, and in his original work Onesicritus no doubt would have striven to paint himself as an experienced philosopher to whom Alexander had entrusted a mission of great intellectual impact So, this point may help us understand why Nearchus would have downplayed everything related with the wise men of India Nearchus, unlike Onesicritus, said that there were two kinds of sophists: Brahmans,31 who handled political life and also accompanied monarchs as their advisors, and wise men of another category that Nearchus failed to name, whose task it was to observe nature According to Nearchus, Calanus32 belonged to this second group, and there were also women who studied the ways of wisdom and followed the same austere lifestyle However, it was, it seems clear that none of the Alexander historians, especially Onesicritus, truly grasped the entire picture of the stages of Brahmanism or even the fact that Brahmans belonged to one of the four (not seven, as Megasthenes erroneously thought33) castes into which Indian society was divided Megasthenes, for his part, also distinguished among various groups of wise men in India 34 First, there were those who lived in the mountains, as opposed to those who lived on the plains; in addition, the wise men of the mountains sang praises of Dionysius, who was supposed to have been in India in some remote era 35 To this Megasthenes added another difference between wise men: there were Brahmans and Garmanes or Sarmanes 36 The Brahmans were better known, and they were the recipients of all kinds of care and solicitude from their conception onward (their mothers had charms and spells performed during pregnancy to ensure a smooth childbirth) In their adult life, they lived austerely in a forest across from the city,37 and they had to abstain from eating meat or having sexual relations for thirty-seven years, that is, the period of the first ashram or time of learning 38 Afterwards they enjoyed greater freedom and retreated to live on their property, and they were allowed to wear linen clothing and gold rings and

31 32 33 34 35 36

37 38

As we have seen above, Aristobulus and Nearchus were the first Greek authors to use the term “Brahmans” Hansen 1965, 359; Winiarczyk 2009, 30 n  10 Calanus’ spectacular suicide was also recorded by Nearchus (who could not be present at the death, however) in FGrHist 133 F 4 = Arr , Anab VII, 3, 6 FGrHist 715 F 19b = Str XV, 1, 39 Breloer 1934, 130–164; Karttunen 1997, 83–87 FGrHist 715 F 33 = Str XV, 1, 58–60 The wise men of the plains, on the other hand, worshipped Heracles, whom the Greeks possibly held to be equivalent to Indra Almost all the manuscripts contain the term “Garmanes” (Γαρμᾶνας), but in the 19th century Schwanbeck corrected this to “Sarmanes” (Σαρμᾶνας), which is much more closely related with the Buddhist sramana sakya-puttiya, although it actually refers to all ascetics, be they Hindus, Buddhists or Jains Karttunen 1997, 57–59; Winiarczyk 2009, 32 We must assume that this is the city of Pataliputra, capital of the Maurya Empire, where Megasthenes was sent as ambassador This time, reported by Megasthenes, is equivalent to the period of thirty-six years plus one stated in the Laws of Manu III, 1 Dziech 1950, 5–16; Hansen 1965, 355–362; Stoneman 1995, 105–106; Karttunen 1997, 57–59; Biffi 2005, 226–229

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earrings They could eat the flesh of non-labouring animals, too, and lastly they could marry, and marry as many women as possible, so as to have plentiful offspring In this case, Megasthenes said that the Brahmans did not share the study of wisdom with their wives, and he offered the following explanation: If any wives were bad women, they might reveal some of the mysteries they had learned with the wise men to the uninitiated 39 The main topic of discussion for Brahmans was death They felt that living was like being inside a mother’s womb, and dying was like being born into true life,40 blissful for those who had cultivated wisdom They believed that nothing that happened to men was good or bad, because people were not made happy or sad by the same things As we can see, this very “Stoic” way of thinking has much more to do with Greek thought than Indian thought;41 Strabo was, after all, a follower of Stoicism According to Megasthenes, the Brahmans and the Greeks agreed on certain beliefs The wise men of India also held that the Universe had been created and was transient (as did the Peripatetics and the Stoics), that it was spherical, with the Earth in the centre,42 and that the god who had created it ruled over it and was present in all its parts To the four elements they added a fifth, from which the sky and the stars came Lastly, Megasthenes tells us that the Brahmans agreed with Plato on the immortality of the soul, judgement in Hades and other similar questions 43 On the subject of the Sarmanes, Megasthenes wrote that the highest-esteemed among them were the Hylobioi,44 who lived in the woods, fed on leaves and wild fruits,45 dressed in bark46 and abstained from the pleasures of sex and wine One of their main tasks was to advise kings and to devote themselves to the worship of divinity on the monarchs’ behalf After the Hylobioi, the second best-esteemed were the physicians, who also embraced an austere lifestyle but did not live in the woods Thanks to their prescriptions, they could make a woman have many children or even make it possible to choose a ba-

39 40 41 42 43 44

45 46

The Laws of Manu IX, 18, say women are impure, which is why they were forbidden to learn the Vedas Actually, the Brahmans’ ascetic exercises gave them magical powers and an infinite knowledge that they used to free themselves from the cycle of karmic retribution Zambrini 1985, 845–846 Along with the elements of Stoicism there are also doctrines drawn from the Cynics and from Plato As is well known, geocentrism was present in most of the Greek theories about the Universe Again, these are doctrines misinterpreted by Megasthenes or by Strabo As Zambrini 1985, 843–844, says, the Sarmanes that Megasthenes presented were actually a set comprising various groups of Indian ascetics The Hylobioi are thought to be vanaprastha (“those who withdraw to the forest”), who were really Brahmans engaged in the third stage of their life Karttunen 1997, 58 Even though Vedic culture was based on animal sacrifice Stoneman 2019, 292 A possible reference to cotton?

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by’s sex Megasthenes explained, however, that their cures were accomplished through diet instead of drugs He also tells us that both the Hylobioi and the physicians trained themselves to withstand effort and pain Thus, they would spend the entire day unmoving in a single position (like the wise men Aristobulus saw, who are thought to have been yogis) A third group of Sarmanes was made up of fortune-tellers, medicine men and men who knew the prayers and rituals related to the dead These Sarmanes roamed through cities and towns begging Women shared the study of wisdom with some of them, as Nearchus had written, but these women too had to remain celibate 47 To sum up, as we have briefly seen, Indian wisdom clearly held a strong fascination for the Greek point of view in Alexander historians and Megasthenes, so strong that India became something very like a country of wonders, among which Greek sources dealt with preference with the gymnosophists In various works written from the sixth century BCE forward, a range of authors conveyed the idea that India was the land of plenty and fantasy, where the weirdest populations imaginable could be found India was home to diverse groups of wise men who practised an ascetic, natural philosophy, in contrast to what was happening in most of the Greek world, which was criticised by many intellectuals for its great attachment to material things But the foundation for the comparison to alternative philosophical traditions, notable from the Hellenistic era onwards, were already established then Some centuries later, as their biographers put it, Apollonius or Plotinus would be so much drawn by the prestige of those wise men from India as to travel or at least plan to join an expedition towards the Far East Another question is whether Greek philosophy was ever influenced by those Indian sages48 In the time of Alexander the Great’s expedition, the authors in his court harboured these same ideas about India, and in reality they used the same referents and cultural codes to perpetuate the image that they had inherited According to the fragments that have survived to our day, Greek authors did not entirely understand the contents of the doctrines espoused by the wise men of India True, language difficulties (including the role of interpreters) and interpretatio graeca (adaptation to the categories of Greek thought) were major distorting factors that, in short, prevented them from clearly comprehending, first, the meaning of the way of life of the various groups of wise men or, second, the specific contents of the wise men’s teachings Manuel Albaladejo Vivero Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Valencia manuel albaladejo@uv es

47 48

In fact, a vanaprastha could live with his wife See Jones 2001 and Lacrosse 2009 for some overviews

On the Notion of ἰσόθεος in Longinus’ Treatise on the Sublime Haris Papoulias 1. Introduction to a misreading of Longinus’ “sublime” In modern times the sublime has been treated and developed in every field of artistic activity However, it is true that to speak about “artistic activities”, “art” or the “artist” in the Ancient world, very seldom implies the use of an anachronism, since the meaning of the Greek “téchne” includes what today would be called “mere technique”, to what we could call “science”, passing through the wider sense of our current meaning of “Art”1 Nonetheless, if we insist on using such an obvious anachronism it is because, on the other hand, in more than one case, this apparent misreading gave birth to many of our contemporary aesthetic ideas and ideals2 On the other hand, the author that I would like to present here, Dionysius Longinus3, not only highlighted the difference between what is a mere technical product and what is a “Godlike” human production, but he also tried to overcome this opposition4 The longinian sublime, as an aesthetic category produced by such an overcoming of both mere technique and mere inspiration, invokes the legend of the godlike-artist

1 2 3

4

For a more philosophical approach to this generally well-known issue, see: Mas 1995 I think it would be enough to recall here the important work of E Panofsky Idea Ein Beitrag zur Begriffsgeschichte der älteren Kunsttheorie (1924), that establishes this line of development, in spite of every suspicion that could be raised on a supposed anachronism of terms like ‘art’ or ‘artist’ The problem with the real name of this author is actually based on partial evidence of the first byzantine manuscript (Cod P gr 2023): at the end of the whole group of texts, in the index made by other copyists and not by the copyist of Longinus’ work, there is an ‘or’ between ‘Dionysius’ and ‘Longinus’ In the last important critical edition of this text, made by the Italian C M Mazzucchi (2012) the reader can find explained all the arguments against this long tradition of a supposed “pseudo-Longinus” Following him, and the title of Ms Cod P , I will refer to him as “Dionysius Longinus”, simply because there is not any real reason to call him by another name The final source of the sublime, according to Longinus, is called ‘synthesis’ and refers not only to the ‘composition’ of words and phrases, but to the unity of all the other sources of the sublime, treated before, namely the “innate sources” and the sources gained by the means of practice

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in a way that, even if we had no other evidence of this figure before Longinus’ treatise, we should invent it because of it By an opposite fruitless hermeneutical operation, willingly or not, modern scholarship often tried to circumscribe Longinus’ treatise On the Sublime in the mere rhetoric field Just an attentive glance to some of the modern editions of this work, could show us how Longinus’ efforts are often overshadowed by our own prejudices regarding his supposed Platonism, his real profession and even his very name, which is now, to the unexplainable gratification of many scholars, “pseudoLonginus” or just “Anonymous” When, for instance, his “logos” is conceived and translated as “rhetorical logos”5, any modern reader is inducted to believe that Longinus was an orator or a professor of rhetoric However, the truth is that in his text, he speaks mostly about poetry, harmony, ethics, and many other issues, while the direct references to the rhetoric discipline (almost always expressed in a severe critical attitude) are an exception He dedicated an important part of his writing to image-making (ch 15) and – speaking about concrete arts – he also referred to music, sculpture and painting Even when he actually speaks about rhetoric, his examples are frequently taken from poetry (see Sapho’s quotation in ch 10), from philosophy (see Plato’s quotations in ch 4, 13, 23 etc ), and so on Not to mention certain points where he violently attacks orators and rhetoric as such6 Thus, it seems of great importance to begin our approach by putting every common place attributed to him between brackets, mostly based on mere conjectures, in order to appreciate the potential of his speech The long history of his reception perhaps best demonstrates how his ideas fertilised the soil of many debates on what we call “art” today, in its widest meaning While many current contemporary authors are sterilising Longinus’ discourse, early modern thinkers took it on and reflected on it, freely and creatively, without altering its very essence We may quote here the first modern debate that involved the longinian sublime, promoted by Boileau and his “Querelle”, i e the literary struggle between “Anciens et Modernes”7 In the frame of the German Enlightenment, two great intellectuals, Johann J Winckelmann and Gotthold E Lessing, debated on the essence of poetry and plastic arts, quoting Longinus in the central core of their argument8 Philo5

6 7 8

Among many editions, see, for instance, how Schönberger often adds the adjective ‘rhetoric’ when Longinus actually speaks only about logos In 1 4, where he says ἀκρότης καὶ ἐξοχή τις λόγων ἐστὶ τὰ ὕψη, “sublimity is a kind of eminence or excellence of ‘lógôn’”, the German author translates it to “sprachlicher Gestaltung” (=figure of speech) In this way, the text becomes by force a kind of handbook of rhetoric In 17 2, for example, he openly speaks about the ‘sophisms of rhetoric’ dimmed by the real sublime For a philosophical discussion of the early modern sublime tradition, see: Mazzocut-Mis 2009; Costelloe 2012 For Winckelmann (1755, 25), ‘parenthyrsos’, the term mentioned by Longinus to indicate a false pathos (see: On the Sublime, ch 3 4), was regarding both poetry and painting, while Lessing (1766, 172 f ) highlighted that Longinus’ passage refers only to poetry and thus, he sustained, not every criterion applied to poetry should necessarily apply to painting

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logically speaking, Lessing was right; however, in a certain way, history gave reason to Winckelmann: today, nobody would question the fact that painting is able to express pathos (and thus a “false pathos” as well) In any case, what is interesting is that both of them considered Longinus as an authority on matters of art and not just as an author of empty schemas We can clearly recognise a similar intellectual attitude towards Longinus by looking at the relatively recent research project, entitled The Sublime Object: Nature, Art and Language, supported by the British Research Council and realised by the London Tate Gallery Here we may immediately understand, on the one hand, the vastness and the importance of the sublime in every cultural aspect and, on the other hand, the importance of Longinus’ reception, far from being a rhetoric issue9 Thus, to go back and read Longinus’ treatise as if it directly referred to the ‘artist’ in a modern sense, it is in fact a kind of anachronism, but – as Harold Bloom would say – it is an anachronism that functions Paraphrasing the American critic, we may say that the sublime is “useful not for what it really is, but for whatever poetic and critical use we can usurp it to”10 If we prefer to be more cautious, we may use the term ‘author’ instead of ‘artist’, but either way it would be a misreading, since the very notion of ‘author’ means nothing more than an artist who simply privileges writing as a form of expression Indeed, Longinus’ language often brings us to a multiplicity of hermeneutical levels11; taking just one of them as if it were the unique meaning of his words would impoverish his text enormously On the contrary, we might say that the history of his long-lasting reception is also due to his linguistic and conceptual suppleness After all, his extreme importance for us today consists, not in his advices regarding metrics or other formal issues, but in his care of certain aspects that remained unspecified even in the early Modern Aesthetics, i e writing and reading experiences as an experience of truth, their ethical projection related to notions such as ‘memory’ or ‘posterity’, or even the thematization of an “aesthetic of reception” for the audience’s enhancement

9 10 11

On the British reception, especially outside of rhetoric, see: Van Eck et al 2012 Bloom 1982, 39 We could mention here just an example: when Longinus uses the word hermêneia as a framework of the sublime experience (ch 5), its ambiguity authorises a wider understanding of his intentions: hermêneia is ‘expression’, ‘stile’ (like Demetrius’ work Peri Hermêneías, often translated as On Stile) or ‘language’ in a wide sense, like when we refer to the ‘language of music’ or to the ‘language of painting’, like in the byzantine Hermêneia tês zôgraphikês téchnês, meaning ‘The Language’ or ‘The Expression of the Art of Painting); in any case, what is important to keep in mind is that it is not just a technical skill referring to a concrete technical ability, but – at least in Antiquity – it always shows “an exteriorisation of something inner” (Historisches Wörterbuch der Rhetorik, Ueding 1996, III, 1353) and thus, it is always adaptable to what has been called “expression” in the aesthetic theories of the 20th century

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Thanks to scholars like James Porter, we are able to affirm that the sublime is not just a terminological issue, but an experience issue, which is present and described in all Greek literature, before and after Longinus In Porter’s words: The sublime is not a word: it is a concept and an experience, or rather a whole range of ideas, meanings, and experiences that are embedded in conceptual and experiential patterns12 If this is true, it means that it is not possible anymore to keep claiming the unilaterality of a ‘close reading’ of Longinus’ text As the Italian philosopher and Longinus’ editor, Giovanni Lombardo said, the setting of the sublime is not the text but the context of the aesthetic experience13 2. The Artist as Theios Anêr Focusing on how the shaping of theios anêr is outlined in On the Sublime, we may start by observing that in this treatise, written during the first decades of our era14, we shall not find Emperors or political leaders called ‘divine’, nor great personalities of the Hellenistic past or of the Roman period – as in Plutarch or in other Roman authors Surprisingly, those that shall be called divine are the artists If ‘Deus Artifex – divino artista’ is just an evocative title of the two great art historians, Ernst Kris and Otto Kurz15, in order to show how the image of the artist progressively changed, evolving from Antiquity to Renaissance, we may undoubtedly affirm that in Longinus’ On the Sublime (never quoted by the historians of such notions), this idea was already clearly mentioned Firstly, we should note that even if Greek art is considered as the classical art par excellence, during the golden age of Greek polis, oddly enough, the artist was not enjoying any special social recognition Very often, it was truly the opposite: they were despised, mostly because of the practical component of their activity, given that all physical effort was only suitable for the servile class; they had no independence and even their rights were reduced in comparison to other citizens16 However, during the 4th century BCE, these conditions began to change Concrete evidence of this is the appearance, for the first time, of a new literary genre, the artists’ biographies Not by chance, starting from this period, we can find increasingly more frequent comparisons between the figure of the artist and that of the Prince The anecdotes on famous painters, like Apelles or

12 13 14 15 16

Porter 2016: XX Lombardo 1988: 19 A lot of textual evidence makes us believe that the most probable dating of its composition is between 10 and 50 CE; see: Mazzucchi 2012: XIX–XXXVII See: Kris & Kurz 1979: 38 Schweitzer 1925; Kris & Kurz 1979, 39

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Zeuxis, begun to spread and to slowly create the myth of the artist as a rebel who challenges political authority17 However, despite the success of these tales, the artistic profession as such will remain underestimated for many centuries Plutarch’s testimony may shock our modern mentality, but it describes the ancient one well: “For it does not of necessity follow that, if the work delights you with its grace, the one who wrought it is worthy of your esteem”18 However, musicians and poets were indeed an exception, but an exception that proves the rule, since their ‘practice’ was not ‘practical’ at all The less physical the effort, the more dignity attributed to the profession19 Thus, the figure of the poet was enjoying a full appreciation, which was also due to a large Homeric tradition, which was the supreme source of Greek education Even Plato, beyond his ferocious critiques against the ‘lies of the poets’, in his Phaedrus admitted the divine origin of poetical inspiration Getting closer to Late Antiquity, it becomes interesting to note how this kind of privilege, consisting of being in direct contact with the divine, is recognised and attributed for the first time to painters and sculptors as well Callistratus’ introduction to the description of a statue of a Bacchante is a precious testimony: It is not the art of poets and writers of prose alone that is inspired when divine power from the gods falls on their tongues, nay, the hands of sculptors also, when they are seized by the gift of a more divine inspiration, give utterance to creations that are possessed and full of madness So Scopas, moved as it were by some inspiration, imparted to the production of this statue the divine frenzy within him Why should I not describe to you from the beginning the inspiration of this work of art?20 As Kris and Kurz affirmed, “the image of the artist as it evolved in late antiquity was never entirely lost in the Middle Ages, and was revitalised in the Renaissance, when the artist once more became the object of biography”21 Indeed, Longinus’ focus on ‘theios anêr’ should certainly be placed at the origins of this process of artistic emancipation Nonetheless, contrary to the contemporary idea of emancipation, Longinus’ one is founded not on the radical autonomy of art but on what we could call an intrinsically interconnected web of ethical, political, aesthetic and even religious determinations, inherent in every work of art that intends to be called ‘sublime’

17 18 19 20 21

Plin , HN, XXXV, 85–86, 104–106 Plut Per II, 2, trans by B Perrin; see also Kris & Kurz 1979, 42 Wittkower 2007, 10 ff Callistratus, Descriptions, 422K:26–423K:2; trans by A Fairbanks Kris & Kurz 1979, 45

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3. The Artist as a Hero A first step towards the acknowledgement of the artist’s divinity is given by a traditional motive, employed by Longinus too, i e the image of the hero However, if normally the image of a hero was related with mythical figures or, in any case, with subjects involved in war-affairs or in political endeavours, what Longinus does is to transfer all the heroic qualities to poets, philosophers and artists At least on three occasions, he speaks of the author as a hero In 4 4, we find the first and most explicit image of “those heroes (meaning here, Plato and Xenophon), trained in Socrates’ school” or, let me specify: “in Socrates’ wrestling-school” (ἐκ τῆς Σωκράτους … παλαίστρας) 22 We should highlight this specification, since one of the most interesting aspects of Longinus’ theory of art is precisely the fact that he considers the artistic creation as a wrestling, a battle against the old masters in order to conquer immortality Indeed, art as agonism is present throughout the whole treatise and this should be highlighted, especially in the light of modern literary critique His literary agonism, has been acknowledged as a precursor of the well-known theory of the anxiety of influence23 Agonism is in fact present in all the passages that speak about the author as a hero, but it often gets lost in translation When, further on, Longinus turns to advise his young friend Terentianus that it would be very fruitful for his development if he were to imagine himself always under an ideal jury, composed by the most successful old masters as stern judges, he expresses the same idea again: “How would Homer or Demosthenes have reacted to what I am saying, if he had been here? What would his feelings have been? It makes it a great occasion if you imagine such a jury or audience for your own speech and pretend that you are answering for what you write before judges and witnesses of such heroic stature” 24

Such a ‘mental experiment’, says Longinus, is not just ‘a great occasion’, as the translation goes, but namely τῷ γὰρ ὄντι μέγα τὸ ἀγώνισμα, a ‘really great contest’, or competition, fight, challenge, being all of them equally implicit in the notion of agôn used by Longinus In his artistic universe, reading, writing or any other artistic production, all take place in a temporal meeting of past and future On the one hand, the past dimension is involved in challenging the old masters, the principal duty of the artist, and whether the purpose is to update the tradition On the other hand, the future dimen22

23 24

I will quote the D A Russell’s English translation; however, I will often add my remarks, according to my own edition of this text in Spanish (see: Papoulias 2022a) Thus, I will modify it according to the necessities of each case, like here, where the word ‘wrestling-’ shouldn’t disappear in the translation, since it helps us to sketch out the longinian constellation of terms related to agonism, literary challenges and the depiction of the author as a hero See: Bloom 1973 On the Sublime, 14 2

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sion is the other element that fulfils the present of artistic creation, understood as a communion with the forthcoming generations, the ‘ideal readers’ to come: “‘How will posterity take what I am writing?’ If a man is afraid of saying anything which will outlast his own life and age, the conceptions of his mind are bound to be incomplete and abortive; they will miscarry and never be brought to birth whole and perfect for the day of posthumous fame” 25

Such a communion is a real guarantee for the artist, it serves as an impulse to go beyond personal interests and servile attitudes, which will be severely criticised in the last chapter of the book A third occurrence of the ‘hero-similitude’ is found in 36 2 There we read: Finally, if you picked out and put together all the mistakes in Homer, Demosthenes, Plato, and all the other really great men, the total would be found to be a minute fraction of the successes which those heroic figures (ἐκείνοις τοῖς ἥρωσι) have to their credit What Longinus wanted to say is that the real sublime is not measured by the absence of faults, but by the excellence of virtues As we see, Longinus refers equally to a poet, a philosopher or an orator, since his main criterion does not concern a specific field, but sublimity, understood as excellence of logos in every endeavour in which art and nature, or method and genius, are involved As we mentioned before, he often refers even to other artistic activities – namely, painting (17 3), sculpture (36 3) and music (39 2) – by comparing literary qualities to their specific proceedings In any case, for what concerns us here, he always insists not on the single artistic disciplines but on the excellence and sublimity that make somebody appear as a real Homeric hero, whatever the artistic branch is Furthermore, in many details of the text we can discover a heroic conception of writing, joined to a programmatical appraisal of practical skills We shall quote just one case from 44 3 where it is said that the availability of rewards in republics sharpens and polishes up citizens’ talents by giving them the chance to practise26 Longinus creates a multiple hermeneutical level of references through terms like ‘sharpening’ and ‘polishing’ (ἀκονᾶται καὶ ἐκτρίβεται) We see his view of the author as a ‘sharpened sword’ emerge between the lines; but, in addition a brand-new mentality on the importance of the empirical experience emerges, as well as on what is “consumed”, old and rubbed Ektríbetai actually means that something is under friction Let me recall how Plato speaks with disdain about

25 26

On the Sublime, 14 3 This paragraph presents an important textual problem which cannot be discussed here While Russell accepts the Robortello’s 16th-century emendation ἑκάστοτε, I prefer the manuscript lectio ‘ἔκαστος τε (…)’ and thus ‘exercise’ should be referred to ‘each one’ [of the citizens] On this issue, see Papoulias 2022b In any case, what is important for us here is the use of figurative speech

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tribê, the rubbing, or this very friction offered by empirical experience27 If we recall also the passage where Longinus was saying that “literary judgement comes only as the final product of long experience”28, the novelty of his idea will become even clearer He clearly reflects a slow shift in what we know as classical (platonic) ideals Summing up, we may say that the heroic ideal, applied to the authors, brings forth an attempt to re-evaluate experience and, at the same time, an almost religious meaning of being an artist, since being a hero was not just a title of social acknowledgment, like the lay military heroes of our times, but a religious one In fact, it was always about a human being divinised because of his/her deeds and thus considered ‘equal to the Divine’ If all these mentions of the heroic status of the artist were not fortuitous and if Longinus really believed that the sublime elevates us to a superior dimension29, then we should be able to find in his text a kind of religious background as well This will be our next point 4. The Hero as a God At this point, the fascinating linguistic and conceptual interrelation between the aesthetic and the religious context of the sublime should be mentioned I am referring to the cult of Hypsistos Theos, the “Highest God” ‘Hypsistos’ was already an attribute of Zeus30 before Longinus’ era; closer to his time, we may find a religious sect called ‘Hypsistarians’, very popular across the Eastern Roman Empire; perhaps the father of Gregory of Nazianzus was the most famous of their historical supporters, while in modernity, Goethe expressed his profound sympathy for them Their main belief was the adoration of a unique God, unifying Pagan and Jewish elements, and later on, Christian elements too31 Furthermore, the Greek Bible translation (the Septuagint) uses the very same noun to translate the name of God32 Beyond any other concrete doctrine, the common feature between Longinus’ conception of Hypsos and the religious employment of Hypsistos is the superlative and objective nature of the sublime 33 27 28 29

30 31 32 33

See: Plato, Gorgias, 463b; Phaedrus 260e On the Sublime, 6 1 Perhaps it is not out of tune to recall here the fact that what we call “the sublime”, to hypsos, in Greek means literally “the Height”; that’s why Grube’s edition of this text was entitled “On Great Writing”, achieving in this way a loyal translation of Hypsos, but reducing the subject of the book to just writing, causing the consequences mentioned at the beginning of this article In Athens, for instance, the earliest archeological evidence of this sect is dated around 2nd cent ; see: Forsen 1993, 414–43 See the extraordinary study: Mitchell 1999 Saint Giron 2012, 71 Note that this is an element of great importance, especially when the modern reception of the sublime is at stake, the modern sublime being mostly subjective and obscure, at least from its burkean reception and foreword

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Considering that this cult was associated with the cult of Helios34, it seems really fascinating to ascertain that the sun and light are constantly appearing in Longinus’ text every time that he attempts to bring his discourse closer to the essence of the sublime Just to mention a single case, in a famous passage of On the Sublime, it is said that “Homer in the Odyssey may be compared to the setting sun: the size remains without the force”35 William Smith, the first English translator of On the Sublime, accurately observed that Longinus’ “fine comparison of Homer to the Sun is certainly an honour to the Poet and Critic It is a fine resemblance, great, beautiful, and just He describes Homer in the same elevation of thought, as Homer him-self would have set off his heroes”36 Indeed, we should suppose that for an ancient Greek or Roman to be described as the sun was something more than to be a common hero37 and in Longinus’ way of speaking, there is a whole conceptual constellation showing us his attempt to write on different but interconnected comprehension levels However, the most precious adjective employed by Longinus, also being his personal version of the notion of ‘theíos anêr’, is the term ‘isótheos’ (ἰσόθεος), once attributed to some of his heroes-authors, confirming the intense and extraordinary appraisal of art This term is often translated in English as ‘godlike’ or ‘demigod’, but it would be better to say ‘equal to the God(s)’ or, even better, ‘equal to the Divine’38 The word is already present in the Homeric poems and it actually belongs to what has been called “a vocabulary of the holy man” in antiquity39 It acquires “a special conceptual relevance for philosophy, rhetoric and science, designating an expert in these arts, matching the divine because of the divine origins of his inspiration”40 In that sense, as we will see, Longinus’ use of this term may also contribute to a further development of this idea by 34 35 36 37 38

39 40

Mitchell 1999, 91 On the Sublime, 9 13 On the Sublime 1743, 131 For the rarity of this comparison, see: Bühler 1964, 62; Calder 1967, 42 ‘Isos’ does not always mean ‘alike’ but also often ‘equal’ The suffix -os of ‘isothe-os’ refers to the subject (for instance, if it were neutral it would be ‘to isothe-on’ without determining whether we speak about a God or about many; thus, to say ‘divine’, here, it would be more adequate Furthermore, as we will see soon, this idea runs throughout the whole text and just at the beginning of it, Longinus quotes a Pythagorean maxim related to the very same idea where, once again, translators frequently flattened its meaning Lastly, let us note that ‘to become a God’ by means of art, seems to be an original idea that could be studied furthermore in comparison to other contemporary traditions For instance, as far as I know, art did not play any central role in the Roman divinisation as ‘apothéosis’ (Cole 2013), or in the Jewish tradition (Litwa 2016) Thus, it becomes even more surprising that the verb θεοποιέω, “while remaining uncommon among pagan writers, became the preferred verb among Christians to denote both Pagan and Christian deification” (Russell 2006, 338), especially if we consider its ‘artistic’ roots, “The earliest witness to the noun θεοποιΐα – states Norman Russell (ibidem) – is the scholar Julius Pollux (2nd century CE), who defines it as the art of making statues of the gods (Onomast 1 13)” Hernández de la Fuente 2020, 22 Hernández de la Fuente 2020, 24

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stressing not just the divine origin, but also the possibility for the human being to reach such a condition through the practice of arts and by his/her own efforts Focusing on the occurrences of this term in Greek literature, we may notice that despite its frequency, the intentional use of its proper meaning is rare On the one hand, it certainly confirms the previous claim on the relationship between ‘heroes’ and ‘divinity’; but on the other hand, it is mostly used as a common adjective, accompanying or replacing the proper name of a hero, without stressing the sense of a real process of deification In the Homeric poems, for instance, isótheos is a synonym of excellence, referring to Telemachus (twice in Odyssey41), and nineteen times in Iliad, referring to several other heroes as Patroclus or Socus42 Among the Corpus Hippocraticum, we find declarations like this: “a physician is a philosopher equal to the Divine”, willing to stress the value of medical knowledge43 Finally, we may also observe that ‘isótheos’ is not an exclusively masculine quality, as “theios anêr” suggests, but it can be attributed to a woman, like in Isocrates, when he says that Helen, having received “a power equal to the Divine” because of her beauty, was able to transform her brothers into Gods44 As a verb, ἰσοθεόω has been used by Aesop to describe Hercules’ afterlife condition45; nonetheless, in most cases, the “equal-ness” to Gods is reached by human beings in this life, contrary to the principal meaning that similar terms will take on in Christian literature, referring mostly to the afterlife condition of sanctity or, more appropriately, to the intra-trinitarian relationship46 In any case, a very influential use of isótheos has been employed in one of the texts that we know Longinus knew well: the platonic Phaedrus47 There, Socrates speaks about particular kinds of authors, the logográphoi, rhetors and politicians, saying that they have been immortalised thanks to their ability to compose beautiful speeches and “while living” – he significantly adds – “they became equal to Divine”48 In Ars Rhetorica, traditionally attributed to Dionysius of Halicarnassus but whose author is actually unknown, we find the term in the context of athletic competitions as a kind of reward, a kind of social acknowledgment of their excellence, superior to any money-prize, and thus very similar to Longinus’ agôn, even if the circumstance of his 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

See: Od I, 324; XX, 124 See, for instance, Il XI, 644; XI, 428 Decent 5: Ἰητρὸς γὰρ φιλόσοφος ἰσόθεος An interesting personification of this idea is in the figure of Menecrates of Syracuse, who believed to be Zeus himself because of his healing abilities (see: Litwa 2016, 3–4) Or X, 61: δύναμιν ἰσόθεον Aesop , Fabulae, 113 1: Ἡρακλῆς ἰσοθεωθεὶς καὶ παρὰ Διὶ ἑστιώμενος … See, for instance, how Didimus Caecus calls ‘isótheon’, in this case, to be understood as ‘equally divine’, the common glory of the Holy Trinity: τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος τὴν ἰσόθεον δόξαν (De trinitate, III, PG 39: 857) Quoted literally in 36 2 Phdr 258 c

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speech is literally related to the athletic events and that he only he adds a wider meaning to his words afterwards In the whole of chapter 7 of this text, the unknown author gives his instructions on how to compose a discourse during the celebration of athletic events In the last paragraph49, he speaks about the duty to recall the past generations and all those who have been considered ‘isótheoi’ and have been honoured as gods50 A certain comparison between the figure of the athlete and that of the author is mentioned in 7 2, where it is said that the citizen who will decide to make a speech in these events should not be considered less than an athlete, since the athlete competes by engaging their body while the orator competes by engaging their soul; and thus he adds: χαλεπώτεροι δὲ οἱ ἀγῶνες οἱ τῆς ψυχῆς ἢ τοῦ σώματος, i e “the challenges (ἀγῶνες) of the soul are more arduous than those of the body” In the longinian description of the author as a ‘hero-equal-to-Gods’ we have both elements, consciously and explicitly related, since it will be only through agonism that the author shall be raised to a divine rank This occurrence appears in chapter 35, one of the most famous chapters of On the Sublime Earlier, in chapter 32, he was speaking about the importance of metaphors; suddenly he interrupts his speech and he begins a long digression dealing with how the author’s grandeur and mediocrity should be determined51; as a case-study, he presents a comparison between Hyperides and Demosthenes52 As we have already mentioned, his main thesis is that, contrary to what many people believe, the sublime author is not the one that presents many good qualities, but few and extraordinary, “compensating with the beauties he has even for those which he lacks”53 The great writer may have many defects, but sublimity has the power to conceal everything as lightning does, hiding everything under its violent brightness Thus, he wonders: “What then was the vision which inspired those divine writers (οἱ ἰσόθεοι) who disdained exactness of detail and aimed at the greatest prizes in literature?”54 We will not go into his answer now; it is enough to say that his answer will be exposed in the next chapters, in some of the most sublime lines of ancient literature We should only note that on more than one occasion he refers to the process that leads to the sublime as a kind of theurgy When he was beginning to speak about the first natural or innate source of the sublime, he added that even if it is a natural gift, “we must, so far as is possible, develop our minds in the direction of greatness and make them always pregnant with noble thoughts”55

49 50 51 52 53 54 55

See: Rh 7 7 Rh 7 7: ὅτι πολλοὶ καὶ ἰσόθεοι ἐνομίσθησαν, οἳ δὲ καὶ ὡς θεοὶ τιμῶνται τῶν πάλαι On the Sublime, 33 On the Sublime, 34 On the Sublime, 34 4 On the Sublime, 35 2 On the Sublime, 9 1; italics are mine

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The same metaphor of ‘spiritual pregnancy’ will come forth again later, when he will compare the effects of the emulation of the great authors with the spiritual pregnancy of Pythia caused by the exhalation of divine vapours from the ground of the sanctuary: “Similarly, the genius of the ancients acts as a kind of oracular cavern, and effluences flow from it into the minds of their imitators”56 Emulation and mimesis are the practices that this special kind of ‘artistic theurgy’ requires Both of them are conceived by Longinus much more as processes than as given facts Consequently, we should remark that ‘Godlikeness’ is not a concept that Longinus accepts a priori and of course it has no relationship with any naïve anthropomorphism His critique to Homer exemplarily confirms this: “Homer, or so it seems to me, has done his best to make the men of the Trojan war gods, and the gods men”57 and by doing so, he gave the gods immortal misery That is to say, contrary to what we commonly call ‘anthropomorphism’ every time that we speak about ‘Godlikeness’, what Longinus has in mind is the elevation of the human being to God through art; as Walter Otto puts it, in this kind of anthropomorphism the aim was to elevate the human figure and not to humanise the divine58 As we see, in his mind there is a real complementarity between religious and artistic experience The use of the notion of being ‘equal to the Divine’ is not occasional, as we saw in the Homeric poems, but it reveals an intentional employment of the term, in the framework of an art theory as deification Furthermore, contrary to the mere theoretical sense of the idea of ‘Godlikeness’ that prevailed among philosophers after Plato59, from Aristotle to Plotinus, identified by Sedley as deification through intellectual contemplation60, we already saw how Longinus also stresses a practical sense and a re-evaluation of experience, being both elements necessary for the emergence of an effective aesthetic theory It is in this way that we could approach his notion of ‘genius’, where all precedent terms (hero, god, nature and experience, etc ) converge 5. Conclusion: Théosis as a sublation of Art and Nature Before the exposition of the five sources of sublimity, near the beginning of the text, Longinus quotes a maxim that anticipates his mention of ‘isótheos’ as unity of art and nature He says:

56 57 58 59 60

On the Sublime, 13 2 On the Sublime, 9 7 Otto 1942, especially §§ 1–3 of the third part I refer to the famous passage from the Platonic Theaetetus (176b): φυγὴ δὲ ὁμοίωσις θεῷ κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν, “the escape is Godlikeness so far as is possible” Sadley 1999, 327–8

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You must help me, my friend, by giving your honest opinion in detail, as both your natural candour and your friendship with me require It was well said that what man has in common with the gods is doing good and telling the truth 61 I think that the last proverbial phrase expresses a profound philosophical and religious conception, directly connected to the sense of ‘isótheos’ and the art/nature issue Probably coming from Pythagorean origins62, it tells us what we ὅμοιον ἔχομεν with the gods Contrary to many editors, Russell translates this very well by saying “what we have in common with the gods”, maintaining the original ambiguity of the Greek term ‘hómoion’, since its meaning could be ‘similar’ or – and this would be my preference – it could also be ‘equal’ to Gods It is evident that the difference, in a religious context, may be enormous, especially if we find ourselves in a monotheistic context63 However, what I believe Longinus says here is that we are equal to the Divine, due to at least two aspects: the εὐεργεσία and the ἀλήθεια, ‘doing good’ and – not ‘telling the truth’, as Russell says – but just ‘the Truth’ Gods are not telling the truth but they are the truth From a philosophical point of view, we should understand the word ‘Truth’ as the ontological condition that permits any further ‘telling’, or ‘painting’ or ‘dancing’ – if we wish to say so; in any case there is no ‘telling’ in Longinus’ expression Furthermore, we may examine the text closer We notice that the first element, euergesía, is a kind of subjective (practical) correctness; the second one, alêtheia, is an objective (and theoretical) one The balance between them is reflected in a harmonic prose construction, since, just a phrase before, he addressed his friend saying something that in Russell’s version has been completely lost: “τὰ ἐπὶ μέρους, ὡς πέφυκας καὶ καθήκει, συνεπικρινεῖς ἀληθέστατα” This does not mean that Terentianus should give to Longinus his “honest opinion in detail, as both [his] natural candour and [his] friendship require” but that Terentianus should judge (or ‘consider’: -επικρινεῖς) together (συν-),

61 62 63

On the Sublime 1 2: εὖ γὰρ δὴ ὁ ἀποφηνάμενος τί θεοῖς ὅμοιον ἔχομεν, ῾εὐεργεσίαν εἴπας ῾καὶ ἀλήθειαν᾿; italics are mine Claudius Aelianus affirms that it belongs to Pythagoras (see: VH 12 59), while Arsenios (Vas Ros 189; see: Kopidákês 1990, 187) maintains that it belongs to Demosthenes It would be enough to remember that one of the most violent doctrinal clashes inside the Christian religion was on the interpretation of the term mentioned in the Constantinopolitan Creed ‘homoousios’ (ὁμοούσιος) The problem was concerning the nature of the Son, if it were to be considered ‘equal to’ or ‘in like manner’ with the Father The distinction between ὅμοιος (homoios, alike) and ὁμός (homos, the same) where the correctness of homoousios has been affirmed and the use of homoiousios has been condemned, cannot be sustained for grammatical reasons, since both of them have the same root and are often used in the same way The problem is clearly conceptual, and it seems that Christians decided to distinguish them because of their doctrinal difference and not the opposite For instance, when Homer (Il XIII, 354) says that Zeus’ and Poseidon’s were of one (homòn) stock (génos) and of one parentage (pátrê), he uses the term homòn as Longinus does with hómoion in the Pythagorean maxim, meaning something Universal, numerically one, into which we equally participate Another notorious example of the inverse, i e of a use of homoios as homos is the Spartans’ nickname οἱ ὅμοιοι (Xenophon, Lac ΧΙΙΙ 1), which by no means could be translated as ‘the similar’ but rather as the ‘equals’

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whether every detail is true (ἀληθέστατα), according to his own nature (ὡς πέφυκας = as he personally knows how to do) and according to the convenient (=καθήκει, i e objectively speaking) To go a little bit further, we may find another duality, introduced in chapter  2 1 There, Longinus quotes another popular apothegm, this time with the purpose of criticising it: “Genius (τὰ μεγαλοφυῆ), the argument runs, is a natural product, and does not come by teaching (οὐ διδακτὰ)”64 Contrary to what has been affirmed regarding the possibility of Longinus’ affiliation to the rhetoric school of Asianism65, his arguments against the privileges of genius show us a very equilibrated thinker, far from being an ancestor of romantic or contemporary irrationalism Thus, there are at least three pairs of notions, corresponding one to the other: ‘euergesía-alêtheia’, ‘pephykôs-kathêkei’, ‘megalophyôs-didaktôs’; all of them are expressions of the same fundamental challenge between art and nature Thanks to the last pair mentioned here, we are situated in the fifth and final source of sublimity: synthesis, technically speaking: composition, but also, as I maintain, a real sublation of all the previous sources, since Longinus’ accurate critique against every unilaterality and excess appropriately shows that synthesis is not a simple ‘composition’ but a ‘fulfilment’ If ‘sublation’ sounds too idealistic, let me put it differently: synthesis is not a summary, nor an abstract, but a result where all previous sources do not appear independently anymore, but are coordinated in the uniqueness of the sublime as a whole: synthesis is the destiny of the work of art In fact, the four sources previously exposed should actually be reduced into two: pathos and method, or nature and technique66 However, Longinus stated many times that he does not accept the precept of “method alone” (as the school of Atticism was preaching), but not even the precept of “nature alone” (as the school of Asianism was preaching) Synthesis comes forth as the effectiveness of both Nature (the first couple of ‘sources’) and Art (the second couple) Against those who sustain that art is supposed to be a mere technique, he reminds us that, at its best, this would provide us only with a sublime without pathos, but this is not the real sublime Against those who sustain that mere natural ability is supposed to be enough for a successful expression,

64

65

66

I modified Russell’s translation, choosing Genius instead of Greatness; even if Longinus uses many synonyms of the Sublime, like Great or Greatness, we should reserve them for the cases in which he literally evokes them, like when he speaks about something ‘megálon’ or ‘méga’, etc Here, he combines ‘megálon’ (lit : big, not great) with the suffix -phyê, from the verb phyô, thus it would be better to translate it as ‘Genius’ or ‘geniality’, for both terms have in common the notion of a ‘natural gift’ (genius, from the Latin root *gen-, gignere, to engender) This interpretation has had a great impact and it had been sustained by Augusto Rostagni, one of the most important modern editors of the Sublime (Rostagni 1955, 447–518), but it has already proved to be exaggerated (Grube 1959); nonetheless, it still has many supporters beyond Longinus’ scholarship See: Lombardo 1988, 35–58

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he reminds us that there are many strong passions but without being sublime In any case, what is really important is that the sublime is an excellence and a unity of nature and art, it is not something given once and forever, but it is something that we are able to reach by our own efforts and by the practice of arts A contemporary philosophical reconsideration of the ancient sublime (where art and ethics were still united) could be – in Longinus’ words – a source of inspiration of an ἄμαχον ἔρωτα, an ‘irresistible desire’ for the true, radical (δαιμονιωτέρου), extreme Exceedance, condensed, as we saw, in the idea that the sublime logos (written, spoken, and – why not – painted) could really provide us with Godlikeness Haris Papoulias Assistant Professor of Ancient Philosophy at IE University, Madrid hpapoulias@faculty ie edu

The Sage as a Leader and as a Holy Man in the Cynicism of the Imperial Era Two Polemics Ignacio Pajón Leyra 1. Introduction: The Idea of the Sage The notion of “wisdom” is probably one of the terms that has undergone the most transformation in the history of Graeco-Latin thought Initially, in as yet non-technical philosophical usage, it referred to the ability to perform a certain operation successfully It is in this type of sense that Homer, for example, uses the term sophía in The Iliad (XV, 412) to denominate the capacity of the shipbuilder in terms of his profession In this sense, the sage is he who dominates a practical skill, and hence the figure of the sage is usually associated not so much with mere knowledge as with its application, implying that the Greek language of the period held as a sage whoever had acquired theoretical knowledge and, in addition, had the capacity to apply it in praxis In its transition to a technified philosophical vocabulary, however, the notion of wisdom showed a tendency to split that initial dual dimension, solely intensifying one of its two aspects In some of the main forms of philosophy from the Classical era – such as those of Platonic origin  – the theoretical sense of wisdom as virtue eclipsed the practical to a certain extent This notwithstanding, in the cynical movement, the tendency observed in the use of the term runs more to the contrary: the theoretical sage, for the cynics, loses every sense due to his disconnection from the problems of life, and the practical sage becomes an authentic sage to the extent that his wisdom responds to a specific way of living This tendency to detach from the more speculative aspect of knowledge and uphold what was closer to life would be usual in post-Aristotelian thought Thus, the idea of the sage would be one of the main axes for articulating Hellenistic philosophy in general, above all its Socratic origins The impact produced by the figure of Socrates on the philosophical panorama stressed the importance of offering a coherent view of the sage and what characterises him as such And proceeding from the model of behaviour observed in Socrates, a practical orientation, perseverance, moderation and

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concern with social and ethical questions became, for many Hellenistic philosophers, a basic form of describing the true sage For this reason, the notion of the sage underlying philosophical positions such as scepticism, epicureanism, stoicism, the Cyrenaic school or cynicism would then tend to have little to do with the vision of the theoretical sage and would insist much more on the idea that the wisdom the sage aspires for is that of knowing how to live, and the fundamental tool for achieving that is experience rather than study With regard to cynicism, the paradigmatic notion of the sage soon became more complex when the referential figure of Socrates was joined by a second model, that of Diogenes of Sinope 1 Plato defined Diogenes as “a Socrates gone mad”2, giving the impression of someone who exemplifies the original Socratic character taken to extremes The irony of Socrates, in Diogenes, is transformed into satire and farce Austerity becomes a vocation in poverty, spiritual fortitude becomes an exercise in asceticism, and indifference to social image becomes scandal and shamelessness The cynic-sage thus becomes an extravagant and provocative figure who reacts to the social milieu with acid repartee, hurtful humour and obscene gestures In this way he manages to call the attention of his fellow citizens, showing them a life path that accords with nature From the cynical standpoint, the sage must be heard because his attacks on society represent an attempt to recover the sense lost by human beings in the civilising process From the social standpoint, however, it is the cynic-sage who has lost his senses, and for that reason he is seen not as a charismatic figure but as a fool mouthing words beyond reason that must be excluded from the scope of what deserves to be heard The contrast between such views of cynical thought would only grow with the passing generations With the passage of time the cynic will cease to be seen as a sage, since he no longer stood for a person endowed with an applicable practical ability Quite the contrary – during the later period, cynics came to be seen as people who, because of their stridence and exaggeration, had lost all vital and social skills And it is generally understood that, if his speech seduces the audience, it is because of a kind of charisma that is closer to madness than to classical wisdom This was to become the manner of conceiving the street preachers of cynicism in the Roman era And it would also be the predominant way of interpreting the more radical parts of the cynical proposal for a lifestyle Still, the cynics themselves considered that the spectacular and paradoxical character of a philosopher’s acts did not have to be taken as a reason for disqualifying a sage 3 Cynical acts, however strange they might have seemed in their society, show applied knowledge: the knowledge that society is so badly oriented that only a manner of living contrary to its conventions is truly rational 1 2 3

See Navia 2005, 93–120, and Helmer 2017 D L , VI, 53 See Pajón 2019, 150–155

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As part of transmitting this critical message, the cynic-sage not only exercises his philosophy in his acts but also uses his own appearance to embody his questioning of social convention 4 He thus takes on a striking image in which every element is endowed with a natural meaning (the staff as the natural travelling prop, the rough cloak as the most reasonable coating, the unkempt hair and beard as the natural aspect, etcetera), while at the same time all such elements are a certain parody of the cultural symbols of power: the staff for the sceptre; the threadbare cloth for the regal cloak; and the unruly beard and hair for the mane of the lion 5 This way, the ensuing overall appearance becomes, in the same breath, a claim for pure naturalism and a parody of the power and the powerful The cynic thus appears as a man who governs himself – whose kingdom is his own body, his autonomy of decision and the path his life takes – underscoring that the fundamental ingredient in the life of a sage as it is understood in cynicism is independence In relation to other human beings, the cynic-sage lives in such a way as to show his full independence with respect to the chains imposed by society in each of his acts Only the sage is authentically free, because he has managed to break with these kinds of conventional ties And therein lies the root of his exceptionality and charisma Cynical tradition will here tend to confront the paradigmatic example of this type of charismatic sage (Diogenes) with the most outstanding example of sage according to the opposite concept (which, for cynicism, will always be Plato) and with multiple examples of applied knowledge that represent power over others instead of over oneself (mainly, the king of the Persia or Alexander the Great) 6 2. The Evolution of the Sage in Late Cynicism Following the apogee of the philosophical current, important figures of cynicism would still continue to exist during the Hellenistic period proper – from rhetorician Anaximenes of Lampsacus to Bion of Borysthenes, the politician Cercidas of Megalopolis, the poet Meleager of Gadara, Demetrius of Alexandria, Menedemus of Lampsacus, Theombrotus, Sotades or Teles of Megara7 However, by then, the main fundamentals of cynicism had already been shaped, and their original contribution was, in most of such cases, restricted At the same time, a parallel branch of cynicism had separated from the mainstream, gaining independence in its doctrines: that headed by Zeno of Citium and continued 4 5 6 7

See Helmer 2020, 70–72 A detailed analysis of these elements can be found in Pajón 2019, 159–176 and 306–316 Cf Höistad 1948, 50; Fish 1937, 129–151 For a complete list of the names comprising the school of cynics, see Goulet-Cazé 2000, 389–413

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by his disciples Cleanthes and Chrysippus – this is to say, the kind of peaceable and tranquil cynicism that stoic philosophy consisted of Zeno, whom ancient tradition conveys as a disciple of Crates, may be considered a continuation of the emancipation propounded by Antisthenes and Diogenes – albeit shorn of anaídeia, the identifying trait of the cynic The way of life that Zeno proposes does not call for shamelessness Scandal is neither an objective pursued nor even a positive result of the struggle to underscore natural values as against those of artifice Cynicism is thus “domesticated” in the hands of the stoics And the original sense of cynical charisma, i e , its contentious and critical appeal, disappears Even so, the traits shared in common between cynicism and stoicism are noteworthy Both share an aspiration for austerity, the search for a way of life in accordance with nature, a cosmopolitan view of humanity, a scorn for wealth and pleasure, a selfconcept as healers of the infirm lifeways of society, and even a good part of the pronouncements, anecdotes and examples that tradition has passed on about them (in many cases, indifferently attributed to one or another of their number) Although both forms of thought would persist throughout history as differentiated and even contrasting currents, there would also be some cases of confluence in which the theses of one and the other would once more intertwine 8 Such is the case of the philosophy of Aristo of Chios, a heterodox stoic who propounded a kind of “reappropriation” of the cynical point of departure in the stoic philosophy of his day From his affirmations, more shocking and radical than those of the others in the Stoa, it is not clear whether they indeed sought to recover the tendency to scandalise the public or whether they only sought to add a certain flair for drama and spectacle But at any rate, it may be said that he was critical of the usual view of stoicism on moral questions, and that along the lines of this critique, he became the leading figure “swimming against the current” within the school, thus bridging points of doctrine between stoics and cynics at a time when these were already fully differentiated Subsequent cynic-friendly figures, in the majority, are in a certain way also touched up by a stoic veneer For some of them, it still makes perfect sense to draw a distinction from stoicism as the dominant philosophy of the period, since they do not fit in 9 They were therefore later cynics who, in some way, upheld the challenge to the social conventions of their day posed by their predecessors However, in their turn, an entire series of stoic figures impossible to categorise as other than full-fledged stoics, were to continue on the lines of the permeability to ideas incubated under cynicism that the school of Zeno afforded Once more, the outcome is a long list of names on the borderline between both schools: Agathobulus of Alexandria, Demonax, Asclepiades, Peregrinus Proteus, Demetrius of Corinth, Demetrius of Sunium, Hero of Alexandria,

8 9

Porter 2000, 156–189 See Pajón 2019, 81–83

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Oenomaus of Gadara, Heraclius, or Gaius Musonius Rufus, amongst others And many of them will be characterised by their role as charismatic leaders of philosophical communities or schools that spread their thought and their figures 10 Outstanding in the constellation of philosophers representing late cynicism, however, are three figures: Dion of Prusa, Lucian of Samosata and the emperor Julian All three are authors strongly influenced by the positions of Classical cynicism, in particular by the figure of Diogenes, while being linked to the cultural movement known as the “second sophistry” Likewise, tradition conveys a broad representation of texts from all three Indeed, the writings of Dion, Lucian and Julian are the principal sources giving us knowledge of the general panorama of late cynicism, since they yield a large amount of information, in addition to three interesting viewpoints on the manner in which cynicism conducted its social critique during the era All three authors provide their interpretation on the characteristics that may be attributed to the cynic-sage, and the validity of the aura of holy man with which, as they attested, he expressed himself in late antique society Moreover, two of these authors – Julian and Lucian – give us the main sources of information preserved about what we could consider the internal polemics of the cynical movement during the late period Indeed, cynicism weathered the imperial era somewhat convulsively and ended up being conceived and interpreted by its members in diverse and often mutually exclusive ways Already a critical countercultural movement at the outset, it had shown itself endowed with a great diversity and lacking in a firm orthodoxy But as the era of its founding figures grew more remote, the manners of interpreting their proposal multiplied and, as usually occurs in such cases, came into conflict with each other From the first century BCE onward, we are able to observe how the gradual schism in the cynical movement came about based on two contradictory ways of understanding the main tool used by cynics to transform their society: theoretical critique of practical action Thus, two dimensions – reflection and action – which, amongst the Greek cynics of the 4th and 3rd century BCE, were always shown as interconnected and related to each other, begin to appear as independent and even mutually exclusive amongst the late representatives of the cynical movement Some of the members of the school would opt to mainly cultivate direct action, whereas others would concentrate on critical reflection The consolidation of this tendency would occur during the period spanning the 2nd to the 4th century CE In effect, it would be then that we are able to observe how the more reflective cynics seem to completely abandon the usual practice of cynicism in the streets, whilst others, focusing solely on this practice, seem to spurn theorising and writing The former would almost exclusively devote themselves to composing speeches, brief treatises and literary works, whereas the latter would be known by

10

Especially interesting in this sense are the figures of Agathobulus of Alexandria, Demonax, Peregrinus Proteus and Heraclius See Pajón 2019, 87–93

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the testimonies on their public preaching And they will also be known in most cases for their tendency to lead communities of followers as charismatic leaders In a word, there would come to be a schism in the cynicism of this era between two bands plying totally different strategies: what we could call “literary cynicism”, formulated by authors bound to the text and strongly influenced by the ideas of Diogenes, Antisthenes and even Socrates, and what we could call “street cynicism”, largely formulated by nonlettered philosophers influenced by the anecdotes and testimonies narrating the acts of Diogenes, Crates or Hipparchia in the streets and squares of the Athens of their times In this context, Lucian and Julian are two clear examples of literary cynicism Both devote their efforts mainly to writing Both compose works of careful literary craft And both reflect in these works what they understand is the essence of cynicism as a philosophy But above all, both participate in the confrontation with that other provocative, spectacular cynicism that does not accord with the depth of the original philosophy of cynicism, but rather limits itself to acting under the influence of anecdotes about Diogenes and his followers Indeed, two of the texts of these philosophers illustrate the ideological confrontations they maintained with representatives of that line of thought and action represented by street cynicism In particular, Lucian wrote a harsh critique of this manner of understanding cynicism, embodied in the paradoxical character of Peregrinus Proteus, in his treatise On the Passing of Peregrinus 11 On his side, Julian reacted very similarly to the disrespectful and provocative acts of the street cynic Heraclius in his seventh Oration And in both cases, the dispute contains discrepancies in the manner of understanding the figure of the cynic-sage Both first and second polemics contain elements relating to the question of the role that the sacred plays in cynicism: both disputes deal with issues such as religiosity, sacrifice, the respect for myths, piety and impiety, the closeness of the sage to the gods, and his attitude to death 3. The Polemic between Lucian and Peregrinus The first of both polemics – that of Lucian with Peregrinus – would have started with both philosophers coinciding at a given moment of history: the Olympic Games of the year 165 On that occasion, while attending the Games as a spectator, Lucian would have witnessed the shocking death of Peregrinus As Lucian narrates, Peregrinus had been banished from Rome a few years before for insolence and subversion Following his exile, he spent some time pronouncing anti-Roman diatribes in various parts of Greece, sometimes provoking loud cheers from the crowd and sometimes loud hoots,

11

See Dudley 1998, 170–182; Overwien 2006, 191–192

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ridicule and even violent attacks His mode of street action would thus have pursued spectacle rather than authentic subversive or critical intent And his sole hidden desire would have been – as Lucian suspects – the desire for fame Sometime after, at the Games of the year 161, Peregrinus would have tried to call the attention of the society of his day by announcing that he would put an end to his life at the next Games by leaping alive onto a pyre This flamboyant and shocking way of committing suicide would allow him to culminate his lifetime heroically – death on a pyre recalls that of Hercules And in this way, Peregrinus would have tried to show humanity the greatest symbol of the heroic path of cynicism, which assures that there is no reason to fear either pain or death Indeed, on the last night of the Games of 165, Peregrinus fulfilled his promise and threw himself into the fire before the crowd Lucian, a first-hand witness to the event, was deeply shaken by the barbarity of the act and by the discrepancy between the meaning of cynicism it reflected and its manner of interpreting the philosophy of Diogenes and Antisthenes, prompting him to write his brief treatise about it, On the Passing of Peregrinus In this text, Lucian shows his displeasure at Peregrinus’ suicide per se, the circumstances surrounding it and the very figure of this latter-day cynic This is not a treatise composed against cynicism as a philosophy or way of life, but rather, against the specific way some of its practitioners enact it, motivated by the irrepressible desire for repute Indeed, Lucian interprets Peregrinus’ motivation for leaping into the flames as the desire to obtain thereby undying fame, in addition to a certain “death wish”, incomprehensible to the philosopher from Samosata, which, however, had begun to be habitual amongst the more extreme representatives of the later generations of cynics In the case of Peregrinus – if we credit Lucian’s testimony – that tendency to self-destruction would have been generated in him through the contact he maintained with the Christian communities of Palestine 12 However, voluntary death in cynicism is an extreme way of exemplifying one of the most outstanding features of the sage: his self-control The true cynic-sage has such a level of self-control that he even controls his own death The perfect way of achieving that total self-control would be to make death somehow obey it That is: to want to die, and just by wanting this, to die Indeed, this is practically what we are told by one of the versions of Diogenes’ death: according to it, the sage of Sinope died by holding his breath However, given that in reality it is impossible to achieve this sort of death, the cynic-sage has to be content with merely assuming death without fear Hence, the selfcontrol of a sage in what regards his mortality is restricted to the mere act of mastering his fear of death

12

Luc , Peregr , 13 Dudley 1998, 173–177

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Differing from this Classical view of the relationship between the sage and death, Peregrinus Proteus recovers the initial aspiration of mastering the act of dying 13 In his understanding, the aspiration for voluntary death would bring the sage to a level of self-control higher than that of mere acceptance And the only way of achieving a death that expresses the intention of the sage is suicide Thus, Peregrinus is able to determine the moment of his death, his manner of dying, and even the context in which that death is to occur And it is no coincidence that, amongst the possible methods of provoking his own death, he chooses fire Entering the pyre of his own accord, without hesitation and without crying in pain, Peregrinus is able to show those watching him the greatest example of endurance Socratic enkrateia is brought here to its most radical expression The endurance of the sage enables him not to fear death, to enter the realms of death without doubting, and even not to fear doing so in the most painful way imaginable Peregrinus thus assumes pain as something that should not pose an obstacle to virtue, and the best way of showing this is inflicting it upon himself Fire, moreover, symbolises fertilising, purifying and illuminating power It is at the same time the element of Hephaestus and Prometheus It is the means for achieving material progress and clarity of knowledge It is a vital principle, the producer of heat and the vivifier of the Earth And as well it is the means for communicating with divinity through sacrifice Through fire, humanity achieves communion with the gods And likewise, through fire, the imperfect and impure of this world can be purified Hence, the act of Peregrinus, voluntarily immersing himself in the flames of the pyre, may be understood as ritual self-sacrifice, at the same time as a manner of purifying the corporal to seek communion with the ethereal 14 However, the manner of death chosen by Peregrinus has another nuance owing to the context, which calls Lucian’s attention the most: the intention to serve as spectacle Indeed, Peregrinus does not decide to throw himself into the pyre in the privacy of a remote, secluded space where no one can see his deed He does not even choose one or two close disciples to narrate the event On the contrary: he chooses the place and time in which the most people can congregate to conduct his act before the biggest audience possible For this reason, Lucian suspects a hidden intention beyond merely dying in total control 15 The underlying critique in Lucian is precisely that of contamination by the thirst for social renown – which, as a cynic, Peregrinus should have attempted to combat The biography (intellectual as well as factual) of Peregrinus is taken by Lucian as evidence of his flawed nature and his tendency to corruption in this sense

13 14 15

Cf Hornsby 1933, 65–84 Lucian himself thus explains the intentions of Peregrinus, alluding to his will to unite with the ether while serving as an example to humankind Luc , Peregr , 33 Luc , Peregr , 21

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First of all, Lucian considers that Peregrinus did not arrive at cynicism as a lifestyle due to intention, but rather, was forced to do so by the circumstances of his life: exiled from his country and dispossessed of his family property, he was forced to wander in rags The same circumstances had also befallen Dion and the self-same Diogenes, but while for them it had perhaps served as a trigger for initiating life as true cynics, in Peregrinus, it would have served to initiate a life of mere appearances and the construction of an image of holly man with which to access undeserved social prestige The errant life, dispossessed of material goods, would thus merely have been something fortuitous which, moreover, could not by itself have given rise to his image as a philosopher, were it not for another fortuitous event: his coming into contact with Christian doctrine and, even further, his dealings with the Christians themselves 16 The reason for Peregrinus’ rise in prestige, according to Lucian, would not have been other than the innocence of the Christians in Palestine On seeing him shorn of all material goods, they would have taken him for a spiritual man without him being so in reality, and the coincidence between his image and that of the sage and social critic, combined with the original sense of Christianity, led them to adopt him as a guide despite his worthlessness Of course, Lucian’s reading of the events redounds to the ancient stereotype of Christian innocence, simplicity and lack of critical capacity However, he adds the feature of presuming the innocent act of accepting the venerable wisdom of one who dressed as a cynic, lived the life of a cynic, and sported the aspect of a cynic, whether or not he was a philosopher of cynicism Hence, it seems reasonable to believe that, at a certain time, the image of the cynic, built up centuries before as a didactic element exemplifying the philosophy, had come to be a kind of sagely mask used by some to feign a philosophical affiliation they did not have Lucian does not exactly say that this was the case of Peregrinus Rather, it would have been his point of departure However, on noting the effect produced by such an image on that credulous community, he would have decided to expound on it in order to take advantage of the circumstance Thus, Lucian’s critique of Peregrinus consists of casting suspicion on his lack of honesty about the reasons why he led the life of a cynic By this critique, Peregrinus’ motives would not really have been philosophical, but rather, that a life without possessions, for him, would only have been a means to achieving prestige and fame Solely for this reason, he would have developed an interest for this form of philosophy And for this reason, he would not have attempted to educate himself by reading the texts of the ancients, but rather by following the fast and easy teachings of the most scandalous of its branches – that of Agathobulus of Alexandria 17

16 17

Luc , Peregr , 11 For a comprehensive approach to the relationship between cynicism and Christianity, see Desmond 2008, 211–221 and Goulet-Cazé 2019 Luc , Peregr , 17

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Agathobulus was one of the most extreme amongst cynics in relation to his shameless and spectacular behaviour A good example of his view of cynical philosophy may be deduced from his activity with regard to image The ordinary dirt that an errant life accumulates on the face of the traveller does not suffice him; rather, to this he adds mud, smeared on purpose And neither does the unkempt mane of those heedless of hairstyles satisfy him, nor the alternative posed by Diogenes when he took charge of educating the sons of Xeniades of Corinth – the shaven head of the slave – but rather, he has to combine both, sporting half his head shaven and the other half hairy Agathobulus is therefore a grand provocateur who conceives of cynical preaching in the streets as a spectacle and, for that reason, he uses near-theatrical effects for his mises en scène On taking Agathobulus as his teacher, Peregrinus’ training in cynical philosophy would have taken place within the most provocative and spectacular version of this way of life, with very little left in it of the original roots of critical cynicism as propounded by Antisthenes and Diogenes Lucian likewise depicts Peregrinus as someone who systematically propagated a projection of his image close to the idea of a “holy man” or even “divine”18, and who therefore stopped practising the classics’ critical mistrust of the religious propounded by the older cynicism in order to transmit a more accommodating discourse in relation to the normalising features of religiosity It is thus quite coherent from our point of view for Lucian to portray Peregrinus as a “false cynic” Indeed, it comes as a big surprise that – if Lucian’s description of Peregrinus is in some degree faithful to reality – the other sources dealing with him unanimously identify him as a cynic, without indications that a critical view casting doubt upon such an adscription arose in ancient times 19 4. The Polemic between Julian and Heraclius The second big polemic amongst views of cynicism documented during the imperial era is that confronting the emperor and philosopher Julian with a little-known cynic named Heraclius In this confrontation, the basic motives for the collision between both philosophers also relate to their concepts of the sage as well as their views of the sacred Despite the time that has elapsed, the context is very similar to that surrounding the confrontation between Lucian and Peregrinus: a context separating the pedestrian viewpoint of cynicism, divorced from its textual sources, and its literary viewpoint, related to some of the elements of the second sophistry At this point in time, as well, there has been what seems a proliferation of street cynics

18 19

De la Hoz 2000,103 Hornsby 1933, 65

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At some time previously, Dion of Prusa attests to an increase in this kind of philosophical preacher Dion indeed provides a specific point of view on the evolution of cynicism in his day 20 One of the more interesting elements in this perspective is his testimony on the proliferation of street cynics 21 He even reports reaction by the society of his day, tired of cynical impertinence, which would have led to episodes of physical violence 22 At the same time, his description of the tendency of some supposed sages to adopt dresses like those of Diogenes give us an idea of the ease with which, due to the construct of the image of the cynic, anyone might pass for a philosopher without being one 23 It is along that same line that Julian expresses himself, insisting, moreover, on the possibility that the anaideia of the “new cynic” could merely hide an insolent ignorance 24 Indeed, Julian’s attitude towards cynicism is rather complex: he seems to identify strongly with the task that Diogenes undertook as his life’s work Like Diogenes, he believes he is fighting against false values in defence of other, more natural principles, justified and proven beneficial And for that reason, the fight against the established norm that Antisthenes, Diogenes and Crates, amongst others, carried out, was for him respectable, honourable, and a model to be followed In fact, on one occasion, he goes as far as saying he has “received the staff ” from the hands of Diogenes, thus showing he considered taking charge of the legacy of the cynics as his own philosophy 25 Although his interpretation of cynicism is moderate, civic, and comes closer to the socially admissible stoicism, Julian is drawn to the challenge cynicism poses to established norms His inserting himself into the current may be perceived with particular emphasis in the first pages of his Oration at Antioch, in which he launches a biting critique of his own appearance focusing on the thick beard covering his face, where he allows fleas to run like wild animals in the brush26; to which he adds his dirty head27, which he seldom cares for; and his ink-stained fingers and nails His pride in his slovenliness, in the hair that he refuses to shave and his affirmation that, if he had warts, he would proclaim it instead of hiding it, along with his assessment of the hard sort of life he leads, austere and industrious, presents him as a peculiar type of heterodox cynic-sage However, Julian does not show such favourable consideration of the oral teachings of those who, in his own time, called themselves cynics 28 Those walking in the streets 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Dudley 1998, 154–158 Cf Dobbin 2012, 92–109 D Chr , Orations, LXXII, 4 D Chr Orations, LXXII, 1–2 D Chr Orations, LXXII, 16 Jul , Or , VII, 225 b Jul , Or , IX, 181 b Jul , Or , XII, 338 c Jul , Or , XII, 339 b See Bowersock 1978, 82

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dressed in rags, leaving their beards to grow, brandishing a staff, seeking to lead communities, and proffering insults and blasphemy against ancient traditions and the gods of the past, according to him, are not real philosophers They are, in any case, fraudulent copies of the true cynics And the main accusation he launches against these impostors is very similar to that launched by Lucian against Peregrinus: they are men who seek homage, prestige, wealth and privilege by simulating material poverty and purity of spirit Their apparent charisma is fictitious Julian composed one of his orations in a single day after having listened to the cynic Heraclius talk irreverently about myths 29 In it, he expounds on his different assessment of the ancient cynics, who followed an interpretation of “knowing oneself ” in such a way as to conduct a worthy and needful task,30 as against later cynics whose irreverence and impiety provoke his repugnance and seem to him useless Thus, the acts and speeches of cynics such as Heraclius bear no more than a superficial resemblance to the emancipating labour of Diogenes Whereas Diogenes promoted the creation of a better society, Heraclius and his like were totally useless to their contemporaries 31 Contrary to the activities of characters such as Heraclius, Julian conceives the goals of Diogenes as being similar to those of Plato – something he propounds in another of his discourses32 entitled To the Uneducated Cynics According to him, Diogenes as well as Plato observed, in their respective forms of philosophy, the consequences of the Delphic maxim of “knowing yourself ”33 It is thus in the dictate of Apollo where the point of departure for his manner of philosophising lies Julian sees in Crito the same unconcern about the opinions of the majority that the cynics express 34 The basic difference he finds is that Plato seeks to overcome this vacuity in opinions using words (as set forth in his dialogues), whereas Diogenes and his followers saw the use of actions for the same ends as more effective In the conflict between the manner of dealing with mythical and religious phenomena that exists in the confrontation between Julian and Heraclius, Julian favours respect His manner of conceiving the freedom of speech does not presume a right to offend, but rather a commitment to the truth And in what regards the gods, that commitment had to lead the sage to show prudence, respect and discretion Heraclius, on the other hand, preached a militantly atheistic view of cynicism in the streets Moreover, he employed cynical shamelessness as a means of criticising power, ridiculing the emperor himself Heraclius thus attacks the powerful in the traditional way of the cynics, through satirical discourse 35 He compares Julian to the goat-god, Pan, with 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Jul , Or , VII Cf Jul , Or , VII, 211 b–d Jul , Or , VII, 223 b–d Jul , Or , IX, 188 c–189 b Jul , Or , IX, 188 a Jul , Or , IX, 188 d; referring to Pl , Cri , 44 c Cf Bowersock 1978, 19

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humorous intent And in his ridicule of the religious Graeco-Latin customs, he offends both the practitioners of the religion and, according to Julian, the gods themselves The manner in which Julian interprets this behaviour on the part of Heraclius links him to the Christians of his time The relationship is very similar to that which Lucian establishes between Peregrinus Proteus and the Christians of Palestine For Julian, the Christians are practically a kind of atheist: they believe in a prophet instead of the gods And in a clear intention to disparage, he dedicates the followers of the Galilean prophet the same epithet as the disrespectful cynics inundating the streets with their blasphemous speeches: apotactites, which is to say, monks – in particular, the monks of a radical eastern Christian sect who publicly renounced all possessions and repudiated any consumption of wine as a vice, to the point of refusing communion For Julian, using this label against the cynical street preachers and Christians in general seeks to show a critical stance with respect to their rejection of the material and their preference for deprivation This is Julian’s way of accusing them of suffering inconveniences solely before an observant public, and solely in the desire of obtaining greater recompense 36 5. Some final considerations Amongst the elements worthy of note in the final polemics surrounding the cynical movement, it is undeniable that the idea of the sage played an important role On the one hand, a wave of writers sympathetic to the cynics arose to defend an idealised model of sage very much along the stoic template On another hand, a more provocative group of cynics, in their public predications, proposed the model of a sage characterised by exceptionality and charisma almost to the point of sanctity However, it seems unquestionable that the conflict in the manner of transmitting cynicism (literary for some and street-wise for others) does not fully correspond to the level of sanctity attributed to the philosopher as a holy man This is shown by the case of the polemic between Heraclius and Julian, where it is Julian who, in his texts, defends a closer proximity between the sage and the gods, and Heraclius who, in his speeches, rejects that sacral relationship On another front, it is significant to underscore that some elements that could be interpreted as symptoms of religiosity had already appeared in relation to the more ancient cynical tradition, without being considered to contradict its critique of the social and ritual elements of religions 37 The independent manner of dying is present in Diogenes, in Metrocles of Maronea and in various stoics of pronounced cynical influ-

36 37

Bowersock 1978, 82 Cf De la Hoz 2000, 104–105

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ence The exemplifying dramatism of the sage of the later cynical era is very similar to that of Antisthenes, Crates, or Diogenes himself Lucian’s interpretation of the fact that Peregrinus was taken for a quasi-divine being as an excess incoherent with cynicism is thus difficult to sustain And it could even be said that the attitude of latter-day cynics such as Peregrinus is none other than the result of natural evolution, however radical, of the practices typical to the current of cynicism from its most remote origins Ignacio Pajón Leyra Associate Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid ipajon@ucm es

Elevation to the Divine in Plotinus José María Zamora Calvo The last words attributed to Plotinus are eminently protreptical, an exhortation to the elevation of the soul, in the sense of an ascent and return to its origin1 At first, these words are addressed to Eustochius, the doctor from Alexandria, certainly the only disciple present who accompanies him, although, in a manner similar to the theory of concentric circles proposed by the stoic Hierocles when he tackles the doctrine of οἰκείωσις, this exhortation-recommendation can be applied secondly to all humanity2 “As Plotinus was about to die, Eustochius – as he himself informed me – was living in Puteoli and took a long time to come to him; Plotinus said, ‘I am still waiting for you’, adding that he was trying to raise the divine in himself to the divine in the all (πειρᾶσθαι τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν θεῖον ἀνάγειν πρὸς τὸ ἐν τῷ παντὶ θεῖον)” (Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 2 23–27; trans Edwards 2000: 3–4)3 Indeed, a reading of the Enneads calls for the

1

2 3

Plotinus’s death is represented as he draws his last dying breath (πνεῦμα) (Vita Plotini 2 29): when someone exhales or delivers the vital breath, he dies See Euripides, Hecuba 571 After his death, his disciple and assistant Amelius asked Apollo where the soul of his master had gone The Delphic god would have responded to him in the form of an Oracle-Hymn, composed of 51 dactylic hexameters, which Porphyry records (Vita Plotini 22) and annotates (Vita Plotini 23) As the Delphic Oracle proclaims, Plotinus’ soul, separated from his body, is now in heaven with the gods and the demons On this Oracle, see Goulet 1982; Brisson 1990 Hierocles’ exhortation is to put oneself in another’s place and to gradually open up in concentric circles to humanity, but without demolishing, from the centre of reason, the perspective of oneself and family Cf Hierocles, apud Stobaeus, Eclogae 4 671 7–673 11 The passage reporting the last words attributed to Plotinus on his deathbed is considered by Most 2003, 576 to be “one of the most controversial in later Greek literature” In fact, the philological debate sparked by this passage remains insoluble, if we focus on the different families of manuscripts that convey conflicting variations: τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν θεῖον, “the divine in us”; τὸ ἐν ὑμῖν θεῖον, “the divine in you”; and τὸν ἐν ὑμῖν θεὸν, “the god in you” Editors, translators, and commentators base their interpretation on choosing between (1) θεὸν, “god” and θεῖον, “divine”, and between (2) ἐν ἡμῖν, “in us” and ἐν ὑμῖν, “in you” Likewise, as one might expect, this philological controversy has a firm impact on philosophical conceptions about the Plotinian immortality of the soul, theology, and cosmology An exposition of the main dissenting interpretations, starting from Vita Plotini 2 26, based on a particular reading of the text, the grammar, and the specific exegesis of the passage, can be found in Henry 1953; Igal 1972; Schwyzer 1976; Edwards 2000, 4, n 20; Sala 2002; D’Ancona Costa 2002; Most 2003; Mazur 2017; Zamora Calvo 2018

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practice of ἀναγωγή, that is, the “elevation” and “return” of the soul to the principles from which it originates The two fundamental senses of the verb ἀνάγω are that of “redirect”, “return”, “restore” and that of “elevate”, “raise”, “lift”, “rise up”, “raise up”, and both are present in the Plotinian notion of ἀναγωγή, which is both an “ascent” and a “return”, in other words, an elevation and a return or redirection Plotinus uses the term ἀναγωγή4 in the following way: “If there is something after that which is first, it is necessary that what comes from it does so either immediately (εὐθὺς), or else it has its ascent back (ἀναγωγὴν) to it through intermediaries and there is an ordering of things second and third, with the second ascending to the first and the third to the second” 5 Plotinus carefully states that after the First (the first principle, the One or the Good) there are only two beings, or two kinds of being (Intelligence, which is the second, and the Soul, which is the third)6 In his Sentences (Pathways to the Intelligible) 13, Porphyry argues that higher realities generate lower realities Among the realities engendered, some turn towards that which has generated, and others do not The soul, which is a third ranking being, sits in an intermediate situation, which underpins ethical issues If, by nature, the soul is inclined towards the lower realities that it itself has produced, bodies and matter, this failure or fault resides in this inclination, where matter is then identified with evil But Porphyry counterbalances attachment to the body with the moral conversion (ἐπιστροφή) that links the human soul to its generative reality, Intelligence (Sent 32 51–53) Thus, this conversion of the soul to Intelligence is of a moral order, for without it happiness cannot be achieved, since the “return” to Intelligence implies an attempt to suppress an excessive inclination towards the body As Porphyry explains in Sentences 30, among the universal and perfect realities, none is turned towards what it has engendered; instead, they are all elevated towards the realities that have engendered them7 Thus, the world’s body, being perfect, has risen to the soul that is endowed with Intelligence; the world’s soul has risen to Intelligence, and Intelligence to the First (Sent 30 1–10) However, in specific realities, there is the possibility that they will lean towards what they have engendered, hence the possibil-

4

5 6 7

According to the definition given in the DGE, ἀναγωγή means “elevation”, “alienation of the soul” (ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον) Cf Iamblichus, de Mysteriis 3 7; Porphyry, Sententiae 30; Eunapius, Vit Soph 482 Likewise, the Chaldeans would have borrowed the term ἀναγωγή from the vocabulary that describes the apotheosis of heroes On the term ἀναγωγή, see Lewy 2011 3 (1956), 488–491 Plotinus, Enneads 5 4 1 1–4; trans Gerson, Boys Stones, Dillon, King, Smith & Wilberding 2018: 577; cf 5 1 8 1 Cf Plot Enn 5 1 8 1–4 Cf Proclus, ET prop 34 1–3: “Everything whose nature it is to revert (πᾶν τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἐπιστρεφόμενον) reverts upon that from which it derived the procession (πρόοδον) of its own substance (τῆς οἰκείας ὑποστάσεως)” (Trans Dodds 19632, 37)

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ity of failure and fault (ἀμαρτία)8 For these lower realities, matter is evil9, for they can turn towards it, having the possibility of converting to the higher realities from which they come (Sent 30 11–19) With the myth of the adolescent Narcissus, Plotinus explains that corporeal beauty constitutes the image of superior and intelligible beauty In contrast to Narcissus, trapped by his reflection in the mirror of the waters, a symbol of the sensitive world, we have Ulysses, who manages to escape the sensitive pleasures laid out by the enchantress Circe and Calypso The “narcissistic” soul, as in the case of Elpenor – the youngest of Ulysses’ companions (Odyssey 10 550–560 – succumbs because he does not know that the body is just a reflection of itself In contrast, the “odyssean” soul understands that the body is simply a reflection of itself, and it turns to a true and prior reality from which it comes Therefore, this “odyssean” soul is fleeing from the world here to the world there that constitutes its true homeland But what is this flight (φυγή)? And how is this achieved? This flight is an entry into itself, which equates to returning to the true homeland, but following two stages: in the first stage, it travels from the sensitive world to the intelligible world, symbolised in myth by the pleasures of sight and sensitive beauty; and, in the second stage, it travels from the intelligible to the One-Good, symbolised by “our father” (Enn 1 3 1 11–18)10 However, to achieve this elevation (ἀναγωγή), the “odyssean” soul does not need to leave itself, for the three hypostases – the Soul, Intelligence, and the One-Good – which it climbs in stages, as well as constituting the hierarchical structure of transcendent reality, are present within the human soul (e g , Enn 1 1 8 1–12; 5 1 1–6) Hence, the soul captures the One-Good with all the similarities they bear to one another since, in it, something of the first principle is present; it carries something of it that is not entirely Intelligence, but is above it (Enn 6 8 15 14–21; 6 9 8 19–20) The soul captures with its “own centre”, which is also the centre of the third hypostasis, the principle from which it proceeds, Intelligence, and from there it ascends to the One-Good Therefore, the three hypostases are actively present in the soul, but the soul itself must be in charge of activating and actualising that presence Indeed, in his last words uttered in the village of Zethus, Plotinus provides proof of this actualisation, as Eustochius tells us The last words attributed to Plotinus constitute, as Igal (1982: 23) explicates, “a synthesis of his own philosophy” Indeed, many of the themes developed in the Enneads are concentrated here in three lines The theme of the flight and ascent 8

9 10

Cf Plot Enn 1 1 12 24–25; 4 8 5 16–21 Trouillard 1955, 202 points to the following difference between “fault” according to Plotinus and the Christian concept of “sin”: While sin in Christianity is a “revolt of the spirit” (the sin of man is pride and defiance), in Plotinus, “fault” is “weakness of the soul” And, in turn, in contrast to the Christian idea of “redemption” we find the Neoplatonic notion of “purification” Plotinus describes matter as the first evil for the soul (Enn 1 8 14 50–51) However, moral evil comes from the relationship between soul and matter since matter does not constitute moral evil Cf Pl Resp 6 532e3

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of the soul, gathered from Plato, symbolises the flight that Ulysses makes from the world here to the world there and its return to its true homeland The source on which this is based is the allegory of the cave in Republic 7, where the ascent and contemplation of things up above is linked to “the upward journey of the soul to the intelligible realm (εἰς τὸν νοητὸν τόπον τῆς ψυχῆς ἄνοδον)” (7 517b4–5) Plato compares this ascent to heroes who “have gone up (ἀνελθεῖν) from Hades to the gods” (7 521c2–3) The passage about the hero’s anagoge reminds us of Ulysses’ return to Ithaca, his true homeland, so he can connect with the anabasis carried out by the prisoner of the cave Hence, Plotinus’ last words can be linked to the return of Ulysses and the flight of the prisoner from the cave The dialectic method “gently pushes the eye of the soul (ψυχῆς ὄμμα), when it is really buried in a sort of barbaric bog and leads it upwards (ἀνάγει ἄνω)” (7 533d1–3; trans Grube 1997: 1149 slightly modified) From an eschatological perspective, as proposed by Pépin (1992: 365–366), this passage suggests the alliance between death and the ascent of the soul The moment the soul is released from the body, Plotinus can achieve what he has been waiting for: to elevate (ἀνάγω) the divine elements of the soul towards what is divine in the universe “The divine in us” can be understood to correspond to Plotinus’ soul Accordingly, these last words allude to the effort to redirect his soul to “what is divine in the universe”, that is, to the total or universal Soul (πᾶσα ψυχή)11 Thus, the total or universal Soul is the origin from which other souls – individual souls – come, and the end to which they are lowered, and to which they can also ascend (ἀνελθεῖν) But the total Soul is by nature always higher (ἀεὶ ἄνω) (Enn 3 9 3 1–7) The soul, which occupies an intermediate position between the intelligible and the sensible12, can project logoi in matter, but also, instead of remaining close to the total Soul, it is dragged by its yearning for independence and penetrates sensible objects (4 8 7 1–14) Once it has been purified, the soul becomes an idea once more, fully incorporeal and intellective reason (1 6 6 13–14) However, the fact that the soul can become “totally incorporeal” (πάντη ἀσώματος) raises the difficulty that, before this occurs, it is not completely incorporeal, and that until it has not completely risen completely towards Intelligence (1 6 6 16), it is not “really soul alone (ὄντως μόνον ψυχή)” (1 6 6 18)13 Indeed, the beauty of the soul lies precisely in its connection with intelligible reality, that is, in its connection with intelligible Forms14 Hence, the intelligible being produces beauty in the soul, which in turn transmits it to the sensible world Therefore,

11 12 13 14

Cf Cf Cf Cf

Igal 1972, 451 Santa Cruz 2006, 208 Narbonne, Archard & Ferroni 2014, CCCXVIII–CCCXIX Vidart 2006, 150–151

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intelligible reality is primordial beauty15 Intelligence and logos are the soul’s own form, which makes the soul fully soul16 The soul integrates all of it into the divine (1 6 6 14–15) Both the soul and Intelligence can be said to be divine However, Plotinus makes a distinction between “integrating” or “pertaining to the divine” and the supra-intellectual level of the One-Good that is identified with “God” (1 6 6 20) Likewise, in God, “‘good’ and ‘beautiful’ are one and the same thing (ταὐτὸν ἀγαθόν τε καὶ καλόν)”, or rather, “the Good and Beauty (τἀγαθόντε καὶ καλλονή) are identical” (1 6 6 23–24) In this way, Plotinus concludes his exposition of the ascension of the soul with an implicit reference to God and the divinity of the soul For the soul, to become good and beautiful is “to resemble God (ὁμοιωθῆναι εἶναι θεῷ)” (1 6 6 20) We are faced with one of the key components of the Platonic tradition: ὁμοίωσις τῷ θεῷ is a fundamental concept in the Theaetetus (176a–b) and the Timaeus (90d), where it is proclaimed that the ultimate human objective is the imitation of God, understood as the adaptation of the revolutions of man to those of the world This would be the task of physics in the Timaeus: a procedure for assimilation with the divine through the imitation of harmony and measure present in the genesis of the cosmos17 The aim of philosophy is to get as close to god as possible or, at best, to achieve a full resemblance to God18 In this passage from the treatise On Beauty (1 6 6 20–21), God, who is the source from which beauty is born and “the other portion of beings” (ἡ μοῖρα ἡ ἑτέρα τῶν ὄντων), must be identified with the second hypostasis, Intelligence, rather than the One-Good Beauty would be a certain form within the intelligible realm, which coexists with the other forms, i e with “the other portion of beings”19 Plotinus inherits from Plato the principle of knowledge that “like is known by like” Thus, the seer, in order to see through contemplation, has to purify himself from vices and, in this way, obtain the energy that was lacking in order to be able to look at very bright things20 Knowledge would not be possible without this “affinity” or “likeness” between the knower and the known, between the seeing subject and the object of their vision (1 6 9 29–32) When the soul has reached the beauty of Intelligence (6 7 16 15– 16), it is time to see, not to reason The eye is akin to the sun in Plato, and the soul, in order to see beauty, must become beautiful21 But Plato does not mention a supra-intellective level in the soul, as Plotinus does, who carries through to its ultimate consequence the principle of knowledge that “like is known by like” and applies it, beyond the second hypostasis, to the vision of the 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Cf O’Meara 1996, 61; Zamora Calvo 2017, 129–132 Cf Igal 1982, 287, n 42 Cf Hadot 1983, 129–131; Burnyeat 2005, 158–159; Cano Cuenca 2012, 39–40 Cf Sedley 1997, 327–329; 1999, 309–310 Cf Plat Phil 20d1; 54c10; 60b4 Cf Narbonne, Archard & Ferroni 2014, 58, n 2 On the Plotinian theory of vision, see Atkinson 1983, 18–21 Cf Plat Rep 6 507c; 508b; 509a

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One-Good (6 9 11 30–32) The centre of the soul is also the beginning of the soul, and it is similar to the first principle22 Ultimately, it is not a matter of visually perceiving an object, but of matching the centre of the soul, a principle that is also found in us, with the first principle, the centre of everything, our “one” with the One We can only see the One-Good by making ourselves “one”; and this is only possible through what is like it within us, the “one”, the centre of the soul23, through which we are united with that which is like us, the One-Good, first absolute and transcendent principle Since the first principle is beyond Intelligence, it can only coincide with that part of intelligence that is not intelligence: the centre of the soul But for this, the soul must strip itself of everything, remain alone with itself, and deactivate the other two levels of the soul: the sensitive-vegetative and the intellective At that moment, starting from the image within it, it is possible to reach the One-Good The seer is recognised as an image of the first principle and then passes on to the model, turning into that model, and thus arriving at the end of his path (6 9 11 44–45), “the refuge of a solitary in the solitary (φυγὴ μόνου πρὸς μόνον)” (6 9 11 51)24 It is understood in this way that beauty is ideally the path and the door that leads to the One-Good 25 What is the nature of the intelligible being to which the soul is “related”26? To answer this question, in the treatise On the Immortality of the Soul, Plotinus begins with a (Neo)platonic reading of Plato’s Phaedo to show that “the divine as a whole and the blessed” (τὸ θεῖον ἅπαν καὶ τὸ μακάριον) must be “having life by itself and being by itself (ζῶν παρ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὂν παρ’ αὐτοῦ), being primarily, that is, primarily alive (πρώτως ὂν καὶ ζῶν πρώτως), having no part in change to its substantiality (μεταβολῆς κατ’ οὐσίαν ἄμοιρον, neither coming to be nor perishing (οὔτε γινόμενον οὔτε ἀπολλύμενον)” (Enn 4 7 9 13–16; trans Gerson, Boys Stones, Dillon, King, Smith & Wilberding 2018: 504) Plotinus takes inspiration from the test for the immortality of the soul described by Plato in Phaedrus (245c5–246a2) and in the third Phaedo (102a–107b) For his part, replicating this Platonic thesis, the Peripatetic Strato of Lampsacus (ca 340/330– 269/268 BCE), successor to Theophrastus as director of the Lyceum, considered that the soul is immortal insofar as it exists, but this does not imply that it is imperishable27 Plotinus defends the Platonic thesis, taking on this Peripatetic objection, and proposes

22 23 24

25 26 27

Cf Plot Enn 3 8 9 22–23; 5 1 11 13; 6 9 3 20–21; 8 19–20 On the “centre of the soul”, the inner principle, which coincides with the first transcendent principle, see Igal 1982, 88–89 and 98–99; and see also Hadot 1994, 210–216 Cf Plot Enn 6 7 34 7–8: “so that, alone, it may take in [Beauty] alone (δέξηται μόνη μόνον)”; 1 6 7 9: “one sees by oneself alone (αὐτῷ μόνῳ αὐτὸ μόνον)” On the origin and meaning of this expression, see Peterson (1933, 30–41); Atkinson 1983, 131–132; Meijer 1992, 157–162; Hadot 1994, 51–53; Beierwaltes 2013, 15–16 Cf García Bazán 2005, 16–18 Cf Pl Rep 10 611e2–3 Cf Damascius, in Platonis Phaedonem 1 431–443 = Strato of Lampsacus, Fr 80 Cf Sharples 2011, 171–175

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returning to the last argument of Phaedo, but expanding its scope: the soul is not only essentially living, but also essentially existing Therefore, the soul is “indestructible and immortal” (ἀνώλεθρον καὶ ἀθάνατον)28 The soul is immortal because its nature is the nature of an intelligible and divine being Indeed, the architecture of Plotinus’ metaphysics allows the soul to be understood as being at the same time a being derived from the higher principles – Intelligence and the One – and caused by itself According to the principle, which Igal (1982: 31–32) calls “biphasic genesis”, in the first moment (πρόοδος), the activity generated by the producer, lacking in content, is still indeterminate and formless; in the second moment (ἐπιστροφή), the term generated returns to its progenitor, and thus is configured and carries out its own perfecting (Enn 3 4 1) In this way, the soul perfects itself when it returns “epistrophically” to the intelligible principle from which it originates That which is intelligible should not be so intermittently and it will be distinguished from the “white thing”, which does not have being in its own nature, because sometimes it is white and at others not29 Plotinus contrasts being in itself  – intelligible, related, and consubstantial with divine things30 – with sensitive and material things, which, as material things, pertain to the mortal and perishable The soul participates in divine things However, the problem of knowledge of the principle of all things is described by Plotinus as an ineffable “contact” (ἐπαφή) with it, similar to the soul’s vision of the light of the principle Thus, “the unilluminated soul, bereft of god, is without light (ψυχὴ ἀφώτιστος ἄθεος ἐκείνου)” (5 3 17 32–33)”, but when it is enlightened, it finds what it was looking for The soul sees the light of the principle thanks to the light of the principle itself, that is, it sees with its own light, not with the light of another, but thanks to the same light through which it sees31 So, what the soul sees, its vision and the light that allows it to see converge at a single point The soul, once it has returned to Intelligence, participates in the sight of the first principle that Intelligence has Plotinus proposes the following correspondence: If the soul is “without light” (ἀφώτιστος), it is a soul “without sight” (ἄθεος) of the One-Good32 Here, as Fronterotta (2009: 404) argues, the term ἄθεος is a hapax in the Enneads, and cannot be given the meaning of ἀ-θέα, interpreting that the soul “without light” is also “deprived of that sight” In order to reach the One-Good, the soul must be freed from all that represents an obstacle, and thus, stripped of everything (Enn 5 3 17 38), it can rise, alone and pure, towards its principle (6 9 9 11) But Plotinus warns of the inadequacy of discursive think-

28 29 30 31 32

Cf Plot Enn 4 7 9 11 See Pl , Phd 95c1; Alcinous, Didask 177 18 20 Cf O’Brien 1997, 57–60; Chiaradonna 2015, 157–159 Cf Plot Enn 4 7 9 18–21 Cf Plot Enn 4 7 10 18–19 Cf Plot Enn 5 3 17 34–36 Cf DGE: 2 ἄθεος, -ον, second acceptation

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ing (διάνοια) to achieve knowledge of higher realities Likewise, as far as knowledge of the principle is concerned, he establishes an opposition between thought (νόησις), which is characterised by a splitting of the thinking subject and the object that is thought, and unitive contact33, which bears no relationship with thought 34 “Otherwise, there will not be Intellection (νόησις) of it, but only a touching (θίξις) and a sort of contact (οἷον ἐπαφὴ), which could not be expressed or thought (ἄρρητος καὶ ἀνόητος) The act that is prior to thinking (προνοοῦσα) is when Intellect has not yet come to be (οὔπω νοῦ γεγονότο), and the touching when there is not yet thinking (τοῦ θιγγάνοντος οὐ νοοῦντο)” (Enn 5 3 10 41–44; trans Gerson, Boys Stones, Dillon, King, Smith & Wilberding 2018: 566 lightly modified)35 However, whereas in relation to knowledge of the principle, Plotinus turns to unitive contact, Iamblichus maintains the impossibility of knowing the principle, since it is only possible to achieve, through a “connection” (συναφή)36, human knowledge of the gods, which are inferior to the principle According to Iamblichus, intelligence knows the gods by “connection”, through “innate intellection”, and through “pure and irreproachable intellections”, received from the gods through eternity Thus, to address human knowledge of the gods, Iamblichus links these divine entities, as an innate object of knowledge, to the intellections received from the gods37 This connection would be proved by the relationship established between that which does not allow for participation (ἀμέθεκτον) and that which participates (μετεχόμενον), which also introduces the relationship between “intellect in actuality”, which possesses eternity, perfection, and permanence, and “intellect in potency”, which possesses a kind of passive receptivity with respect to intellections38 Therefore, the Neoplatonic perspective has changed: for Plotinus there can be unitive contact with the principle, whereas for Iamblichus, on the other hand, this proposal is completely excluded, since there is only connection with the gods, but no contact with the principle of all things For Plotinus, attention (προσοχή) is a state of consciousness that implies a conversion to the higher and separate soul, and to the traces left in it by Intelligence (Enn 5 1 12 12–20) In this regard, attention is opposed to concern (κηδεμονία), which he describes as “clutter” (θόρυβος) (1 1 9 25), as it implies an awareness of the whole trapped

33 34 35 36

37 38

On the interpretation of ἐπαφή as “unitive contact”, see Taormina 1999, 152–154 Cf Plot Enn 6 7 39 19–20 Cf Plot Enn 6 7 6 3 5, 39 19 20; 6 9 4 25 27, 8 19 29 In his Protrepticus (49 17–18), Iamblichus addresses the superiority of intelligence over the soul, and considers the “connection” (συναφή) and purity of intellections as fundamental characteristics of the activity by which intelligence knows the gods Cf Iamblichus, Protrepticus o 21; De Mysteriis 1 12; 5 3; 5 21; 5 22; 5 26 Cf Taormina 1999, 52 Proclus describes in terms of procession and irradiation the descending process followed by the hierarchical order from ἀμέθεκτον to μετεχόμενον; whereas the ascending process, from μετεχόμενον to ἀμέθεκτον, is described in terms of similarity and participation Cf De Rijk 1990, 8–9

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by the animated body For this reason, “maintaining the perceptive faculty of the pure soul and be ready to hear the sounds from above (τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς εἰς τὸ ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι δύναμιν φυλάττειν καθαρὰν καὶ ἕτοιμον ἀκούειν φθόγγων τῶν ἄνω)” (5 1 12 18–20) makes it necessary to ignore sensible sounds, since in the sensible world there can be no real community or authentic communication But, forced by necessity, he can give advice, such as the words he addresses to Eustochius Dianoia results from the encounter between intellective thought and time The soul, considered in its relationship with the body, is defined by discursivity, that is, by the distance from Intelligence, which entails a distension of eternal life For this reason, Plotinus considers the discursive act to be a “diminution of intelligence (ἐλάττωσις νοῦ)” (4 3 18 4) since, in order to adapt to the demands of the body and of action, it deploys in successive moments the immediacy and totality of intuition As Aubry (2014, 285) points out, “the mystical experience according to Plotinus entails contact not with the One-Good itself but with its power, that is, with the point of emanation of the real”39 In this sense, we can interpret the last words of Plotinus in connection with the invention of a new model of causality40 Below the One-Good, each being culminates in perfection and is actualised through contemplation of the being that is above him: Intelligence in the One-Good, the soul in Intelligence However, nature is the lower power of the world’s soul Unlike the individual soul, nature does not return to contemplate Intelligence through the body it directs, but rather it is the product or image of the soul’s contemplation of the world Therefore, the body of the world, which is a kosmos, is better governed than individual bodies Nature is “a soundless contemplation, but more clouded (θεωρία ἄψοφος, ἀμυδροτέρα)” (3 8 4 27), for it is “the image of another contemplation (εἴδωλον θεωρίας ἄλλης)” (3 8 4 28–29)”41 In fact, like the contemplation of the soul from which it comes, it is not directed towards that which is inferior to it, or to that which is superior to it, but to the interior of itself, from which its fertility derives For this reason, the authentic return to interiority involves raising the soul to the divine by means of “productive contemplation”42 which, by activating the gaze, culminates the efforts of anagoge When the soul has risen to the divine, if it has been philosophically separated from the body, it is no longer the body itself that can cause the relapse of the individual soul, but something that the soul retains in it, a kind of body imprint related to the custom of being united to it Passions or afflictions cannot disappear completely from a soul that remains permanently associated with a body But the soul has the possi-

39 40 41 42

Cf Plot Enn 6 9 4 34–30 Cf Sallustius, On the Gods and the Universe 16 1 8–12: Ἔτι παντὸς πράγματος εὐδαιμονία ἡ οἰκεία τελ ειότης ἐστίν, οἰκεία δὲ τελειότης ἑκάστῳ ἡ πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ αἰτίαν συναφή· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἡμεῖς εὐχόμ εθα συναφθῆναι Θεοῖς  Cf Porph De Abstinentia 2 34; Iamblichus, De Mysteriis 3 20 27 Cf Plot Enn 4 4 13 Cf Beierwaltes 2004 2 (1972), 139

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bility of not conceding to these passions For Plotinus, courage entails “not fearing death (ἀφοβία θανάτου); although this, death, entails the soul being separated from the body (χωρὶς εἶναι τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ σώματος)43 And this separation is not feared by one who enjoys being alone (ὃς ἀγαπᾷ μόνος γενέσθαι) (ὃς ἀγαπᾷ μόνος γενέσθαι)” (Enn 1 6 9–11) This “isolation”  – “being alone”  – to which Plotinus refers consists of the philosophical separation or death that he addresses in treatise On Virtues The soul will become good and virtuous by no longer “not fear being separated from the body (ἀφισταμένη τοῦ σώματος) – which is what it is to be courageous –” (1 2 3 16–17) The “involuntary” (ἀπροαίρετον)44, which comes from the outside, does not concern its freedom or its good The “purification” of the passions of the animated body entails the deliberation that the soul carries out of the moral value of things: as it becomes aware of its relationship with the body, the soul will know what is important to it and what is not In this way, death and disease will not generate fear, and what others inflict upon it will not provoke anger45 Separated from the body, the soul purified of nothing will be afraid, because it will be eliminated from the whole; “although there is still room for the involuntary (ἀπροαίρετον), in case of a warning (ἐν νουθετήσει)” (1 2 5 15–16) For the purified soul, courage entails “its impassivity (ἀπάθεια) akin to the one who looks, who is impassive (ἀπαθὲς) by nature, whereas the soul is so by virtue, and ensures that the soul does not share affections with the inferior element with which it lives (ἵνα  μὴ συμπαθῇ τῷ χείρονι συνοίκῳ)” (1 2 6 25–27) Philosophical separation is what liberates the soul from fear of death, which corresponds to physical separation All this evokes the definition of the philosophy of Phaedo (69c–70a) as an exercise to prepare for death, which consists of the separation of the soul from the body46 Man who considers human life to be a great thing because he contemplates the whole of time and the whole of reality does not fear death The soul of the happy man, as described by Marinus in the biography he devotes to his master Proclus, possesses the courage “not to fear separation from the body” (Life of Proclus, 21) In fact, according to Plotinus’ description of this fourth superior excellence (courage), the soul, when contemplating Intelligence, receives from this, whose nature is not subject to any passion, the corresponding impassivity (ἀπάθεια), by virtue of its assimilation to Intelligence Plotinus distinguishes between impassivity as an integral part of the nature of Intelligence, and impassivity as excellence received by the soul by virtue of its relationship with Intelligence Courage protects the soul from passions that arise in the living body, its “host” (σύνοικος) (Enn 1 2 6 27), during the life of the soul in the body47

43 44 45 46 47

Cf Cf Cf Cf Cf

Plat Phaed 64c5–7 Arist EN 5 8 1135b10; 2 5 1106a2–3 Plot Enn 1 2 5 11–16; see O’Meara 2019, 102 Plat Rep 6 486a–b O’Meara 2019, 115

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In Sentences 32, Porphyry defines courage (ἀνδρία) as follows: “‘courage’ is not being afraid to depart from the body (ἀφισταμένην τοῦ σώματος), as if one were falling into some void or not-being” (Sent 32, 26–28; trans Dillon 2005: 810) In this definition of courage, Porphyry returns to Plotinus’ formula: the soul is not afraid to separate itself from the body (1 2 3 16–17: μήτε φοβοῖτο ἀφισταμένη τοῦ σώματος; cf 1 6 6 9–11: χωρὶς εἶναι τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ σώματος Οὐ φοβεῖται δὲ τοῦτο, ὃς ἀγαπᾷ μόνος γενέσθαι) But Porphyry, to explain that the soul separates from the body without fear, introduces the idea of fear of falling into something empty or non-being, the formulation of which does not appear in the corresponding passages of the Enneads However, if we turn our attention to a post-Plotinian text, the anonymous Commentary on the Parmenides of Plato48, which P Hadot attributes to Porphyry, we discover in the second fragment an argument related to Porphyry’s definition of courage: If God seems to us to be nothing, it is because we transfer to God our own afflictions; we are nothing and transfer our own nothingness to God49 We imagine that God is nothing in relation to us, but it is we who are nothing in relation to Him Therefore, God has no relationship with the beings that come after Him50 “Hence, you cannot fall into a vacuum or attribute something to it; you can only remain in a non-comprehending understanding and a conception that does not conceive of anything Thanks to this exercise, perhaps one day (…) you might arrive at the inexpressible prenotion (ἄρρητον προ{σ}έννοιαν) that we can have of him” (Fr 2 14–21; Hadot 1968: 68–70) For Porphyry, fear of death must not only be related to the irrational movements of the human body The difference between the human being, who lives a terrestrial existence, and the divine means that the human soul is only able to conceive of the first transcendent principle as a vacuum or a nothing, the non-being There are two kinds of non-being: one that is higher than being, that is, the One, and the other, an infra-being, that is, matter The fundamental separation is between the incorporeal and the bodies Porphyry identifies non-being with a false affliction (ψευδὲς πάθος) (Sent 26 4)51 The human soul can turn downwards, toward what it has engendered – the lower realities – or upwards, towards higher incorporeal realities52 Higher realities generate lower realities; and among the realities generated, some return to their generator and others do not The soul is in an intermediate situation:

48

49 50 51 52

Cod Taur F VI 1, where this palimpsest appears, disappeared in the fire of the Turin Library in 1904 Kroll’s edition (1892) therefore remains the basic edition The only vestige of it is folio 93v, which can be found reproduced in Hadot 1968, 104–105, who considers that the author of this treatise is Porphyry; Bechtle (1999, 119–180), for his part, places this writing in the Middle Platonic context On Porphyry’s In Platonis Parmenidem commentaria (fragmenta), see Hadot 1961; Linguiti 1995; Baltes 2003; Jourdan 2019 Cf Hadot 1968, 77–80 Cf Hadot 1961, 411–412 Cf Plot Enn 3 6 7 38 Cf Plot Enn 3 9 3 7–11; 6 2 22 29–32; 6 9 11 39; Porph Sent 11 and 30

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by nature, it should turn to the lower realities it has produced, that is, the body and eventually matter, but it can also have the courage to leave behind the sensible and corporeal world, without being afraid to separate from the body, as if leaping into that “vacuum” that “pathologically” represents the world above for the soul that comes from below The philosopher can correct the illusion of conceiving the transcendent as a nothingness, through an exercise that requires a purification of his conceptions, and come to understand that it is man who is nothing with respect to the divine José M. Zamora Calvo Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the Autonomous University of Madrid jm zamora@uam es

The Social and Political Context of 4th Century Neoplatonism The Case of Lydia* Aitor Blanco Pérez Neoplatonism is rightly associated with charismatic individuals whose fame and acts transcended the geographical boundaries of cities, regions, and Roman provinces These leaders travelled extensively for their education, lectures, and the establishment of schools as θεῖοι ἄνδρες 1 Athens has long been identified as a focal point in the Neoplatonic movement that greatly influenced the intellectual matrix of the 4th and 5th centuries 2 While the prominence of this centre of learning should remain undoubted, there were other scenarios across the eastern Mediterranean whose importance cannot be neglected and deserve a more in-depth analysis Only in this way is it possible to comprehend better the social implications of Neoplatonism as a phenomenon deeply connected to the political structures of the Greek East The western lands of Anatolia played a fundamental role in the evolution of Greek culture under Roman rule Cities such as Smyrna, Ephesus and Pergamum were not only commercial powerhouses of the Empire but also became intellectual hubs in which many protagonists of Philostratus’ Lives of the Sophists such as Aelius Aristides developed renowned careers 3 Despite their international fame, the activities of these individuals were deeply intertwined with the local environment in which they settled 4 This context of civic life and social relations stimulated within post-classical poleis has long been acknowledged as a crucial factor in the maintenance of Hellenism during

* 1 2 3 4

Epigraphic abbreviations follow the Liste des abréviations des éditions et ouvrages de référence pour l’épigraphie grecque alphabétique (GrEpiAbbr – version 01, mai 2020) https://www aiegl org/gre piabbr html (08/09/2022) Eun VS XVII 5–7, XVIII 14–16, LVIII 14–16, LXXIX 21–23 See Goulet 2001 On the importance of charisma for these schools see Alviz Fernández’s chapter in this volume See Watts 2008 Bowersock 1969; Bowie 1982; Anderson 1993; Billault 2000; Whitmarsh 2005 Puech 2002; Harris – Holmes 2008

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the imperial period 5 Inscriptions, coins and literary figures such as the author of the Ephesiaka or Dio Chrysostom indeed illustrate a close relation between Greek intellectuals and peer political action 6 After the 3rd century CE, however, most of this local epigraphic and numismatic evidence dwindles and it is correspondingly more difficult to highlight the importance of civic institutions 7 While the availability of these primary materials decreases, the production of other texts such as martyrdoms or the treatises of Menander from Laodicea shows that the importance of local political communities during the period did not cease 8 In addition to giving advice on how to address the Roman emperor, the governors and even a couple on the wedding night, the rhetor still recommended an epideictic speech on occasion of the festival traditionally organised by the citizens of the Troas for Apollo (Sminthiakos) 9 Local issues, actually, continued to be a major theme in the many works surviving from one of the betterknown intellectuals of the 4th century, Libanius, who mostly wrote from the city of Antioch in Syria 10 Even so, much of the scholarly interest in such works and, generally, in the Eastern Mediterranean during this period has been centred on rather “imperial” phenomena; to name a few: the rulings of the Tetrarchy, the creation a new capital in Constantinople, changes of dynasties and, naturally, the impact of Christianity The prevalence of these topics has resulted in a general lack of studies dealing with the local circumstances of urban centres and villages that continued to be fundamental for the Late Roman Empire Furthermore, even scholars interested in these issues such as Liebeschuetz were more prone to discussing the decline of civic life rather than highlighting continuity 11 The trend, nonetheless, has recently been reversed as N Lenski’ book, Constantine and the Cities: Imperial Authority and Civic Politics (2013), illustrates With regard to Asia Minor and prior to the fresh publication of A -V Pont’ monograph on the metamorphoses of civic life from CE 250 to 324,12 the only modern article dealing with the evolution of cities from a local perspective during the early 4th century was S  Mitchell’s contribution to a volume on Constantine in 1998 Both works needed to cope with the aforementioned paucity of inscriptions and coins complicating the production of case studies – typical of western Anatolia in the High Imperial period – in which the strength of civic life and institutions can easily be highlighted

5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12

Robert 1984; Swain 1996; Goldhill 2001 Jones 1978; Ma 2000; Bekker-Nielsen 2008; Whitmarsh 2011, 26 Blanco-Pérez 2021 Heath 2004 Russell – Wilson 1981, 206–225 For this cult see Str XIII 1 48 and the corresponding epigraphic and numismatic materials in Ricl 1997, 75–76, 82–84, 94–97, 137, 189–194; and Robert 1967, 18–46 For its inclusion in the civic life of the nearby Roman colony of Alexandria Troas, see Fernoux (2021) 409–410, 414 Petit 1955; Norman 2000; Cribiore 2007, 2015 Liebeschuetz 2001 Pont 2020

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In the case of Pont, this absence is linked to a profound transformation of the political landscape up to Constantine that resulted in the progressive disenchantment of local elites within communities subject to internal dissension and largely losing peer euergetism While her model serves to amplify the differences between the Graeco-Roman poleis and the cities of the Late Antiquity, it is not completely applicable to the important information provided by other sources written after the mid-4th century My paper focuses on one of such testimonies, the Lives compiled by Eunapius of Sardis, which proves fundamental for our knowledge of Neoplatonism This work, despite its potential and the modern critical editions available,13 has not yet been scrutinised from a local perspective – similar to that of Philostratus’ Lives – even if it will become clear that the circumstances of its charismatic protagonists were also influenced by their most immediate environment Traces of civic engagement equally surface in other materials of the period that are really abundant; juridical texts, historical accounts such as that of Ammianus Marcellinus, speeches, letter collections and, of course, the biographies of many Church fathers who originated from Anatolian lands By virtue of this evidence and the scarce (but extremely informative) epigraphic materials available (some of them very recently), this contribution seeks to demonstrate that such elements of civic action need to be linked to the social development of intellectuals that, despite their “divine” portrayal and consideration,14 continued to interact closely with their worldly political communities To do this and following the previous methodological remarks, I will focus on Lydia, the province of Asia Minor in which Eunapius was living at the end of the 4th century CE 1. Roman Lydia and the 4th Century CE It is not easy to delimitate or even define the region of Lydia under Roman rule In contrast to other historical areas of Anatolia such as Phrygia, Lycia or Pamphylia, the term Λυδία did not correspond to an administrative subdivision that was applicable to the management of the provinces during the early and high imperial periods 15 The old kingdom of Gyges and Croesus, later controlled by the Attalids, just became part of the province of Asia after the end of the Pergamean dominion This artificial arrangement was culturally questionable and that was precisely criticised by the geographer Strabo at the beginning of the 1st century CE 16 Regardless of ethnical differences and Roman pitfalls, the existence of cohering civic institutions provides a valid framework for the following case study From the Hellenistic period, the historical territory of 13 14 15 16

Becker 2013; Goulet 2014 See Grau in this volume See Foss 1976, 1–3; Hanfmann 1983, 109–167; Rojas, 2014 Str XIII 4 12

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Lydia was populated not only by the prevalent model of poleis with important urban centres such as Sardis, Magnesia, Philadelphia or Thyateira but also by a network of rural settlements known as katoikiai which fostered an intense civic activity illustrated, for example, by the inscriptions of the Cayster valley 17 This is the area in which the family of Sosipatra, one of Eunapius’ protagonists, had estates 18 Many of the inscriptions discovered here provide us with characteristic local eras which document one of the phenomena previously described: the decline and almost disappearance of the epigraphic habit, particularly from rural settlements, after the 3rd century 19 In this period, Lydia finally reached an independent administrative status as a result of the profound provincial reorganisation of the Asian territory carried out by the Tetrarchs 20 The exact process is poorly attested in our sources, even if we know that other Tetrarchic initiatives such as their fiscal reforms resulted in the production of numerous cadastre lists, some of which have been found in Hypaipa, the main urban hub of the mid-Cayster valley 21 Also from this territory, we have an exceptional inscription documenting the establishment of a foundation in CE 301 22 The fragmentary blocks record distributions to be made among local guilds with the money they could accumulate planting vines The foothills of Mt Tmolos were legendary for its grapes,23 so it is interesting to note that, according to Eunapius, Sosipatra encountered her old teachers of the Chaldean Oracles when she participated in a wine harvest at the age of 5 24 For our knowledge of the political context of Lydia after the 3rd century CE, a testimony such as the foundation of Hypaipa is important because it is still concerned with the maintenance of public baths and contains a reference to the archons and the president of the local council 25 Indeed, other contemporary inscriptions in the province confirm that the civic aspirations of even some of the most remote Lydian settlements did not disappear For example, a milestone from the city of Silandos records the expression λαμπροτάτη πόλις, μητρόπολις τῆς Μοκαδηνῆς between 299 and 302 26 Additional evidence from nearby Saittai and Bagenoi confirms that the display of such 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26

On the nature and density of these rural settlements see Schuler 1998, 33–36 For an archaeological and geographical review of the Cayster Valley, see now Meriç 2009 Eun VS VI 54 MacMullen 1986 Some more updated information can be found in Broux – Clarysse 2009 Foss 1976, 4–6; Belke – Mersich 1990, 77–79 For the general process Barnes 1982, 209–225; Rémy 1999, 56–62; Kuhoff 2001, 329–370 In Eunapius’ Lives there are two references to Lydia in which this provincial status independent from Asia is mentioned: VII 65; X 29–30 The first testimony adds that Mt Tmolos was one of the boundaries of the administrative demarcation I Eph 3804–3806 See Merola 2001, 89–99 SEG 30 1383 See Drew-Bear 1980 and Kaiser (2020) Str XIII 4 11, XIV 1 15; Vitr VIII 3 12 Eun VS VI 55 This is actually the latest attestation of a boularch available in our sources from Asia Minor, see Nawotka 2000 TAM V 1 47 The title of metropolis was previously restricted to the head of an assize (see Guerber 2009, 303–323), which does not seem to be the case for this small community in north-eastern

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superlative marks must be related to the interests of political communities that were still competing for traditional ranks and upgrades as also becomes evident from the well-known cases of Orkistos and Tymandos 27 Following S  Mitchell’s conclusions in his aforementioned study of the cities of Asia in the Constantinian period, one should find the origins of these Late Antique cities not in abrupt changes brought by the Tetrarchy but rather in the deep roots of Greek political structures which, in the case of Lydia, mostly developed during the Hellenistic and Roman periods A key element of this organisation was the institutionalisation of civic procedures through the local assembly (demos) and a council (boule) 28 It should therefore not be surprising to see this council still in charge of the statue that Sardis set up in honour of a vicarius once the city had become capital of the new province 29 In the city of Iasos, we even encounter both the local demos and boule collaborating to honour Julian as a ruler who followed the precepts of philosophy 30 As for Aphrodisias, the better documented capital of Caria, its boule was also involved in the statue base prepared for Flavius Constantius, a praeses who had contributed to putting up a wall 31 As recently studied by I Jacobs,32 walled cities became a feature of Late Antique Asia Minor so this close collaboration between the provincial governor and the local political community is remarkable The case of Ankara, with one of the most iconic ancient fortifications on the Anatolian peninsula, can serve as a good analogy of continuity The recent publication of the epigraphic corpus of the city has revealed a plausible first construction date for the wall in the reign of Gallienus, the emperor to whom one of the gates was dedicated 33 This enterprise might be connected to a verse inscription in which a benefactor is honoured by the demos and boule for rebuilding one gymnasium and “bringing the entire wall from its foundations to completion during a food-shortage and barbarian attacks” 34 In such a complicated period this “saviour of the province”

27 28 29

30 31 32 33 34

Lydia Instead, it would seem that the local inhabitants sought to amplify the prestige of the city with this type of formula, even if it was not officially sanctioned SEG 49 1651, 57 1200 TAM V 1 214a For updated bibliography on the inscription of Tymandos (MAMA IV 236), see Bru – Labarre – Özsait In the case of Orkistos, (MAMA VII 305) see Feissel 2010; Lenski 2016, 87–113 Dmitriev 2005; Fernoux 2011 I Sardis I 83 (LSA 654): Ἀχόλιος, ὧι βουλὴ μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν χάριν εἰκόνα βαιὴν στήσαμεν This rather conventional testimony, nevertheless, is the only record of the acting council among the very scarce epigraphic sources available from Sardis after 300 The rank of βουλευτής, by contrast, was frequently included among the people who dedicated mosaics in the Late Antique synagogue, see Robert 1964, 54 and I Sardis II 488, 511, 512, 513, 518, 519, 521, 524, 554 I Iasos 14 (LSA 514): ἀγαθῇ τύχῃ τὸν ἐκ φιλοσοφίας βασιλεύοντα καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ τε καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἀρεταῖς I Aphrodisias Late Ant 2 22 See Roueché 1989 Jacobs 2013, 19–110 I Ancyra 315 I Ancyra 120: κὲ σύμπαν τὸ τῖχος ἐν σειτοδεί κὲ βαρβαρικα[ῖς] ἐφόδοις ἐ θεμελίων εἰς τέλος ἀγαγόνα

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(arguably, the governor) is also extolled for “having carried out with exactitude a census of the council (βουλογραφία), which had long been neglected” The text implies that the episodes of peril and destruction experienced by Ancyra – most likely caused by the Gothic and Sassanian raids that struck the Anatolian peninsula between the 250s and 270s – had led to neglecting an important element in the civic organisation of this very illustrious metropolis: the composition of its local boule The Greek word bouleutai can be translated into Latin as curiales so the testimony confirms the extremely important role that this segment of the population still played for the running of cities at the dawn of Late Antiquity Indeed, local councillors were the ones principally bearing the expenses of communities which were subject to the rulings and demands of the imperial power 35 In the case of Greek poleis, such contributions were founded on the ideal of euergetism and a system of liturgies which became rather obligatory after the High Imperial period as the later legal compilations show 36 The same sources also denounce that many citizens actively tried to avoid these contributions and, as a result, all kinds of restrictive measures were imposed after the 3rd  century CE 37 It is therefore not a mere coincidence that the only other attestation of a βουλογραφία available in our epigraphic sources appears in an inscription dating to the Tetrarchic period when important tax reforms were introduced 38 Rulers in the 4th century only continued to increase the number of levies and fiscal obligations and a good illustration of this mounting pressure on the citizens of the eastern provinces is provided by the Cappadocian father Basil Being the descendant of a prominent curial family of Caesarea, he addressed a letter to the provincial governor on behalf of an old man who was expected to cover the expenses of his grandchild after the 4-year old had been made a member of the local council 39 In 371/2, the emperor Valens stretched these citizens even further when he divided Cappadocia in two provinces and decided to transfer some of the councillors of Caesarea to Podandus so that they could supply the needs of the new capital 40 A much major move of contributors took place after the foundation of Constantinople and this displacement of some of the most important families of the Greek East was criticised by Eunapius,41 and famously lamented by Libanius from Antioch 42 In the Syrian capital, the same Libanius informs us that Julian commanded that “everyone should be summoned to the council and be enrolled, unless he had valid reason for exemption” 43 Under such circumstanc35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Jones 1964, 722–766; Lepelley 1983; Laniado 2002; Magalhães De Oliveira 2018 Neesen 1981, 203–235; Millar 1983, 76–96; Domingo Gygax 2016; Pont 2020, 250–281 Liebeschuetz 2001, 104–124 I Mus Iznik 736 See Pont 2020, 202–208 Basil, Epist 83 Basil, Epist 74–76 Eun VS VI 14 Lib , Or 47 3, 49 2 Lib , Or 18 148

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es, we can better understand the efforts of some individuals to escape these burdens Ammianus Marcellinus even reports that Julian had to intervene in favour of the councils of Naissus and Ancyra against fleeing 44 And yet, what we might simply regard as tax farming operations and extortion from the imperial and provincial governments remained fundamental for the maintenance of local politics in the period in which Eunapius’ Lives took place This point is precisely shown by a new set of inscriptions recently discovered in Hierapolis, a metropolis that is also known to have a functioning council house (bouleuterion) still under Constantius II 45 To good Fortune! In the happy and truly divine reign of the great emperor Constantius, triumphant, with the power of the earth and sea fastened, and Constantius Caesar, the most devoted who has presented himself favourably to us, the theatre, which was on the brink of ruin and caused danger to great part of the metropolis, in the kalends of September started to be dismantled, in the consulate of Sergius The (re)construction began from the kalends of June in the consulate subsequent to that of Sergius and we finished it with the mosaic cladding in the very fortunate and joyful consulate of our very venerable emperors Constantius, for the 5th time, and Constantius Caesar, for the 1st Flavius Philippus, the very admirable and worthy of every praise prefect of the praetorium was in command, with the reports of Flavius Antonius Iulianus, our very perfect governor And this Iulianus, a true benefactor and saviour, and protector of the province, was the builder of the whole thing without any extraordinary fiscal impositions, while the entire political body (πολιτευτικόν) collaborated zealously in accordance to the census? providing money and the assistance of their agricultural resources 46

2. Immune Philosophers and Chrysanthius’ High-Priesthood in Sardis under Julian A discussion of civic obligations in relation to Neoplatonism and its θεῖοι ἄνδρες can sound contradictory at first It has been noted above that some of its most prominent figures were constantly travelling for their education, schools and performances Philosophers might also decide to detach themselves from mundane affairs and, most importantly, the legal sources record that they could be one of the few groups exempted from performing curial duties The definition of this special immunity caused trouble and was met with some criticism from the experts of the Digest already in the 3rd century Modestinus, for example, notes that the number of exempted philosophers is 44 45 46

Amm Marc 21 12, 23; 22 See Ritti 2017, 637–638 (cf BE 2018 435) The council and people of this metropolis also prepared inscribed honours for the praetorian prefect Cl Musonianus in the same period (SEG 57 1366) SEG 61 1155 (cf Jones 2018) On the epigraphic monument and its restoration, Ritti 2017, 587–620

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impossible to fix “because very few really belong to this profession” 47 Citing a constitution of Antoninus Pius, he did not find coherent that they would not give their wealth to their fatherlands because if “they speak principally of their worldly possessions, it is evident from this fact that they are not true philosophers” Previously, the jurist Papian had also considered that “true philosophers despise money (pecuniam contemnunt) and, by a desire to retain, they reveal that their profession is insincere” 48 In a bitter response to a certain Polymnestus, the emperors Diocletian and Maximian censured his avarice for attempting to evade property taxes by claiming to be a philosopher 49 This episode shows both the above-mentioned insistence of late Roman rulers on exacting personal burdens, but also the difficulty to define philosophers who were truly eligible for a beneficial immunity originating in the High Imperial period when local teachers and doctors were also exempted from monetary contributions to civic life The problem continued throughout the 4th century as evidenced by the punishment that Valentinian, Valens and Gratian imposed on those who “insolently and undeservingly assume the appearance of philosophy (habitum philosophiae)” 50 Such impostors were to be returned to their fatherlands and fulfil the local duties (functiones) that the authorities may want to exact from them According to the legal sources then, the key element to discern between fraudulent and true philosophers was their engagement in teaching, which placed them on the same advantageous status of grammarians and orators 51 Chrysanthius, one of Eunapius’ instructors who is also reported to have taught the emperor Julian,52 must belong to the privileged category After studying with Aedesius at Pergamum, this charismatic intellectual led a successful school in Sardis Chrysanthius, however, did not remain foreign to the civic context of the Lydian capital Eunapius notes that he descended from one of the elite families of the city and belonged to the curial class 53 This high status and local connections need to be considered when Julian, usurping the structures of civic life in the Greek East, made Chrysanthius a participant of a new imperial initiative to fight against Christianity 54 In one of the most striking episodes of the Lives, the philosopher rejects an invitation by Julian to join him at Constantinople together with other Neoplatonic figures such as Maximus 55 Reportedly, Julian was disappointed about this refusal but still appointed him “high-priest

47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55

Dig 27 1 7 Dig 50 5 8 4 C J 10 42 6 C J 10 53 8 C J 10 53 11 Eun VS XXIII 13–15 See Penella 1990, 75–78, 118–120 Eun VS LXXIX 3: τῶν μὲν οὖν εἰς βουλὴν τελούντων ἦν ὁ Χρυσάνθιος, καὶ τῶν ἀνὰ τοὺς πρώτους ἐπ᾿ εὐγενείᾳ φερομένων See Athanassiadi 1981, 184–186; Smith 1995, 207–218; Renucci 2000, 344–354 Eun VS VII 51

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of Lydia, along with his wife” 56 This duty, which also involved the supervision of the whole province,57 must be connected with an issue that deeply worried the emperor as it transpires from two surviving letters sent to other high-priests In his communication with Arsacius of Galatia, Julian lamented that the Hellenic religion did not prosper because it failed to observe virtues such as the benevolence to strangers, care for the graves and holiness that the Christians would practice 58 He also ratified, in response to the high-priest Theodorus, that this appointment involved the government of all the temples and had to be practised with “fairness, goodness and benevolence as befits one in a high office (πρῶτον ἄρχοντι)” 59 Under Roman rule, high-priests were one of the most prominent civic actors in Greek cities because they were in charge of the imperial cult 60 The region of Lydia has provided us with numerous testimonies of individuals who performed an office that required considerable expenses but also granted coveted prestige 61 In the 2nd century, for example, Lucius Iulius Libonianus was honoured as a magnificent fatherland-loving man, worthy of his lineage after becoming warden of all the temples of the emperors in Sardis 62 Worshipping the Roman rulers could translate into regional prominence and, actually, the city celebrated under Caracalla to have become twice νεωκόρος (a title granted by the emperor) while claiming to be the ancestor and metropolis of Asia and the entire region of Lydia 63 Around 220, the equestrian M Aur Diadochus became high-priest of both Pergamum and Thyateira and was allowed by Severus Alexander to fund gladiatorial spectacles in both cities as a sign of philanthropy and economic power 64 His duties were performed together with Aurelia Hermonassa,65 so this type of joint tenure connects the traditional nature of the office with Julian’s appointment of Chrysanthius as he also shared it with his wife Given the great costs involved, highpriesthoods were among those duties from which those immune to civic burdens – including philosophers – could be exempted 66 Nevertheless, in the same way that Maximinus Daia had previously chosen those most distinguished in public life and celebrity (ἔνδοξοι) for his persecution against the Christians,67 Julian opted for Chrysanthius regardless of his legal privileges as an active teacher, seeking to employ for this office 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

Eun VS VII 52: ἀρχιερέα δὲ ἀποδείξας τόν τε ἄνδρα καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα τῆς Λυδίας Eun VS XXIII 17: Χρυσάνθιος τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους λαβών Julian, Letters 22 (cf Sozomen HE V 16) Julian, Letters 20 Price 1984, 62–64; Campanile 2004; Frija 2012 Campanile 1994, 29–157; Heller 2017 I Sardis I 47 (IGR IV 1523) SEG 36 1093 The title of neokoros was still displayed in the 5th century: I Sardis 18, see Burrell 2004, 100–115 On the importance of such titles for regional status and intercity rivalry, Heller 2006 TAM V 2 950 TAM V 2 954 Dig 27 1 6 8 Eus HE IX 4 2–3

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charismatic members of the political community who could counteract the popularity and vigour of Christian leaders in the eastern provinces Even if Eunapius highlights the moderation of Chrysanthius during his tenure68 – in contrast to the pagan enthusiasm later displayed by the imperial agents Justus and Hilarius –69 Julian’s scheme could not be rolled out without the engagement of intellectuals such as Chrysanthius that could still act as a civic agent both in Sardis, his fatherland, and the entire province of Lydia In sum, when one compares this episode reported by Eunapius with previous attempts by the emperors to employ local structures of the Greek East such as the high-priesthood for the interests of Roman rule – the case of Christian martyrdoms can serve as analogy –70 it must be inferred that a highly political context still existed across the same local communities in the mid-4th century Against this background, one of Maximus of Ephesus’ notices in the Suda must also draw attention 71 Citing Eunapius as a source, it is said that the philosopher had little experience of public affairs, perhaps taking advantage of his privileges as teacher In the Lives, however, we can see that even for a man so reportedly detached from local services it was impossible to escape the fervent emotions impregnating the politics of Ephesus in the period Describing the departure of Maximus from the Asian capital to Constantinople, Eunapius vividly narrates that many flocked to see him, “not only those who at the time held office or had been relieved of their offices, but also the leading men in the councils”72 The people (δῆμος) is also said to have shouted as it is customary “when they wish to win someone’s favour”73 Again, one of Eunapius’ notes on the civic context of the Neoplatonic leaders can be connected with certain practices deeply rooted in the Graeco-Roman poleis of the eastern provinces after the HighImperial period In this case, the biographer is most likely referring to the phenomenon of acclamations that became particularly ubiquitous after the 2nd century CE 74 One of the best available examples of this custom comes from a small rural settlement near Termessos (southern Anatolia) in which a local leader who defeated external enemies in the 270s and brought great benefits for his community was repeatedly encouraged to stay 75 In light of both accounts and despite their different nature (one epigraphic and one literary), it is difficult not to argue that a resembling scenario in relation to 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75

Eun VS XXIII 17–18 Eun VS XXIII 36–47 See Pont 2020, 27–108, 347–387 Suda Y 175 (Blockley 1983, 37 3): Μάξιμός τε καὶ Πρίσκος λόγου μὲν μετεχέτην, τῆς δὲ τῶν κοινῶν καὶ ὑπαίθρων πραγμάτων πείρας ἐλάχιστον Eun VS VII 41: κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν, ὅσοι τε ἦσαν ἐν ἀρχαῖς καὶ ὅσοι τούτων ἀπελέλυντο, τό τε κρεῖττον τῶν βουλευτηρίων Eun VS VII 42: μετὰ βοῆς πηδῶντες, ἣν δῆμος, ὅταν τινὰ θεραπεύῃ, ἐκ πολλοῦ μεμελέτηκεν See Roueché 1984; Wiemer 2004 On the connection between this phenomenon and the importance of civic life, Kuhn 2013 SEG 51 1813: Ἑρ̣μ̣α̣ῖ̣ο̣ς̣ Ἀ[σ]κ[ου]ρέως λῃστοδει̣[ώκ]τη̣ς̣ ἕως ζῶμεν· ἐ̣π̣ι[δη]μείτω ἵνα δυ̣ν̣άμ̣ε̣θ̣α̣ [ζῆ] σαι· κατὰ τὴν κ̣έλε̣υσιν τοῦ̣ ἡ̣γουμέν̣[ο]υ̣ ἐ̣πι̣δ̣η̣μ̣είτω̣· ὁ π̣[ο]λάκις σῴ̣σ̣ας τὴν π̣όλιν, ἐπ̣ι̣δη̣[με]ί̣τω!

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Maximus’ removal was also present in Ephesus, a city still engaged with its civic actors and political procedures during the second half of the 4th century 3. Eunapius’ Life in Lydia: a Festival? After finishing his education in Athens, Eunapius went back to his homeland in Lydia The author was planning to move to Egypt, but his parents preferred for him a local career as a sophist 76 Chrysanthius received his former pupil with kindness and goodwill upon his return The admired teacher enjoyed instructing again one of his followers and Eunapius distinctly remembered this time as a “festival”77 The Greek term used to describe the situation, πανήγυρις, is pretty specific in literary sources of the 4th century 78 In fact, the root only has another occurrence in Eunapius’ corpus and it appears in connection with the aforementioned episode of Maximus in Ephesus His Life recalls the local reaction of the inhabitants after the philosopher was first summoned by Julian as if there were some sort of festive event (τις πανηγυρική) 79 To fully understand this particular choice of words by Eunapius and the context to which it belongs it is necessary to be aware of the implications that such occasions had for the eastern cities of the Roman Empire As with many elements quintessential to civic life in the Greek East, the best information on the nature and characteristics of a πανήγυρις is provided by epigraphic sources In this case and still within our area of investigation, one of the most illuminating inscriptions dates to the 2nd century and it concerns a rural settlement in the territory of Sardis 80 In 136, T Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Antoninus, proconsul of Asia and future emperor of Rome (Antoninus Pius), responded positively to a petition of what the Latin text calls mercatum The request had been made by a local priest called Metras, who acted on behalf of the katoikia of the Arillenoi and set up a vow for having achieved the πανήγυρις This is also the word used in the Greek translation of the governor’s response that was attached to the dossier and confirms the link between the approval of market days and the celebration of a corresponding festive fair This close relation continued in the early 3rd century when another small settlement of western Asia Minor was granted by the governor “days for the celebration of a market and a

76 77 78 79 80

Eun VS X 87 Eun VS XXIII 34–35: ἡνίκα οὔτε ὁ παιδεύων ἔκαμνεν ἐρῶντι συνών, τῷ τε ἐκδεχομένῳ τὰ μαθήματα τὸ ἔργον ἦν πανήγυρις RE Panegyris XVIII 3, 581; Lampe (1961) 1002 Eun VS VII 54–55 By contrast, when Valentinian and Valens acceded to the imperial throne and decided to request his removal again, no hopes but only danger was clearly visible SEG 44 977 See Nollé – Eck 1996

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fair” 81 In the 250s, an additional edict documents that such requests from rural communities still existed in eastern Lydia,82 while the metropolis of Philadelphia was concerned about the magistracies in charge of such events (τὰς τῶν πανηγύρεων ἀρχάς) according to a letter sent by the emperors Valerian and Gallienus from Antioch 83 Market days, festivals and fairs were elements integral to the civic life of Asia Minor, and Eunapius’ reference to a πανήγυρις atmosphere upon his return to Sardis can only be understood in a local context where such political elements were still existing after the mid-4th century CE The situation in Ephesus must be analogous, not only on account of Eunapius’ description of the departure of Maximus but also according to the letter that Valentinian, Valens and Gratian sent to the governor Festus concerning the celebration of the games that the communities of Asia, organised in a koinon (or provincial council), had traditionally celebrated every four years 84 The Latin text and its Greek translation informs that the administration of this event was shared between four big cities – called μητροπόλεις according to Asian standards – which provided an organiser (editor) in turns The problem seems to arise when the games were held in Ephesus and people from smaller communities wanted to be in charge so as to increase their nobilitas 85 In this way, the challenging supply of civic magistrates such as asiarchs and alytarchs, who were key to the celebration of games, could continue 86 The emperors, nonetheless, set an important condition Before contributors from outside Ephesus could take part in the higher politics of the provincial capital, they had to complete in their own fatherlands all the public services (peractis curiae muneribus / πληρωθέντων δὲ τῶν λιτουργημάτων) This epigraphic text therefore corroborates the legal insistence of the imperial administration to prevent the removal of the local curial class from vulnerable communities, as mentioned above Actually, Ephesus – where archaeological signs of a robust urbanism in the 4th century CE are evident –87 sometimes struggled to keep its public works well funded 88 Those difficulties, in any case, did not entail the immediate disappearance of festivals which had become inherent to civic life under Roman rule 89 Furthermore, even after Julian’s pagan failure, games such as those of the koinon of Asia did not cease, in spite of the traditional attachment of this celebration and its organisers to the exaltation of imperial cult and non-Christian practices 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

SEG 32 1149: τούτῳ μου τῷ διατάγματι δεδωκέναι τὰς προγεγρ[α]μμένας ἡμέρας εἰς ἀγορείου καὶ πανηγύρεως See Nollé 1982 TAM V 3 1422 (previously edited in TAM V 1 230) TAM V 3 1421 I Ephesos 43 These games started under Augustus and its celebration was probably connected to the structures of imperial cult in the province (D C 51 20 9, cf I Priene 14); see Moretti 1954; Mitchell 1993, 219; Friesen 1993, 114–116 See Foss 1979, 19 Lehner 2005, 165–167 For a recent review of the Sardian excavations in this period see Rautman (2011) I Ephesos 42 See Lenski 2002, 295–297 See Remijsen 2015

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4. Conclusion The context of Eunapius and that of his Lives was one still embedded between persistent elements of civic life and the changes of imperial circumstances that struck the communities of Asia Minor throughout the 4th century CE In the midst of these mundane vicissitudes, Greek intellectuals (and hence Neoplatonic θεῖοι ἄνδρες) navigated, and their biographies need to be studied accordingly Only then is it possible to comprehend, for example, that the city of Sardis still chose a sophist, perhaps the father of Eunapius, to head both an embassy and oversee the transactions of the vicar Musonius 90 Eunapius himself affirms to have witnessed Festus’ return in the province when he died slipping at the entrance of one temple of Nemesis, allegedly as a providential punishment for Maximus’ execution 91 Before that, the same governor had planned to host a banquet “for the most distinguished and noble (τοῖς ἐν ἀξιώματι καὶ κατὰ εὐγένειαν προβεβηκόσιν)” What my discussion has sought to show is that our charismatic leaders were not detached from such groups of influence or necessarily escaped an engagement with local duties, given their particular living conditions and even the privileges for philosophy teachers conveyed in the legal sources The case of Chrysanthius in Sardis has been paradigmatic of this reality and episodes affecting Maximus of Ephesus’ departures confirm the survival of structures anchored in the Graeco-Roman poleis soon before Eunapius compiled his works Members of the council may have become more of a curial class performing liturgies not on a voluntary basis while high-priesthoods could be directed by emperors in order to carry out their agendas and master plans And yet, these traditional elements of civic life continued to influence the social development of Late Antique authors that still regarded the πανήγυρις as an apt analogy for festive joy As such – and despite the issues derived from the lack of the massive production of inscriptions typical of the High Imperial period – it must be concluded that Neoplatonism and its divine protagonists cannot be removed from the highly political world in which they were born, raised and fostered across both Lydia and the rest of the eastern Mediterranean Aitor Blanco Pérez Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Navarra ablancop@unav es

90 91

Blockley 1983, 35 IV 24 (cf Zos HN 3 11 2), 47, 2 (Zos HN 3 30 2–35 3) See Foss 1976, 24–25 On the recurrent use of rhetors to head the embassies of Greek cities during the imperial period, Habicht 2002 Eun VS VII 76–83 On Festus’ career and his Asian connections, see Blanco-Pérez 2021

Part 2 ‘Charisma and Leadership’

The Charismatic Community as a Key Element to Understand Late Antique Higher Education Marco Alviz Fernández 1. Conceptual and Methodological Introduction In Late Antiquity, the θεῖος ἀνήρ as a distinguished teacher at the schools of higher education constituted a figure whose study is fundamental to understand the period in all its complexity 1 One of the characteristics that, to a greater extent, shaped his personality and defined his relationship with the community of pupils that surrounded him was charisma Thus, the purpose of this chapter is, on the one hand, to underline the Weberian theory of charisma, in its genuinely relational scope, as a heuristic and hermeneutical tool to approach the student congregations headed by some of the most famous late antique teachers; and, on the other, to approach the topic from the disciplinary perspective of the history of education For this we will concentrate, for the economy of the available space, in a series of examples that cover a temporary framework that extends throughout the third and fourth centuries As is well known, the Greek etymon of the term “charisma” is χάρις,2 divine grace, whose analysis regarding its relationship with the physical aspect and oratory of the divine man was already outlined by the work of L Bieler in his seminal study 3 Likewise, M Hengel insisted that both in the Judeo-Christian and Hellenistic world we must include the basic elements “‘Nachfolge’ und ‘Jüngerschaft’”4 in the area of the charismatic teacher as θεῖος ἀνήρ But it was only recently that some researchers such as J Bremmer have drawn attention to the need to apply Weberian theses to certain aspects of Hellenic religion 5 In this regard, let us not forget the proximity that existed

1 2 3 4 5

Vd Alviz 2022 Potts 2009, 2–23 Bieler 1967, I 52–56 Hengel 1968, 27–28 Bremmer 1999, 56

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in Antiquity between the latter and education (παιδεία) 6 D S du Toit adopts a more concrete stand when he points out the idea of the charismatic individual as an epistemological instrument and an unavoidable key for research 7 That is, it has not only become communis opinio that the systematisation of the concept of charisma carried out by the sociologist M Weber (1864–1920) in his famous posthumous work Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1922)8 opened a new way to study and understand a type of recurring leadership throughout history, but its application to the higher education communities of late antiquity is also a necessity Thus, studies with a multidisciplinary approach have increased in which the use of a methodology from social history and sociology of religion are emphasised In the words of C Rapp, “in the study of holy men […] the tendency in recent years has been to obliterate the earlier perception of a dividing line”,9 i e , both at a thematic and methodological level In this way, D Hernández de la Fuente highlights the suitability of the Weberian backdrop for examining the Pythagorean communities, including the Neoplatonic ones, throughout all Antiquity;10 while R  Chiaradonna’s studies transcend the opinions of those who see in the figure of leaders an image of mere wise men or intellectuals, instead they are seen as authentic spiritual guides with an extraordinary charismatic aura 11 This constituted the sociological foundations that allowed these men to form around them a community of faithful followers that G Fowden defined by their aristocratic and international character12 and whose vitality, according to A Urbano, “largely depended on the charismatic authority of the teacher, which was enhanced by his expertise, accumulation of cultural capital, and affiliation with a prestigious intellectual pedigree” 13 However, a counterpart to the profusion of studies on the concept of charisma beyond the field of sociology and, above all, its popularisation and quotidian use,14 which has reverted to an often-arbitrary assignment of the qualifier, is the loss of its “potential explanatory power”15 that it possessed in its Weberian essence For this reason, it is necessary to refine as much as possible the scientific approaches that make use of it Thus, the conceptual and methodological perspective to be used must be clearly defined in order to turn it into an effective analysis tool;16 see, for example, a parallel treatment of the subject to the one we present here, in the work of M Massi on the

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

DeForest 2011, 325 Du Toit 1997, 39 Vd the most recent English translation Weber 2019 Rapp 2005, 16 Hernández de la Fuente 2014b, 20 Chiaradonna 2014, 39 Fowden 1982 48–54 Urbano 2013, 12 Potts 2009, 1 Burke – Brinkerhoff 1981, 275 Riesebrodt 1999, 2

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charismatic Shiite community in primitive Islam 17 In our case, we are going to follow the line proposed by P Joosse in which he points to the neglected role of the followers or adepts, which he calls “charismatic aristocracy”, as “central causal agents in the aetiology of charisma” 18 In their pertinent application to the field of higher education in Late Antiquity that we propose here, these aristocratic agents are the “companions” or ἑταῖροι, that is, those members of the school belonging to the inner circle of the teacher It is to the latter to whom they were devotedly attached because of a powerful personality that, following the Weberian definition, revealed “exceptional sanctity or heroic qualities or exemplary character” 19 Furthermore, the German sociologist adds, this charismatic aristocracy behaved in accordance with the principle of fidelity of discipleship and were selected, at least the administrative cadre of the community, according to their equally charismatic personal faculties Regarding the discipline of the history of education, since the seminal Histoire de l’Éducation dans l’Antiquité by Marrou, it has not stopped opening new paths of study and, especially in recent decades, obtaining new results 20 In our approach, the inclusion of this area of study is essential for a comprehensive approach to the figure of the divine man in late antiquity and the particular student and academic atmosphere that surrounded him Not surprisingly, the period has recently been defined by Peter Brown himself as “an age of teachers” 21 It is through the perspective of this approach to the study of the divine man that this research sees them, within the framework of Greco-Roman παιδεία, as the most significant higher education teachers of the period, i e those of the highest virtue in the skill they instructed and, therefore, according to the Hellenic mentality, divine (θεῖοι) In this sense, we understand the phenomenon of education from a sociocultural perspective according to which it must be studied in a specific historical context in which, in this case, we attach greater importance to the collective, the charismatic community, than to the individual 22 From our point of view, as many researchers have already been pointing out,23 through teacher-disciple relationships in a context that we currently call “school”, but which in ancient times carried a spiritual connotation lost today and that remained in the term παιδεία, it is possible to enter the field of mentalities and the historical-social of that aristocratic and 17

18 19 20 21 22 23

Massi 2007, 7 defines the Shiite community as charismatic by warning and demonstrating the existence of an “all-encompassing bond of spiritual loyalty” within its rhetoric and doctrine that transcended mere loyalty to the leader on the part of the followers, as well as demonstrating the existence of “a profound spiritual connection and ontological affinity” that allowed each of its members to participate in the charisma inherent in the community Joosse 2017, 335 Weber 2019, 342 Too 2001, 10 Brown 2016, 29 Guichot 2006, 39 E g from Walden 1909, 340–341 (the late antique teacher as father of his pupils) through Brown 1971, 99 (the tutor as πνευματικὸς πατήρ) and to Watts 2006, 11 (following both)

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scholarly system of superior education In addition, its mystical component is greatly accentuated in the late imperial era,24 which intensified the bonds that were generated in those student communities Even so, the charismatic professor, as the highest example to follow, headed what we can understand was a small society of followers that possessed a well-defined idiosyncrasy of its own that is capable of being studied as a whole Thus, next, we are going to focus on this community to question what its study can contribute to the knowledge of the history of higher education in late antiquity 2. The charismatic community in higher education in the 3rd and 4th centuries Two of the main sources of information about the student communities of charismatic roots of the third and fourth centuries are Porphyry of Tyre’s βίος on his teacher Plotinus, as well as the collective compilation of Eunapius of Sardis In these biographical texts, the reference to the charismatic community usually takes the form of its most committed members by metonymy Thus, these appear mostly through the cited term ἑταῖρος/οι This voice casts great appeal on a sociological level, as its meaning affects the idea of intimacy and emotional unity that characterised those congregations Still, it is revealing that the term carried a meaning of “comrade in arms”25 or “commensal”,26 even though it soon became used for “companions” of philosophical meetings 27 The twenty-four years that Amelius stayed with Plotinus, or the thirty years that Prohaeresius spent with Julian, or those of Marinus of Neapolis with Proclus are sufficient examples of the disciple’s fidelity They were, in short, the members of the community closest to the charismatic leader Thus, E Watts defines them as “relatively permanent figures in the schools of late antiquity”,28 which, according to other experts, designated “una corporazione di persone che condividevano gli stessi ideali filosofici”29 or, at least, they shared “la solidarité caractéristique des anciennes hétairies religieuses (…) transposée ici par métaphore au niveau scolaire” 30 It is natural, therefore, that from among these ἑταῖροι and through a channel in which the charisma would also exert its influence, what Weber called the “administrative staff ”31 of the community (‘Gemeinde’) were formed; that is, according to Joosse, “a class of high-level members who can skillfully carry out administrative ideological 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Hernández de la Fuente 2019, 37 underlines it as the main innovation of the early Neoplatonists Hom Il 1 179 Hom Il 17 577 E g X Mem 2 8 1 Watts 2006, 52 Caruso 2013, 129 Goulet-Cazé 1982, 235 n  1 Weber 2019, 375

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labour (…) Followers who are exquisitely qualified to perform roles as valiantly subservient partners in the charismatic interaction”32 The figure of the “assistants”33 or “teaching assistants”34 was not strange in the circles that surrounded the teachers of higher education schools of the period 35 They were the companions most closely related to the teacher, as they used to spend a greater number of years by their side and, therefore, they were the ones who got to know him best and truly understand his doctrines In this way, they fulfilled multiple functions as the right hand of the respective scholars in different bureaucratic and editorial aspects that made up their day-to-day Thus, we can see them busy in the work of reviewing the teacher’s manuscripts, writing refuting texts or compilation and doctrinal systematizations,36 as well as taking on the function of epistolary secretariat37 and, where appropriate (i e , illness, old age, etc ), tutoring or managing the meetings 38 In short, as can be inferred, this “administrative staff ” performed essential tasks for the proper functioning of the school and were respected by the rest of the students, probably captivated by the superior charisma that the assistants also radiated The “professional philosophers”,39 Amelius Gentilianus40 and Porphyry of Tyre41 took charge of all this in the Plotinian school; while in the fourth century we find a good number of cases such as those of Sopater of Syria and Aedesius of Cappadocia in the school of Iamblichus of Chalcis,42 those of Maximus of Ephesus and Chrysanthius of Sardis in that of the aforementioned Cappadocian philosopher in the city of Pergamum, that of Prohaeresius in that of the rhetor Julian in Athens or those of Tusciano next to Prohaeresius once the latter inherited the position of his teacher in the ancient πόλις 43 Thus, a general overview of the charismatic communities of Greco-Roman higher education in Late Antiquity offers schools in which there was a previously described first group of “companions” (ἑταῖροι) or “fervent followers” (ζηλωταί) They were very close to the teacher, whom they tried to imitate as much as possible both on an intellectual level and in his way of life In a next hierarchical order were the so-called “lis-

32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Joosse 2017, 337–338 Zamora 2010, 71–72 Igal 1982, 14 E g in Epictetus’ (Epict Ench 1 26 13), in Libanius’ (Lib Or 36 10) or in Proclus’ (Marin Procl 22) Porph Plot 15 12, 16 9–11 Porph Plot 15 18–21 A kind of school magister epistularum in charge of receiving, ordering, summarising and even writing a response to the letters received Cf Eun VS 4 11; Porph Plot 15 6 Emilsson 2017, 15; Goulet-Cazé 1982, 234, “philosophes de métier” Porph Plot 3 38–42 He remained faithfully by his side between the summers of 246 and 269 Porph Plot 4 6–9 and 5 1–5; cf Eun VS 4 6 In his company for only five years (263–268) Eun VS 5 5; 6 1 For a detailed account of the administrative cadres of the charismatic communities exposed in the biographies of Porphyry and Eunapius vd Alviz 2021, forthcoming

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teners” (ἀκροαταί),44 that is, more or less regular or sporadic students associated with a certain urban “home-school” like the ones we are studying 45 At a given moment and, as we will see shortly, by virtue of an experience of initiation fostered by gifts of grace from the teacher, these could become part of the former – as well as leave the group 46 Finally, E Watts and J Dillon have added a third category of possible participants at least in the philosophers’ meetings, although in view of its characteristics its application could be extended to the entire field of education Namely, an ordinary public not at all committed to the school that would be incorporated rather casually and, to a greater extent, when those meetings were held in places of public access 47 However, it is essential and suggestive to point out here the analogy of this scale of students with the famous hierarchy of Pythagoras’ circle which was divided into mathematicians and acousmatics, Pythagorics and Pythagoreans, esoteric and exoteric, which responded to the degree of initiation of each individual, which in turn intimated some sort of rite of passage 48 One of the foundations that defines the modus vivendi of late antique charismatic communities is that of common life or κοινὸς βίος This does not mean that all the companions were literally living together under the same roof, but rather that, as in the case of the Neoplatonists, they participated in doctrines that kept them in spiritual communion with one another However, the physical space in which the intimate meetings or συνουσίαι took place, is of great importance on an emotional and symbolic level A place that in Late Antiquity became associated with the home of the respective teacher 49 This space was given a high meaning, which can be seen clearly in two fragments of a very personal nature The first fragment intimates it in the way in which the philosopher Amelius refers to the adobe by means of the pleonasm οἰκείας ἑστία50 in a letter addressed to his companion Porphyry with which he affectionately underlines the familiar and intimate character that it represented, at least for two individual assistants of the teacher The second is found in the reverential description written by

44 45

46 47 48 49 50

Cf e g Epict Ench 3 9 10; Porph Plot 7, 9 5; Marin Procl 28 Goulet-Cazé 1982, 233 n  2, “auditeurs occasionels” Other terms present in the Vita Plotini and in the Vitae philosophorum et sophistarum, sometimes synonymous, while in others presenting different nuances of greater or lesser fervour towards the teacher or in terms of internal hierarchy are μαθητής, ὁμιλητής, συμφοιτητής, κοινωνός and γνώριμος (vd Alviz 2021, forthcoming) An example is probably constituted by Theodorus of Asine, a former disciple of Porphyry in Rome and Iamblichus in Apamea, who would have founded a school in Athens since the dissidence of the line followed by the latter (Iul Ep 12; PLRE 1 896) I e pedestrians or passersby stopping to observe and listen (Watts 2007, 109; Dillon 2003, 3, 7–8) Porph VP 37; Iambl VP 81; Hernández de la Fuente 2011 (2020), 82–84 Precedents of Plotinus were, for example, the teacher of the emperor Marcus Aurelius (Hist Aug M Aur 3 1) or the sophist Proclus of Naucratis (Philostr VS 2 21 603) Vd Watts 2006, 54; GouletCazé 1982, 241; Walden 1909, 267–269 Porph Plot 17 39: Ὅτι δέ, εἴ τι τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκείας ἑστίας παραχαράττοιτο, διορθώσει εὐμενῶς, εὖ οἶδα (ed Brisson et alii 1992)

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Eunapius of Sardis of the house of his teacher, the rhetor Prohaeresius, who in turn, as it was usual,51 had received it as an inheritance from his master, “Poor and humble as it was, nevertheless from it breathed the fragrance of Hermes and the Muses, so closely did it resemble a holy temple” 52 In relation to this space, one of the responsibilities of its owner, the teacher, and head of the school, was precisely to host eminently ritualistic communal celebrations such as banquets The συμπόσιον, which was part of the foundations of Greco-Roman culture, was an entire institution still common in Late Antiquity 53 The παιδεία, as an aristocratic system of instruction, had a preferential place in the development of these spaces The following statement by Eunapius about the prefect Anatolius serves as an example: “He himself was an accomplished sophist in table-talk and themes suited to a symposium; hence his symposium was a feast of reason and of learned conversation” 54 In the sociological context, the fact of sharing a common meal or συσσιτία stood as one of the essential factors that strengthened the bonds of union of the charismatic community 55 Now, the most representative case of ritual commemoration within the type of student congregations that are being studied here took place during the so-called Platonic and Socratic festivals (Πλατώνειά τε καὶ Σωκράτεια56) In these festivities the legendary57 birth of Plato and Socrates was honoured on the sixth and seventh days respectively of the ancient Attic month of Thargelion (between May and June); dates that, not by chance, coincided according to myth with those of the birth of the twins Apollo and Artemis The scant information we have only allows us to infer that these celebrations took place uninterruptedly between the first and fifth centuries CE Specifically, we have news of one of those celebrations organised by Plutarch of Chaeronea, Longinus, Plotinus, and Proclus 58 Not surprisingly, in the sources that mention them, they speak of their extensive traditionalism, as well as of their annual periodicity Therefore, we could presume the beginnings of the celebration to have taken place in much earlier times, perhaps from the first scholarch Speusippus 59 Be that as it may, choosing the example of Plotinus to adhere to the proposed chronological framework of this study, Porphyry, his disciple and biographer, affirms 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

Cf Philostr VS 1 8 490; Marin Procl 29 Eun VS 9 4: μικρὰν μὲν καὶ εὐτελῆ τινα, Ἑρμοῦ δὲ ὅμως καὶ Μουσῶν περιπνέουσαν, οὕτως ἱεροῦ τινος ἁγίου διέφερεν οὐδέν (ed Goulet 2014, trans Wright 1922) Cf Watts 2006, 54 König 2012, 6–29 Eun VS 10 68: ὁ δὲ Ἀνατόλιος σοφιστὴς ἦν ἐν τοῖς κατ’ εὐωχίαν καὶ πρὸς συμπόσιον· οὐδὲ τὸ συμπόσιον ἦν ἄλογον καὶ ἀπαίδευτον (ed Goulet 2014, trans Wright 1922) Cf Kantirea 2013, 39 Marin Procl 23 (ed Männlein-Robert) Cf Männlein-Robert 2001, 258, “bei den Platoneia handelt es sich um die Feier von Platons (mytischem) Geburstag” Plut Smp 8 717b–d; Ael VH 2 25; D L 2 44; 3 1; Apul de Platone 1 1; Marin Procl 23; Olimp / Anon Proll 1 43 D L 3 2; cf Dillon 2003, 37–38; for Sócrates: cf D L 2 44 Vd Riginos 1976, 13, 16–17

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that “he sacrificed and feasted with his companions on the traditional birthdays of Plato and Socrates, when those of his companions who had the skill were required to read a speech to the gathering” 60 Two aspects deserve to be pointed out First, the presence of the quintessential ritual practice of the Hellenic religion, sacrifice (θύος, vb θύω),61 underlines the religious character of the cenaculum 62 This spiritual element that permeated the atmosphere that was generated in these kinds of meetings helped to bring the community together around their shared fervour and piety In this way, the student congregations carved their own identity that clearly transcended the context that today we understand as that of merely a school 63 Not surprisingly, the sociological infrastructure that the παιδεία system possessed, allowed this internal development to be frequent Second, the text also shows the importance given precisely to the ἑταῖροι with their determined participation in the scholarly activities that took place during the banquet In fact, luckily, Porphyry later gives us another glimpse that allows us to delve into the importance of the guests He does it by detailing two of the activities that were carried out in those ritual festivities: a poetic declamation of a religious nature and a doctrinal refutation of a moral nature 64 Another traditional element of Greco-Roman civilization that acquired a ritual form, in this case of an initiation type, which was an integral part of the late-antique higher education system and in which the charismatic community had an essential role to play, took place at the beginning of the academic year in the city of Athens It was a kind of rite of passage through which all new students who arrived at the old πόλις had to pass to join the school of one of the multiple teachers who enjoyed a professorship of public or private education in it Fortunately, we know about this ritual through direct sources from the fourth and fifth centuries,65 written by students who came to the city of Athens Some of these students included the celebrated Libanius (Or 1 16), Gregory of Nazianzus (Or 43 16), Eunapius of Sardis (VS 10 4–9), Proclus (Marin Procl 10–11) and Olympiodorus (fr 28 apud Phot Cod 80), of which we have their own testimony about the mentioned ritual In short, we know that this ritual began immediately after the ship that brought the students arrived at the Athenian port In this place, according to Eunapius, “many used to lie in wait for their arrival at the dock, mad enthusiasts each for his own particular

60 61 62 63 64 65

Porph Plot 2 42–43: ἐν τοῖς Πλάτωνος καὶ Σωκράτους παραδεδομένοις γενεθλίοις θύων τε καὶ ἑστιῶν τοὺς ἑταίρους, ὅτε καὶ λόγον ἔδει τῶν ἑταίρων τοὺς δυνατοὺς ἐπὶ τῶν συνελθόντων ἀναγνῶναι (ed Brisson et alii 1992, trans Edwards 2000 slightly modified by the author) Cf König 2012, 23–25 Most likely it would be an offering that would not involve the death of any animal (Porph Plot 2 3–5; 22 31–32; 36 8–10; Varro Cens 2 2; Cameron 2011, 66) Männlein-Robert 2001, 291: “eine religiöse, ernste Feier” (with respect to another Platonic one organized by Longinus) Cf Goulet-Cazé 1982, 250 Porph Plot 15 1–5 and 15 6–17 DeForest 2011, 318–330

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school” 66 Once the new students were distributed among the different acolytes, they were presented at the house of the respective sophist Although not unfrequently these first encounters between the new students and the acolytes could become violent, as the best-known case of the “kidnapping” of Libanius proves (Eun VS 16 2–3; Lib Or  1 16) It is possible to infer that the most experienced members of the charismatic community that surrounded the teacher and, therefore, those most trusted by the scholar, were in charge of leading this initiation rite Subsequently, having received the approval or order of the rhetor –in the Life of Eunapius we find very significantly the imperative καθήρατε67 uttered by the mouth of Prohaeresius – the veteran students carried in procession through the city those who were to become their new companions (ἑταῖροι) Their destination was the public baths where, after pronouncing an oath of loyalty, the mandate of the teacher would be carried out, that is, the mandatory ritual purification by means of water so common in the initiation rites of certain mystery religions,68 some seriously practised in Athens such as the Eleusinian mysteries 69 After all, DeForest concludes in relation to the latter, all this idiosyncratic ritual “sat at the confluence of the city’s most famous cult centre and the sacred mysteries of paideia”70 Finally, the initiation used to culminate with a communal reception banquet, converging in part with the issue that we have explained previously, to welcome the student congregation in which the newcomers participated as equals at this stage As we can see, the element of the charismatic community does not cease to be the driving force, in its different hierarchies, of the sociological processes that made up higher education in late imperial times Along the same lines, we must ask ourselves if there was a certain moment in which the intense emotional ties that kept the teacher united with his community of pupils were generated In other words, if the sources we have, mostly belonging to the biographical genre, offer us some approximation to the special atmosphere that the παιδεία possessed in which the gifts of grace of the scholar emerged, i e , their charisma Thus, it is possible to analyse a series of individual experiences, again, of an initiatory nature, which allow us to catch a glimpse at what we could call the spiritual conversion of the disciple as a follower of his teacher These experiences were commonly produced in the schools of philosophy, as is natural given their nature, which in the late antique period were basically those of the different branches belonging to Neoplatonic thought In these “intimate meetings” or συνουσίαι, the students experienced what has been defined in metaphorical-spatial terms as “the transfer from one place (ignorance, er-

66 67 68 69 70

Eun VS 10 4: περὶ τὰς κατάρσεις οὐκ ὀλίγοι τινὲς ἐναυλόχουν ἀεὶ τῶν εἰς ἕκαστον διδασκαλεῖον μεμηνότων (ed Goulet, 2014, trans Wright 1922) Eun 10 16 Cf Wright 1922: 486, “initiate him;” Goulet 2014, II, 69, “purifiez-le” Bremmer 2014, 25, 38, 40, 44, 67, 83, 89, 119 DeForest 2011, 325–329 DeForest 2011, 342

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ror, evil) to another (wisdom, truth, virtue)” 71 So much so that, as we can see, a literary genre was generated in the βίοι of late antique teachers in which the instant in which said conversion took place was described A literary resource that is already frequent in the Laertian tradition, in which these experiences have been defined by S Grau Guijarro as a consequence of fortuitous encounters resulting from providential grace or τύχη 72 These recurring episodes, especially those of the Neoplatonic School, perhaps imitate the legendary κατάβασις of Pythagoras of Samos –one of their spiritual leaders – in the mysteries of Zeus in Crete, which were described in detail by Porphyry of Tyre (VP 17) 73 And it is precisely with Porphyry that these episodes began to appear in the biographies of late antique teachers Specifically, with the case of his mentor Plotinus in the Alexandrian School of Ammonius Saccas, to whom he came advised by a friend after he had been disappointed with the rest of the teachers he had had the opportunity to listen to: “When he attended his class and heard him, he said to his friend, ‘This is the man I was seeking’”74 Take note that we are faced with an exclamatory expression (τοῦτον ἐζήτουν) which is practically the same one that was used by Eunapius –the same verb form of ζητέω, “ὃν ἐζήτουν”  – when paraphrasing the words used by the future emperor Julian when he discovered the teacher of the Asian Minor Neoplatonic School with whom he wanted to learn: “You have shown me the man I was in search of ”75 On a different occasion at the end of the Lives we can observe the same process using a similar tone and context, although with different words The protagonist is the old itinerant sage Hellespontius of Galatia, who, according to the sophist of Sardis, was wandering in search of “anyone who knew more than himself ”76 So when the two met for the first time, “Hellespontius was so captivated that he abandoned all else and was ready to live under the same roof as Chrysanthius and to renew his youth by studying with him”77 Two aspects particularly attract attention in the aforementioned examples and are closely related to the behaviour of the charismatic community with respect

71 72 73 74

75 76 77

Herrero 2005, 69 Grau Guijarro 2008, 73 Cf Iambl VP 25, D L 8 3; vd Hernández de la Fuente 2011 (2020), 104 Porph Plot 3: Τὸν δὲ εἰσελθόντα καὶ ἀκούσαντα φάναι πρὸς τὸν ἑταῖρον· τοῦτον ἐζήτουν (ed Brisson et al 1992, trans M Edwards 2000) It should be noted that shortly before these lines Porphyry refers to the journey that led Plotinus from his native Lycopolis, in Upper Egypt, to Alexandria through the verb κατιέναι, which carries with it the idea of “going down, going below” (κάτειμι o καθίημι) – Compare the Pythagorean κατάβασις that we have just described –, a meaning that the biographer could well have sought to associate with the cathartic initiation or philosophical conversion that his teacher would experience in the city Eun VS 7 2: ἐμοὶ δὲ ἐμήνυσας ὃν ἐζήτουν (ed Goulet 2014, trans Wright 1922) Eun VS 23 4: τινι [περιτύχοι] πλέον εἰδότι (ed Goulet 2014, trans Wright 1922) Eun VS 23 6: ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰς ταὐτὸν συνήντησαν, τοσοῦτον ῾Ελλησπόντιος ἑαλώκει, ὥστε, πάντα μεθέμενος, ἕτοιμος ἦν σκηνοῦσθαι παρὰ Χρυσάνθιον, καί νεάζειν ἐν τῷ μανθάνειν (ed Goulet 2014, trans Wright 1922)

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to its leader The first one we have already mentioned before and it is that of sharing a common life (κοινὸς βίος), that is, the idea of the necessary close coexistence – in this case Eunapius uses the verb σκηνόω, literally “to camp, to quartered”78 – between the teacher and the student The second one finds an echo in the New Testament79 in the idea of abandoning everything to follow a spiritual leader Not surprisingly, this is one of the most notable external signs of philosophical conversion, namely, the break with the past 80 The most flagrant case of this type of experience is found in the School of Plotinus in Rome The protagonist is none other than a senator by the name of Rogatianus who was among the attendees of Plotinus’ classes 81 In these, he would be instructed in a series of doctrines that advocated a way of life (πολιτεία) that rejected any involvement in public affairs, i e , in politics 82 This proved to be, moreover, the hallmark of the late antique period That is, the “evident displacement of the models of public exemplarity from the political or the military to the religious”83 coming to preponderate the spiritual atmosphere of individual holiness over civic recognition or evergetism, leaving its mark also in the context of education (παιδεία) Thus, Porphyry mentions this Rogatianus, “whose conversion from that life was so complete that he renounced all his possessions of him, manumitted the whole of his household and even renounced his title of him […] Plotinus made him welcome and, heaping the highest praise upon him, constantly held him up as an example to those who engaged in philosophy” 84

Now, we must ask ourselves what did Rogatianus see in this teacher to make him turn his life upside down at this level In our opinion, the explanation is provided by the biographer, among other sources, in a splendid description of Plotinus in what we could describe as a charismatic ecstasy within a συνουσία, “But when he spoke his mind was manifest even in his countenance, which radiated light; lovely as he was to see, he was then especially beautiful to the sight A little sweat trickled, and his kindliness shone forth, and his ability displayed itself in answering questions, as did his [intellectual] 78

79 80 81 82 83 84

In this regard, Goulet 2014, II, p 105, very illustratively, since Hellespontius is a constant traveller in search of wisdom (Eun VS 23 47), he ignores the metaphor of cohabitation and opts for: “il était prêt à planter sa tente près de chez Chrysanthe”, which he does not varies the idea of familiarity between teacher and disciple that we want to emphasise Cf Mt 19:21; Mc 1:14–20; Lc 14:25–33 Grau 2008, 81 Cf D L 9 96, 9 63, 7 179 Unknown from other sources Vd Chiaradonna 2014 Hernández de la Fuente 2014, 44 Porph Plot 7: ἐκ τῆς συγκλήτου, ὃς εἰς τοσοῦτον ἀποστροφῆς τοῦ βίου τούτου προκεχωρήκει ὡς πάσης μὲν κτήσεως ἀποστῆναι, πάντα δὲ οἰκέτην ἀποπέμψασθαι, ἀποστῆναι δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἀξιώματος […] Τοῦτον ἀπεδέχετο ὁ Πλωτῖνος καὶ ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα ἐπαινῶν διετέλει εἰς ἀγαθὸν παράδειγμα τοῖς φιλοσοφοῦσι προβαλλόμενος (ed Brisson et al 1992, trans M Edwards 2000)

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vigour” 85 In other words, in the eyes of the fervent community of disciples,86 the gifts of grace or χαρίσματα displayed in this way by the teacher were viewed practically in the manner of a transfiguration 87 Therefore, it is not surprising that these demonstrations of charismatic revelation would lead to a deep spiritual adherence to the teacher on the part of the students that, in certain listeners like Rogatianus, would entail important personal and professional consequences 3. Conclusion In his theory of charismatic power, Max Weber pointed out next to its definition that “what matters is how this quality is actually judged by those who are ruled charismatically: how ‘followers’ see things” 88 With these words he clearly established the focus on the followers, since they are the true support of the charismatic leader This is, on the one hand, what we intended to prove in this chapter On the other hand, we also aimed to continue the path marked out by the discipline of the history of education that in recent years has been, in the words of Y L Too, “asking different questions about what teaching, and learning were in the ancient world” 89 This is the way in which we have approached the charismatic community as a key element to understand the social aspect of higher education in Late Antiquity The late antique higher education student congregations are very likely to be conceived as charismatic, at least some of them It is a sociological-based perspective that observes them as a social construct of a communal nature that transcended merely academic ties, since in many aspects they were based on emotional and sensitive ties These ties were shaped not only by the grace of the teacher’s charisma, but also by sharing a “common life” (κοινὸς βίος), which was favoured by the system of the GrecoRoman παιδεία We must understand this way of life above all in the spiritual realm, an area that, in our opinion, has also been integrated into the term συνουσία However, it could also materialise, and it used to do so in a specific physical place, namely, a 85

86 87

88 89

Porph Plot 13 3–5: Ἦν δ' ἐν τῷ λέγειν ἡ ἔνδειξις τοῦ νοῦ ἄχρι τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ τὸ φῶς ἐπιλάμποντος· ἐράσμιος μὲν ὀφθῆναι, καλλίων δὲ τότε μάλιστα ὁρώμενος· καὶ λεπτός τις ἱδρὼς ἐπέθει καὶ ἡ πραότης διέλαμπε καὶ τὸ προσηνὲς πρὸς τὰς ἐρωτήσεις ἐδείκνυτο καὶ τὸ εὔτονον (ed Brisson et al 1992, trans M Edwards) Cf Porph Plot 14 2–4; Eun VS 14 2–7 Cf a similar description in the figure of the Neoplatonic master Proclus in Marin Procl 23, note that the terminology used related to light is an echo of the one we have just discussed (e g θεία ἐπίπνοια, ἔλλαμψις θεία, etc ) Edwards 2000, 23 n  130 compares it with that of Jesus of Nazareth (Mt 17 2) and Moses (2 Cor 3 7) In addition, for Goulet-Cazé 1982: 261 “Plotin apparaît ici comme transfiguré Sa beauté physique reflète alors toute son intelligence et on imagine d’après ce portrait à quelle point disciples et auditeurs devaient être subjugués” Weber 2019, 374 Too 2001, 10

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house or estate that could well be provided, as the Weberian hypothesis also contemplates, by a benefactor or a kind of voluntary and altruistic patron 90 It is important to emphasise that this idea has Pythagorean roots, which were made explicit by Iamblichus of Chalcis, who, halfway between the third and fourth centuries, served as a connecting point between the first Neoplatonism and the more ritualised one that spread throughout the Eastern Mediterranean 91 In On the Pythagorean Life: “On his first visit, to the famous city of Kroton, he made many disciples, it is reported that he had there six hundred people who were not only inspired to study his philosophy, but actually became ‘coenobites’ according to his instructions” 92 With this treatise, which follows in the wake of that of his teacher Porphyry,93 he does nothing but project an image of what we could call “cenobium” (κοινόβια), i e , the higher education communities of philosophy, which they themselves headed This relationship is also indicated by the gradation that supposes the division into groups of disciples that are more distant from the teacher or sporadic in nature (ἀκροαταί, μαθηταί) and those who are closer to him (ἑταῖροι), among which arose what in Weberian terminology is called the administrative staff (ζηλωταί, γνώριμοι) The charismatic community within the framework of the late antique educational system in its higher phase possessed an idiosyncrasy in which the ritual element predominated A fact that is evident in the Athenian schools of sophistry when it came to welcome new students who had recently arrived and that may have had its continuation in subsequent years, for example, with the giving of the master’s treatises, the mantle or τρίβων, or by giving them permission for participation in communal meals or banquets (συμπόσια) The most important of the latter in the academic field due to their marked symbolism were, there is no doubt, the Platonic and Socratic festivals (Πλατώνειά τε καὶ Σωκράτεια) This type of intimate meetings (συνουσίαι) practised by the Platonic communities of late antiquity contributed to forging a collective identity in communion with the charismatic, pedagogical, and institutional authority of the teacher Those cenacles of scholars (πεπαιδευμένοι) represented one of the last strong-

90 91 92

93

E g the domus of Gemina as the school of Plotinus (Porph Plot 9) or the patrimonial donations in inheritance of the seat of the sophistic or philosophical school (Philostr VS 1 8 490; Eun VS 9 4; Marin Procl 29) Vd Afonasin, Dillon, Finamore 2013 Iambl VP 6 29: καὶ ἐν πρώτῃ Κρότωνι ἐπισημοτάτῃ πόλει προτρεψάμενος πολλοὺς ἔσχε ζηλωτάς, ὥστε [ἱστορεῖται ἑξακοσίους αὐτὸν ἀνθρώπους ἐσχηκέναι, οὐ μόνον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κεκινημένους εἰς τὴν φιλοσοφίαν, ἧς μετεδίδου, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον κοινοβίους, καθὼς προσέταξε, γενομένους (ed Nauck, 1886, trans Clark 1989) As Urbano 2013, 91 points out, “the nature of their acquaintance is unclear”, since there are doubts regarding the true personal relationship between the two, that is, whether they really became a teacher-disciple in Rome (Suid I 27) or if their contact was sporadic, epistolary and/or merely doctrinal (Goulet 2014, I 141, I 167; Watts 2005, 338 n  15) Added to this complex controversy is the issue of a possible schism between the two philosophers regarding both theurgy and the political use of Neoplatonic theory against Christians (Chiaradonna 2014, 40, 45)

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holds of pagan spiritualism and ritualism that maintained its validity with some vigour as a private practice in a fully Christian Empire Finally, the driving force that permeates this study is the concept of charisma From our point of view, the late antique θεῖος ἀνήρ as a teacher of higher education defines himself as having this quality As such, without forgetting the relationship between παιδείᾳ and the mysteries, the teacher triggered the sociological phenomenon by which the initiatory experience of his own followers took place, as well as the prolongation of his school in time Thus, the idea of conversion at first sight, reflected by the expression “τοῦτον ἐζήτουν”, and its transformation into a literary genre of the late antique βίος, marks in all its splendour the successful end of the search path of the initiate in the knowledge of a learned master However, the experience of philosophical, spiritual, or religious conversion in ancient times was the product of a full recognition of the charismatic authority of the leader Marco Alviz Fernández Postdoctoral Fellow of Ancient History at the Complutense University of Madrid maalviz@ucm es

Roman, Pagan Philosophers in a Christian Empire Edward Watts Modern historical discussions of late antique Greek philosophers have usually told the story of the increasing marginalization of philosophers by a Christian, Roman society that had less and less use for them across the fourth and fifth centuries This story famously culminates in the decision by Damascius, Simplicius, and five of their colleagues to leave the Roman Empire entirely so that they might enjoy greater respect and influence in Chosroes’s Persia But what happened in 531 was not the culmination of a long, slow process It resulted instead from a sudden shock These philosophers fled Rome not because the tides of Christianization had slowly washed away the social and political edifices they had once commanded They fled because Justinian, like a violent earthquake, suddenly and brutally destroyed these edifices with one horrible autocratic action 531 was, then, not the endpoint of a centuries-long process through which Roman society turned its back on pagan Greek philosophy It was instead a moment when a Roman tyrant robbed his fellow citizens of their legal rights This essay traces the story of Greek-speaking philosophers across seven centuries of Roman history in order to show why Simplicius and his fellows saw Justinian’s action as such unbearable tyranny But it begins with a rather basic question: What did it mean to be a Roman philosopher in late antiquity? This is a question that may seem simultaneously overexplored and underconsidered On the one hand, it is clear that all of the major Neoplatonists of late antiquity lived as Roman citizens Universal citizenship was extended to all of the empire in 212, when Plotinus was still nursing 1 By the time that Porphyry wrote his biography of Plotinus near the turn of the fourth century, nearly all of these Roman citizen philosophers seem to have felt a genuine sense that they were Roman in a meaningful way Indeed, by 300 there were very few people alive who could remember a time when every free person in the empire was not Roman The Roman Empire was, by that point, effectively a Roman nation state containing a

1

The Constitutio Antoniniana was issued in 212 Plotinus was born in 204 and, according to Porphyry, was still nursing at age 8 (VP 3)

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very large majority population that, to borrow Anthony Kaldellis’s conception, was ethnically Roman 2 This means that all of the prominent Neoplatonists from Porphyry to Simplicius were civically and ethnically Romans for their entire lives On one level, this point is totally uncontroversial It states the obvious These men and women were Romans and thought of themselves as such But, on another level, the implications of the Romanness of these primarily Greek-speaking, pagan intellectuals has never really been considered properly This is because the nature of what it meant to be properly Roman changed greatly in the time between Plotinus and Simplicius As the empire became ever more Christian in the fourth and fifth centuries, Romanness came increasingly to have a Christian component By the time that Simplicius began his career in the early sixth century, the sorts of things that third and fourth century Roman philosophers did regularly had become far more difficult By the early 530s, many had become impossible And, of course, it is because of this that Simplicius, Damascius and a group of 5 other philosophers left Rome for Persia in 531 So what did it really mean to be a Roman, pagan philosopher? Because we have tended to see Platonists as Greek intellectuals living under Roman imperial overlords, we have also tended to think that it mattered very little for them to exchange a pagan emperor for a Christian or Zoroastrian one But the philosophers of late antiquity were Romans They were not a national or ethnic minority living under imperial occupation They instead belonged ethnically, legally, and civically to the empire’s majority population How, then, does the history of Greek philosophers in the later Roman world look different once we recognize that these men and women were not Greek subjects of a Roman imperial system but Romans living in a Roman nation before Justinian suddenly relegated them to a sort of second-class legal and civic status in the sixth century? The story begins at a much earlier moment in Mediterranean history Greek intellectuals begin to figure prominently in Roman life in the decades after the second Punic War At this point, they were distinctive and exotic figures whose growing prominence prompted the famously xenophobic response from Cato the Elder that Greeks “will corrupt everything” in Rome and “the Romans would lose their empire when they began to be infected with Greek literature” 3 He was particularly concerned when Romans crowded to hear Carneades the Academic and Diogenes the Stoic, fearing that “the younger generation might allow their ambitions to be diverted … and might come to value most highly a reputation based on feats of oratory rather than feats of arms” 4 In Cato’s mind, Greek philosophy led to distinctly non-Roman behaviors and values

2 3 4

Best explored in Kaldellis 2019 Pliny, HN 29 1 13–14; Plutarch, Cato Mai 16 Plutarch, Cato Mai 22 Discussion: Wilkerson 1988, 131–144, at 134–6

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By the late Republic, however, things had become more muddled Greek philosophers still came to Rome as outsiders, but, as shown by the famous flight to Rome of Philo of Larisa and Antiochus of Ascalon in the face of Mithridates’s invasion of Athens in 88 BCE, they also did so as subjects of a Roman imperial project 5 Their teachings helped animate the ideas and political behaviors of prominent politicians across the last decades of the Republic Lucullus and Cicero both listened to lectures of Philo and Antiochus 6 Atticus and Brutus were also Platonic devotees 7 But the picture that we have from figures like Cicero is still one in which Greek teachers bring knowledge to Romans and Romans receive it from them Cicero, for example, imagines Varro saying: “I adopt the great pursuit of philosophy in its entirety both … as a guiding principle of life and as an intellectual pleasure” but “I send my friends who have an interest in this study to Greece … so that they may draw from the fountainheads rather than seek out mere rivulets” 8 While Cicero’s Academica challenges the perception that Latin philosophy is inherently inferior to that presented by Greeks, he notably does not make the argument that Greek philosophers are Roman They are instead nonRomans whose powerful ideas should be rendered, as Cicero says, in “Latinis litteris so that you have no desire for anything about the same topics in Greek” 9 The picture became blurrier as one moved into the early empire Our sources for Greek philosophers active in Roman political life in the Julio-Claudian period are notoriously poor, but some indications do begin to appear that show a new dynamic emerging Philo of Alexandria, for example, came to Rome as an emissary from Alexandria under Caligula Unlike the Greek philosophers of the previous century, Philo came to Rome as a Roman citizen and soon inserted himself into Roman philosophical and political circles As Maren Niehoff has shown, Philo’s Roman sojourn inspired him to craft a philosophy inspired by Jewish ideas and Roman virtues that spoke to a Roman audience about politically relevant topics like life under a tyranny 10 Philo was playing a hybrid role Legally, Philo was as much a Roman as Cicero or Brutus – indeed, his brother Alexander the Alabarch was even called “an old friend” by the emperor Claudius 11 But, philosophically, Philo still positioned himself as something of an outsider whose non-Roman ideas focused and further developed traditional Roman ideas of virtue

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Flight of philosophers: Dillon, Middle Platonists, 53–4 Lucullus: Cicero, Acad II 2 4; Cicero: Cicero, ad Fam  xiii 1, Acad I 4, Brut  89, Tusculanae Quaestiones, ii 3 Brutus: Acad I 12 Cicero, Acad I 8 Cicero, Acad I 12 Niehoff 2017, 47–68 Niehoff 2017, 29–30 On Alexander and his Roman positioning see Josephus, JA 18 147–67, 18 259, 19 276–7, 20 100

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The Flavian and early Antonine periods show other Greek intellectuals adopting a similar hybrid positioning Dio Chrysostom played this role quite well, straddling between his position as a leading figure in the city of Prusa and an influential, philosophically inspired voice about Roman political affairs None did this better than Plutarch Like Philo and Dio, Plutarch traded on his status as both a Roman citizen and a Greek intellectual to build a distinctive public profile In Plutarch’s case, this meant providing elites in Italy and the Greek world with a Platonically-infused set of moral principles that could help them control their passions and philosophically regulate their behavior 12 Plutarch’s audience shared this Greek and Roman hybridity They included patrons from established Roman senatorial families like Mestrius Florus and new senators of Greek ancestry like Gaius Julius Philopappus who became increasingly important in the later Flavian and early Trajanic periods 13 Plutarch explicitly addressed texts to both sorts of figures and positioned himself as a philosophical authority who could articulate a system of moral and practical ethics in texts composed of complementary Greek and Roman elements 14 This was, in a sense, instruction that simultaneously spoke to Greek philosophical ideas and Roman ethical exemplars – with Plutarch the Roman citizen, Delphic priest, and Athenian-trained philosopher serving as the unique bridge spanning both worlds By the middle of the third century, the gap between these worlds had largely closed The biggest factor causing this was the Constitutio Antoniniana, the emperor Caracalla’s extension of universal citizenship to nearly all free people in 212 15 Many Greek philosophers were already Roman citizens in 212, however In fact, as early as the 140s, Aelius Aristides spoke about the wonderful way in which Rome extended citizenship to all who were worthy of it around the empire – a category in which he clearly placed himself 16 The Platonist Numenius, who moved from Apamea to Rome in the mid-second century, shared this sort of dual identity He is called both an Apamean and a Roman by later authors 17 So too did Epictetus, who rose from slavery in Asia Minor to become a prominent Roman citizen philosopher under Trajan and Hadrian 18 Our sources for Greek philosophers in the 210s and 220s border on terrible, but the behavior of Greek philosophers in the third century indicates strongly that the

12 13

14 15 16 17 18

Van Hoof 2010, 44–46; Stadter 2014, 13–31, at 21 Best known from his funerary monument, on which see Kleiner 1983 The Philopappus inscriptions are published as IG II2 3451 For his career see Plutarch, Quaest Conviv 628a–b For discussion of this benefaction see Geagan 1991, 145–165, at 151–4 Based on the imperial titles of Trajan it provides, the monument’s dedicatory inscription must have been carved between 114 and 116 Van Hoof 2010, 263 On the Constitutio Antoniniana: Ando 2002, 52–7; Bryen 2016, 29–45; Millar 1962, 124–31 Aelius Aristides, Roman Oration, ch 59 For a translation of the text see Oliver 1953 871–1003 Apamean: Porphyry, VP 3 44–5 Roman: John Lydus, De mens 4 80 For his status as a figure connected to both see Dodds 1960, 3–32, at 6–7 For his slave status see, for example, Epictetus, Disc 1 7

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Constitutio Antoniniana probably did not materially change the status of many of these people They were, after all, already members of an imperial elite largely comprised of Roman citizens What one begins to see in the 200s is less of an emphasis on how Roman Greek philosophers are and more of a tendency to take their Roman status for granted There was simply no longer any advantage to playing the role of a bridge between the Roman and the other as Plutarch or Philo once did In a world where everyone was now Roman, the profile of a Greek intellectual who could relate to Romans was no longer unique The Greek philosophers of the third and early fourth centuries largely show this Plotinus, for example, not only served in the Roman army under Gordian III but he also enjoyed a good relationship with Gallienus and a number of Roman senators in the 260s But Plotinus was no Plutarch He had no evident interest in packaging his philosophy in such a way as to make it accessible to Romans He taught it straight – and his audience was receptive Plotinus’s contemporary Longinus offers another, similar example Cassius Longinus was from a family that had received Roman citizenship before 212 – given his name, this possibly happened as far back as the late Republic He was Porphyry’s teacher in Athens before Porphyry abandoned him for Plotinus Then, sometime in the late 260s, Longinus went to Syria and became attached to the Palmyrene court of Vaballathus and Zenobia 19 The Palmyrene regime has now come to be seen as a separatist kingdom that rebelled against Roman rule, but, officially at least, Zenobia’s husband Odeanathus and her son Vaballathus only served as appointed representatives of the emperor who were charged with administering the east 20 Vaballathus abandoned this formulation only when he declared himself Augustus in the face of an imminent invasion by the emperor Aurelian in 273 The Palmyrene empire was actually a thoroughly Roman regime based in a Roman province and framed using a Roman constitutional formulation Longinus’s service to it must be seen in this purely Roman context So too must his execution following Zenobia’s claim that Longinus induced her to officially split from the regime of Aurelian This execution was a justified action against a Roman not because he had served Zenobia Indeed, in an act of imperial reconciliation, Aurelian ostentatiously rehabilitated Zenobia and the Gallic emperors Tetricus I and II 21 Longinus was disposable, however He was killed because he was a Roman who had encouraged a Roman usurpation against the legitimate emperor As one moves into the fourth century, the connections of Greek philosophers to the imperial court become even stronger Porphyry famously (or notoriously) seems

19 20 21

SHA Aurelian 27, 30 For the Roman nature of the Palmyrene regime see, for example, Zonaras, 12 24, Zosimus, 1 39 2; SHA Gallienus 10 3–6, 12 1; Sib Or 13 155–71 Discussion: Andrade 2019, 127–32 Zenobia: SHA Tyr Trig 30 27 Tetricus I’s governorship and Tetricus’s II’s senatorial rank: Aurelius Victor 35 5, Eutropius 9 13

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to have played a role in providing an intellectual justification for the Great Persecution under the tetrarchs 22 Iamblichus’s disciple Sopater served as an advisor to the emperor Constantine before succumbing to the brutal court politics of that emperor’s later career 23 But another, more interesting development came to define this fourth century Roman Platonism This was the ecumenical approach to knowledge – and particularly divine knowledge – that, more than anyone else, Iamblichus worked to systematize in the first decades of the century It was this systematic approach to the divine that so heavily influenced the emperor Julian Indeed, it is with Julian that the Romanization of Greek philosophers culminated Julian was, of course, both a disciple of Iamblichean Platonism and the highest ranking Roman in the empire His philosophical background guided his approach to running Rome Julian firmly believed that he had been chosen by Zeus to rule the empire in a fashion that both honored the gods who had protected him and improved the moral, material, and spiritual conditions of his subjects 24 Julian had a thoroughly Platonic way of understanding his philosophical and religious obligations And Julian drew upon his philosophical training in general and his study of Plato’s Laws in particular to find models for ruling the Roman state as a philosopher 25 To this end, he fired a host of mid-level imperial secretaries and other advisors and replaced them with philosophers and other intellectuals Julian trusted 26 He also recalibrated imperial religious policies that had moved strongly against traditional pagan religion in the last years of his predecessor Constantius II 27 As soon as he assumed power, the pagan historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that Julian “directed in plain, unvarnished terms, that the temples should be opened, sacrifices brought to their altars, and the worship of the old gods restored” 28 Julian then tried to revitalize traditional religion by creating a pagan priesthood In keeping with the emperor’s philosophical ideals, these priests would “take care to exhort men not to transgress the laws of the gods”29 while also encouraging Romans to participate in pagan religious rites drawn from across the empire Education represented a much more potent tool for a philosophical emperor interested in improving the moral and spiritual condition of his subjects He believed that

22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

See, for example, Digeser 2012 Zosmius, 2 40; Eunapius, VS 463; Sozomen, HE 1 5 Julian, Epistle to the Athenians 284; cf Ammianus, 20 5 His guiding principles seem to have derived primarily from a Neoplatonic interpretation of Plato’s Laws On this see Marvin forthcoming On the philosophical character of Julian’s court and its reflections in the works written in Constantinople during his time there see Elm 2012), 88–143 For discussion see Watts 2015, 109–115 Ammianus, 22 5 For Julian’s interest in traditional religion while a student see also Eunapius, VS 473 Letter to a Priest, 288D For spiritual advancement as a philosophical objective of Julian see Marvin, “Curing Folly”, forthcoming

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schools could serve as places in which Romans would develop the tools to understand and use the philosophical direction the emperor hoped to provide 30 In order to ensure that they could do this, Julian issued a set of two laws that tied legal recognition of one’s status as a teacher to excellence in “personal character” 31 To Julian, this meant that the virtuous teacher taught only ideas that he believed to be true – and, as a result, Christian teachers would have to affirm that “neither Homer nor Hesiod nor any one of these, the authors about whom (you) lecture and explain, is guilty of any impiety” 32 All ambitious students, both Christian and pagan, would now need to study with teachers whose convictions could guide students to trust the ideas and stories that supported both traditional religion and Julian’s philosophical principles 33 For the nineteen months that Julian ruled alone, one could genuinely say that the Roman world followed a path set for it by a Platonically trained, Greek-speaking philosophical emperor For the first and only time in history, the era’s most prominent Greek philosophical voice was completely in synch with the policies and direction of the Roman world – because a Greek philosopher set those policies and directions himself Julian died in 363 and subsequent generations saw philosophy and imperial politics gradually pull apart In the mid-360s, Praetextatus, an Italian senator, translator of philosophical texts, and priest of a host of pagan cults, served as the proconsul of Achaea 34 In 365, he used his status to convince the emperor Valentinian to rescind a law that would prohibit the Eleusinian Mysteries Praetextatus would live into the early 380s and rose so high that he served as urban prefect of the city of Rome, one of the group of offices whose prestige ranked just below that of the emperor himself From the 350s into the mid-380s, the Aristotelian philosopher Themistius served as the chief figure in the senate of Constantinople and a chief apologist for a series of flawed or failed emperors He too would hold an urban prefecture, briefly serving in this capacity in Constantinople under Theodosius I 35 Platonically-trained philosophers continued to bounce around high level imperial politics for nearly a century after these men passed from the scene Hypatia’s student Synesius served on an imperial embassy in 398 While in the capital, Synesius addressed his De Regno to the emperor Arcadius, a philosophically infused work on

30 31 32 33 34 35

Marvin, forthcoming CTh , 13 3 5 (trans Pharr, with slight revisions) The difference between the Julianic law and the law found in the Theodosian Code has been described by Matthews 2000, 274–7; and Banchich 1993, 5–14 Julian, Ep 61 (Bidez-Cumont) This is the Ep 42 to which Banchich refers He is taking his numbers from the Hertlein edition not that of Bidez-Cumont This reflects Julian’s own biography when, in response to the “correct” training he received in school, Julian became a convert to paganism See Libanius, Or 12 34 and 13 12 for a discussion of Julian’s conversion and its significance See also Bowersock 1978), 29 ff For the career of Praetextatus: Watts 2015, 139–44 (Achaea), 185 (career in 380s) Themistius, Or 34 13 Discussion: Watts 2015, 178–9

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how a wise ruler should conduct himself, what policies he should favor, and why he should combat corruption 36 In the 460s, pagan philosophers still served as influential advisors to the western emperor Anthemius and the magister militum Marcellinus, an official described as a Hellene by Damascius who governed an autonomous Roman territory based in Illyricum 37 One of Anthemius’s urban prefects was Messius Phoebus Severus, a man who also held a consulship after his term as urban prefect ended Severus even hosted a Platonic philosophical salon in Alexandria that Damascius attended in the 470s and 480s 38 As late as the 510s, there were stories in circulation about the emperor Anastasius turning to a pagan philosopher named Proclus to help him beat back a usurper’s attack on Constantinople 39 Two factors ensured that prominent, publicly engaged philosophers like this became rarer as the fifth century progressed The first of these was the development of a specifically Christian way of framing philosophy Christian teachers like Clement, Origen, Lactantius, and Eusebius had long used philosophical ideas and principles to arrive at a higher-level understanding of the divine But, beginning with Athanasius’s Life of Antony and continuing through figures like John Chrysostom and Theodoret, Christian authors and leaders appropriated the title of philosopher to refer to Christian ascetics, a group that came increasingly to be called philosophers by their contemporaries 40 Imperial advisor was one of the roles that Athanasius and his hagiographical successors carved out for these newly minted philosophers Antony, for example, supposedly corresponded with the emperor Constantius in the 350s 41 This sort of holy man consultation became routine by the early fifth century The reign of Theodosius II saw Christian ascetics as diverse as Simeon Stylites, Basil of Antioch, and monks in the Egyptian communities of Scetis all try to influence imperial policy by communicating theological or political concerns directly to the emperor 42 By the 460s, the pillar saint Daniel the Stylite set himself up in the capital and became a prominent advisor to the emperors Leo and Zeno as well as a powerful critic of the usurper Basiliscus Although his biographer emphasizes that Daniel said “nothing rhetorical or philosophical” when he spoke publicly, Daniel’s calls for moral behavior among his fellow citizens and his advocacy for enlightened imperial rule fit with the sort of public role Greek philosophers had long played 43 Like Themistius, Daniel used

36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

On the De Regno see Cameron and Long 1993, 103–142; Ziche 2011, 199–201; Amande 2013, 66–72 Damascius, Isid 69D Damascius, Isid 51C–D Malalas, Chron 16 16 See, among many examples, John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Statues, 17 13 For discussion of the efforts by Athanasius to define ascetics as philosophers see Watts 2010, 117–133, at 126–129 Athanasius, Life of Antony, 81 Simeon Stylites: Syriac Life 121–3; Basil: John Rufus, Plerophories 35; Monasteries of Scetis: John of Nikiu, Chronicle 87 13–16 Life of Daniel the Stylite, Ch 58

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his prestige as an authority on these topics to support emperors and buttress controversial policies He backed imperial censures of prominent officials, generated support for a military campaign against the Vandals, and even reinforced the legitimacy of the emperor Zeno when he was forced out of the city by Basiliscus 44 Less than a century after the death of Themistius, a Christian ascetic on a pillar had replaced an Aristotelian philosopher to become one of the leading voices generating support for imperial regimes in Constantinople The role remained much the same, but the Christian empire had simply found a new, Christian philosopher to fill it This is, of course, too simplistic a formulation As we have already seen, pagan Greek philosophers remained important across the fifth century These Christian ascetics that some authors tried to define as philosophers did not replace pagan Greek philosophers They supplemented them So, to give but one example, the Vandal campaign that Daniel generated support for in Constantinople joined Eastern imperial forces and other Roman forces from the west These other Roman forces were commanded by the western emperor Anthemius and the pagan magister militum Marcellinus of Dalmatia, two men advised by pagan, Greek speaking Neoplatonists who are celebrated as pagans in Damascius’s Life of Isidore The philosophical ecosystem of the later fifth century had clearly changed But the change had been gradual – and Greek-speaking, Roman Neoplatonists remained a robust and important population within the empire It took a bigger, much more shocking shift to destabilize the position of the Roman, pagan philosopher This concerned neither the nature of philosophy nor the nature of holiness It instead grew out of a radical attempt to redefine Romanness catalyzed by the emperor Justinian in the 520s and 530s Justinian and his subjects shared the view that God had empowered the emperor to lead the empire as a “a man who is Christian and Roman and full of every royal virtue” 45 For Justinian, this meant “there is not much difference between priesthood and imperial power, or between holy and public things” because Roman security and success depended upon the emperor’s ability to appropriately direct both sacred and secular affairs 46 This led Justinian to intervene more aggressively than his predecessors in the religious lives of his subjects Previous emperors had largely focused on regulating what Romans did when worshipping 47 Justinian expanded imperial regulation so that it concerned not just the actions his subjects took but the beliefs that underpinned them 44 45 46 47

Life of Daniel the Stylite, Ch 55 (Censure of general), 56 (Vandal campaign), 71 (Deposition of Zeno) ἄνδρα ἐπιλέξασθαι Χριστιανὸν Ῥωμαῖον καὶ πάσης γέμοντα βασιλικῆς ἀρετῆς (Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Ceremoniis 1 92) This concerns the elevation of the emperor Zeno but, for a similar idea in the context of Justinian’s elevation see De Ceremoniis 1 94 For discussion see Kruse 2015 Novellae 7 2 E g CJ 1 1 1=CTh 16 1 2, a law of 380 defining orthodoxy as agreement with specific bishops, though with a brief credal statement is included; CJ 1 5 8, a law of 455 defining orthodoxy as professing what was held at the ecumenical councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon

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The effort began almost immediately with a law in 527 that laid out what orthodox Christians must believe 48 Subsequent, more detailed such laws designed “to correct the false belief which has taken possession of [heretics] minds and to promote, acknowledge and honor the only true and saving faith of the Christians” followed 49 By 531, Justinian had imposed severe penalties upon those who did not mold their beliefs to suit his prescriptions Pagans and Christians suddenly faced the confiscation of their property, the loss of social rank, and the stripping of any imperial offices they held 50 For the first time since 212, there was a category of people who understood themselves to be Romans but who lacked the full legal protections and privileges of Roman citizens It is in this context that we can finally return to Damascius, Simplicius, and those of their colleagues who chose to leave their homeland rather than submit to Justinian’s restrictions Justinian’s revolutionary ideas about what made one fully Roman directly impacted these men The most notable way, of course, came in his decision to endorse the closure of the Athenian Neoplatonic school where they lived and worked in 529 51 This was a blow, but not a severe enough one to push the philosophers out of the Roman Empire These Romans remained in their state until the intensification of Justinian’s persecution pushed them to leave in 531 In fact, we can see a shift in how these philosophers understood their place in the Roman world that occurs roughly in tandem with this Justinianic oppression Perhaps no document shows this more clearly than Damascius’s Life of Isidore This composite text came together in its final form in the late 510s or early 520s, but it captures a series of dynamic oral traditions that Damascius encountered across the nearly 50 years he had spent in the academic centers of Damascus, Alexandria, and Athens The earliest traditions are weirdly hopeful ones in which Roman philosophers find themselves in positions to bring about significant political changes in their empire The former consul Severus, for example, spoke to Damascius in the 470s about the supposed paganism of the emperor Anthemius and his support for a secret plan to restore paganism in the empire 52 Severus also probably spoke to Damascius about a series of pagan plots to assassinate various Christian emperors 53 Damascius knew of a plot to assassinate

48 49 50 51 52 53

One exception to this is the Henotikon of the emperor Zeno (Zacharias, HE 5 8 and Evagrius, HE 3 14; cf Liberatus, brev 17; Nicephorus Callistus, HE 16 12) CJ 1 1 5 CJ 1 5 18 1 CJ 1 5 18 5 (pretense); 1 5 18 10 (investigation) John Malalas, Chron 18 47 Isid 77A; one must note that this comes to only through a Photian paraphrase of a longer section of text Aside from the actions of Anthemius (about which Severus must be the source), the most notable examples of this concern Marcellinus of Dalmatia (Isid 69A–D) and a general historical survey at Isid 115 On this material, see as well: von Haehling 1980, 82–95

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the emperor Zeno and restore paganism in the mid-470s54 as well as another one connected to the usurpation of Illus and Leontius in 484 These anecdotes point to a disenchantment with the political direction pursued by impious emperors, but, in their way, they are also oddly optimistic The empire remained redeemable and there were still steps that pagan Roman philosophers could take to bring about its redemption Indeed, in some ways, Damascus’s complaints resemble those of Christians who found themselves on the wrong side of Roman imperial religious policy 55 We have become accustomed to seeing those Christian discussions for what they are – the laments of loyal Romans who belong to an empire that is being led astray by the heretical doctrines of an impious emperor We need to extend the same conceptual flexibility to Damascius and his sources One detects a clear shift as Damascius’s text reaches materials from the later 480s After a violent persecution in Alexandria, Damascius and his associates began to lose their hope that the Roman Empire could in fact be redeemed The stories he recounts then shift They now emphasize brave acts of principled philosophical resistance that created martyrs but had little chance of facilitating actual change These include Hypatia’s murder, a courtroom beating suffered by the philosopher Hierocles, the flight of Damascius’s teacher Isidore from Alexandria to Athens in 489, and the missteps of the Athenian scholarch Hegias in the face of Athenian Christian pressure 56 By the time that these stories were written down in the 520s, the empire was no longer something that seemed like it could be redeemed It now was something Roman philosophers needed to endure Justinian’s laws made even endurance impossible In a commentary on Epictetus’s Encheiridion written in the 530s, Simplicius inserted an essay concerning the role of a philosopher in a morally corrupt state 57 Although it is loosely related to Epictetus’ discussion of the need for a philosopher to be unconcerned about political position or state honors,58 this essay is purely a Simplician creation In proper Platonic fashion, it holds out a political role for the philosopher as “a father and teacher for all in common, their corrector, counselor, and guardian” 59 After describing the political role of a philosopher in his homeland (πατρὶς), Simplicius moves on to consider the philosopher’s proper response when an irredeemably unjust government takes over “In corrupt Republics (μοχθηραῖς πολιτείαις)”, he writes, using πολιτεία, the term that sixth century Romans used to refer to their own state, the philosopher will

54 55 56 57 58 59

Isid 115 For a discussion of this dynamic see, for example, Watts 2013, 269–84 See, for example, Damascius, Isid 43A–E (Hypatia) and 42A–F (Olympus), Isid 45B (Hierocles), Isid 119A–D, 121, 122A–C and 132–44 (Isidore), Isid 145B (Hegias) For a detailed discussion of this section of the text see O’Meara 2004, 89–98 This discussion is found in Ch 24 of the Encheiridion In Ench 32 65 3

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“abstain from public affairs, neither being pleased with those who are governed badly (τοῖς κακῶς πολιτευομένοις) nor being appreciated by them, nor being able to serve those who rule over them while also preserving faith and modesty Indeed, he ought to ask to be an exile from these incurable affairs, and, if indeed it is possible, he will go to another, better Republic (εἰς ἄλλην καλλίονα πολιτείαν)” 60

Simplicius then turns to a specifically Roman example to illustrate when this should be done Such a course of action, he continues, is just as that followed by “Epictetus himself when, condemning Domitian’s tyranny, he fled from Rome to Nicopolis” (ὡς αὐτὸς ὁ Ἐπίκτητος, τῆς Δομετιανοῦ τυραννίδος καταγνούς, ἀπὸ τῆς Ῥώμης ἐξέστη πρὸς τὴν Νικόπολιν) 61 This aside has much more significance than is often appreciated Epictetus’s experience is, of course, relevant to Simplicius’s project because the work is a commentary on an Epictetan text But Epictetus was a Greek-speaking philosopher who, at the time of his exile, was also a Roman citizen Rome was the common πατρὶς of both Epictetus and Simplicius Its empire was the πολιτεία to which both of them belonged And the tyranny of Domitian corrupted the Roman πολιτεία in the 90s just as that of Justinian was corrupting it in the 530s But, in the empire of Domitian, Nicopolis still existed under its own laws Epictetus could flee there, to a second πατρὶς, and safely live philosophically until the tyranny ended Simplicius, however, had no Nicopolis to which he could immediately flee He needed to go further afield It is this impulse that ultimately took him to Persia The historian Agathias provides the only direct testimony about the trip He writes that Damascius, Simplicius, Priscian of Lydia, and four others went to Persia because “they had come to the conclusion that, since the belief system that held sway among the Romans was not to their liking, and [because] the Persian politeia (Περσικὴν πολιτείαν) was much superior” An additional factor, Agathias explains, is that “they were prohibited by law from exercising their citizen rights (ἐμπολιτεύεσθαι) because they did not follow the established religion (καὶ πρός γε ἀπειρημένον αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῶν νόμων ἀδεῶς ἐνταῦθα ἐμπολιτεύεσθαι, ὡς τῷ καθεστ ῶτι οὐχ ἑπομένοις)” 62 The experience in Persia proved disappointing and the philosophers soon decided that “it was better for them simply to immediately cross the Roman frontiers (τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ὁρίων)” and return home (οἴκαδε), even if it meant death, “rather than staying among the Persians” 63 As a service to them, the Persian king inserted a clause into the treaty that was then being negotiated between the Romans and the Persians 60 61 62 63

In Ench 32 65 35 In Ench 32 65 36–38 Hist 2 30 3–4 Καίτοι ἔστεργέ τε αὐτοὺς ἐκεῖνος καὶ μένειν ἠξίου, οἱ δὲ ἄμεινον εἶναι σφίσιν ἡγοῦντο ἐπιβάντες μόνον τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ὁρίων αὐτίκα, οὕτω παρασχόν, καὶ τεθνάναι ἢ μένοντες παρὰ Πέρσαις τῶν μεγίστων γερῶν μεταλαγχάνειν οὕτω τε ἅπαντες οἴκαδε ἀπενόστησαν, χαίρειν εἰπόντες τῇ τοῦ βαρβάρου φιλοξενίᾳ

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so that “the philosophers should be allowed to return to their homes and live out their lives in peace without being compelled to alter their ancestral religious beliefs (μεταβάλλειν τὴν πατρῴαν δόξαν) or to accept any view which did not coincide with them” 64 A key part of this framework is, of course, the ambiguity of τὴν πατρῴαν δόξαν This could (and, in fact, did) mean the traditional religious beliefs of the philosophers but, in Chosroes’ formulation, it meant something much broader The πατρὶς of these philosophers was, of course, not simply Cilicia or Syria or Athens It was Rome And Chosroes took great pleasure in proclaiming himself the protector of Rome’s pagans in much the same way that Roman emperors claimed to protect Persian Christians Chosroes even went so far as to spare Roman pagans from punitive measures when his armies sacked cities 65 Read in this way, one can see a much broader significance to this clause of the socalled Eternal Peace of 532 that protected the philosophers This was not about protecting seven men It was about restoring the full citizen rights that Justinian had recently stolen from these Roman philosophers At the core of this whole incident was a conflict about Romanness and whether the Christian Roman state of Justinian could be made to recognize the full Roman status of a group of pagan, Roman philosophers that Agathias would call “the quintessential flower of the philosophers of our age” 66 The philosophers won They returned to their πατρὶς, again fully Roman How then does the story of Roman, pagan philosophy end if not with the closing of the Athenian school and the flight to Persia? We do not know Olympiodorus, the last Roman pagan philosopher about whom we know anything substantial, behaved in much the way that many of his predecessors did He interacted with Roman officials, taught philosophy to students, and had a long and active career holding a public professorship in Alexandria until the mid-560s 67 After him, nothing But it is also clear that later participants in the Greek philosophical tradition wondered what exactly had happened to the last pagan links in the Platonic Golden Chain Later Arab thinkers believed that, by the sixth century, the categories of Roman and pagan philosopher had become antithetical to each other Some in the Arab world, for example, speculated that John Philoponus must have been forced to convert to Chris-

64 65 66 67

Agathias, Hist 2 31 2–4 E g Procopius, Wars 2 17 1–8 Hist 2 30 3 Olympiodorus’ commentaries reveal very little about his public life, he gave a set of lectures on the Isagoge of Paulus of Alexandria from May to August of 564 and another on Aristotle’s Meteorology in Alexandria in March/April 565 (dating: O Neugebauer, Introduction to the Study of Mathematical Astronomy, [New York, 1975], 1043–5) Olympiodorus was present when the grammarian Anatolius welcomed a governor named Hephaestus to the city in 546 with a speech that contained a modified Homeric line (In Alc 2 80–2)

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tianity by persecuting imperial officials 68 This is, of course, completely untrue John was a devout Christian – apparently always – but the confusion does show how later generations struggled to imagine that a Christian Roman empire could also find space for pagan Roman philosophers The brief window that the Persian peace treaty of 532 had secured closed at some point We don’t know when, but, when it did, the categories of Roman and Hellenic philosopher no longer fit together We have been suffering conceptually from this loss ever since Edward Watts Professor of Ancient History & Alkiviadis Vassiliadis Endowed Chair in Byzantine Greek History at the University of California San Diego ewatts@ucsd edu

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E g Against John the Grammarian, al-Farabi gives one set of explanations He said of John: “One may suspect that his intention from what he does in refuting Aristotle is either to defend the opinions laid down in his own religion about the world, or to remove from himself (the suspicion) that he disagrees with the position held by the people of his religion and approved by their rulers, so as to not suffer the same fate as Socrates” The translation is that of Mahdi 1967, 233–60 (esp 256–7)

The Construction of Legitimate Models of Female Auctoritas in Neoplatonism1 Clelia Martínez Maza 1. Introduction In his 2013 book exploring biography as a literary genre conducive to the construction of philosophical identity in late antiquity, A P Urbano devoted a chapter to the only woman for whom a biographical account survives, Sosipatra, in which he observed the following: “The philosophical bios was a literary space normally reserved for male subjects Not a single woman appears as the subject of a Platonist bios before the publication of Eunapius’s Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists at the turn of the fifth century CE”2.

His aim throughout the chapter is to analyse why this woman was included in the pantheon of philosophers as an equal of her peers and to investigate the role of biography in the construction of this authoritative image Although he also examines the biography of a female Christian scholar of the period, Macrina, in order to ascertain connections and similarities between the two biographical accounts, he does not delve into the lives of other contemporary Neoplatonist women, his reason being the absence of a complete biographical text, as only fragments exist about the lives of other women philosophers Philosophy is beset by the same methodological problems as those encountered in almost any other field as regards elucidating the lives of women in antiquity On the one hand, our knowledge of such women and their contributions to philosophy is highly fragmented and of disputed authenticity, while on the other, there are no primary sources from which to glean direct knowledge of their activity Furthermore, the 1 2

This paper is part of the Research Project HAR2017–84789-C2–1P funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation Urbano 2013, 246

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information we do have comes from male literary production3, rendering it very difficult to distinguish and evaluate the intellectual activity of each of the women objectively or even as realistically as possible This difficulty arises with all accounts of the lives of such women, regardless of the religious affiliation of the male author of their biographies, because the same obstacles that hinder the study of Neoplatonic women philosophers resurface in the case of women scholars in the Christian world Consequently, it is necessary to cease viewing the sources on the lives of women philosophers as if they were primary and accurate testimonies of the religious, social, and cultural contexts in which these women worked Rather, in line with the basic premises of narrative theory, we should recognise that each author deploys his own particular language and discursive style to imaginatively organise a series of events into an internally coherent account according to his interests, but also tailoring it to the demands of its context of production4 Thus, just as hagiography constructed an archetype of the life of a virgin or a female ascetic to provide devotees with an ideal model to which Christian women should aspire, in the contemporary polytheistic world, the few existing biographies of women also offered role models Therefore, rather than depicting distinct, individualised identities, male authors worked towards the common goal of creating idealised female archetypes, and their construction of these betrays the perpetuation of gender stereotypes that offer a homogenising and orthodox view of women The nature of the sources cannot be ignored when adopting a gender perspective in the study of Neoplatonic women philosophers, nor should any investigation be limited to restoring their biographies for the sole purpose of rectifying deficiencies in the traditional list by including another name together with little more than some family information and a few memorable anecdotes If we restrict ourselves to salvaging as complete a biographical account as possible, we run the risk of losing sight of the women themselves and of instead transmitting and reproducing a uniform image of women philosophers and of a past without the inequalities that influenced how each of the women was described Rather, we should analyse the way in which these women philosophers were described, the circumstances of their philosophical teaching activity, which occurred in the heart of a society based on the pre-eminence of men, and how a conceptual framework was constructed to legitimise this inequality At the same time, we should seek to unravel the bias reflected in the selection and decipher the reasons why not all women scholars received the same consideration even though they belonged to the same philosophical tradition My goal is to demonstrate that the depiction of Neoplatonic women corresponds to a female model tailored to the conventional stereotypes prevailing in late antiquity

3 4

Harvey 1990, 36; Clark 1993; Martínez Maza 2015, 89–91 White 1973; Ricoeur 1985

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society5, as illustrated by Sosipatra’s biography or the brief notices that have been preserved of other contemporary female philosophers Hence, their portrayal is not far removed from the widespread archetype in the literary production of the Christian world, in which similar ideal characteristics adorn the image of Christian women presented as models worthy of imitation It is therefore no surprise that a comparison of Sosipatra and Macrina6 should reveal similarities because their biographies perpetuate the archetypes of the time from different ideological perspectives It may be of more interest to conduct a comparison with the most famous philosopher of the period, Hypatia of Alexandria, even though we have no biographical account of her As I intend to show in what follows, the silence surrounding Hypatia is highly significant from a gender perspective, and its underlying reasons will undoubtedly serve to elucidate why the sources presented a hostile image of her that is utterly different and remote from the one preserved of her female peers As we shall see, the behaviour of women teachers of philosophy was expected to adhere strictly to traditional female roles, and it is perhaps for this reason that a positive impression remains of those who taught within a framework of what was deemed appropriate behaviour The philosophical work of Neoplatonic women was linked to three elements: the family and women’s intrinsic duty to ensure offspring; teaching imparted in the innately female, domestic sphere deploying qualities attributed to the feminine ideal; and a philosophical training far removed from the canons of paideia acquired by their male counterparts Philosophical activity, therefore, cannot be considered per se a transgressive element, a liberating space for women or a vehicle for the expression of their creative capacity, because it was an instrument wielded by the elites to maintain patriarchal structures: “one more tool in the service of the collective value system”7 In fact, an education in philosophy served to reinforce qualities that were considered essential for the smooth running of a household, such as measured judgement and prudence It is precisely the fact that the philosophical work of Neoplatonic women – or at least what is known of it – was carried out within the conventional radius of action proper to female activity, the family home, and that their teaching did not correspond to the tripartite philosophical canon that distinguishes between ethics, logic and physics8, which has exerted a negative influence on recognition of their contribution to philosophy, as if this were a purely anecdotal and secondary facet compared to the teaching of the grand themes that occupy philosophical reflection However, it should be borne in mind that in the Pythagorean treatises, for example, cosmic harmony and

5 6 7 8

Munkholt 2018, 147–164 Urbano 2013, 245–272 Alvar Nuño 2017, 190–191 Deslauriers 2012, 343–353 Addey 2018, 415–416

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virtue both find their expression in the heart of a well-run home and in child care9; consequently, these female scholars were outstanding experts in the theurgy and other tools employed in late antiquity Neoplatonism10, and furthermore the domus was the most propitious setting for training11 2. Philosophy in the domus Their teaching activity never led women such as Sosipatra to neglect their traditional role as wives and mothers, and their training served to inspire and enrich the intellectual education of their children and the young members of the elites in their respective cities In fact, barely anything is known about them except their facet as wives and mothers of male philosophers, and they are mainly remembered for their work as transmitters of the school12 Thus, in the 5th century, Aedesia married the philosopher Hermeias and bore two philosopher sons, Ammonius and Heliodorus13; in Athens, Asclepigeneia, taught by her father Plutarch, passed on her knowledge to Proclus14, instructing him, according to Marinus, in the Chaldean rituals15; Sosipatra was married to the philosopher Eustathius of Cappadocia and bore three sons16, one of whom was the famous Antoninus, who in Canopus (Egypt) prophesied the destruction of the Serapeum of Alexandria17 After the death of her husband, Sosipatra moved to Pergamon, where she continued her philosophical teaching, sharing her students with Aedesius himself18 Their teaching was always confined to the domestic sphere19, which lent itself to less formal instruction and meant that the recipients were not only students but also members of the household itself and any other relatives or visitors Male philosophers also considered the domus a location as suitable for teaching as any other public space20, such as a temple or outdoor area, but they did not restrict their scope of action exclusively to this sphere Libanius taught in his home, and beside a temple21 Among other houses, Eunapius gives a detailed description of the sophist Julianus’ home in Athens22

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Clark 2007, 170; Harper 2013, 117–125 Lewy 1978; Shaw 1995; Athanassiadi 1999, 149–183; Van Liefferinge 1999 Dixon 1992; Gadner 1998; Saller 1999, 193–195; Cenerini 2002; 20; M D’Amelia 2007 Clark 1993, 132; Denzey Lewis 2014, 279–280 Damasc apud Photium cod 242 Marin Neapol , Vita Procli, 12 1–3; Saffrey 1989, 625–6 Marin Neapol , Vita Procli 28 8–10 Eunap VS 6 9 1 Schwarz 1966, 97–111; Watts 2015, 217 Eunap VS 6 9 2 Wilkinson 2015, 11 Cribiore 2001, 21–34; Watts 2012, 631–633 Lib Or 1 101–4; Cribiore 2007, 145–146 Eunapius VS 9 1–2

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However, in the case of the women, we only know of them teaching in the home, or at least that is the facet of their teaching that has survived in the biographical sources, not only of the female Neoplatonic philosophers but also of women scholars in the contemporary Christian world Of Melania, for example, it was said that she was a truly good teacher23 whose inspired teaching benefitted many, and for this reason she was plagued by visitors24; in Pergamon, Sosipatra did not teach in public, but instead gave her classes in the family home and only to the most select circle of disciples, for whom this training served as a complement to the lessons they received in the school25 In Athens, Asclepigenia also taught at home and only to a few students, but solely on special occasions and not as part of a standard curriculum26 Given this type of teaching, which was not public and was only accessible to a few students after they had been trained in the schools in their cities, it is understandable that neither Asclepigenia nor Sosipatra had pupils who left a testimony of the knowledge these women transmitted Their pupils were sent by the male philosophers who led the school and the women had no control over the educational process or access to that training27 Theirs was, therefore, a very different kind of teaching to that delivered by Hypatia, who received anyone interested in philosophy into her home but also gave lessons in public forums just as any other colleague at the school of Alexandria, and her students included young members of the elites from the major cities in the eastern Mediterranean, who came to the city to receive an education that would prepare them for the future obligations of their rank28 Hypatia’s teaching did not require the cooperation of any male philosopher; she taught on an equal footing with the other members of the school29, which explains why she had a group of disciples who maintained a relationship of respect, admiration and affection for her even after they had finished their training, and also explains why she wielded enormous influence first in intellectual circles and then in political circles (nurtured by her former students) that was unheard of among the other women philosophers30 Thus, the charismatic leadership exercised by Neoplatonic women philosophers also appears to have been conditioned by gender Those who are portrayed positively are described not as important figures in philosophy but as devoted to teaching and the transmission of knowledge within the family home, the sphere that supposedly 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Gerontius, Vita Melaniae 37 Gerontius, Vita Melaniae 32 Eunapius VS 6 9 2 Deforest 2011, 315–342 Watts 2017, 103 Watts 2006, 11–14; Id 2017, 24–25 Synesius of Cyrene ep 46, 93; Lib ep 105, 110 Bagnall 1993, 255–6; Marcone 1998, 363–366; Cribiore 2001, 145–147; Watts 2006, 187–203; id 2015, 159–160; id 2017, 85–87; Martínez Maza 2009, 87–94

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corresponded to them It is only when their teaching encroached on public space, exerting an influence beyond the confines of the domus and attaining greater social and even political impact, that their presence was perceived as threatening and their portrayal is negative, as in the case of Hypatia31 The domestic sphere is therefore presented as the normal channel for the direct transmission from mother to child of theurgic practices, Chaldean oracles and other tools that, when fully mastered, for some Neoplatonic schools constituted the routes to attain knowledge of the divine32 Some have viewed the importance given to teaching in the domestic sphere as a response to the political and religious context of the early 4th century, when the spread of Christianity led to increasingly repressive legislative measures Particular mention is made of Eusebius’ reference in the Life of Constantine33 to a law enacted around 324, in the time of the emperor Licinius, which prohibited women from attending the “sacred schools of virtue” This expression has been interpreted as meaning the philosophical schools in the Empire, from which the law bans the presence of women The restriction supposedly imposed by this law would have barred women’s access to centres of intellectual activity; consequently, they would only have been able to receive training from male relatives at home and would have been obliged to conduct their teaching at home as well The refuge offered by the home would also have ensured the preservation of theurgical practices under Christian rule for more than a century34 However, even a simple reading of the paragraph does not permit such a forced interpretation Moreover, the passage in which it is embedded refers to a context and a measure that would only affect Christians, and although there is no record of this or any other measure decreed by Licinius to prohibit the joint teaching of men and women, the Church certainly never allowed women to teach unless to other women35 Thus, I do not think that this reference can be used to explain why women’s teaching was henceforth confined exclusively to the family sphere If such were the case, we might reasonably expect to have several notices from before the legislation came into force demonstrating the existence of a public educational praxis in which men and women participated on equal terms, and we do not Furthermore, the supposed force of this law and its effective application are both highly debatable since it was issued at a time when Christianisation had not become sufficiently widespread for any legislative measure to be successfully applied Furthermore, regardless of his personal religious affiliation to Christianity, the emperor was still the supreme religious authority and

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Martínez Maza 2019, 70–73 Marin Procl 26, 27; Procl , in R 1 69 20; Des Places 1984, 2300–2035; Penella 1990, 59; Liebeschuetz 2000, 1003–1005; Finamore 2010, 161–173; Addey 2014, 2; Denzey Lewis 2014, 276 Eus VC 1 53 Denzey Lewis 2014, 288–289 Martínez Maza 2015, 96–97

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head of the polytheistic cults that comprised the official religion36 At such an early date, it is also untenable to argue that the imperial or ecclesiastical structures wielded sufficient power to impose such an extreme measure The famous senatorial debate on the removal of the altar of Victory from the senate37, for example, was still almost half a century away, and even after that there is no evidence of the wholesale imposition of any legislative measure restricting polytheism, much less could we expect one restricting philosophical teaching In the early 5th century, the very presence in the Alexandrian school of not only Hypatia but also other philosophers firmly committed to the defence of polytheism38, teaching Christian pupils in an empire officially recognised as Christian and Catholic with a fully consolidated Church that had become the ideological support of the State, strongly suggests that by teaching philosophy at home, the Neoplatonists were merely using their traditionally accepted space of expression: the domestic sphere Paradoxically, the teaching of such sensitive practices as theurgy in the home by Sosipatra and other renowned women philosophers was not at all perceived as threatening, even though such a polytheistic exercise might easily have provided a pretext for condemnation by contemporary Christian authors No explanation has been offered for this Christian silence Some have merely argued that it was the threat of Christian denunciation that obliged the teaching of these tools to be confined to the more discreet domestic sphere and left in the hands of women39 It is precisely the diametrically opposed stance (a totally unusual public intervention for a woman) and the intellectual and political visibility endowed by the auctoritas thus acquired, that could, in my opinion, form the circumstances that lie behind Hypatia’s negative image40 Moreover, the tacit reservation shown towards her teaching is unquestionably related to the fact that it occurred in public spaces traditionally reserved for men41 Damascius, for example, recalls Hypatia thus: “[she] would go out into the street, throwing on her tribon, and explain philosophy to anyone who would listen to her”, behaviour considered utterly inappropriate for a woman Damascius makes it clear, first, that it is a woman who is wearing the tribon, a garment that served to distinguish male philosophers, and in doing so, she was flouting the standards of modesty and discretion considered proper in a virtuous woman Second, Damascius notes that it is the street, not the home, that is the setting, and it is not members of the family or selected disciples chosen by the male head of the domus who are the recipients of her teaching, but anyone

36 37 38 39 40 41

Watts 2015, 182–183 Symm rel 3 7; Ambr ep 17 3 Martínez Maza 2009, 298–300 Denzey Lewis 2014, 291–292 Martínez Maza 2019, 70–73 Damasc PH fr 43E Watts 2017, 105

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Only by considering the visibility of her teaching and her auctoritas in this unusual setting for a woman can we decode the criticism she receives It cannot have been inspired by her philosophical stance, for as the follower of a school of thought heavily reliant on the use of scientific instruments such as mathematics or astronomy, she proposed a path to achieving union with divinity that was less aggressive towards Christianity42 than that propounded by other female philosophers such as Sosipatra or Asclepigenia, which was fundamentally based on practices targeted by Christian criticism such as theurgy and the Chaldean oracles 3. The qualities of a female philosopher with auctoritas Restricting their philosophical activity to the confines of the family home did not diminish the female teachers’ auctoritas; on the contrary, it enabled them to demonstrate, in another sphere, a conduct in keeping with the social expectations and function of women In this respect, it is important to recall that the purpose of paideia was not to instil young people with abstract knowledge but rather to equip them with the cultural tools necessary for their future political career or other public function Consequently, it reproduced the social and cultural norms that they would be expected to observe as citizens43 Hence, the role and behaviour of female philosophers could not diverge from social and cultural mores, and therefore their auctoritas derived directly from their exhibition of the qualities of a virtuous woman44 Given that the main sphere in which women lived their lives was the family home, the virtues related to this sphere were among the most highly valued45 The first of these was domesticity, from which sprang other qualities such as modesty, piety and chastity Women had to endeavour to maintain their domestic life unsullied and free from suspicion, because not only their own reputation but also that of the entire family depended on it This entailed demonstrating virtuous behaviour in the home, limiting relationships with unrelated men and other non-family members, and preventing their access to more private spaces Women also had to exhibit appropriate domesticity in public settings by limiting their outings and behaving modestly when outside the home46 This emphasis on domestic teaching has been used to explain Sosipatra’s indifference to the magical arts47 As her actions were confined to the domestic sphere, she

42 43 44 45 46 47

Martínez Maza 2009, 69–81 Watts 2006, 2113; Urbano 2013, 10–13 Cloke 1995, 25–28 Martínez Maza 2019, 97–98 Wilkinson 2015, 67–71 Iles Johnston 2012, 110–113

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would have been far removed from the palace intrigues in which magic was frequently employed48, sometimes by her more ambitious male peers49 However, I do not think that Eunapius underscored the restriction of Sosipatra’s sphere of action to the domestic sphere in order to evidence her rejection of magical practices, especially considering that the image of the witch was based on manipulation of contact with the divine in a domestic setting away from prying eyes Rather, I think that Eunapius employs other strategies in order to disassociate Sosipatra from any connection with magic, while domesticity here is viewed as a virtue not only confined to the home, but also extended to public appearances in which she exhibits the behaviour required of a virtuous woman50 Related to the endeavour to maintain a domestic life beyond suspicion is another element that also enhances the charismatic leadership of these women, and which is deployed recurrently in the construction of an idealised portrait of our protagonists: their sexual continence51 This served as an effective rebuttal of any possible misunderstandings that might arise from a teaching practice not devoid of compromising situations Teaching brought female teachers into contact with young, unmarried male pupils Although entirely innocent of any sexual overtones, the bonds of affection that arose between them could give rise to delicate situations that might be interpreted as inappropriate, and even more so as they occurred in an environment as intimate as the family home where these women philosophers used to teach52 As a means to place beyond question their integrity in a setting hidden from the public eye, anecdotes were circulated in which we see a reversal of gender roles: it is the man who appears weak and buffeted by emotion whereas the woman shows her iron will and a complete absence of the carnal desire innate to her sex according to the prevailing prejudices of Roman society Sosipatra’s biography recounts that after the death of her husband Eustathius, she moves to Pergamon, where Philometor, a distant relative, falls in love with her Feeling the ardour of this love, Sosipatra detects in her own uncontrolled nature what her disciple Maximus, whom she chooses as a mediator, eventually confirms She has fallen prey to an erotic spell Sosipatra identifies the evil and instructs Maximus to undo the enchantment53 Her sexual continence not only served as evidence of the virtue expected in a woman proffered as a role model, but also demonstrated her determination to live according to the philosophical precepts she taught; thus, the quality of her teachings was assured by the purity of her actions, for she had modelled her life on the principles she advocated Furthermore,

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AMM 29 1; Brown 1971, 119–46 Penella 1990, 61 Tert cult fem 2 12 1 Martínez Maza 2019, 98–99 Watts 2017, 104–105 Dickie 2000, 580

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when Sosipatra instructs Maximus on the ritual to be performed, he prostrates himself before her and proclaims her a goddess because of her percipience54 Hypatia displayed a similar attitude towards a student who, instead of feeling the admiration appropriate to a relationship of an intellectual nature, had allowed himself to be swept away by physical desire for her To redirect this wholly improper physical attraction, she first attempted to calm his soul with music55, but eventually resorted to a purely physical remedy, brandishing a specimen of her menstrual blood to demonstrate the impure nature of her body and remind her student of the ephemerality of physical love, so far removed from the affection that teacher and disciple should feel for one another56 Despite this anecdote, which reveals Hypatia’s distaste for earthly passions, and despite preserving her virginity throughout her life according to the sources57, some time later, John of Nikiû devotes a few lines in his Chronicle to describing her in disparaging terms, using hoary stereotypes common to Christian and Graeco-Latin literature alike, for example noting her capacity for seduction According to his account, Hypatia seduced many people with her satanic arts, including the governor of the city, Orestes, thus preventing any kind of rapprochement between him and the patriarch of the city, Cyril58 John of Nikiû recites several other traits common to the archetype of the perverse woman that we shall see later, deploying a strategy intended to discredit Hypatia and justify Cyril’s actions, which ultimately led to her murder A third essential trait in the female code of conduct was modesty in all aspects of daily life59 A woman’s modest behaviour elicited social respect and esteem for both her and her family In the field of philosophy, this was a virtue expected of Neoplatonic and contemporary Christian women alike and corresponded more to traditional social custom than to a value dictated by philosophical or religious affiliation60 The modesty described by the sources sometimes sounds closer to humility, which is all the more surprising because it appears in the biographies of women who openly exercised a leadership role or who went about their lives without any need for male intervention61 These charismatic women are often praised for the humble manner and absolute discretion of their teaching practice For example, in the life of the Egyptian ascetic Syncletica, her humble attitude is recorded as one of her virtues62

54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62

Eunap VS 6 9 3–10 Watts 2017, 75–76 Isid fr 43C Isid 43 A John of Nikiu Chron 84 87–88 Gal 1991, 175–203; Wilkinson 2015, 90–94; Munkholt 2018, 157–159 Krueger 1999, 232, Munkholt 2018, 153–156 Clark 1985, 17–33 Pseudo-Athanasius, Vita Syncleticae 12, Wikilson 2015, 41; Munkholt 2018, 152–154

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Such humility was consistent with the silence expected of women in public settings63, in line with the subordinate position they occupied in their society Paradoxically, however, it also served to enhance their authority in the exercise of teaching64, for by means of this humility, the women were portrayed as mere human instruments through which the divine teachings were revealed in all their power In the Christian world, these women do not exhibit their wisdom but keep it hidden and secret It is God who unveils their abilities and, with an uplifting purpose, elevates them to the position of role model worthy of imitation Given that society did not recognise women’s auctoritas in their own right, it was God who granted it to them and sanctioned their right to teach65 Thus, humble, submissive behaviour is transformed from being the result of female repression to becoming a recurrent literary topos66 with which the authority of female scholars such as Melania, Syncletica, Paula and Marcela was constructed67 Meanwhile, what was happening in the contemporary Neoplatonic sphere? The fragments concerning Neoplatonic women’s lives display a similar rhetorical strategy that serves to underscore, for example, the authority of Sosipatra, whose passivity has been interpreted as being the best means to reflect the divine nature of her charisma68 This passivity is already evident in her encounter with the unknown elders and the initiation she receives from them, in which she participates as a simple recipient without ever showing any desire for agency69 For instance, the strangers leave a series of objects with an undoubtedly ritual purpose given their nature (clothes, books70) and order her to seal and safeguard the chest containing these items until they return Sosipatra shows no interest either in opening the chest or in using the objects stored within, although the fact that she is charged with safekeeping the chest suggests that the strangers recognise she has a divine status similar to their own She exhibits the same passivity when she displays her clairvoyant gifts, appearing as a simple transmitter of images of the future without performing any procedure to obtain them, thereby evidencing an approach that Iamblichus considered the most perfect form of divination Indeed, according to Iamblichus (in his work on the mysteries), rituals were not in themselves a procedure for ensuring contact with the divine, but were rather the tools necessary to prepare the intermediary for ascent to divin-

63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

1 Tim 2:12; Clark 1986: 193; Clark 1995; Munkholt 2018, 159–162 Wilkinson 2015, 11 Krueger 1999, 216–232 Kuefler 2001 Munkholt 2018, 157–158 Iles Johnston 2012, 112–115 Eunap , VS 6 6–7 Penella 1990, 60; Urbano 2013, 258; Addey 2014, 8–10

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ity71 The secret ceremonies in which Sosipatra was initiated by the elders seem to have served the same purpose 4. An auctoritas free from suspicion A female philosopher’s reputation was not only evidenced by her virtuous exercise of teaching, but also by eliminating any suspicion of improper or compromising behaviour Despite Sosipatra’s oracular gifts, prophetic vision, and charisma, or perhaps precisely because of these, Eunapius, for example, takes particular pains to resemanticise any action that might tarnish her image in order to clear her from any suspicion of being a dangerous witch and instead present her as a philosopher endowed with auctoritas To this end, he selects only those anecdotes that foreground her virtues and demonstrate how far removed her charismatic leadership was from any ritual practice that could be described as magic72 Eunapius’ endeavours to absolve Sosipatra from any suspicion whatsoever of magical practice has been explained as a response to the menacing religious climate of the time, because around 391–392, Theodosius enacted severe measures to stamp out traditional pagan practices, especially sacrifice, the quintessential ritual act of polytheism73 In my opinion, Eunapius’ caution did not stem, at least not directly and exclusively, from the perceived threat implied by Theodosius’ legislation Even a cursory examination of religious activity in the eastern Mediterranean will provide abundant evidence that the severity of the letter of the law was not matched by effective implementation of the measures, nor did these successfully eliminate the reviled polytheistic practices Eunapius himself gives examples in his work of men who actively participate in rituals of a magical nature, which they perform openly without fear of being condemned for their practice74 Consequently, we must seek another cause for his caution, and we find it in the female stereotypes perpetuated in Graeco-Roman literature, which tended to automatically associate women with magical practices, and especially with erotic magic75 This was an entrenched archetype in Roman Republican and Early Imperial literature, a defamatory discourse that criticised women when they acted as healers or dispensers of apotropaic rituals and discredited their charisma and mediating function through accusations of black magic and witchcraft We can conclude then that it was her status as a woman that automatically induced readers to view Sosipatra or any other female philosopher who displayed perceived magical abilities as witches To

71 72 73 74 75

Athanassiadi 1999, 149–183; Iles Johnston 2019, 694–719 Iles Johnston 2012, 110–113 Bregman 1990, 339–342; Harl 1990, 13; Denzey Lewis 2014, 281–282 Eunap VS 7 2 1 Alvar Nuño 2017, 79–84; id 2020, 77–92

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prevent this and present Sosipatra as a theurgical philosopher innocent of any such practices, Eunapius’ portrayal of her leaves no doubt as to the nature of her charismatic leadership, similar to that enjoyed by other contemporary theioi andres76 In contrast to Sosipatra or Asclepigenia, whose theurgy was never denounced in the Christian sources, John of Nikiû’s portrayal of their Alexandrian counterpart, Hypatia, was coloured by the stereotypes that traditionally served to paint the typical portrait of a bad woman: the witch accused of black magic and impiety, capable of bending the will of men with love potions77 To this end, he gives a sui generis interpretation of the Alexandrian intellectual circle’s interest in astrology, an interest that was entirely unsurprising given that scientific opinion considered astrology a complement to astronomy Thus, it was in no way strange for Alexandrian mathematicians to practice science while also showing an inclination for divination through the stars Fourth century Alexandria was famous for its seers, who were also often termed mathematicians In fact, Hypatia’s father, Theon, showed a great fondness for astrology78 which was shared by her pupils, who were even inclined towards practices that were more open to criticism, such as the interpretation of dreams For example, the future bishop of Ptolemaïs, Synesius of Cyrene, even wrote a work on the interpretation of dreams79, mentioning it to his teacher in a letter, while according to the literary sources80, the patriarch of Alexandria, Athanasius himself, Cyril’s predecessor, was gifted at predicting the future using various typically pagan oracular procedures such as observing the flight of birds, in complete contradiction to the faith he professed and the position he held in the ecclesiastical hierarchy In short, magical and divinatory practices were widespread not only among polytheistic circles in the city but also among Christians, so much so that the ecclesiastical authorities initially tried to prohibit members of the clergy from visiting magicians, sorcerers and soothsayers and punished such behaviour, as recorded in the canons of the Church of Alexandria It is clear that John of Nikiû’s portrayal of Hypatia dispenses with all the stereotypes associated with a virtuous image and instead feeds off negative clichés in order to justify her assassination and vindicate the patriarch Cyril’s actions Thus, besides practising magic and love spells and seducing the highest imperial authority in Egypt, Hypatia played a leading role in the intellectual and political public sphere81, a sphere forbidden to women and reserved exclusively for male citizens; moreover, she participated on equal terms even though, as a woman, it was not her place The pains taken to portray

76 77 78 79 80 81

Iles Johnston 2012, 114–115 Stratton 2007 Haas 1997, 151–152 Synesius ep 154; De insomniis 135b, 140b, Dimitrov 2013, 57–58 Amm Hist , 15 7 7–9 Martínez Maza 2014, 285–310

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her with these particular traits indirectly reflects how threatening her auctoritas was perceived to be, compared to that exercised by other charismatic women who always acted within the limits set by social mores Such a portrait constructed on the basis of stereotypes reveals, in its negative version, that once again, now in the intellectual circles of late antiquity, auctoritas is only presented as legitimate when it does not contravene political, social and religious mores defined by gender inequality Clelia Martínez Maza Professor of Ancient History at the University of Málaga martinezm@uma es

Philosophers as θεῖοι ἄνδρες between Diogenes Laertius and Eunapius of Sardis Tradition and Discontinuities in the Shaping of Miracle Workers Sergi Grau Guijarro Scholars of ancient biographies of philosophers often point to the proximity, but also the great differences that exist between the Lives and Doctrines of the Most Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius, the Life of Apollonius of Tyana by Philostratus, and the Lives of Philosophers and Sophists by Eunapius of Sardis The first two are practically contemporary and separated from that of Eunapius by a distance less than a century 1 Undoubtedly, as is usually accepted – and it is clear at first reading – the mentality and intentions of all three authors were very diverse, as a result of the diversity of their cultural contexts Diogenes Laertius deliberately does not use recent sources for the characterisation of his philosophers, so references to the contemporary mentality of the author rarely appear in his work, except in the epigrams, which are for this reason a space privileged for the study of the reception of ancient philosophers in the third century AD 2 It does not seem, either, that Laertius took into account the work of Philostratus, while Eunapius, in turn, does not mention or use the work of Laertius, and does know, however, that of Philostratus (cf Lives of Philosophers and Sophists II 4) However, all three works know and use the Hellenistic biographical tradition, particularly the antiquarian works written by Peripatetic scholars and, very significantly, the 1

2

Philostratus’ work is usually dated to the early third century CE, perhaps not long after 217, when the Empress Julia Domna, in the circle of intellectuals to whom Philostratus belonged, put an end to her life: cf Solmsen 1940 Runia 1997, col 601, places Diogenes Laertius no later than the middle of the third century CE Mejer 1994, 832, simply stated that “il a pu vivre vers 200 ap J-C” A summary of all dating prior to the 19th century can be found at Trevissoi 1908–1909 Eunapius is usually dated between 347–349 and 414, although in his case it cannot be said that the dates are certain: cf Goulet 1980, 60–64; Blockley 1981–1983, I, ix, 1; Banchich 1987; Penella 1990, 2–4, and especially the long and most recent discussion of evidence in Goulet 2014, vol 1, 5–34 Cf Grau Guijarro 2013a

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Successions of Philosophers (διαδοχαί) by Sotion of Alexandria, which are at the basis of both the structures of the Laertian Lives and the Lives by Eunapius 3 The main point of contrast between all three authors is, of course, that of the characterisation of philosophers as θεῖοι ἄνδρες, in a broad cultural moment of change and hesitation that will culminate in Christian hagiography 4 And, in particular, it is very interesting to approach the forms, functions and contexts that the realisation of “miracles” takes in all these authors, so that this analysis can make it possible to specify more clearly the features that define the theurgy and what it has been named, precisely after Eunapius,5 the θειασμός of the θεῖοι ἄνδρες 1. Miracles performed by philosophers in Diogenes Laertius We must begin by noting that there are not many ancient philosophers who perform wonderful acts, θαύματα, facts of a supernatural nature that go beyond the logical understanding of everyday phenomena It should also be noted that some of the “miracles” of the θεῖοι ἄνδρες are never found in most Laertian biographies Even the wording is very different: we never find in Diogenes Laertius the word σοφιστής as a synonym for “miracle worker” (Wundertäter), which Bieler detected in some late ancient biographies 6 Nor is there any mention of δύναμις, that kind of inner energy possessed by divine men in order to perform these miracles, nor of ἐξουσία, an authority that serves the divine man especially against the δαίμονες, the demons,7 of which there is no trace in Laertius’ biographies either Finally, they are also not called by the term σωτήρ, which for thaumaturges does not mean “he who gives health”, but “he who miraculously heals” 8 By contrast, the divine character of the Laertian philosophers has

3 4

5 6 7 8

Cf Buck 1992 and Hahn 1990 It matters little that Eunapius probably did not know Sotion firsthand, as argued by Goulet 1979, 171–172 In addition to the already classic studies by Bieler 1935–1936 [19672], Brown 1971a, Talbert 1978, Fowden 1982 and Cox 1983, see the most recent contributions by Anderson 1994, Du Toit 1997, the collection of articles published by Dzielska–Twardowska 2013, and the monumental work by Hartmann 2018 For an overview, Alviz Fernández 2016 is particularly useful See also a good review of the research, which takes into account the social aspect, by Alviz Fernández 2017, and the excellent synthesis by López-Salvá 2020, which makes a brief analysis of the main figures, with a rich apparatus of sources Cf Tanaseanu-Döbler 2013, 152–161 and Goulet 2014, 367–376 On theurgy (to cite only recent studies which are especially useful): Cornelli 2003, Knipe 2007, Tanaseanu-Döbler 2013, Uzdavinys 2014, Addey 2016, and the excellent synthesis by García-Gasco 2013 and Redondo 2019 Cf Bieler 19672, 80 The examples he proposes are: Luc , Peregr 14; Philostratus, V Ap 7 39; Pl , Thg 130d–e Cf Bieler 19672, 81–83 Cf Bieler 19672, 119–121

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more to do with the descriptions made by Plato or Aristotle, in the laudatory sense of someone who stands out for his ἀγαθία or for his ἀρετή 9 Even the epithet θεῖος applied to philosophers, quite common in Eunapius, Iamblichus, and Porphyry, rarely appears to characterise a philosopher in Diogenes Laertius 10 From what can be deduced from the Laertian Lives, few philosophers are considered divine because of their actions in life: Epimenides, whom the ancients considered the man most loved by the gods, θεοφιλέστατος (D L I 110); Pherecydes of Syros, divine because he prophesied (D L I 116) and knew the language of the gods (D L  I 119); Pythagoras, of course, always surrounded by a divine halo (D L VIII 14); Empedocles, who called himself an immortal god (D L VIII 62 = DK 31 B 112 = LM EMP D4); Democritus, who, thanks to his predictions, acquired the reputation of ἔνθεος, ‘a god-inspired man’ (D L IX 39); and Menedemus of Eretria, who presented himself as a character inspired by the gods when he walked disguised as a Fury and claimed to have come from Hades to observe the evils of men and immediately report them to the infernal gods (D L VI 102), although this case should be treated as a typically cynical and burlesque parody 11 The thaumaturgical quality of Laertian philosophers can rather be classified into only two different categories 12 On the one hand, the ability to control natural elements and cure diseases; on the other, their prophetic capacity, which allows them to know the present, the past and the future, in the same vein of traditional poets and seers The interest of early philosophers in meteorology and physics is reflected, in their non-philosophical image, as magical powers over the forces of nature It is, in fact, the same image that appears in Aristophanes’ Clouds, where Socrates seems to be able to control the clouds at his will (264–328) Thus it must be understood that Empedocles was able to stop the wind to prevent it from damaging the crops (D L VIII 60 = Timaeus of Tauromenium FGrHist 566 F 30); just before, Gorgias, a disciple of Empedocles, had said that he was present when the master performed his magic, but that all this is proclaimed by Empedocles himself throughout his works: ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν διὰ τῶν ποιημάτων ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι τοῦτό τε καὶ ἄλλα πλείω (D L VIII 59); and quotes verbatim, as an example (DK 31 B 111 = LM EMP D43): παύσεις δ’ ἀκαμάτων ἀνέμων μένος οἵ τ’ ἐπὶ γαῖαν ὀρνύμενοι πνοιαῖσι καταφθινύθουσιν ἀρούρας·

9 10 11 12

Cf Pl , Men 99d; Leg 951b; Arist , EN 1145a 27 This form of ἀρετή is also applied to the Egyptian gods in later authors: cf D S  I 13, and Plu , De Iside 355e Cf Du Toit 1997, 77–79, which makes an analysis of its use in D L VII 117–119; for Iamblichus, Porphyry, Plotinus, and the Neo-Pythagoreans, cf Du Toit 1997, 241–260; for Philostratus, cf Du Toit 1997, 276–315 Cf Clay 1991, 3414–3420 In fact, it is likely that there has been a confusion between Menedemus and Menippus here, as pointed out by Crönert 1905 [1965], 1–4 Cf Grau Guijarro 2013b

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καὶ πάλιν, ἢν ἐθέλῃσθα, παλίντιτα πνεύματ’ ἐπάξεις· θήσεις δ’ ἐξ ὄμβροιο κελαινοῦ καίριον αὐχμόν ἀνθρώποις, θήσεις δὲ καὶ ἐξ αὐχμοῖο θερείου ῥεύματα δενδρεόθρεπτα, τά τ’ αἰθέρι ναιήσονται, ἄξεις δ’ ἐξ Ἀίδαο καταφθιμένου μένος ἀνδρός “You will stop the force of tireless winds that, rushing down Onto the earth, destroy the fields with their blasts; And in turn, if you wish, you will bring back breezes in requital Out of a black rain cloud you will make an opportune dryness For human beings, and you will also make out of a summer dryness Streams nourishing trees that will dwell in the aether, And you will bring out of Hades the strength of a man who has died” [Trans Laks-Most]

It is clear that the anecdote of Empedocles controlling the winds arises directly from this passage in his own work 13 It must also be interpreted that Democritus, the other great physicist of the tradition, advised his brother Damas to gather the harvest urgently before a warm wind came which would damage it (Pliny, N H XVIII 341): here there is not even a miracle, but a practical application of philosophical knowledge, just as in the famous anecdote of Thales of Miletus enriching himself with the olive harvest he had predicted would be good (D L I 26 = Hieronymus of Rhodes fr 47 White = 39 Wehrli) In the same vein, Empedocles is even able to stop a plague in Selinunte by simply diverting the course of two rivers in order to temper their waters (D L  VIII 70 = Diodorus of Ephesus FGrHistCont 1102 F 1): as in the previous anecdote of Democritus, it is the practical application of the philosopher’s physical knowledge, and not a miracle in the strict sense, which saves the city from the plague Other philosophers also practiced purification, such as (again) Epimenides, who is said to have been the first to purify fields and houses, and to found shrines (D L  I 112, without reference to any source), and was called to Athens to suffocate a plague (D L  I 110 without reference to any source) 14 This ritual purification is done fully following traditional Greek religiosity, without any special intervention that can be considered “miraculous”, but by sacrificing to the local gods 15 Ultimately then, the ritual purifications of these philosophers must rather be integrated within the biographical cliché of the benefits of philosophers to the city and to humanity in general 16 Further-

13 14 15 16

Chitwood 2004, 40–48, makes a careful analysis of the passages by Empedocles from which such anecdotes are inspired Cf also Plut , Sol 12 3–12 At least as described in the canonical book on Greek purifications: see Parker 1983 For Epimenides, the sacrifice of a few lambs, or of two young men according to other versions, solves the pollution: cf Pòrtulas 2002 Cf Grau Guijarro 2009, 363–364

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more, related to these benefits and the foundation of cultural realities,17 which is explicit in Epimenides: purification leads, as Plutarch points out (Sol 12 10), to a state of refoundation of the city, newly inclined to justice (ὑπήκοον τοῦ δικαίου) and tempered by concord (εὐπειθῆ πρὸς ὁμόνοιαν), which is precisely what was intended by Solon 18 In any case, it should be seen more as a manifestation of the kind of special wisdom possessed by the philosopher19 than as an example of his thaumaturgical capacity Sometimes the control that divine men have over natural phenomena also extends to the forces of life and death, and they can heal diseases and even resurrect the dead 20 According to Diogenes Laertius, there is only one philosopher, however, who can heal diseases: Empedocles, again, who is considered a physician and a seer, καὶ ἰητρὸν καὶ μάντιν (D L VIII 61), and who heals a girl from Acragas to whom the doctors did not give any life expectancy (D L VIII 69 = Hermippus FGrHistCont 1026 F 62); in fact, in other versions of the same story, what the philosopher does is resurrect the girl, who had died, keeping her body intact for thirty days without the girl breathing or her body decomposing (D L VIII 60–61; 67) The procedure or ritual performed by the philosopher in this healing process is not specified, but there are passages that clearly indicate the origin of the anecdote: again, the verses of Empedocles himself (DK 31 B 112, 10–11= LM EMP D4, 10–11), which Diogenes Laertius cites below (D L VIII 62), where the philosopher states: οἱ μὲν μαντοσυνέων κεχρημένοι, οἱ δ’ ἐπὶ νούσων παντοίων ἐπύθοντο κλυεῖν εὐηκέα βάξιν “Some of them desire prophecies, others ask to hear, For illnesses of all kinds, a healing utterance” [Trans Laks-Most]

Again, the narration of the miraculous acts comes from a literal interpretation of the author’s own work 21 We have already seen that Diogenes Laertius also quoted the verses of Empedocles just before (DK 31 B 111 = LM EMP D43), where he states: ἄξεις δ’ ἐξ Ἀίδαο καταφθιμένου μένος ἀνδρός, “And you will bring out of Hades the strength of a man who has died” 22 The source quoted by Laertius in this case seems quite old and famous: Heraclides of Pontus, who succeeded Speusippus as scholarch of the Platonic Academy in the fourth century BCE Everything seems to indicate that he devoted an entire work to this question, entitled Περὶ τῆς ἅπνου (D L VIII 67 = Heraclides of Pontus fr 93 Schütrumpf = 83 Wehrli): it is very plausible that Heraclides used this

17 18 19 20 21 22

Cf Cf Cf Cf Cf Cf

Grau Guijarro 2009, 325–330 Pòrtulas 2002, 221 Grau Guijarro 2009, 251–257 Bieler 19672, 111–112 Chitwood 2004, 40–48 Chitwood 2004, 40–46

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account of the girl’s resurrection as proof of the soul’s independent existence from the body, in the Platonic sphere, as the title of the play itself seems to indicate: Empedocles would have been able to revive the girl because he knew he only had to return the soul to her body 23 Another philosopher who also is claimed to have control over life and death is Democritus, who is able to delay his own death by three days so that his sister can attend the Thesmophoria (D L IX 43 = Hermippus FGrHistCont F 66) 24 So we can conclude that both Empedocles and Democritus are subject to the same kind of considerations in the ancient biographical tradition, because “their meteorological knowledge is translated by popular imagination into control of divine forces, the philosophers themselves into suprahuman beings possessed of divine wisdom and power” 25 The other common thaumaturgical skill in Laertian biographies is the prophetic ability of philosophers, who know the present, the past, and the future The emblematic case of knowledge is, of course, Pythagoras, able to remember many previous lives (D L VIII 4 = Heraclides of Pontus fr 86 Schütrumpf = 89 Wehrli; Iamb , VP 134), and who also makes, in later biographies, incredible predictions about earthquakes and all sorts of natural phenomena (Iamb , VP 135–136), which must surely be interpreted as a sample of the peculiar and superior wisdom of the philosopher Pherecydes of Syros also foretold, like his disciple Pythagoras, shipwrecks and earthquakes (D L I 116 = Theopompus FGrHist 115 F 71);26 Anaxagoras, in the same vein, foretells the fall of a meteorite and predicts that it is about to rain (D L II 10) These are, as in the case of the ability to control the elements, predictions of natural phenomena, which must have been sufficiently related, above all, to the abilities of philosophers in physics Chilon of Sparta made a prediction about the capture of the island of Kythira in Laconia on several occasions, both by the Persians and the Athenians (D L I 71–72) 27 He also advised Hippocrates, future Athenian tyrant Peisistratus’ father, not to marry or, if he already had, to divorce his wife and not to recognise her children (D L I 68, from Herodotus I 59) Epimenides also makes a series of predictions, such as the Macedonian capture of Munychia (D L I 114)28 or the fall of Orchomenos (D L I 115  = Theopompus FGrHist 115 F 69) All this is simply the manifestation of the special wisdom of philosophers, who can know things hidden to the rest of mortals: it is the kind of knowledge that Democritus reveals, when he knows, only by observing the milk, that the goat that has produced it is primiparous and black, or that a girl has been

23 24 25 26 27 28

Cf Gottschalk 1980, 13–22 Cf Ath 46e–f In this case, however, the anecdote rather contributes to enhancing the bonhomie image of Democritus, within the well-known cliché of philosophus ridens Chitwood 2004, 115 Cf Max Tyr XIII 5, 19 Cf Hdt VII 235; Th IV 53–57 Cf Plut , Sol XII 10

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deflowered the night before and must therefore be treated as a lady (D L IX 42, from Athenodorus, the author of Περιπάτων) In fact, it is this kind of divination by clairvoyance that seems common to many ancient philosophers Some have the prophetic gift more as a learned profession or skill than as a divination inspired by the gods, such as Xenophon, who was able to read the bowels of sacrificial victims, basically because he was very pious and liked to offer sacrifices (D L II 56); and even Pythagoras is said to have practised divination from the omens and flight of birds, and especially by burning offerings, except incense (D L VIII 20; Iamb , VP 62; Porph , VP 25) The Laertian philosophers who work miracles, therefore, always move in the realm of traditional Greek religiosity: they are seers, capable of performing ritual purifications and make prophecies, something that simply relates them to other “maîtres de vérité” who share the same kind of wisdom 29 And, above all, as David Tiede pointed out, they are not considered divine because they work miracles, but because of their wisdom and moral superiority (“moral courage”) 30 2. Miracles performed by philosophers in Philostratus, Iamblichus and Porphyry The Apollonius of Tyana of Philostratus, on the other hand, includes in his biography almost all the characteristics that Ludwig Bieler analysed for the type of θεῖος ἀνήρ In fact, it is the same Apollonius of Tyana –in a long speech, with much relish of the Second Sophistic – who recalls precisely the exploits of Democritus and Empedocles as his predecessors in terms of the ability to control the elements and appease the plagues (VIII 7, 8): “And do you think that there is any wise man who would decline to do his best on behalf of such a city, when he reflects that Democritus once liberated the people of Abdera from pestilence, and when he bears in mind the story of Sophocles of Athens, who is said to have charmed the winds when they were blowing unseasonably, and who has heard how Empedocles stayed a cloud in its course when it would have burst over the heads of the people of Acragas?” [Trans F C Conybeare]

He also proposes the Socratic demon, the predictions of a good olive harvest by Thales of Miletus, and the predictions of celestial phenomena by Anaxagoras, as examples of the prophetic capacity of philosophers which were not associated with witchcraft, γοητεία (VIII 7, 9) It does not seem hazardous to suspect that it is in fact Philostratus

29 30

To use the famous expression of the classic work by Detienne 1967 Cf Tiede 1972, 30–42

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himself who reinterprets the biographical tradition in an attempt to set precedents for the new mode of action of his θεῖος ἀνήρ Apollonius Apollonius is certainly capable of all kinds of wonders:31 he knows the language of animals (I 20; VI 43; VIII 30), as well as foreign languages he has never learned (I 19), controls the elements of nature (IV 4, 10, 13; VI 41), practises clairvoyance (I 10; V 24; VI 3, 5, 43; VIII 26), also through dreams (I 23), and divination (I 10; III 33; IV 18, 24, 34; V 12, 18; VI 32; VIII 7), and is similarly reputed for his miraculous knowledge of the past (VI 11) In addition, he operates miraculous healings (III 39; IV 4; IV 25; VI 27), expels demons (III 38; IV 20, 25; VI 27), defeats satyrs (VI 27) and empuses (IV 25), owns the gift of ubiquity (IV 10; VIII 10, 26), can undo the chains of prison (VI 38), disappear at will to reappear again (VIII 10–12, 19), and even resurrect the dead (IV 45) The Life of Apollonius is thus a turning point in the evolution of which characteristics were required for a philosopher to be considered as such In contrast, in the same epoch, Diogenes Laertius remains faithful to his sources, in this as in so many other points, and does not share with Philostratus the taste for thaumaturgy, divination, and the wonderful narratives which were soon to become an essential ingredient to the biographies of philosophers32 and, of course, to Christian hagiographies 33 Nonetheless, it is very important to acknowledge that they use the same sources: the Hellenistic tradition initiated in the Peripatetic school and continued by imperial antiquarians Likewise, the biographies of Pythagoras and other ancient philosophers that proliferated at this time, such as that by Iamblichus (The Pythagorean Life) and Porphyry (Life of Pythagoras), follow the same characterisation as that of the Apollonius of Philostratus, and their sources, again, are identical: Nicomachus of Gerasa, who traces data back to Heraclides Ponticus, Aristoxenus, Dicaearchus, and Aristotle himself 34 Pythagoras, in these late ancient sources,35 foretells the death of his son to someone who came to consult him (Iamb , VP 142) and knows the number of fish that some fishermen have just caught (Porph , VP 25; Iamb , VP 36) It is a kind of wisdom close,

31 32 33 34

35

Cf Padilla Baena 1991 and 2001 For the construction of the image of Apollonius of Tyana in Philostratus precisely by means of his θαύματα, see Schirren 2005, 248–271 I therefore agree with Veillard 2009, 82–87 It is also worth noting that Laertian philosophers do not, in general, have postmortem destinies as clearly divinising as late θεῖοι ἄνδρες, although at this point their position is much more ambiguous: cf Grau Guijarro 2013a Cf Grégoire 1996, 204 Of particular interest are the studies of the beginnings of hagiography from the lives of pagan philosophers by List 1930, Van Uytfanghe 2005, Hägg 2011, Grau–Narro 2013 As studied by Rohde 1871 For the use of the figure of θεῖος ἀνήρ in these works, see in particular Du Toit 1997, 219–260 The preserved fragments of Porphyry’s Φιλόσοφος ἱστορία similarly confirm that his sources are the same as those of Laertius, Sotion included, although the spirit and intentions are quite different For the miracles of Pythagoras, Scharinger 2017 is essential, which makes a complete taxonomy and contextualises each miracle, with a detailed study of sources and epochs I particularly agree with his conclusions: Pythagoras is not initially characterised by performing miracles, but this will be the main element of his later fame

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in this case, to that of the seers of the epic tradition: a good example is the contest of wisdom between the seers Mopsus and Calchas, both able to reveal the exact amount of fruit of a tree and the number of piglets of a pregnant sow (Hes , fr 278 M-W) 36 Porphyry also states, for example, that Pythagoras was seen the same day in Metapontum and Tauromenium, two very distant places (VP 27), a sign of ubiquity that will later be common in the hagiographic tradition of the saints In the same vein as Apollonius, Pythagoras kills snakes that threatened Sybaris and the Tyrrhenians, and a white eagle is caressed by him at Crotone (Iamb , VP 142) 37 Pythagoras also domesticated a bear and made it vegetarian for life (Porph , VP 23; Iamb , VP 60); he spoke the language of animals, so he convinced an ox not to eat beans (Porph , VP 24; Iamb , VP 61) Some beasts worship him, such as the eagle that recognises him while he was at Olympia with his disciples (Iamb , VP 62; Porph , VP 25) And he could even fly in the sky and walk on water, like an arrow mounted Abaris in the style of Hyperboreans (Porph , VP 29, Iamb , VP 136), a thaumaturgical cliché parodied by Lucian (Philops 13) None of these wonders can be found at all in relation to the Pythagoras of Diogenes Laertius, or to any other of his philosophers 3. The philosopher defined essentially as a miracle worker in Eunapius of Sardis In clear contrast with Diogenes Laertius, such miracles performed by Apollonius and Pythagoras in late ancient biographies link them to several of the philosophers presented by Eunapius of Sardis Eunapius makes a well-known selection in his work: only philosophers of the Neoplatonic tradition who practice theurgy are included, that is to say, only philosophers who work miracles 38 Thus, for example, Porphyry expels a demon from some baths (IV 12), Iamblichus is able to levitate on the ground (V 8), likewise can Aedesius II, contemporary of Eunapius himself, who could move floating on the air (XXIII 49) Their clairvoyance and prophetic ability are fundamental distinguishing features, such as when Iamblichus knows that a street is ritually polluted because a funeral procession has recently passed through and, therefore, that the corpse has made the way impure (V 13–14), or, most spectacularly, when Sosipatra sees in a vision the accident of his cousin Philometor (VI 90–93) 39 It is especially important to quote the reactions to this scene: 36 37 38

39

Cf Grau Guijarro 2009, 251–253 The story of the eagle also appears in Ael , VH IV 17, and Porph , VP 25 Cf Goulet 2014, 162; Cox 2000, 239 The significant silence of Eunapius in the case of very important philosophers of the time, such as Themistocles and Eusebius of Mindos, who were undoubtedly excluded because they did not fulfill the theurgical characterisation of interest in the author, is noteworthy Cf Johnston 2012

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By this, all were convinced that Sosipatra was omnipresent, and that, even as the philosophers assert concerning the gods, nothing happened without her being there to see (πάντες ᾔδεσαν ὅτι πανταχοῦ εἴη Σωσιπάτρα, καὶ πᾶσι πάρεστι τοῖς γινομένοις, ὥσπερ οἱ φιλόσοφοι περὶ τῶν θεῶν λέγουσιν) [Trans W C Wright]

This divinatory capacity endows the Eunapian philosophers with the omnipresence and ubiquity of the gods, and is manifested in prophetic inspirations, premonitory dreams, or traditional techniques of all kinds, such as oracles or sacrificial consultations 40 Nonetheless, Eunapius emphasises that divine inspiration is the source of all this clairvoyance, as in the case of Chrysanthius (XXIII 10), and, I specially emphasise, Ionicus of Sardis, philosopher and physician (XXII 6): “Such were his attainments in the science of his profession, but he was also well equipped in every branch of philosophy and both kinds of divination (θειασμός); for there is one kind that has been bestowed on man for the benefit of the science of medicine, so that doctors may diagnose cases of sickness; and another that derives its inspiration from philosophy (ἐκ φιλοσοφίας παράβακχος ὤν) and is limited to and disseminated among those who have the power to receive and preserve it” [Trans W C Wright]

Chrysanthius’s son, Aedesius, possessed this gift naturally: he needed to perform a ritual based on divinatory garlands, but, in reality, his true oracles could only be explained, according to Eunapius, by his intimacy with the divine, ἡ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον οἰκειότης (XXIII 50) In some cases, even philosophers, such as Maximus, try to force the divine nature to provide the expected sign (VII 39) Above all, however, here stands a manifestation of the power of philosophers that is never found in Diogenes Laertius That takes a decisive importance in sanctioning the power of the philosopher and even, in the case of Eunapius, the power of the gods themselves and the heroes of the pagan tradition More specifically, it is the ability of philosophers to get the gods and heroes to manifest, particularly through a ritual that has been called telestic, from Proclus (In Crat , LI, 19, 10) 41 This is the case of Maximus when he animates a statue of Hecate (VII 24), and, above all, of the evocations of Apollo made by Iamblichus – although, finally, who appears to him is a dead gladiator (VI 117) – or of Eros and Anteros in the baths of Gadara (V 19–21): “He [Iamblichus] at once touched the water with his hand – he happened to be sitting on the ledge of the spring where the overflow runs off – and uttering a brief summons he called forth a boy from the depth of the spring (βραχέα τινὰ προσειπών, ἐξεκάλεσεν ἀπὸ τῆς κρήνης κάτωθεν παιδίον) He was white-skinned and of medium height, his locks

40 41

As Addey 2016 convincingly demonstrates, divination becomes a new and essential feature of late ancient philosophers, but the techniques they employ are very traditional Cf Sheppard 1982

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were golden and his back and breast shone; and he exactly resembled one who was bathing or had just bathed His disciples were overwhelmed with amazement, but Iamblichus said: ‘Let us go to the next spring’, and he rose and led the way, with a thoughtful air The he went through the same performance there also and summoned another Eros like the first in all respects, except that his hair was darker and fell loose in the sun Both the boys embraced Iamblichus and clung closely to him as though he were a real father He restored them to their proper places and went away after his bath, reverenced by his pupils (σεβαζομένων τῶν ἑταίρων, ἐξῄει λουσάμενος)” [Trans W C Wright]

It is a kind of evocation very similar to that of Achilles made by Apollonius of Tyana in Philostratus (IV 16): “It was not by digging a ditch like Odysseus, nor by tempting souls with the blood of sheep, that I obtained a conversation with Achilles; but I offered up the prayer which the Indians say they use in approaching their heroes (ἀλλ’ εὐξάμενος, ὁπόσα τοῖς ἥρωσιν Ἰνδοί φασιν εὔχεσθαι) ‘O Achilles,’ I said, ‘most of mankind declare that you are dead, but I cannot agree with them, nor can Pythagoras, my spiritual ancestor If then we hold the truth, show to us your own form; for you would profit not a little by showing yourself to my eyes, if you should be able to use them to attest your existence ’ Thereupon a slight earthquake shook the neighbourhood of the barrow, and a youth issued forth five cubits high, wearing a cloak of Thessalian fashion” [Trans F C Conybeare]

These encounters with the heroes of tradition connect very well with the conception of sacred places (where the divine is manifested: especially demons and heroes) in the religious imaginary of the Empire, exalted by the cultural values of the Second Sophistic 42 However, the miracle that no longer reappears in the tradition of the biographies of pagan philosophers is, significantly, the resurrection of the dead Indeed, at that time, the resurrection of the dead was generally considered a thaumaturgical act associated with the magic and chatter of charlatans The most interesting testimonies, in this sense, and which are often overlooked by this kind of study, are found in the ancient Greek novel An example is the false resurrection of Leucippe, the protagonist of the novel by Achilles Tatius, Leucippe and Clitophon, which is usually dated to the second century of our era, where the scene is part of a farce to trick the bandits who have captured Leucippe (III 17–18) The resurrection, then, is seen as a magical act, markedly impure and, moreover, pretended Nothing of pretence, on the other hand, but impurity and sacrilegious magic, appear in the resurrection of a dead son in a passage from 42

Cf Mestre 2014, who analyses the clearest case, but not the only one: Philostratus’ Heroicus Without a doubt, the strengthening of pagan religiosity was fundamental in the agenda of these charismatic characters: for the engagement of the philosophers portrayed by Eunapius in the local duties and religious festivals of their cities, see the contribution by A Blanco Pérez in this volume

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another novel, the Aethiopica by Heliodorus (VI 14, 2–15), which is usually dated to the fourth century, and is therefore contemporary with Eunapius’ work and mentality 4. Tradition and discontinuities: the definition of a philosopher, from Diogenes Laertius to Eunapius of Sardis The forms of the miracles by philosophers between Diogenes Laertius and Eunapius of Sardis are not as different as they may seem at first glance: they continue to manifest fundamentally their superior wisdom, evidenced in their ability to know accurately and clairvoyantly facts of past, present, and future They also share the broad control over nature and disease, although later philosophers have an additional predilection for levitation and evocation of gods and heroes, but on the other hand an effective disappearance of the power to resurrect the dead This power would become an exclusive domain, we could say, of non-philosophical thaumaturges, of a markedly necromantic or false character, and also, of course, of Christian miracle workers Instead, the strongest difference lies in the functions that miracles exhibit in these various biographers Most importantly, the miracles performed by the philosophers in Diogenes Laertius never serve to legitimise their doctrine, nor do they define their wisdom or mode of action The θεῖοι ἄνδρες of late antique tradition, in stark contrast to Laertian philosophers, flaunt their prophetic ability as a constituent element of their condition as sages, as is the case of Apollonius of Tyana (Philostr , VA I 10, 32, 33; IV 3, 4, 18, 24, 34; VI 32; VII 10) Miracles, in Eunapius, especially divine inspiration and supernatural powers, which are given the generic name of θειασμός, exclusively characterise philosophers, even when not publicly manifested in the form of theurgy For instance Antonius (VI 103) confined pagan rituals to the private sphere, usually out of prudence in the face of Christianised imperial power and the growing power of Christianity 43 On the contrary, a philosopher’s inability to perform miracles is manifestly perceived as a deficiency: this is the case when Eunapius compares Aedesius to his master Iamblichus, and states that he was very much equal to him, except for his θειασμός (VI 5); and Iamblichus is inferior to Antonius because the former was only able to see through marvels that were present, while the latter was able to predict the demise of the pagan shrines (VI 117) In fact, Iamblichus, just before the scene of the evocation of Eros and Anteros in the baths of Gadara that we discussed above, clearly states to his disciples that he will act mainly because they have insisted on it (V 16–17):

43

Cf Goulet 2014, 377–393 It is for this same reason that Aedesius did not make public exhibition of his theurgy (VI 5), lest he incur the wrath of the emperor Constantine, who pursued a markedly anti-pagan and pro-Christian policy

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“[When] they [the disciples] wished to test him in something more important, his reply to them was: “Nay, that does not rest with me, but wait for the appointed hour (…) Now he [Iamblichus] happened to be bathing and the others were bathing with him, and they were using the same insistence, whereupon Iamblichus smiled and said: ‘It is irreverent to the gods to give you this demonstration, but for your sakes it shall be done’” [“ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐπ’ ἐμοί γε τοῦτο” ἔλεγεν, “ἀλλ’ ὅταν καιρὸς ᾖ (…) “ἀλλ’ οὐκ εὐσεβὲς μέν”, ἔφη “ταῦτα ἐπιδείκνυσθαι, ὑμῶν δὲ ἕνεκε πεπράξεται”] [Trans W C Wright]

And, as we have seen, it is the miracle that fundamentally characterises the philosopher and provokes the veneration, no doubt the very adherence, of his disciples – that is essential in a community around a charismatic master, which is how the philosophical schools portrayed by Eunapius are crafted 44 Let us see another significant example in the life of Maximus (VII 22–24): “When we had arrived there and had saluted the goddess [Hecate]: ‘Be seated’, said he [Maximus], ‘my well-beloved friends, and observe what shall come to pass, and how greatly I surpass the common herd ’ (…) Now for the moment we came away amazed by the theatrical miracle-worker” [“καθῆσθε μέν”, εἶπε πρὸς ἡμᾶς, “ὦ φίλτατοι ἑταῖροι, καὶ τὸ μέλλον ὁρᾶτε, καὶ εἴ τι διαφέρω τῶν πολλῶν ἐγώ (…) ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν τὸν θεατρικὸν ἐκεῖνον θαυματοποιὸν πρὸς τὸ παρὸν καταπλαγέντες, ἀνεχωρήσαμεν] [Trans W C Wright]

Conclusively, we can say that the functions of miracles in late ancient biographies of philosophers clearly differ – at least as can be deduced from the works analysed here – between the beginning of the third century and the end of the fourth century CE, with points of divergence and confluence between pagan and Christian environments 45 The kinds of miracles, however, do not vary so much The philosopher, throughout the whole biographical tradition, is perennially a sage who accesses exceptional divine knowledge, which gives the gift of superior clairvoyance, as well as (often) an ability to control reality and disease in ways that we can call thaumaturgy 46 The specific term theurgy, on the other hand, should be reserved exclusively for the late θεῖοι ἄνδρες, but only because it is a terminus technicus, we might say, created to explicitly qualify their philosophy as a divine life in which the miracle, rather than a certain doctrine, defines their wisdom and modes of action It is very significant, in this sense, that never, in all Eunapius’ work, do we find a single doxographic exposition: the doctrine simply does not matter, because it is always Neoplatonic Instead, the work focuses on their theurgy, in this new mental frame that Peter Brown rightly named a spiritual revolution

44 45 46

See, particularly, the contribution by M Alviz Fernández in this volume In fact, the disciples also ask for miracles in the Gospels: see, for example, John 4:48; 11, 42 As Radek Chlup (2012, 169–172) argued, the Neoplatonic philosophers did not see any difference between theurgy and traditional civic cults

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from λόγος to πίστις 47 It is evident, as Radek Chlup pointed out, that “theurgy was a way of doing things rather than thinking about them”;48 and, we may add, a way of defining a philosopher as a miracle worker rather than an exponent of a way of thinking inseparable from a way of living We may add only this significant example: in Diogenes Laertius, to the topical question “what is philosophy for?” (τί περιγέγονεν ἐκ φιλοσοφίας;), the answers of the philosophers usually emphasise the freedom that philosophy confers Aristippus of Cyrene responds that philosophy allows one to live in the company of everyone, τὸ δύνασθαι πᾶσι θαρρούντως ὁμιλεῖν (D L II 68); Aristotle answers that philosophy allows us to act without anyone ordering what some do for fear of the laws (D L V 20) According to Antisthenes, philosophy inculcates the ability to live with oneself (D L VI 6) Diogenes the Cynic, in turn, responds that, in spite of some other circumstance, philosophy allows one to be prepared for any eventuality (D L VI 63) In Eunapius, philosophy serves quite differently, to justify veneration (προσκύνησις), such as when Aedesius responds to his father, who has withdrawn him for practising philosophy (VI 1): “It is no small thing, father, to have learned to revere one’s father even when he is driving one forth (πατέρα καὶ διώκοντα προσκυνεῖν)” [Trans W C Wright]

There is, therefore, a difference of function, but not so much of form, between the miracles practised by both kinds of literary traditions that feature ancient philosophers This is not caused by a diversity of periods (Philostratus, Porphyry and Diogenes Laertius are practically contemporary; Iamblichus is only a little younger), or by literary training – sources, as we have seen, are the usual ones in ancient biographies –, but rather by divergent interests in presenting the characteristics of philosophical activity and, nonetheless, in shaping a particular image of the philosophers Sergi Grau Guijarro Assistant Professor of Greek Philology at the University of Barcelona s grau@ub edu

47 48

Brown 1971b, 61, 64, 70 Chlup 2012, 169

Julian’s ideal Priests as Θεῖοι ἄνδρες1 Marina Díaz Bourgeal Julian is probably one of the better known and more thoroughly researched characters of Late Antiquity Since the fourth century of the Christian era, his life, literary works, and political and religious views have caused rivers of ink to flow The story of the solitary teenager concerned with philosophy who became a triumphant commander hailed as Augustus by his troops has fascinated generations and even produced works of literary fiction such as Gore Vidal’s novel Julian or Ken Broeder’s comic Apostata If we take a close look to the way most sources depict his life, we will find an important group of individuals related to him that we could consider as theioi andres: the philosophers Since his youth, Julian was in close contact with several important members of the late antique academic milieu, such as the grammaticus Nicocles or the famous sophist Libanius But it is probably in his contacts with the disciples of the Iamblichean philosopher Aedesius of Pergamon that the sources insist most 2 We find the main example of this insistence in the Lives of the philosophers and sophists by Eunapius of Sardis, himself a great admirer of Julian who paid great attention in his work to the Emperor’s acquaintances with the Neoplatonists of Asia Minor 3 Among these, the famous theurgist Maximus of Ephesus, a representative of the most esoteric branch of Neoplatonism (as opposed to the more rationalist approach represented by Eusebius of Myndus, another student of Aedesius), is depicted in the sources as Julian’s most influential mentor, as well as having an important impact in his rejection of Christianity

1

2 3

This study was made possible through a grant for pre-doctoral contracts for Research Staff in Training (Personal Investigador en Formación) awarded to the author by Complutense University of Madrid The study was carried out within the framework of the research project “The Neoplatonic School of Athens (4th–6th c ) in its historical and philosophical context” (HAR2017–83613C2–1-P), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy I am most thankful to Francisco LópezSantos Kornberger for our fruitful debates on the concept of charismatic authority and to Sonsoles Costero Quiroga for her valuable feedback and remarks on the text For a complete summary of Julian’s education, see Bouffartigue 1992, 29–50 For Julian’s Iamblichean Platonism, see Watts’ chapter in this same volume See for example Eunap VS 7 9–11, 7 36–51

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Julian himself refers to Maximus as his spiritual guide (καθηγεμών),4 while Eunapius insists in the Emperor’s admiration for his mentor and in Maximus’ influence at Julian’s court 5 The Antiochian sophist Libanius, one of our main sources for the world of elite social interaction in the 4th century, deems Maximus’ role in Julian’s education and “conversion” to philosophy as fundamental 6 Conversely, when narrating the first actions of Julian as sole emperor in 362, the historian Ammianus Marcellinus condemns the Emperor’s excessive enthusiasm on Maximus’ arrival to Constantinople 7 Maximus and the circle of Iamblichean philosophers would certainly fit in some of the features according to which the figure of (specially the pagan) theios aner is usually understood 8 But the teachings of this circle of philosophers on the importance of rituals and theurgy are also at the heart of Julian’s project of reform and renovation of the pagan priesthoods, in which philosophy played an important role in the βίος ἱερατικός (priestly life) 9 Most works on Julian, academic and non-academic, have paid special attention to his restoration of the pagan cults and more generally to his religious policies 10 Among these policies, the reform of the pagan priesthoods is a specially interesting one precisely because it betrays hints of his very personal and Neoplatonic oriented approach to the extraordinarily manifold panorama of religious cults of the late antique Roman empire The main source for this project of reform is Julian’s letter to the high-priest Theodorus 11 Interestingly, this Theodorus seems to have been a former student of the aforementioned Maximus of Ephesus, and Julian specifies that it was because of Maximus’ high regard of Theodorus that he counted him as his friend 12 The letter offers an overview of Julian’s idea of the necessary features that define the good priest and the 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12

Jul Or 7 235b–c Eunap VS 7 26–31, 36–46 Lib Or 13 33–34, Or 18 18, 18 156 On Julian’s conversion, see Tanaseanu-Döbler 2008, 85–154 Amm Marc 22 7 3; note the way Ammianus describes Maximus’ influence on Julian, who stood up indecore during a session of the Senate and, qui esset oblitus, ran towards Maximus Fowden 1982, 33–59 For the importance of Plato’s Laws as the philosophical background of Julian’s model of philosophical rule (which includes a reformulation of pagan priesthoods), see Watts’ contribution to this volume For a recent and complete overview of the different aspects of Julian’s religious policies, see Wiemer 2020, 207–244 Jul Ep 89a Bidez = 20 Wright and 89b Bidez = Fragment of Letter to a Priest Wright Bidez presented together two texts that were transmitted separately (Bidez 1960, 102) Another relevant text to study Julian’s ideas about the ideal priest would be his letter 84 to Arsacius, high-priest of Galatia, although its authenticity has been questioned (Van Nuffelen 2002, 136–148; Bouffartigue 2005, 231–242) However, in this work we will focus only on Ep 89 The first in-depth study of Julian’s reform of the pagan priesthoods is Koch 1928, 49–82, 511–550; for more recent interpretations see Olszaniec 1999, 217–241; Hahn 2007, 147–161; Scrofani 2010, 76–99; Nesselrath 2013, 102–135 and Wiemer 2017, 520–558 Jul Ep 89a Bidez = 20 Wright; PLRE I, Theodorus 8 In another letter to the high-priest Theodorus (Ep 30 Bidez = 16 Wright), Julian certainly addresses him as a friend: τί γὰρ οὐκ ἔμελλον ἄνδρα

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shape the new priesthood would take, without paying too much attention to the practical aspect of that reform As other scholars have already observed, this overview follows ideas about the parallels between the figures of the philosopher and the priest already present in the thought of Porphyry and Iamblichus,13 developed precisely in the social circles on which Garth Fowden formulated his concept of the pagan holy man in Late Antiquity 14 Therefore, it would be worth considering Julian’s idea of the ideal pagan priest as portrayed in his Ep 89 against the backdrop of the methodological category of the theios aner 15 Since Julian acquired an important part of his cultural capital within the milieu of the Iamblichean Neoplatonic philosophers of the school of Aedesius, and this social group is in turn often understood as a paradigmatic example of this new kind of holiness or exceptionality that emerged during Late Antiquity, it is only natural that his ideas on the perfect priest reproduce many of the features of the modern notion of theios aner A methodological note must be added here: unlike other colleagues in this volume, I am not entirely convinced of the adequacy of the Weberian category of “charismatic authority” (charismatische Herrschaft)16 to best characterise the nature of the late antique theioi andres Some of the features Weber assigns to charismatic authority constitute useful tools for research, such as the idea of charismatic succession or the fact that charisma needs to be recognised by others to work However, as Rapp already pointed out when explaining her threefold model of authority of late antique bishops, I do not see a necessary contradiction or dichotomy between charismatic authority and institutionalised authority in the case of late antique holy men 17 In this sense I believe that, without renouncing Weber’s charismatic authority, Gramsci’s notion of cultural hegemony (with late antique philosophers and practitioners of paideia as the bearers of a knowledge which helped to justify the status quo) and Bourdieu’s habitus and symbolic violence (the late antique Neoplatonists as heirs of practices, habits and skills

13 14 15

16 17

ἑταῖρον ἐμοὶ καὶ φίλων φίλτατον σῶν εἶναι πυνθανόμενος; (“How could I feel otherwise on learning that my comrade and dearest friend is safe?”, trans W C Wright) Hahn 2007, 152–161 Fowden 1982, 48–51 A category with an already long tradition, in which we could mention Brown 1971, Fowden 1982 and Anderson 1994 as some of the most important recent studies on the topic Alviz 2016 offers a complete overview of the history of the term in modern scholarship from the work of Ludwig Bieler onwards His contribution to this volume further elaborates on the Weberian notion of “charisma” as a defining aspect of the late antique theios aner, especially in the context of the philosophy schools However, we should bear in mind that the category theios aner includes a big variety of figures, and as such it is difficult to establish a model which suits all of them (Anderson 1994, 33) Weber 2002, 140–147 Rapp 2005, 29

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which ensured them cultural and social domination) would help us in completing our understanding of the nature of the authority of theioi andres 18 As in many other occasions in his written works (which show the utter importance of his Neoplatonic philosophical background for his approach to ruling the empire), in letter 89 Julian shows a rather Neoplatonic understanding of what the duties and public role of the pagan priests should be His concept of ideal priesthood is in line with the doctrines on the importance of rites and theurgy followed by the Iamblichean philosophers of Aedesius’ school 19 But in this letter we find not only Iamblichean influences, but also certain resemblances with Porphyry’s notion of the philosopher as a priest In the second book of his work De abstinentia, he relates the philosopher with the “priest of the god who rules all”,20 and adds that he must have thorough knowledge not only of the facts of nature, but also of rites and other religious practices 21 Later, in the fourth book, he praises how the Egyptian priests are “regarded as philosophers by the Egyptians”, and how the temples and the priestly life provide them the perfect setting to devote themselves to contemplation, as well as to achieve divine knowledge through purity and abstinence 22 For Iamblichus, the theurgist also needed to possess a specific type of knowledge to correctly perform the rites and fulfil their role as intermediaries between the divine and humankind 23 After a few introductory lines on their common mentor and on their friendship as the main motivation for Julian’s request, the emperor explains to his addressee the task he, as pontifex maximus,24 wants him to fulfil: the government of all the cults in Asia, which Theodorus will have to manage with moderation (ἐπιείκεια), goodness (χρηστότης), and philanthropy (φιλανθρωπία) 25 Further on, in what Joseph Bidez considered the second part of the letter (Ep 89b), Julian outlines the characteristics the new priests would have in his reform of the pagan priesthoods (although he states several times that the letter is just a brief outline of the requirements necessary for

18 19

20

21 22 23 24 25

Gramsci 1975, 1513–1517; Bourdieu 1989, 18–19 For some similar interpretations of late antique paideia in Bourdieusian terms, see Brown 1992, 35–70; Sandwell 2007, 18–19; Urbano 2013, 8–12 and Van Hoof 2013, 398 As Tanaseanu-Döbler notes too (2013, 137–138), a good example of the role played by the network of philosophy teachers in Julian’s interest in theurgy is his letter to his friend the philosopher Priscus, to whom Julian urges to seek all Iamblichus’ writings on Julian the Theurgist, of whom the son-in-law (γαμβρός) of Priscus’ sister had a copy ( Jul Ep 12 Bidez = 2 Wright) ὁ φιλόσοφος καὶ θεοῦ τοῦ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἱερεύς (trans G Clark) The idea of the equivalence between the sage and the priest can be found as well in Marc 16 Hahn (2007, 152) sees in these two passages the representation of a caste of initiated who would reach holiness through study and ascesis, both of them requisites we find as well in Julian’s priests Porph Abst 2 49 1 οὓς καὶ φιλοσόφους ὑπειλῆφθαι φησὶ παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις (trans G Clark): Porph Abst 4 6 1–9 Iambl Myst 3 18; Hahn 2007, 152–153 ἀρχιερέα μέγιστον ( Jul Ep 89b 298c) Jul Ep 89a 452d–453a

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the new priests, and that he will give more details further on) 26 Even before his enumeration of the desired features for priests, Julian starts his characterization by saying that the priestly life must be holier or more revered (σεμνότερον) than the civil one and hence the ones following it would be better 27 We could therefore argue that the exceptionality ascribed to many figures usually labelled as theioi andres seems here to be a basic requirement of the new Julianic priests A good example of the exceptionality displayed by these figures is Eunapius’ account of the episode in which Maximus of Ephesus brought a statue of the goddess Hecate to life, a story that drove the young Julian to study under Maximus 28 However, the kind of exceptionality Julian requires from the new priests seems not to be one of a subversive religious leader;29 he seems to pursue the creation of an official group of the best and most cultivated citizens, whose education makes them especially suitable to serve the gods In the next paragraphs of the letter Julian exposes the many virtues that those who are to become priests should show: piety towards the gods, philanthropy, bodily purity, and respect for the holiness of the temples Most of these features had already been mentioned by Porphyry in his account on the life of the Egyptian philosopher-priests and are present as well in other revered holy men such as Pythagoras or Apollonius of Tyana Therefore, the revitalization of the cults that Julian wanted to implement would lie on the selection of a group of priests bearing the knowledge, habits and skills most valued by the philosophical figures revered by the Emperor and by the intellectuals who had taught him Exceptionality and love for the gods, Julian argues, are way more important than the social background or noble ascendance of the new wannabe priests 30 This is an interesting statement considering that the kind of cultural capital Julian wanted the priests to have required, to quote Garth Fowden’s words, “not just dedication, but leisure and financial security” 31 Wisdom is in fact another important requirement for the new priests; the emperor establishes a whole array of readings the priests should read (and also a list of those they must avoid) and states that “philosophy alone will be appropriate for us”, more specifically philosophers guided by the gods in their paideia, such as Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle or the Stoics (together with works of history) 32 The 26 27 28 29 30 31

32

Ep 89b 296d–305d Jul Ep 89b 289a He adds that the priest should be at least equally revered as the civil magistrates, Ep 89b 296c Eun VS 7 20–26 See also section 3 of Grau’s contribution to this volume for the importance, in Eunapius’ Lives, of the philosophers’ ability to perform miracles in the sanctioning of their power Anderson 1994, 218 Jul Ep 89b 304d–305a Fowden 1982, 48–49 Fowden mentions how Eunapius stresses the poverty of Proheresius, a rhetor of good birth, during his time as student in Athens, because of the exceptionality of this fact (VS 10 22) Wiemer points out that “presumably Julian had in mind people who at least held curial rank” (2020, 231) Jul Ep 89b 300c–d: Πρέποι δ'ἂν ἡμιν ἡ φιλοσοφία μόνη (trans W C Wright) On wisdom as a topos of the literary representation of the theios aner, see Hidalgo de la Vega 2001, 217–219

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priest should as well know very thoroughly the hymns of the gods 33 Wisdom appears here related to piety, for Julian emphasises that the new priests should obtain their knowledge only from doctrines which produce piety in men (ευσεβείας ποιητικά) 34 Of course, they should also possess the knowledge necessary to correctly attend the rites and take care of the statues of the gods 35 Smith points out that, although Julian does not explicitly require the priests to practice any theurgic rituals, several references throughout the letter to statues as symbols of the presence of the gods denote the use of theurgic doctrine 36 Another important aspect for the new priestly life would be the purity of the body (ἁγνείας τῆς περὶ τὸ σῶμα) and, connected with it, the practice of asceticism 37 The temple, like in Porphyry’s De abstinentia, would be the place to implement these virtues by the correct performance of the worship to the gods 38 A strict moral code would regulate the priests’ life inside and outside the temple, where they are supposed not to stand out by wearing the magnificent priestly dress, but rather a modest dress 39 This simplicity in dress is also a characteristic ascribed by Iamblichus to Pythagoras in his Vita Pythagorae, where the latter is depicted wearing a simple, white robe, and transmitting this habit to his disciples 40 In order for them to stay pure, Julian establishes a series of activities and readings from which they must restrain themselves This includes reading works of fiction (especially those of erotic nature)41 and Epicurean and sceptic philosophy, as well as attending the theatre, chariot races, and hunts 42 Unlike Porphyry’s philosopher-priests, who resisted any unnecessary social contact,43 Julian’s new priests were allowed certain activities in their “ordinary life” (ἀνθρώπινον βίον) 44 This fits into the Roman tradition, in which civil and religious activities were not necessarily segregated, with many examples of Roman officials holding different magistracies and being members of various religious collegia during their careers 45 In this respect, Julian states that it would not be inappropriate for the priest 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

Jul Ep 89b 301d Jul Ep 89b 301a Jul Ep 89b 293a–d Smith 1995, 111 (referring to Jul Ep 89b 293a–294d) However, he also warns not to overemphasize the influence of Iamblichean Neoplatonism in Julian’s religious policies Jul Ep 89b 293a, 300d–301a Jul Ep 89b 302d The parallelism with Porphyry’s philosopher-priests is again patent when Julian indicates, when speaking about the way worship should be performed, that the priest should stay in the temple “devoting himself to philosophy” (φιλοσοφοῦντα) Jul Ep 89b 303b Iambl VP 149 García Gual 1984, 141–148 Forbidden readings: Jul Ep 89b 301c; forbidden activities: 304a–d Porph Abst 4 6 5 Jul Ep 89b 302d–303b A good late antique example of this would be Lucius Aurelius Avianus Symmachus (father of the writer Quintus Aurelius Symmachus), who during his life held, among other positions, the prae-

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to give advice or aid to the governor of the province if necessary Julian himself had sought the support of prominent intellectuals and asked them to join him at court in Constantinople, such as his teachers Maximus of Ephesus and Priscus of Epirus or the famous sophist Libanius of Antioch 46 On several occasions he appointed some of these intellectuals as provincial high priests Such is the case of his former teacher, the Neoplatonic philosopher Chrysantius of Sardis, and his wife Melite, appointed as high-priest and high-priestess of Lydia, and of Seleucus, a friend of Julian appointed as high-priest of an unknown province, probably Cilicia 47 This depiction of the philosopher (in Eunapius’ Lives) or the wise priest (in Julian’s Ep 89) as counsellor of emperors and magistrates stands in contrast with the image of other theioi andres such as Apollonius of Tyana or the Cynic Peregrinus Proteus, depicted as marginal and sometimes opposed to the political order 48 In the case of the philosophers supporting Julian and of Julian’s ideal priests, marginality and isolation are not always features of the theios aner (neither in the case of the holy bishops); the isolation from the material world in the temples in order to reach purity does not mean the priest had to renounce the world In fact, as Dominic O’Meara has noted, Julian stresses the political nature the new priests would need to have, because of man’s nature as a ‘political animal’, as opposed to the ‘misanthropic’ Christian ascetics 49 Julian’s ideal priests had to be not only concerned with the purification rites necessary to become divine-like, but also willing to engage in politics as active advisers of governors and magistrates In this sense, the asceticism required by Julian, although based on bodily purity and restraint of certain activities, is less radical that the one shown by other representations of holy sages in the literary tradition 50 We could link the apparent renunciation of the world of political activity or civic life we find in several examples of late antique intellectuals (such as the aforementioned Chrysantius, the sophist Libanius refusing a quaestorship offered to him by Julian or Synesius of Cyrene refusing his appointment as bishop) with the Roman virtue of recusatio, the rejection of power, of which Julian’s description of his acclamation in Paris is a good example, as Omissi has noted recently 51

46 47 48 49 50 51

fectura urbis Romae and was as well pontifex maior and quindecimvir sacris faciundis (PLRE I, Symmachus 3) On the presence of philosophers and rhetors among Julian’s supporters, see Caltabiano 2009, 143– 149 and Hahn 2011, 109–120 Chrysantius and Melite were appointed high-priests after the former’s rejection of Julian’s invitation to court: Eunap VS 7 49–52 For Seleucus’ appointment, see Lib Ep F770/N92 For a prosopography of the known appointed priests under Julian, see Olszaniec 236–241 Hidalgo de la Vega 2001, 225–229 Fowden speaks as well of a “drift towards marginality” of the pagan theios aner in Late Antiquity, especially after the death of Julian (1982, 51–54) O’Meara 2005, 122–123 Man as a ‘political animal’: Jul Ep 89b 288b (ἀνθρώπου πολιτικοῦ ζῴου), 292d (κοινωνικóν ζῷον τòν ἄνθρωπον) Of course, this idea of the philosopher engaged with the civic and political life had to change Hidalgo de la Vega 2001, 219–223; Finn 2009, 31–32 Omissi 2018, 199

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In any case, I think the behaviour code required from the new priests displayed in Julian’s Ep 89 should be ascribed to Neoplatonic notions of asceticism, already present in the thought of Porphyry and Iamblichus, rather than to a direct influence of Christianity (although Julian’s knowledge about Christianity and Judaism might have partly influenced some of the features of his model for a priest) 52 At this point, the modern category of theios aner can help us to frame the scope of Julian’s project of reform of the pagan priesthoods Even though the sources do not detail the shape this new model of priesthood would have adopted and despite the evident parallels we found with some features of the Christian Church,53 I think it is exaggerated to say that Julian wanted to establish a pagan church, as some scholars have argued before 54 The characteristics ascribed to this ideal priest are not specific to Christianity, but rather related to a certain notion of holiness common to different religions of the Ancient world Julian presents his ideal priests as bearing the virtues praised in the teachings of his Neoplatonic teachers, such as purity, piety, and respect towards the gods and wisdom, all of them values that moreover grant them authority as mediators with the divine Authority that is partially derived too from the fact that they would have been appointed by the archiereus of the province, one of the duties Julian entrusts to Theodorus as high priest of Asia 55 In this case the authority of the theios aner does not derive only from his ascetic virtues, but also from the position he holds in the hierarchy of Julian’s new organisation of the priesthoods The scheme of the priesthoods Julian called for was inspired in the already existing imperial cult (although with important differences),56 but adapted to a Neoplatonic understanding, according to which the virtues required of the priests in the Ep 89 turn them into exemplarity models These models fitted well the worldview of the kind of supporters Julian was seeking Marina Díaz Bourgeal PhD in Ancient History at the Complutense University of Madrid and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Málaga marinadb@uma es

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Scrofani 2010, 86–91 According to Wiemer, besides Graeco-Roman cult forms and Neoplatonic philosophy, Julian’s reform integrated the Christian approach as well to charity (2017, 558) Such as the care for the poor which, according to Julian, has been usurped by the Christians, ( Jul Ep 89b 290d–291a, 305b–c) Bowersock 1978, 12; Athanassiadi 1981, 188 Jul Ep 89a 452d–453a Wiemer 2020, 230–231 I think an inspiration in contemporary or past forms of pagan cults would make much more sense than an adaptation of the Christian Church in a moment in which we are not even sure of the numbers of converts among the elites (Boin 2015, 116)

The Portrait of the Philosopher as Divine Man in Late Antique Philosophical Biographies The case of Isidore of Alexandria in Damascius’ Historia Philosophica Regina Fichera At the end of the fourth century of our era, the rhetor Eunapius of Sardis, in the proemial section of his Βίοι Φιλοσόφων καὶ Σοφιστῶν, while manifesting his intention to make up for the lack of an appropriate treatment of philosophers’ Lives of the early imperial age,1 seems to distance himself from the methodological criteria of his predecessor Philostratus of Lemnus; in particular, he claims that Philostratus ought to have entitled his work ‘The Visit of God to Mankind’ rather than ‘The Life of Apollonius’, since Apollonius was not merely a philosopher but a demigod, half god, half man 2 This assertion brings to light the importance of the divine component in constructing a literary character of a late antique work, and especially of a biography This is even more relevant, if one considers that is noted by an expert of rhetoric as Eunapius was While it is true, indeed, that the ‘θεῖος ἀνήρ’ is the undisputed protagonist of all the late antique literature,3 however the literary stylization of his character takes shape within the literary genre of the ‘philosophical biographies’ 4 With this label many scholars refer to a biographical account, spread in neo-Pythagorean and Neoplatonic con1 2

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On the problematic identification of the crop of philosophers and sophists which, according to Eunapius, did not deserve the appropriate attention see Civiletti 2007, 283–286 and Goulet 1979, 112–116 Ἀπολλώνιός τε ὁ ἐκ Τυάνων, οὐκέτι φιλόσοφος· ἀλλ' ἦν τι θεῶν τι καὶ ἀνθρώπου μέσον […] ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἐς τοῦτον ὁ Λήμνιος ἐπετέλεσε Φιλόστρατος, βίον ἐπιγράψας Ἀπολλωνίου τὰ βιβλία, δέον Ἐπιδημίαν ἐς ἀνθρώπους θεοῦ καλεῖν (Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum II 1 3, p 3,4–9 ed Giangrande = II 3–4, p 3,3–9 ed Goulet) For the figure of θεῖος ἀνήρ see Bieler, Theois aner; for a synthesis of the criticisms made on too artificial and monolithic notion of Bieler’s divine man see Van Uytfanghe 2009, 339 ss On the pagan holy man in late antiquity, see Brown 1971a, and Fowden 1982 Sometimes these biographies are called also “spiritual” (see Hadas–Smith 1965; Goulet 1997, 217– 8; Van Uytfanghe 2001; Van Uytfanghe 2005, 243) On the genre of philosophical biography, in

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text, whose protagonist is an incredibly wise philosopher, endowed with extraordinary knowledge and skills He is heir to a long tradition whose founder was the first to receive philosophy in the form of a divine revelation to be transmitted to his disciples as a mystery cult This character, guardian of such a philosophical secret, is described as a “divine man” as well as author of several miracles This kind of works finds its main source of inspiration in The Life of Apollonius of Tyana of Philostratus: starting from it, the authors of philosophical biographies rehabilitate the figure of Pythagoras as the first man to have received from the gods the revelation of philosophical doctrines to which Plato then gave voice, by generating the Platonism and the διαδοχή of divine philosophers Such is the case with The Life of Pythagoras of Porphyry of Tyre, On the Pythagorean Way of Life of Iamblichus of Chalcis, the Lives of Philosophers and Sophists of Eunapius of Sardis, the Life of Proclus of Marinus of Neapolis and the Life of Isidore (otherwise known as Philosophical History)5 of Damascius of Damascus It should be pointed out, firstly, that the philosophical milieu in which these biographies developed has oriented not only the shaping of character’s typology, but also the narrative goal of the work The Platonism of the late imperial age, mingled as it was with Pythagorean doctrinal elements, had the assimilation to God as the ultimate purpose of the philosophical quest Thus, the biographers, – either direct disciples of their characters or inheritors of their neo-platonic tradition – through the Lives of the philosophers, want to prove firstly the coherence between the philosophical ideal of the protagonists and their lifestyle, secondly the fulfilment of their philosophical goal Therefore, the philosophical biography is not only the exposition of the historical existence of the character, but also the description of the stages that led to the achievement of his ὁμοίωσις θεῷ Thus, the life of the philosopher undergoes a gradual evolu-

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addition to the previous references see also Bonazzi–Schorn 2016; Cox 1983; Goulet 2014; Talbert 1978; Urbano 2013 The original title was not preserved by tradition which calls the work once βίος Ἰσιδώρου once βιογραφία Ἰσιδώρου (Photius, Bibliotheca, Cod 181, p 126α, 5 ed Bekker) once Φιλόσοφος ἱστορία (Suda, s v “Δαμάσκιος”, Δ 41) The editor Polymnia Athanassiadi inclined to the definition attributed by Suda, because of Damascius’ tendency to the digression that, according to the scholar, would turn the work away from its exclusive affinity with biographical genre, contaminated as it is with the genre of patria as well as with that of paradoxography Even if the contamination of genres is undeniable, however the fact remains that Damascius’ work is a representation of philosophical community of Athens, Alexandria, and Aphrodisia between Vth and VIth century CE made with a prosopographical method, where the author reconstructs the lives of the main members of Late Ancient philosophical clans Thus, the charge one could bring against Damascius is to have written a collective biography instead of the Life of his master According to Photius, indeed, Damascius’ work should be considered not the Life of Isidore but a biography of many others (οὐ μήν γε μᾶλλον Ἰσιδώρου βίον ἢ πολλῶν ἄλλων, Bibliotheca, Cod 181 126a, 5) In my paper I will refer to Damascius’ work with the title chosen by Athanassiadi of whom I welcome the edition of the text, even if I think one must recognise the programmatic principle of author himself, who declares that he wants to write his work ‘according to the rules of biography’ (οἷα μέτρα βιογραφίας fr 6A Athanassiadi), using for the first time in Greek literature the word βιογραφία For a more detailed discussion see Fichera 2018, 262, n 223

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tion that transforms the character, already born under the sign of the extraordinary, into a “divine man” In this paper, I will try to briefly expose the fundamental traits of this character, focusing in particular on the original portrait of the philosopher Isidore of Alexandria, protagonist of the biography written by his disciple Damascus of Damascus The elitist view of philosophical wisdom is the fundamental prerequisite for the construction of philosophical biographies’ protagonists He is a particular entity: he is not a god, but a man provided with innate divine prerogatives conferred on him by the god himself, who made him a special custodian of a mystery knowledge and therefore a man very much akin to deity According to Neoplatonic thought, indeed, philosophers are guardians of divine principles and part of a “divine choir” that received philosophy through the mediation of Plato, who, as a “guide of the truthful mysteries”, placed philosophy in the adyta of the sacred temples under the aegis of some ‘priests’ exegetes of the epopteia of Plato 6 The mystery revelation is thus a necessary condition for the development of the biographical character, as in the case of Pythagoras who, without the guidance of a ‘benevolent god’, could not approach philosophy, otherwise incomprehensible to human faculties 7 In this perspective, philosopher’s precepts are presented by biographers as ‘divine commands’ and whoever listens to him can only consider him as a divine figure 8 In Iamblichus’ account on Pythagoras, the multiform wisdom of the Samian philosopher becomes the proof that his soul comes from the retinue of a god who sent it as his companion (συνοπαδὸν) to humankind,9 in order to amend mortals’ life and to grant mortal nature the saving spark of happiness and philosophy 10 This particular condition of “divine soul” elaborated by Iamblichus al6 7

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Proclus, Theologia Platonica I 1, 6,16–7,8 ed Saffrey-Westerink Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica I 1 4–9 ἐκ θεῶν γὰρ αὐτῆς παραδοθείσης τὸ κατ' ἀρχὰς οὐκ ἔνεστιν ἄλλως ἢ διὰ τῶν θεῶν ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι πρὸς γὰρ τούτῳ καὶ τὸ κάλλος αὐτῆς καὶ τὸ μέγεθος ὑπεραίρει τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην δύναμιν ὥστε ἐξαίφνης αὐτὴν κατιδεῖν ἀλλὰ μόνως ἄν τίς του τῶν θεῶν εὐμενοῦς ἐξηγουμένου κατὰ βραχὺ προσιὼν ἠρέμα ἂν αὐτῆς παρασπάσασθαί τι δυνηθείη [“it (scil philosophy) was originally handed down from the gods and can be understood only with the gods’ help Moreover, its beauty and grandeur surpass the human capacity to grasp it all at once: only by approaching quietly, little by little, under the guidance of a benevolent god, can one appropriate a little” (transl Clark)] See also Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica I 1 2–4 Porphyry, Vita Pythagorae 20; Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica VI 30 15 Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica II 8 τὸ μέντοι τὴν Πυθαγόρου ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀπόλλωνος ἡγεμονίας, εἴτε συνοπαδὸν οὖσαν εἴτε καὶ ἄλλως οἰκειότερον ἔτι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον συντεταγμένην, καταπεπέμφθαι εἰς ἀνθρώπους οὐδεὶς ἂν ἀμφισβητήσειε τεκμαιρόμενος αὐτῇ τε τῇ γενέσει ταύτῃ καὶ τῇ σοφίᾳ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ τῇ παντοδαπῇ [“but no-one who takes account of this birth, and of the range of Pythagoras’ wisdom, could doubt that the soul of Pythagoras was sent to humankind from Apollo’s retinue, and was Apollo’s companion or still more intimately linked with him” (transl Clark)] For the wisdom as proof of supernatural and divine nature cf also Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica V 31–32 and Philostratus, Vita Apollonii I 2 32–36 Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica VI 30 15–23 οἳ μὲν τὸν Πύθιον, οἳ δὲ τὸν ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων Ἀπόλλωνα, οἳ δὲ τὸν Παιᾶνα, οἳ δὲ τῶν τὴν σελήνην κατοικούντων δαιμόνων ἕνα, ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλον τῶν Ὀλυμπίων θεῶν φημίζοντες εἰς ὠφέλειαν καὶ ἐπανόρθωσιν τοῦ θνητοῦ βίου [λέγοντες] ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῃ μορφῇ

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lows the biographer to treat his protagonist not entirely like a god, as was the Samian tradition for which he was Apollo’s son, but like a special entity endowed with divine powers, inhabiting a human body with the aim of transmitting divine truth on Earth The portrait of Pythagoras proposed by Iamblichus has pioneered a new kind of character It innovates the traditional figure of θεῖος ἀνήρ embodied by the Philostratean Apollonius of Tyana, by means of new philosophical elements Iamblichus transfers onto his literary character the psychological elements he introduces in his philosophical treatises I refer in particular to De anima and to De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum The first work, of which unfortunately only a few fragments have survived in the fifth-century compilation of John Stobaeus, is a clear exposition of Iamblichus’ doctrine of the soul, where the philosopher discusses soul’s essence, powers, acts, and activities as well as its journey into and out of body and finally its post-corporeal reward The second one is an apology of theurgy against the charge of its identification with the γοητεία, where Iamblichus, under the pseudonym of “Abammon”, answers the provocative questions posed by Porphyry in Anebo’s letter about the most diverse aspects of the relationship between man and god 11 He theorises there the existence of a special class of human souls, chosen by gods as mediator between gods and men These souls enjoy a supernatural intellect by virtue of their exclusive nature of souls, which dominate even the body which contains them The philosopher of Chalcis argues that these souls – companions and kinsmen of the gods – have come to Earth in compliance with the god’s will and they have embodied in a pure and uncontaminated way for the amendment of the earthly world, after a long period of beings’ contemplation 12 Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ καὶ καθάρσει καὶ τελειότητι τῶν τῇδε κατιοῦσα ἄχραντον ποιεῖται καὶ τὴν κάθοδον (Iamblichus, De anima 29 ed Finamore–Dillon) “For the soul that descends for the salvation, purification and perfection of this realm is immaculate in its descent” (transl Dillon)

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φανῆναι τοῖς τότε, ἵνα τὸ τῆς εὐδαιμονίας τε καὶ φιλοσοφίας σωτήριον ἔναυσμα χαρίσηται τῇ θνητῇ φύσει, οὗ μεῖζον ἀγαθὸν οὔτε ἦλθεν οὔτε ἥξει ποτὲ δωρηθὲν ἐκ θεῶν [διὰ τούτου τοῦ Πυθαγόρου] (“some called him Apollo Pythios, some Hyperborean Apollo, some Apollo Healer (Paian), some said he was one of the spirits who live in the moon; some said one, some another, of the Olympians, who had appeared in human form to the people of that time for the benefit and amendment of mortal life, and to grant mortal nature the saving spark of happiness and philosophy No greater good has ever come, or ever will come, as a gift from the gods” transl Clark) On the controversial identification of Iamblichus with Abammon see Rasche 1911; Saffrey 1971; Moreschini 2003 (see the introduction); Saffrey-Segond 2013, XXIV–XXV; Sodano 2013, XLIII Iamblichus, De anima 27–30 eds Finamore–Dillon 2002 (cf also Iamblichus, In Phaedrum, fr 7 ed Dillon, where the philosopher talks about some special souls who descend into the body without suspending their connection with the intelligible world which is maintained uninterrupted) Dillon 2011, 367 believes that “this class … would no doubt include such great teachers as Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato” For these souls see Steel, Il sè che cambia, 267–9 For the threefold distinction of man’s soul see Iamblichus, De Mysteriis V 18 1–15 ed Des Places (223,9–224,6 ed Parthey)

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Οἵ τε γὰρ νεοτελεῖς καὶ πολυθεάμονες τῶν ὄντων, οἵ τε συνοπαδοὶ καὶ συγγενεῖς τῶν θεῶν, οἵ τε παντελεῖς καὶ ὁλόκληρα τὰ εἴδη τῆς ψυχῆς περιέχοντες, πάντες ἀπαθεῖς καὶ ἀκήρατοι ἐμφύονται πρώτως εἰς τὰ σώματα (Iamblichus, De anima 30 ed Finamore–Dillon) “For, those who are ‘newly-initiated’, who have seen much of reality and are companions and kinsmen of the gods, and who are fully perfected and encompass the parts of their soul complete are all first implanted free of passions and pure into body” (transl Dillon)

The success of this soul theory influenced the following Neoplatonic thought to such a point that we find traces of it both in the theoretical formulation of the philosophers and in the construction of their biographical works Proclus too, for instance, argues for the existence of souls who remain immaculate in their embodiment and always linked with their special gods: they are called ‘children of the gods’ and they are inseparable from their fathers whom they escort as bodyguards or attendants; therefore, they possess an extraordinary divinely inspired knowledge and superior powers which presage their kinship with the gods 13 The postulation of this new ontological status provided a philosophical model for the creation of all the subsequent divine protagonists of Philosophical Biographies The qualities ascribed to philosophers profiled in the Lives respond to biographers’ attempt on the one hand to respect the traditional rhetorical patterns of the praise,14 on the other hand to match their protagonist to this new kind of being Thus, the soul is where the superiority of the philosopher resides and that explains biographers’ need to highlight the predominance of their characters’ psychic nature over bodily one In Eunapius’ work, for instance, protagonists are so completely emancipated from human weaknesses and akin to the gods, that though mortal men they are all soul and their body is only appearance:15 their soul contains the body and not the reverse and, according to the rhetor, that would be proved by the thinness and lightness of the philosopher’s bodies as well as by the failed increase of the corruptible element in them, since it was absorbed into their divine nature 16 The protagonist of the philosophical biographies reveals his extraordinary nature since birth 17 He has noble origins: he comes from important cities and he is a mem13 14 15 16 17

Proclus, In Timaeum I, p 111,3–22 and I, p 113,4–7 ed Diehl Hermias is of the same mind (cf in Phaedrum 160 1–4 ed Couvreur) See Pernot 1993 Cf also Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum XXIII 1 8, p 92,3–4 ed Giangrande = XXIII 8, p 97,23–24 ed Goulet See the case of Aedesius of Sardis (Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum XXIII 5 1 98,25–99,5 ed Giangrande = XXIII 48, p 104,22–105,1 ed Goulet) and Alypius of Alexandria (VPS V 3 1–2, p 15,3–11 ed Giangrande = V 25–26, p 16,5–14 ed Goulet) The topos of γένεσις has a long tradition in characters’ praise of Greek and Roman literature, which starts with Isocrate’s Evagoras (Evagoras 21) and continues with the descriptions of the great rulers within the genre of βασιλικός λόγος (Cyrus, Pericles, Alexander and Romulus) For the sources and the inclusion of this topos in rhetorical theory of the imperial era, see Pernot 1993, I, 156–157

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ber of a rich and illustrious family 18 The εὐγένεια emphasises the elitist nature of the sage, who, besides being part of a choir composed of divine souls, he also belongs to a social élite He comes into the world under prodigious circumstances and his birth is often announced by a divine personage who acts as his protector and foretells the future qualities of the baby Already in the case of Apollonius of Tyana, Proteus announced to philosopher’s mother that her son would be the incarnation of the god himself and his birth was also preceded by a dream vision prefiguring the apollonian nature of Apollonius and his kinship to the gods19 In the same way, it was a divine oracle to prophesy the coming of Pythagoras, a child surpassing all others in beauty and wisdom who would be of the greatest benefit to the human race in all aspects of life 20 Sometimes a special sign or event marks prodigiously the philosopher’s birth and links him to divine world:21 the Alexandrian philosopher Heraiscus, “of a more godlike nature” for Damascius,22 was given birth with the finger attached to his lips, enjoying silence and manifesting the same sacred signs of mysticism as the gods Horus and Helios 23 The birth of Hermias and Edesia’s son is likewise interesting: when he was still a new-born, he already possessed an adult voice able to produce clearly reprimands, thereby foreshadowing the exceptionality of his soul, so far beyond human nature and unable to bear its bodily existence that it ended its earthly journey at only seven years of age 24 Also in Marinus’ work we read that Athena helped the philosopher Proclus to come to life, displaying since then the protection she would granted him throughout his life 25 The divine tutelage of philosopher, another essential ingredient of the βίοι,26 proves indeed his extraordinary nature: thanks to Apollo’s protection, Proclus became

18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Apollonius of Tyana descends from a rich family of Cappadocia’s founders (Philostratus, Vita Apollonii I 4); Porphyry reports Neanthes’ tradition according to which Pythagors’ father was one of the colonizers of Lemnos (Vita Pythagorae 2); Iamblichus instead says that Pythagoras’ parents come from the noble line of Ankaios, the colonist of Samos (De Vita Pythagorica II 4); see also the Eunapian examples of the character of Porphyry (Vitae sophistarum IV 1 1, p 6,9–10 ed Giangrande = IV 1, p 7,1–3 ed Goulet), Iamblichus (V 1 1, p 10,18–19 ed Giangrande = V 1, p 11,18–19 ed Goulet), Edesius of Cappadocia (VI 1 1, p 17,9–10 ed Giangrande = VI 1, p 18,14 ed Goulet), Sosipatra (VI 6 6, p 28,11 ed Giangrande = VI 54, p 29,16–17 ed Goulet), Maximus of Ephesus (VII 1 4, p 41,8–9 ed Giangrande = VII 4, p 42,18–19 ed Goulet), Chrysanthius of Sardis (XXIII 1 3, p 91,1–6 ed Giangrande = XXIII 3, p 96,19–24 ed Goulet); on the origins of Proclus’ parents see Marinus, Vita Procli 6 1–4 ed Saffrey-Segonds and the related commentary p 77 n 3 Philostratus, Vita Apollonii I 4–5 Porphyry Vita Pythagorae 1; Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica II 5 The παράδοξα revealing during character’s birth are one of the typical elements of the praise of Gods (cf Aelius Aristides XXXVII 2–3 p 304–305; XL 2, p 325; XLI 3, p 331 ed Keil), as attested in Menander Rhetor II 439,17–21 See Pernot 1993, I, 225–226 Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 72A ed Athanassiadi Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 76E ed Athanassiadi Damascius Historia Philosophica, fr 57A ed Athanassiadi Marinus, Vita Procli 6 e 9 ed Saffrey-Segonds According to Bieler 1935–36, 120, this element, going back to Plutarch (De genio Socratis 20, 589 E–F), is typical of θεῖος ἀνήρ

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the prince of all sciences and under the escort of all the gods and good daimons he was chosen to oversee the preservation of philosophy as well as of the school of Plato in its truth and pureness 27 The gods don’t fail to show their paternal benevolence towards their protégés28 at every moment of their life, by protecting their health, if in danger,29 or by contributing to their success, through the intervention of divine πρόνοια 30 Another sign of philosopher’s belonging to the divine rank is his or her extraordinary beauty, sometimes paired with the height31 (typical combination of both the encomia of person32 and the praise to the gods33) For the same purpose, the biographer stresses the special ability for the eloquence, thanks to which everyone can acknowledge the extraordinary essence of the philosopher34 and inscribe him within a divine lineage35

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32 33 34

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Marinus, Vita Procli 6 e 10 ed Saffrey-Segonds See the ‘paternal’ protection which the mysterious Chaldean preceptors, described by Eunapius as divine figures (VPS VI 7 1; 7 8; 7 11 Giangrande = VI 63, 69, 73 Goulet; cf Ustinova 2002), provided to the young philosopher Sosipatra (Vitae sophistarum VI 6 11, p 29,8–11 ed Giangrande = VI 59, p 30,15–18 ed Goulet) On Sosipatra, see Addey–Fichera, 2017 See for instance Marinus, Vita Procli 7 ed Saffrey-Segonds, where Telesphorus (Asclepius’ son) restores Proclus’ health See in particular Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum VII 3 7, p 46,18–22 ed Giangrande = VII 34, p 48,15– 20 ed Goulet where πρόνοια is responsible for the success of emperor Julian’s mission in Gaul and for his government of the empire Cf also X 2 3, p 66, 18–19 ed Giangrande = X 17, p 69,16–17 ed Goulet and VII 6 13, p 56,17–19 ed Giangrande = VII 83, 58,29–59,2 ed Goulet The philosopher Aedesia, Hermias’ wife, is called by Damascius καλλίστη καὶ ἀρίστη γυναικῶν τῶν ἐν ‘Α λεξανδρείᾳ (Historia Philosophica, fr 56, ed Athanassiadi); Sosipatra’s beauty is such that it affects everything around her (VI 6 6, p 28,12 ed Giangrande = VI 54, p 29,16–17 ed Goulet) and it is clear evidence of her divine nature for the Chaldeans who for this reason decided to look after her education (VI 6 10–11, p 28,26–28 ed Giangrande = VI 58, p 30,4–6 ed Goulet), after which indeed her beauty was transfigured (τό τε κάλλος ἑτεροῖον αὐτὸ κατεφαίνετο VI 7 2, p 30, 7–8 ed Giangrande = VI 64, p 31,13–14 ed Goulet) For beauty as a sign of divinity, see also Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 75F ed Athanassiadi For the divine combination of beauty and height see Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum VIII 1 2, p 56,25 ed Giangrande = VIII 2, p 59,9 ed Goulet and X 3 2, p 67,1–5 ed Giangrande = X 19, 69, 27–70,2 ed Goulet (cf Pernot 1993, La rhétorique de l’éloge, I, p 159) See Pernot 1993, I, p 159 and Pernot, Epideictic Rhetoric (especially 31 ss on the ‘structure of the encomia of persons’) The epiphanies of Asclepius and Serapis are called θαυμαστοὶ τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὸ μέγεθος by Aelius Aristides, Orationes XLIX 46, p 424,16–19 Keil (on the combination of κάλλος and μέγεθος as distinctive mark of gods see Verdenius 1949, “Κάλλος καὶ μέγεθος”, and Tanner 2006, 51–52) See the case of philosophers Crysanthius of Sardis (Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum XIII 3 8–9, p 95,6–14 ed Giangrande = XXIII 27–28, p 101, 1–9 ed Goulet), Olympius (Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 42B, ed Athanassiadi) and Hierocles (Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 45A, ed Athanassiadi) Porphyry’ clarity makes him similar to ‘a chain of Hermes let down to mortals’ (ὥσπερ Ἑρμαϊκή τις σειρὰ καὶ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἐπινεύουσα IV 1 11, p 8,15–16 ed Giangrande = IV 11, p 9,15–16 ed Goulet); such a charm sat on Maximus’ lips that it seemed that his words came from the tripod of an oracle (VPS VII 1 3, p 41,5–7 ed Giangrande = VII 3, p 42, 15–16 ed Goulet); Crysanthius’ words are like Orpheus’ songs (VPS XXIII 3 3, p 94,14–19 ed Giangrande = XXIII 22, p 100,9–14 ed Goulet) Cf anche Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum VI 5 1, p 25,8–13 ed Giangrande = VI 39, p 26,17–23 ed Goulet, where it is said that alluring power of Eustathius’ tongue and lips has the inebriating

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The divine nature of these philosophers, to which all these elements of their portrait refer, involves also the possess of innate intelligence and wisdom They perfectly know the works of poets and philosophers without having been educated,36 as though they beard the impression of philosophy since their birth 37 This inborn huge wisdom on the one hand provides for the possession of an exceptional memory, which allows them to memorise and repeat the content of read works or heard speeches word-byword;38 on the other hand, it involves the knowledge of their soul life, before and after its embodiment 39 Heraclides Ponticus already tells that Hermes allowed Pythagoras to choose as a gift that the memory of the soul’s existence was able to survive death as well as the following bodily lives 40 In the philosophical biographies, the anamnesis of the previous peregrinations of the soul becomes an essential element of the philosopher’s portrait 41 It is a kind of reminiscence greater than that promoted both by the Orphic-Pythagorean42 and platonic tradition43: these provided that the knowledge, inherent in the soul but forgotten at birth, would be reawakened with the experience of sensible perception, through which the memory of the eternal ideas would gradually re-emerge in the own intellect On the contrary, the souls of our protagonists seem to

36

37 38

39 40 41 42 43

property of lotus (for the sweetness of philosopher’s words as innate feature cf the well-known anecdote according to which the bees put honey on the mouth of Plato new-born in Cicero, Divinatio 1 78; Valerius Maximus I 6; Anonimus, Prolegomena 2 20–29; Olympiodorus, In Alcibiadem 2 24–29 ed Westerink) On the extraordinary persuasive of Pythagoras’ words see Porphyry, Vita Pythagorae 23–24 and Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica XIII 60 ff (especially paragraph 62, where the power of his voice is equated with that of Orpheus) Another example of divine eloquence is provided by Eunapius in Sosipatra’s portrait (Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum VI 9 3–6, 33,18–21 ed Giangrande = VI 82–86, p 35,3–6 ed Goulet) Such is the case of the emperor and philosopher Julian, having already at the age of six every book so thoroughly by heart that the eunuchs of the palace had nothing to teach him (Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum VII 1 7, p 41,20–24 ed Giangrande = VII 1 7 p 43,6–9 ed Goulet), as well as that of Sosipatra, on whose lips were the works of poet, philosophers and orators, without having had any teachers (VI 8 2, p 32, 9–13 Giangrande = VI 75, p 18–22 Goulet) See the portrait of Porphyry in Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum IV 1 5, p 6,24 Giangrande = IV 4, p 7,17–18 Goulet (φιλοσοφίας γε πᾶν εἶδος ἐκματτόμενος) Apollonius of Tyana (μνήμης τε ἰσχὺν ἐδήλου Philostratus, Vita Apollonii I 7), Sosipatra (cf n 29), Prisco (μνήμης τε εἰς ἄκρον ἀφιγμένος καὶ τὰς δόξας ἁπάσας τῶν παλαιῶν συνῃρηκὼς καὶ ἐπὶ στόματος ἔχων Vitae sophistarum VIII 1 1, p 56,23–25 ed Giangrande = VIII 1, p 59,7–9 ed Goulet) and Proclo (καὶ γὰρ μνήμων ἦν Marinus, Procl 4 9 Saffrey-Segonds, μνημονικὴν δὲ ἔχων δύναμιν; Vitae sophistarum 5 7, καί ὅ γ΄ἔτι τούτου παραδοξότερον, ὅτι καὶ μνήμην εἶχε τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων σχεδὸν ἁπάντων ἐπιλελησμένος; Vitae sophistarum 20 11–13) are also endowed with an extraordinary memory This latter is for instance the case of the philosopher Sosipatra (Eunapius, Vitae sophistarum VI 8 3–6, 32,14–33,7 ed Giangrande = VI 76–79, 33,23–34,13 ed Goulet) Diogenes Laërtius, VIII 4 See Philostratus, Vita Apollonii VIII 7; Porphyry, Vita Pythagorae 26–27; Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica XIV 63 and XXVIII 134 where the author claims that Pythagoras knew his own soul and from where it had come to his body, and his previous lives Particularly, see the ‘Mnemosynian’ orphic gold leaflets I A 1, 2, 3 (Pugliese Carratelli 2001) Cf Phaedrus 247c–e; Phaedo 67c–d, 72e–77b; Meno 81c–86c

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be born devoid of the material and corruptible part (that would otherwise distance them from celestial realities) and already conscious of their origin as well as of a vast knowledge which does not need solicitations In particular, the Life of Isidore is presented by Damascius as the tale of the descent of the protagonist’s soul – rather than of his life – which is aware of being arrived at Earth starting from heaven, which in the opinion of Damascius is certainly a “better place” A ἀλλ’ οὗ δὴ ἕνεκα τὸν λόγον ἅπαντα τοῦτον ἠγείραμεν, καιρὸς ἂν εἴη προσαποδοῦναι, καὶ ἅμαἀνακαλέσασθαι τὴν διήγησιν ἔξω φερομένην τῆς ὑποθέσεως B καὶ ἔχεται αὕτη καταπτᾶσα τῆς οὐρανίας ἁψῖδος τοῦ χθονίου βίου C ᾤμην αὐτὸν κεκραγέναι καταβάντα εἰς γένεσιν· ἐγὼ δὲ καρρόθεν ἐνθάδε ἀφικόμην (Hist Phil fr 5A–C Athanassiadi) A “But it is time both to state the reason why we embarked on this account and also to recall the argument which is being diverted from its subject-matter B Flying down from the vault of heaven, it attached itself to life on earth C And I thought that he was shouting as he descended into generation: ‘I have arrived here from a better place’” (transl Athanassiadi)

Even though, as we said before,44 the work of Damascius should be considered as a collective biography, nevertheless the author does not renounce to highlight the superiority of his master Isidore over all the other characters, although they are excellent and praiseworthy too 45 To do this, the biographer attributes the typical features of the divine philosopher to Isidore, albeit with some differences on some of his qualities Like the other protagonists of philosophical biographies, Isidore is endowed with a beauty that is difficult to describe and that reveals his divine origin in every trait: his eyes possess the true charm of Aphrodite and the very wisdom of Athena and they are not only the true images of his soul, but of the divine emanation dwelling in it; his face is almost square, his divine model being Hermes Logios (Historia Philosophica, fr 13 ed Athanassiadi)46 He has an extraordinary divinatory power (fr 9C; 10A–B) and he is able to access the truly sacred truth without reading or memorising books or opinions of others (fr 35B) Furthermore, his behaviour is a moral example of moderation in all aspects of life: he is quick to do good deeds and to censure vice (fr 15A–B); he is devoted to friendship, generosity (frr 26A–B) and concord (fr 32B); he was not contentious (fr 15C) nor sluggish (fr 16A), but honest and lover of truthfulness (frr 23A–C);

44 45 46

See above n 5 On the consideration of Isidore as exemplar, although included in a collective biography see Watts 2013 On the construction of the holy character in collective biographies, see Miller 2000 For the attribution of theological value to geometrical figures, originated from the Pythagorean use of consecrating some figures to particular gods, see Damascius, In Parmenidem II 100, 1–21 ed Westerink = II 127, 3–17 ed Ruelle

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he was also secretive and silent, and he poured out in the advancement of virtue and the reduction of vice (frr 30B, C, D) However, there is a passage where the biographer appears to want to emphasise the moderation or even the lack of some specific qualities in his master, contrary to the rhetoric of bios philosophos as well as to the expectations of readers αἱ δέ γε αἰσθήσεις μετρίως αὐτῷ διέκειντο πρὸς μόνην ὑπηρετοῦσαι τὴν χρείαν καὶ οὐχὶ αἱ αἰσθήσεις μόναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ κήρινον ἐκμαγεῖον, ἡ φαντασία, οὔτε πρὸς μνήμην τι τῶν πολλῶν διαφέρουσα καὶ τῆς λήθης οὐ τὸ παράπαν ἀπηλλαγμένη καὶ γὰρ ἠβουλήθη αὐτὸν ὁ θεός, ὡς ἔοικε, ψυχὴν μᾶλλον ὄντα ἐπιδεῖξαι ἢ τὸ συναμφότερον μετὰ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ τὴν φιλοσοφίαν οὐ τῷ συναμφοτέρῳ ἐναποθεῖναι, ἀλλὰ αὐτῇ μόνῃ τῇ ψυχῇ ἐνιδρῦσαι ὡς ἔγωγε ἐνίοις ἤδη περιτετύχηκα τὰ μὲν ἔξω φιλοσοφοῦσι λαμπρῶς ἔν τε μνήμῃ βαθείᾳ πολλῶν δοξασμάτων καὶ ἐν ἀγχιστρόφῳ δεινότητι συλλογισμῶν ἀπεράντων καὶ ἐν δυνάμει συχνῇ δαιμονίας αἰσθήσεως, εἴσω δὲ τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποροῦσι καὶ πενομένοις ἀληθοῦς ἐπιστήμης (Historia Philosophica, fr 14 ed Athanassiadi) “His senses were moderately acute, merely serving his needs; and not only the senses, but also the wax mould which is the imagination did not surpass the average as regards its memory nor was it altogether free of forgetfulness For it seems that God wanted to show that he was a soul rather than a combination of soul and body, and that he had not deposited philosophy in this combination but had established it in the soul alone I have indeed chanced upon some who are outwardly splendid philosophers in their rich memory of a multitude of theories; in the shrewd flexibility of their countless syllogisms; in the constant power of their extraordinary perceptiveness Yet within they are poor on matters of the soul and destitute of true knowledge” (transl Athanassiadi)

At a first reading, the attenuation of Isidore’s qualities may sound odd, and it has given rise to different interpretations by scholars In a recent work on Damascius’ biography Franco Trabattoni asserts that Isidore is not presented as an exceptional demigod entirely projected into an otherworldly dimension: the reminiscence of Isidore’s soul origin as well as his privileged relationship with the deity are to be attributed to the more conventional platonic tradition, according to which the philosopher holds a better memory of the Hyperouranion (Phaedrus 249e–250c) According to the scholar, the contact with the divine sphere would be an expected and not relevant aspect for Damascius, who would rather concentrate the philosopher’s exceptionality on his human qualities, in order to offer his readers a “reproducible” model of platonic philosopher From this perspective, the aforementioned fragment would demonstrate the human nature of the philosopher, who appears as a ‘new Socrates’ So his flaws would serve to highlight, per differentiam, what is essential

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in the model of a perfect philosopher, that is the moral qualities and the Socratic intelligence 47 Interpreting Damascius’ ideal as purely Platonic and devoid of the typical Neoplatonic theocentric deviations48 means first of all neglecting Damascius’ attention to extraordinary phenomena and divine signs which is evidenced not only by the continued presence of miraculous stories in Historia Philosophica, but also by his choice of composing a paradoxographical work (unfortunately lost) divided into four logoi about the prodigies of gods, daemons, souls and nature 49 The philosophers of his biographical gallery receive divine visions;50 they are possessed by gods51 and separate the soul from their own body during the prayers52 or dreams;53 they experience the divine ἔλλαμψις;54 they are provided with the powers of clairvoyance55 and foresight56; they perform exorcisms through the invocation to the deity;57 they survive dangers no other man could save from 58 Moreover, Damascius makes no secret of the special attraction of his master Isidore for any kind of extraordinary phenomenon whether secret or manifest, which the philosopher wanted to take part in personally;59 after all, according to the biographer, only the constant projection of Isidore towards the divine as well as his non-involvement in the generation – which Isidore abhors and always tries to free himself from – enabled him to attain the ‘perfection’60 and his likeness to God 61 Besides, if Isidore directed the course of all his efforts to ‘penetrate into the shrine of Plato’s thought’ (fr 34C), it is equally true that ‘after Plato he particularly devoted himself to Iamblichus and his friends and adepts’ (fr 34D) He was rooted – Damascius claims – both in the very purity of the Platonic ideas and in the extraordinary subtleties of Iamblichus (fr 34A), and he worshipped as divine Plato and in the same way Py47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61

Trabattoni 2016 Idem, p 272 We know this from Photius, Bibliotheca, Cod 130, p 96b,37–42 Bekker On this see Stramaglia 1999, 67–68 and Ibañez Chacón 2008 Damascius, Historia Philosophica, frr 11, 56, 75F, 76E ed Athanassiadi See the portrait of Isidore (Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 59A ed Athanassiadi), Olympus (Idem fr 42H), Heraiscus (Idem fr 76A e76E) Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 22 ed Athanassiadi See also fr 76E where Heraiscus, facing animating statues, is afflicted by a divine frenzy while his body and soul leap up as if possessed by the god Damascius, Historia Philosophica, frr 9E–F and 27 ed Athanassiadi Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 51A ed Athanassiadi Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 45B ed Athanassiadi Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 70 ed Athanassiadi Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 46B ed Athanassiadi Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 81 and 87A ed Athanassiadi ἀλλ' εἴ πού τι θαυμαστὸν ἀκήκοεν ἢ ἱεροπρεπές, ἀφανὲς ἢ φανόν, αὐτόπτης ἠβούλετο γενέσθαι τοῦ θαύματος (Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 21 ed Athanassiadi) Damascius, Historia Philosophica, frr 12A–B, 19, 34A ed Athanassiadi ῥώμῃ γενναίας φύσεως καὶ θεῶν ἀγχισπόρου (Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 37E ed Athanassiadi)

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thagoras, “considering them to be among those winged souls who dwell in the supracelestial regions, in the plain of Truth, in the meadow of divine forms” (34D) To sum up the portrait of Isidore, indeed, Damascius says that “his actions were a clear illustration of the manner in which Pythagoras conceived of Man as most resembling God” 62 Thus, stating that the philosophical model of Damascius was that of Platonic Phaedrus and Phaedo is at least limiting and it means not taking into account Damascius’ dependence on the pythagorizing thought of the Chalcidian philosopher: according to the testimony of his own pupil Simplicius, Damascius was so entangled in Iamblichus’ speculations that he seemed to attack many of Proclus theories 63 Another interpretation comes from Dominic O’Meara He claims that Damascius’ characters differ in natural endowments of body and soul; moreover, different circumstances of birth and social backgrounds as well as the gifts or handicaps of fortune determine an unevenness in the presence of virtues, vices, qualities, and deficiencies, upon which progression in the scale of virtues depends on So, according to the scholar, Damascius in his work wanted to present not a paradigmatic philosopher, as does Marinus in the Life of Proclus, but “examples of differing philosophical itineraries, a veritable panorama of the possibilities and patterns of philosophical perfection” 64 If, on the one hand it explains the wide variety of profiles described in the work, on the other hand one should not forget what the programmatic intent of Historia Philosophica was We know that the occasion of the work’s genesis was the request from Damascius’ disciple Theodora to read the extraordinary deeds of the common teacher Isidore;65 as we have seen, Damascius himself specifies that, despite digressions, the aim of the work is to trace the earthly experience of Isidore’s soul (Historia Philosophica frr   5A–B) Moreover, Dominic O’Meara himself recognises that Isidore is the foremost among the heroes in Damascius’ narrative, so much so that, despite the ebb and flow in Isidore virtues’ path, he seems to have attained all the degrees of the Neoplatonic virtues,66 unlike other characters who fail to achieve philosophical perfection because of their deficiencies or vices In the case of Isidore, instead, the exiguity of some natural quali-

62 63

64 65 66

ὅπερ ἔφη ὁ Πυθαγόρας ὁμοιότατον ἔχειν τῷ θεῷ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, τοῦτο σαφῶς ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων αὐτὸς ἐπεδείκνυτο, Historia Philosophica, fr 26B ed Athanassiadi ὁ δὲ Δαμάσκιος διὰ φιλοπονίαν καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὰ Ἰαμβλίχου συμπάθειαν πολλοῖς οὐκ ὤκνει τῶν Πρόκλου δογμάτων ἐφιστάνειν (In Physica, IX p 795 15–17 ed Diels) For a deeper discussion, see Steel, Il Sé che cambia, especially 189 ss Athanassiadi, Damascius The Philosophical History, p 45 also acknowledges that, in surviving Damascius’ commentaries to Plato, the philosopher seems to reject Proclus’ interpretation; Westerink 1976–77 II, 10–11 considered them as commentaries on commentaries, because they contain a collection of critical remarks about Proclus’ exegesis, rather than an analysis of Plato’s works In the Philosophical History, indeed Proclus has not a primary role cf Historia Philosophica, fr 54, 59F and 76E ed Athanassiadi See O’Meara, “Pattern of Perfection”, here p 88 Photius, Bibliotheca, Cod 181, p 125b, 31 Bekker It can be read in the chart lists appended to the paper in O’Meara 2006, 89–90

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ties does not limit his access to the higher levels of virtue, those concerning the soul alone How then to explain the moderation of his qualities? As stated above, Damascius does not renounce more broadly to attribute extraordinary qualities to his master, according to the rhetorical practices of the philosophical lives; but he chooses to diminish some of them in particular, considering them insufficient to reach the true knowledge: αἴσθησις, φαντασία, μνήμη, δεινότης συλλογισμῶν In doing so, Damascius wants to minimise his hero’s senses belonging to material and bodily spheres, trying in this way to demonstrate that the divine nature of the philosopher dwells uniquely in his soul, where God deposited philosophy 67 But one might well wonder why the biographer wanted to distance from the earlier tradition only in relation to certain qualities and above all why precisely these would prove the exclusively psychic nature of his character Actually, the explanation of this original passage can be found right in Iamblichus’ philosophy and in particular in his De anima According to the Chalcidian philosopher, the soul has two essences: a pure and separated essence and another one that is activated when it resides in the body68 Even if the soul is separate and ultimately separable from its body, powers can naturally coexist within an incomposite soul69 In section 13 of De anima, Iamblichus discusses where irrational powers dwell and to what they belong The philosopher – as usual in his work – hides his position behind Plato’s thought: rational and irrational powers are present, albeit in different ways, to both the disembodied and embodied soul The rational soul itself has irrational powers that it activates through the irrational soul when embodied As the commentator John Finamore asserts, ‘there is therefore an innate weakness even in the pure rational soul that gives rise to the irrational powers that we see actualized in human behaviour’70 Some irrational powers are appropriate to the soul itself and others to the composite of body and soul Iamblichus distances himself from both those who claim that all the faculty, including those irrationals, are to be attributed to the essence of the soul, and who, like Plotinus, believes that to the pure essence of the soul pertains only the pure reason But what is more interesting to our question is that the irrational powers of which Iamblichus discusses the attribution (whether to the only soul or to the composite) correspond exactly to the faculties that Damascius diminishes in his protagonist: αἴσθησις, φαντασία, μνήμη, λογισμοὶ

67 68 69 70

For another example of condemnation of senses by Damascius see Historia Philosophica, fr 12C ed Athanassiadi Cf also the similar distinction Iamblichus debates in De Mysteriis VIII 6 4–15 ed Des Places (269 1–12 ed Parthey) Iamblichus, De anima 10, ed Finamore–Dillon Finamore–Dillon, Iamblichus De anima, p 117

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Πλωτῖνος αὐτῆς ἀφαιρεῖ τὰς ἀλόγους δυνάμεις, τὰς αἰσθήσεις, τὰς φαντασίας, τὰς μνήμας, τοὺς λογισμούς· μόνον δὲ τὸν καθαρὸν λογισμὸν εἰς τὴν καθαρὰν οὐσίαν αὐτῇς ἀνατείνει, ὡς ἔχοντα συμφυῆ δύναμιν πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν τῆς οὐσίας ἰδέαν (Iamblichus, De anima 13 ed Finamore–Dillon) “Plotinus removes from the soul the irrational powers: those of perception, imagination, memory, and discursive reasoning He includes only pure reason in the pure essence of the soul, on the grounds that it has a power bound up with the very nature of the soul’s essence” (transl Finamore)

Unfortunately, Stobaeus has not included Iamblichus’ discussion of each faculty of the soul in his anthology, but from the passage on memory we may infer which essence it belongs to Memory is part of the class of irrational powers (most likely together with the others quoted above) proper to the soul but not essential parts of it, which become active when the soul undergoes his change of life at the moment of embodiment Τούτων οὐσῶν τῶν κοινοτάτων δυνάμεων εἰσὶ καὶ ἄλλαι τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, κατ’αὐτὴν μέν, οὐ μὴν συμπληρωτικαὶ αὐτῆς, ὡς ἡ μνήμη κατοχὴ οὖσα φαντάσματος (Iamblichus, De anima 14 ed Finamore–Dillon) “These are the most common powers of the soul, but there are still others that are proper to it in itself but that do not constitute essential parts of it, such as memory, which is the retention of an image” (transl Finamore)

Therefore, according to the theory expounded by Iamblichus, the presence of these powers denotes the status change of the soul: in contact with the body, it develops its intrinsic irrational essence which has its raison d’être in the composite soul-body In light of this, one can deduce that Damascius, by reducing Isidore’s powers of perception, imagination, memory as well as his discursive reasoning, deprives him of that ‘weakness’ that distinguishes the human souls Albeit apparently embodied, Isidore’s soul would not have developed his irrational part, nor would he have given rise to that form of ‘composite’, remaining wholly soul, like the other protagonists of the βίοι φιλόσοφοι Not by chance, indeed, Damascius states that the moderation of those irrational powers would be the divine proof that Isidore was a soul rather than a combination of body and soul The philosophy that Isidore preserves dwells indeed in the incomposite soul and not in the composite body-soul The missed development of some powers in the character of Isidore is not an original expedient Damascius introduces in the aim of varying the gallery of his philosophers or humanising his protagonist, let alone the result of the polemical attitude that Photius accused him of;71 it rather rests upon a precise Neoplatonic theory that the

71

Photius, Bibliotheca, Cod 181, p 126a, 18–30 Bekker

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biographer wisely reprises to assert (with greater grounds than his peers) the philosopher’s divine nature If Damascius’ Isidore, uninterested as he is in memorising books or opinions of others72, is far from the extraordinary perceptive and mnemonic abilities which characterises Proclus in Marinus’ biography,73 that is because he approaches the model of the divine soul developed by Iamblichus more than the other protagonists of philosophical biographies Furthermore, I believe that by making Isidore overcome the exclusively sensory perception and the possession of discursive reasonings, Damascius also wanted to place his teacher at a precise level of progress of his virtues According to Neoplatonic doctrine of virtues, man gradually acquires natural, moral, political, cathartic, contemplative (or theoretical), theurgical (or hieratic) and superior (that some call ‘paradigmatic’) virtues 74 The εὐαισθησία is one of the bodily qualities pertaining to natural virtues which Marinus introduces in Proclus’ portrait, updating the traditional topoi of the praise that included ἰσχύς, κάλλος, ὑγίεια 75 For Damascius, natural virtues are common to the beasts and proper to living beings (ἢ μᾶλλον οὖσαι τοῦ ζῴου)76, “scil l’ensemble corps et âme” as Festugière comments77 The passage from bodily life to that released from the bonds of generation is introduced by means of cathartic virtues78 and it is definitely fulfilled with the acquirement of the ἀρεταί θεωρητικαί: thanks to these, the soul becomes free (τῆς ψυχῆς ἤδη καὶ ἑαυτὴν ἀφιείσης) and it turns its activity towards the intellect and no longer towards the reason (as it happened at the stage of political virtue) 79 According to Marinus, the intuitive aspect of contemplative wisdom conferred by theoretical virtues proves to be acquired when the knowledge is

72 73 74

75 76 77 78 79

Damascius, Historia Philosophica, fr 35B ed Athanassiadi Cf the analogue case of Sarapio, owner of only two or three books (fr 111 ed Athanassiadi) Marinus, Vita Procli, 4, 5 and 20 ed Saffrey–Segonds Hierarchical disposition of virtues, harking back to Plotinus (Enneades I 2 19–26; see Catapano, Plotinus) and systematised for the first time by Porphyry (Sententiae 32), found its definitive form within Late Neoplatonism, above all through the works of Iamblichus (unfortunately his treatise On Virtues is not preserved, but one might infer its key role in constituting the Neoplatonic theory of the scale of virtues by means of information handed down by his colleagues Damascius, In Phaedonem I 138 e 143 ed Westerink; Marinus, Vita Procli 26 29–30 ed Saffrey-Segonds and Anonimus, Prolegomena 26 ed Westerink; see also Saffrey–Segonds–Luna 2001, LXXXIII e XCVI and Dillon 2011, 370–1), Marinus (through the portrait of Proclus, particularly in Vita Procli 3, 6 and 19 ed Saffrey–Segonds), Damascius (In Phaedonem I 138–144 ed Westerink) and Olympiodorus (In Phaedonem 8 ed Norvin) See O’Meara 2005, 40–49; Linguiti 2013 For the influence of Neoplatonic system of virtues on the narrative structure of the philosophical biographies, see von Albrecht 1966, 52–58; Du Toit 2002, 293; George, 2002, 303–304; O’Meara 2006, 87; Becker 2016 Marinus, Vita Procli 3 1–18 ed Saffrey-Segonds Cf Plato, Respublica IX 591b 3–6; Leges I 631c 1–5; Aristoteles, Rhetorica I 5 1361b 3–26 See Pernot 1993 I, 159 Damascius, In Phaedonem I 138 ed Westerink Festugière, Études de Philosophie Grecque, p 542 Damascius, In Phaedonem I 141, ed Westerink Damascius, In Phaedonem I 142 ed Westerink

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no longer related to discursive reasonings and demonstrations: Proclus, purified from and raised above the world of generation and change, becomes witness of the really beatific visions from beyond, “establishing his assured science not on apodictic and discursive syllogisms, but on what he could contemplate with his eyes, on the intuitions of intellectual activity, on the models contained within divine reason” (οὐκέτι μὲν διεξοδικῶς καὶ ἀποδεικτικῶς συλλογιζόμενος αὐτῶν τὴν ἐπιστήμην, ὥσπερ δὲ ὄψει ἁπλαῖς ἐπιβολαῖς τῆς νοερᾶς ἐνεργείαις θεώμενος τὰ ἐν τῷ θείῳ νῷ παραδείγματα Vita Procli, 22 12 ed Saffrey-Segonds) Thus, the εὐαισθησία denotes the permanence at the first degree of natural virtues; the discursive syllogisms show a rational knowledge, not yet directed to intellect and proper to the evolutionary stage of political virtues In other words, it may be concluded that in Historia Philosophica fr 14 Damascius is accusing most philosophers of remaining at level of political virtues, without progressing to the degree of theoretical virtues like Isidore who, free from human bonds, is no longer tied to the sensory perception, but he intuitively reaches the ἀληθής ἐπιστήμη So, the differentiation of patterns in philosophical perfection postulated by Dominic O’Meara may then be re-interpreted on the one hand as the distinction between Isidore and the others, on the other hand as the research of a philosophical model that now looks at the earlier Platonism which stigmatises πολυδοξία80 and φαντασία81, now reproduces later Neoplatonic theories of divine soul and progression of virtues Like the other biographical characters, if not more, Damascius’ Isidore wants to represent that special divine entity Iamblichus theorised in his treatises and exemplified in the Pythagorean Life As said before,82 Isidore’s behavioural pattern is that of a divine Pythagorean man With the soul of Pythagoras – and therefore with the class of pure souls postulated by Iamblichus – Isidore shares the same soteriological mission:83 Τοιαῦτα ὁ ἡμέτερος ἐπεπόνθει φιλόσοφος ὑπ’ ἔρωτος μὲν τῆς περὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα πράγματα διορθώσεως, ἔχθρας δὲ καὶ μίσους ἀδιαλλάκτου τῶν κακοήθων ἐπιτηδευμάτων (Damascius, Historia Philosophica fr 16C, ed Athanassiadi) “This is what our philosopher suffered through his desire to rectify the affairs of mankind, and his loathing and irreconcilable hatred for evil minded behaviour” (transl Athanassiadi)

80 81 82 83

τὸ δέ πολύφωνον τοῦ Πλάτωνος οὐ πολὐδοξον (Arius Didymus, Apud Stobaeum 2,7,3 f p 49,25–50,1 Wachsmuth) On the neoplatonic criticism of the multiplicity of opinions see Aeneas Gazenus, Theophrastus p 9,4–10 ed Colonna (ἀπειρίας δὲ τἀναντία λέγειν οὐκ ἐπιστήμης) Cf Ferrari 2017 Cf Plato, Sophista 236e and 264b Damascius differs from the minority current of Neoplatonists who, starting from Plato, Timaeus 70e ss , re-evaluate the φαντασία, in virtue of its connection to the poetic and artistic inspiration (see Sheppard 1997) Cf n 62 See above n 10

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Isidore’s soul wants to separate itself from generation, aspiring to a supernatural and purely intellectual condition, just as much as the few pure souls of Iamblichus do: “using some supernatural power of intellect, they stand aside from nature, are led around to the separated and unmixed Intellect, and at the same time surpass the powers of nature” These souls  – Iamblichus specifies  – stand out from the intermediate class of souls who lead their lives between nature and Intellect as well as from the lowest one controlled by nature, subject to fate, and using practical reasoning (πρακτικόν λογισμὸν) instead of intellect 84 To join itself to the gods the human soul has to use pure and blameless reasonings, which it has received from all eternity from those same gods, without employing conjecture or opinion or some form of syllogistic reasoning (εἰκασίᾳ μὲν ἢ δόξῃ ἢ συλλογισμῷ τινι), all of which take their start from the plane of temporal reality85: those who want to attain knowledge of gods by the aid of reasoning fail and fall away from the divine86 Therefore, it is no accident if Damascius excludes the skill with syllogisms from Isidore’s portrait There can be little doubt that the philosophical and biographical model of Isidore’s βίος is the Neoplatonic one, formulated by Iamblichus and embraced by the following heirs of Platonism His implication in the supernatural and divine world is evident and that is evidenced not only by the presence of many rhetorical topoi common to the other characters of philosophical biographies, but also by the original description of Isidore’s attenuated qualities Through this literary expedient, Damascius makes Isidore part of that special class of souls that, even if embodied, keeps a lucid awareness of its origin as well as of its earthly mission entrusted to him by God to whose retinue it belongs During its embodiment, the soul has not been contaminated nor has it developed the irrational powers that usually arise when it encounters the body, which then becomes useful only to provide the soul with a visible form Isidore has reached a precise level in the Neoplatonic scale of virtues, which allows him to release from the bonds of the hated generation and the use of practical reasonings, and to share the divine thoughts by means of his intellectual activity, thus achieving his resemblance to the God Therefore, if we want to associate the image of Isidore with that of ‘new Socrates’ – as suggested by Franco Trabattoni – we must refer to Neoplatonic Socrates, who was interpreted by the Late Platonists as symbol of the higher soul whose purpose in embodiment was to direct all human beings to the pursuit of philosophy as much as our biographers do with their protagonists Hermias writes about him: “Socrates was

84 85 86

Iamblichus, De Mysteriis V 18 7–15 ed Des Places (223,8–224,7 ed Parthey) Iamblichus, De Mysteriis I 3 30–38 ed Des Places (9,12–10,1 ed Parthey) Iamblichus, De Mysteriis I 21 20–28 ed Des Places (65 16–66 2 ed Parthey)

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sent down into generation for the benefit of the human race and of the souls of young persons”87 Regina Fichera PhD in Greek Philology at the University of Florence reginafichera@gmail com

87

Hermias, In Phaedrum 1 1–2 On the Neoplatonic Socrates see Layne–Tarrant, The Neoplatonic Socrates and Ambury, “Socratic Character” (above all on Proclus and Syrianus’ interpretation) On Damascius’ Socratic activity and philosophy see Ahbel-Rappe 2018

“Very dear to the Gods”1 The Role Model of Neoplatonism or Proclus as a ‘Holy Man’ Sonsoles Costero Quiroga The definition of theios aner,2 that is, that of divine man – or woman –3 is heterogeneous and dynamic, due to its own nature and the encompassing of numerous characteristics This concept, being multifaceted, incorporates under its umbrella many authors with different attributes and gifts, which are difficult to identify and even to be included within the category of theios aner 4 At the same time, their own condition makes it impossible to simplify the processes that were articulated around these divine men However, the advantage of a definition that cannot be precise or strictly delimited facilitates and provides such a broad spectrum that many prominent figures can be considered holy men While the study of divine men can be compared to a kaleidoscope, where these characters must be analysed from different points of view for an adequate approximation, one fact stands out among all the rest, namely that there were some human beings who were given a sacred quality only because of the characteristics ascribed to their personalities (charisma) and the rank they held The philosophers stood out among this group Already from classical times, relevant figures were established that stood out for their holiness, an idea that was carried from Pythagoras to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Later in Late Antiquity, some of the figures who stood out with exalted attributes were Am-

1 2 3 4

I would also like to thank the research projects for the opportunity of participating in this book Finally, a special mention to Miguel Esteban Payno and Marina Díaz Bourgeal for their commentaries In general lines, it is difficult to establish the debate on the divine man However, on the categorization as theios aner and its complexity, see Bieler 1967; Brown 1971, 80–101; Fowden 1982, 33–59; Anderson 1994, 33; Cornelli 2003, 59–80; Rapp 2005; Sitzgorich 2013 On divine women, see Coon 1997 On the classification of different authors as theios aner, see Hidalgo de la Vega 2001; Alviz Fernández 2016

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monius Saccas,5 Plotinus, who put together the basis of the philosophy itself through his hypostases,6 and Proclus, who became the greatest exponent of the application of theurgy within Neoplatonic theory – which Iamblichus had previously incorporated It will be the latter, Proclus, on which this chapter will focus as a case study 7 Proclus (410/412–485), philosopher and director of the School of Athens in the fifth century, considered by traditional historiography as the highest representative of the late phase of Neoplatonism, was the subject of a biography written by his disciple Marinus of Neapolis in the hagiography known as Vita Procli – whose true title is Proclus or on happiness 8 In it, through an epideictic discourse he portrayed a model man characterised by eudamonia thanks to “his exemplary practice of all virtues” 9 Certainly, Proclus not only became the paradigm of the perfect man by reaching the mystical path that transcended philosophy10 through theurgy, but also because his life became the exemplification of divinity In addition, it can be observed that within the characterization of pagan divine men as charismatic beings,11 where the attribute of leadership stood out, the philosophers occupied a special place and, even more so for the directors of the academies who had a particularly prominent position 12 These diadochoi could only arrive at that privileged position by manifesting superior virtues and being named heir to the teacher13 among all the other disciples of the school 14 To reach this position, the student ascended through the different stages of the Neoplatonic curriculum, articulated as a scale of excellence or scala virtutum In the same way, Marinus

5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

If a parallel is made between the Hellenistic triad “Socrates-Plato-Aristotle” and the most prominent Neoplatonists in historiography, “Ammonius Saccas-Plotinus-Proclus”, it is observed that both Socrates and Ammonius Saccas disclosed their teachings verbally, vid Elorduy 1959, 9–13; cf Zeller 1909, 503, n 6 Another of the peculiarities that is usually attributed to Ammonius Saccas is to be the founder of Neoplatonism, although it is questioned by some scholars such as Zeller 1909, 501–502, cf Schwyzer 1983 Plotinus was a disciple of Ammonius, in the same way that Plato was a disciple of Socrates, cf Gerson 2010, 271, 284, 513 In this regard, it is possible to observe several analogies with the phenomenon of the aurea catena Cf Uzdavinys 2004, xxi In this sense, the article by Dillon 2020, in which the figure of Proclus is studied from the same point of view we address in this work, is enriching The text is written in prose and contains certain epic verses, which Marinus arranged both as an eulogy as well as a biography and a dissertation on the scala virtutum Its title, as Edwards 2000, 58, n 15, is reminiscent of a platonic speech García Ruiz and Álvarez Hoz 2004, 16 The virtues can be divided into three large blocks that we see in Griffin 2016, 13; namely: the prephilosophical virtues, the philosophical excellence and finally those that are encompassed with the Orphic and Chaldean texts Regarding charisma, in extenso, cf Weber 2002 Among them, Proclus stood out because of his moniker Proklos ho Diadokhos, “Proclus, the Diadochos” Phenomenon called aurea catena Regarding this topic, vid Lévêque 1959, 328, n 1; Beierwaltes 1979, 150–151, esp n 120; Siorvanes 1996, 21 Regarding this point, see Watts 2006, 91, 111, 117

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reframed his discourse, exemplifying this scale of cardinal virtues through the life of his teacher 15 Proclus is presented as the example of a virtuous man that one must follow The telos of human life was excellence or virtue (arete) culminating in being “as godlike as possible” 16 This excellence is sufficient for the eudamonia17 that constituted “the good life” 18 For this reason, the hagiographies of philosophers became popular as “ways of life” to reach that happiness 19 Marinus did an immense work to qualify Proclus as a wise man, since he “intende descrivere la vita di Proclo secondo l’ottica e la prospettiva dell’etica neoplatonica che ha come scopo quello di indicare la via che conduce alla vita beata” 20 The commendable discourse was articulated through a series of relevant events in his life21 that showed the model of the pan metron, the one that moved away from passions and hybris In this sense, Marinus’ discourse implied an evolution of the previous commendations,22 adding an ascending and complete gradation that culminated in theurgy and intermingling it with a speech halfway between the biography23 and the eulogy 24 Starting with a description of his physical virtues, Marinus presented Proclus’ hierarchy of attributes in a staggered fashion The first, the physical virtues (Marin Vit Proc 3–5) are presented in an innate way,25 since they come together at birth,26 when

15

16 17

18 19 20 21 22

23 24

25 26

The most accurate translations and editions of Marinus’ text regarding the elaboration, edition, and translation of the text are found in Edwards 2000; Saffrey and Segonds 2002; although this work has also used the editions of Masullo 1985; Sarzana 1999; García Ruiz and Álvarez Hoz 2004; Männlein-Robert, Becker and Schelske 2019 homoiosis toi theoi, cf Plat Resp 10, 613b; Tht 176b Marin Vit Proc 1, 35–44, esp 36–39: “For I believe that he was the happiest man of all those who have acquired renown in many a long age […] his portion of virtue was sufficient for his wellbeing” Relevant to understand the relationship between the concept of happiness in Aristotle with old age and the good life of Proclus, cf Edwards 2000 59, n 27 Olymp in Alc , 105, 2–3 The correct life and its search will be a recurring motto in the Neoplatonists, see Procl in Alc 55, 17–19; 155, 8–9; Olymp in Alc , 104b, 16; and its explanation in Griffin 2016, 39; Van Riel 2000 It is exemplified in the very title of Marinus’ work: Life of Proclus or Concerning Happiness Abbate 2008, 1 Westerink and Saffrey 2003, ix–xxvi The eulogies were arranged by structured topoi, such as those proposed by Menander Rhetor in the third century, within Treatise II, 418 5–422 4 Russell-Wilson = Rhetores Graeci III 368 3–377 30 Spengel 1966 On Marinus’ innovations in his rhetorical scheme, see García Ruiz and Álvarez Hoz 2004, 27–29 Friedrich 1990, 263–266 Marinus is influenced by the praise of the work of Porphyry’s Vita Plotini – and even clear parallels as in Marin Vit Proc 1, 2 and Porph Vit Plot 1, 1 –, although it is worth highlighting other Neoplatonists who made similar speeches such as Plotinus’ own successor with Vita Pythagorae, Iamblichus and his work De uita Pythagorica, Eunapius of Sardis with Vitae sophistarum or Damascius with Historiae Philosophicae fragmenta Marin Vit Proc 4, 93–113 Arist EN 6, 13, 1144b6

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there is a conjunction between the natural virtues of the body27 and the virtues of the soul,28 which correspond to the cardinal virtues 29 In Proclus, the stereotyped foundations of the perfect man converge; those dispositions that are generated as the basis of the optimal underlying of theios aner 30 A sublime demarcation of Proclus is established from the beginning that calls into question and takes us away from the possibility of obtaining that divine nature for ourselves,31 since it is not up to us to possess these attributes if they are not innate to us-like that of an astonishing memory since “this man alone seemed never to have drunk of the cup of forgetfulness” 32 However, Marinus makes it clear that this predisposition could be acquired with other distinctive features, for example “from his earliest infancy he loved justice, being at once just and courteous, and was in no way a bad associate, a bad man to deal with or at all unjust In fact, he showed us that he was by nature a well-regulated man, no grasper and no miser, no imposter and no coward” 33 However, the ethical virtues (Marin Vit Proc 6–13) appear as sine qua non requirements that human beings should acquire to develop as a competent individual in society and for himself Their structure is again subdivided into a quadruple scheme of the cardinal virtues 34 Throughout the narrative, it can be seen how Proclus fulfilled the virtues of the scala virtutum and, in the same way, he fulfilled the classical cardinal virtues The experiences lived by Proclus are interpreted in the key of these four virtues since “the use of the cardinal virtues in such eulogies was evidently common”35 It is plausible to infer that Proclus was not only divine because he attained those virtues, but that those virtues were assigned to him as a way of expressing his divinity

27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35

Related to the principles of the nature of the Platonic philosopher in Plat Resp 4, 485c3–494b3 Vid Marin Vit Proc 4, 99–107 There is a perfect correlation between cardinal virtues and the virtues of the soul (in parentheses): acuity of the senses (truth), strength (fortitude), beauty (temperance) and health (justice) Marinus rearranges the cardinal virtues of Plat Symp 196–197 in the way that best suited him to describe his teacher However, they are the same that appear in Iambl VP 157–214 and that influenced the Pythagoreans, cf Procl in Alc 94 (Segonds, 1986, 77) Marin Vit Proc 4, 93–113: “The primary elements of the soul were innate in him, and he had no need of learning them, and even so they were highly developed in him His was a great memory, an intelligence suited to all kinds of studies; he was liberal, affable, loving, and fraternal to truth, justice, courage and temperance” Cf Procl De Prov passim, esp 55, 57–58, 62, 65 Marin Vit Proc 5, 137–139 The “cup of oblivion” is a clear reference to Plat Resp 10; Procl in Alc 189 7; in Crat II, 2 4 Marin Vit Proc 4, 127–133 The Boissonade edition is the one used with respect to the subdivision of paragraphs In the Spanish edition of García Ruiz and Álvarez Hoz 2004 the text is in Marin Vit Proc 5, 127–133; since it follows the text of Masullo 1985 The cardinal scheme that Marinus associated with the ethical virtues are moral rectitude (Marin Vit Proc 4), the longing and desire for the philosophical life (op cit 14), the aptitude for good (op cit 14) and, finally, leading a solemn life (op cit 14) Edwards 2000, 61, n 36 believes that there is a direct relationship of these cardinal virtues with respect to the relationship of the soul with the body, cf Isoc 9 22–24

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Regarding ethical excellence, their acquisition could only be carried out, on the one hand, through custom and, on the other, through the study of certain texts at school, hence “For on his arrival the goddess advised him to devote himself up to philosophy, and to attend the Athenian schools So he said farewell to rhetoric”36 Again, divine elements, such as the appearance of Athena37 in his dreams, appear to the philosopher as guide38 and signs of his holy tendencies The narrative mixes the biographical with the mythological-divine,39 adding multiple references to extracts from classical works, mainly Platonic 40 Proclus’ educational itinerary reflected the archetypal journey that the elite had to take in late antiquity for the adequate formation of a civic man, since the educational system was configured as a reflection of the ascent within the scale of virtues 41 Starting in Lycia, his native region, and continuing with the grammar school of Orion in Alexandria and the Latin schools a posteriori,42 Proclus excelled in rhetoric, perhaps because of the influence of his father, given his profession as an imperial lawyer 43 Similarly, “at this young stage he seemed to take a particular pleasure in rhetoric, not yet having tasted philosophical discourse” 44 After a brief period in Alexandria, Proclus travelled to Athens to complete his studies in philosophy, this time at the school of Plutarch Previously, upon his arrival in the city, he met Syrianus, a disciple of Plutarch and later diadochos, whom he would succeed as head of the school, forming part of the phenomenon called aurea catena or golden chain 45 Within this section, chapter 12 of Marinus’ hagiography is noteworthy as it deals with heterogeneous themes In the first place, the information on the origin of Plutarch and the introduction of Proclus to the classical texts of Plato and Aristotle46 constitutes a clear reference to the educational system of that period Specifically, the study 36 37 38 39

40 41 42 43 44 45 46

Marin Vit Proc 9, 212–216 It is interesting that in the story the gods, and specifically Athena, appear at key moments to guide the philosopher on the straight path, as in this case, in which Proclus returns to Lycia Athena is a recurring goddess in the life of Proclus as a representation of wisdom, along with Helios Athena reappears throughout the entire story, ex Marin Vit Proc 10, 239–244, 282 See Procl Hymni On the appearance of the gods in the hymns and the importance for Proclus, cf van den Berg 2001, 35–40, 106 The hymn of Athena is very remarkable, see op cit 274–314 Helios is extensively explained in op cit 145–189 An example is found in Marin Vit Proc 6, 156–159: “She [the tutelary goddess of Byzantium], appearing to him in dreams, exhorted him to philosophy For this reason, I believe, a great familiarity with the goddess arose in him, to the point of excellently celebrating her mysteries and following her laws with his greatest inspiration” The tutelary goddess can be Rhea or Hecate On the tutelary goddess and her importance, see Marin Vit Proc 15, 28; Edwards 2000, 66, n 66 and 68 There are multiple references to gods that help Proclus throughout the story, cf Marin Vit Proc 6, 172–176 Cf Guthrie 1925; Saffrey y Segonds 2002; García Ruiz y Álvarez Hoz 2004 See in extenso Costero Quiroga s f Literally Ῥωμαϊκῶν διδασκαλείων or latin schools Cf Marrou 1956, 253 Marin Vit Proc 8, 196–198 Regarding this topic, see Lévêque 1959; Uzdavinys 2004 Marin Vit Proc 10, 295–297

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of philosophical works within the school of philosophy was consummated with the elaboration of the progymnasmata,47 oratory exercises, which would later be the basis for Proclus’ future comments, as the text points out 48 Second, the willingness of Plutarch, already of advanced age, to teach him philosophy, denotes a direct correlation of interest in Proclus on the part of Plutarch, being able to see the potential of the young disciple 49 Also remarkable is the mention of his diet, restrictive in the consumption of animals,50 through which Marinus surely tried to show an elevation of Proclus’ soul taking into consideration his respect for the body and the diet that is practised Continuing with Marinus’ allegory, which follows the trivium of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy,51 representing in turn the goals of the elite, Proclus also demonstrated the possession of political virtues (Marin Vit Proc 14–17) already integrated into the school of Athens during this time These virtues belong to a higher category, corresponding to the rational soul, where dialectics are involved, along with rhetoric However, the most prominent virtue is justice 52 His role as diadochos of the Athenian school made Proclus influential for the polis, and his council was a guide “and the philosopher himself sometimes took a hand in political deliberations, being present at public debates on the city’s affairs, offering shrewd advice and conferring with the magistrates about matters of justice, not only exhorting them, but in a manner forcing them by his philosophic frankness to give to each his due” 53 Marinus presents the philosopher not only as a mere instructor, but also as a tutor for the rulers and a mediator within the political affairs of the city 54 This role was not accidental, as it derived from the previously established relationship between elite students – pagan or not – and teachers in schools 55 The objective of part of the elite was to 47 48 49

50 51 52

53 54 55

Regarding the progymnasmata, see Webb 2001, 289–316 Referenced in Marin Vit Proc 10, 298–300; 12, 296–300 Marin Vit Proc 12, 310: “Such on all occasions was his teachers’ solicitude for him” Syrianus also appreciates him in 313–318: “And when Syrianus took him, he not only gave him more help with his scholarly pursuits [than Archiadas, grandson of Plutarch and successor as well as Sirianus], but made him his housemate from then on and a sharer in his philosophic life, finding in him the sort of hearer and successor that he had long desired to have, as he was able to receive his manifold learning and divine teachings” Although the reference to vegetarianism in García Ruiz and Álvarez Hoz 2004, 111, n 56 is clear, Edwards 2000, 75, n 121 enters the debate with the hypothesis of Évrard 1960 This trivium is already represented in Marciano Capella Cf Edwards 2000, 68, n 80; Mart Cap 3–5, although it could be studied in other centers outside the pagan schools, such as in churches, cf Gemeinhardt, Hoof, and Nuffelen 2016, 4 The prominent role of justice with respect to other virtues is in line with Plat Resp 4, 433b9 The political virtues are described according to justice (dikaiosyne), wisdom (phronesis), temperance (sophrosyne) and strength (andreia), highlighting in these cardinal virtues justice (dikaiosyne), which at the same time are associated with liberality (eleutheriotes), magnificence (megaloprepeia), affinity of feelings (sympatheia) and friendship (philia) Marin Vit Proc 15, 355–359 Cf Slootjes 2004, 60 Cf Lamberton 2001

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access an administrative position within the imperial system 56 To access this system, it was necessary to go through these schools The teacher-student relationship was not only academic, since it crossed its limits57 and became a subsequent social exchange, which was reflected in evergetism,58 therefore “people were accustomed to emperors, Roman officials, and wealthy private citizens bestowing favours upon individuals and communities, be it the construction of public buildings, the organisation of lavish games, or the writing of letters of recommendation” These ties were precisely strong between those who entered the school of philosophy and their teachers, specifically with the diadochos – the maximum representative figure of wisdom in the school –, since this field of study constituted the pinnacle of wisdom Proclus was a representative emblem of erudition, a doer of good, justice and a “model of moderation for others”,59 through the provision of a continuous sophrosyne 60 He became almost as a paternal support,61 even without having children of his own,62 but by demonstrating philanthropy 63 It should be noted that the predominantly common feature of, but not limited to, theioi andres is their disengagement from carnal knowing, moving away from material passions, through either chastity or detachment from marital unions Hence, philia relationships were frequent and prevalent, as is the case with Archiades 64 56 57

58 59 60

61 62 63 64

Cf Marrou 1948; Clarke 1971; Bloomer 1997; Morgan 1998; Too 2001 and in particular Lynch 1972; Hadot 1984; Cribiore 2001; Stenger 2018 These links were already established during the educational phase, but in contexts outside the establishment, such as banquets or rituals Watts 2016, 55 indicates the frequency of these: “In Greek philosophical schools, one sees teachers and students interacting outside of class in ways designed to blur the strict hierarchy that existed inside the classroom […] They were social occasions with an informal dynamic that appears to have mixed the business of sharing communal historical traditions with pleasurable activities” Cf Di Branco 2006, 143 Marin Vit Proc 15, 364–365 The temperance or moderation of the passions is combined in a perfect balance with strength, temperance, prudence, purity, decorum and self-control These virtues are clearly represented alongside wisdom and justice in Marin Vit Proc 15, passim The relationship with the Pythagorean harmony can be traced from Plat Ans 430e–432a, 442c and with the balance between the appetitive and spiritual parts in the rational soul, within the theory of the tripartition of the soul in Plat Phaedr 237c–238e Marin Vit Proc 16 Marin Vit Proc 16, 412–416 Translated as philanthropos by affability, in reference to love towards humanity on all its facets Archiades and all references to him serve a dual purpose in Marin Vit Proc 16, 428–436 On the one hand, the friendship relationship is based on a union between equals of Pythagorean type, since they were both diadochi, and it is related to the highest philia in Arist ON 1170b6 leading to eudamonia or happiness, a possible nod to the title of Marinus’ work On the other hand, Archiades, being the grandson of Plutarch, is endowed with a link of direct descent with the catena aurea On Pythagorean friendship, Cf Porph Vit Plot 33 3; Synes Ep 100; Procl in Parm I, 623d, 702, 27–28, 729d; Iambl VP 229–240 In turn, the comment on the Aristotelian concept of friendship in Edwards 2000, 83, n 178, 180, 182; esp n 181 On the blood ties of Archiades with Plutarch, cf Taormina 1989; Castrén 1994, 6, 1–14, esp p 13; Di Branco 2006, 134, 143, 145, 189

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In order for the union with divinity to take place,65 a characteristic feature of theios aner, a phase of ascension through dialectics and a consequent purification of the soul had to be undertaken, beginning with the containment of the passions – completed with the previous virtues –,66 for its later elimination in the soul (apatheia) 67 The resulting equanimity68 helped the subject, in this case Proclus, to achieve the cathartic virtues (Marin Vit Proc 18–21) that “the purificatory virtues, superior to these [the political virtues], separate and liberate them from the truly leaden world of generation, and produce an uncurbed flight from the present world”,69 therefore “the things that produce separation for the soul” 70 These purifying virtues were achieved through the rituals in the Orphic mysteries so characteristic of late Neoplatonism 71 Marinus highlights the need for detaching from material passions for the correct separation of the body from the soul 72 In order to accomplish this, one must detach from food, welcoming fast, also experience impassivity in the face of pain and illness, as well as partake in ritual purification practices All of this had an impact on man’s approach to divinity Marinus not only points out the creation of a compendium of hymnody73 as a remarkable deed, but also endows Proclus with a superior fate, elevating him above the priests by qualifying him as “the common priest of the entire world”74 (hierophant) 75 65 66 67 68 69

70 71 72 73

74

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Marin Vit Proc 18, 442–443 Regarding this topic, cf Dillon 1983, 92–96 It is relevant to see the assessment done by Edwards 2000, 84, n 184 with Plat Phaed 82a–c; Plot Enn 1, 2 , esp 1, 2, 2; 14–17; Porph Sent 32 García Ruiz and Álvarez Hoz 2004, 32 Apatheia is connected to ataraxia as described by Marin Vit Proc 20 Marin Vit Proc 18, 447–450 Marin Vit Proc 18, 449–452 The step of eliminating the passions implies a separation with respect to the body, seeking the rational soul, finding itself free from distractions that trap it and do not allow it to ascend Hence the purifying virtues are the goal of the Neoplatonists, already described in Plat Tht 176c; Porph Sent 32 (25 9 Lamberz) These virtues could only be acquired through rituals that culminated in theurgic virtues Marin Vit Proc 18, 456 The difference between the irrational and the rational soul with respect to the body is a theme widely explained in Procl De Prov 15–26, esp 19; X Dub 4, 22 and ET 184–185 Regarding the Orphic rituals, see Bernabé and Casadesús 2008, in extenso The process of the separation of the soul comes from Plat Phaedr 67c, 7–8, 83a, 7–8; Plot Enn 1 2, 5 5–7 Marin Vit Proc 19, 478 A detailed study of the Proclian hymns and the treatment of the gods is found in van den Berg 2001, although Marrou 1956, 156 is also interesting; cf Sheppard 1982, 223; van den Berg 2003, 189–202; Lloyd 2008, 280; Brisson 2016, 108–133; van den Berg 2016; Spanu 2021, 109, 126 Marin Vit Proc 19, 486 Proclus had to be not only a model for his inner circle or his polis, but also beyond a local geographical aspect, which he achieved – hence the influence on his contemporaries, as well as on later philosophers like Olympiodorus and on the current repercussion as a symbol of the Late Neoplatonism The idea of the philosopher as a citizen and servant of the world is already present in Diog Laert 6, 63; but connecting him directly with the Eleusynian mysteries by qualifying him as high priest or hierophantes On the rites of Eleusis and Orphism, cf Clinton 1974; Bernabé 2008; Tonelli 2015; Martín-Velasco and Blanco 2016 Although the English translation is very neutral in qualifying Proclus as “common priest”, Marinus qualifies him as hierophantes On the hierophants, cf Riede 1991

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Likewise, the process of separation from the soul is triggered “and thus the soul of the blessed man, collecting itself from every side and gathering itself within itself ” 76 The introspection, purification, and assimilation of the immutability of being77 derive into a theoretical contemplation (Marin Vit Proc 22–25) of the intellect 78 These virtues are expressed in a supra-discursive and supra-rational activity on the plane of the nous,79 which results in an arduous work of writing on the part of the philosopher that leads him to qualify, as a representative emblem of wisdom, together with the devout dedication of the “unsleeping worship of his [god]” 80 Thus, Proclus would transcend to sublimate with the divine, acquiring qualifiers that would grant him sacred gifts 81 This can be compared to the “divine illumination”82 that was attributed to earlier philosophers such as Plotinus 83 This element acts for the reader as a marker of the direction that the rational soul must take, its relationship with the divinity and the activity towards the intellect (nous), which culminates in the theurgic virtues (Marin Vit Proc 26–33) and his approach to the One 84 Only a small number of the gifted were capable of achieving these virtues The study of Orphic, Chaldean, and other religious elements was restricted to a few individuals 85 This was due to factors such as the limited number of schools of philosophy – they 76 77 78

79 80 81 82 83

84 85

Marin Vit Proc 21, 514–517 The description of the cathartic virtues is extensive in this paragraph, although Plot Enn 1 2, 3, 13–20; 3; Porph Sent 32, 24 9–25 9 (33, 8 Lamberz) will speak at length about them Cf Schissel von Fleschenberg 1928; Hadot 1978, 149–152 In turn, a reflection of the rational soul and related to Providence Marin Vit Proc 22, 532–535: “he became an adept in the foremost things, and became a personal witness of the truly blessed sights in that place, no longer gaining knowledge of them by discursive and demonstrative reasonings, but as if by vision beholding the paradigms in the divine mind by simple strokes of intellectual energy” Continuing with the ascent within the scale of the virtues, the method of acquiring knowledge transcends from the doxa, passing through the dialectic, to the contemplation and subsequent union with the divine thanks to the last virtues, the theurgic The simplification of multiple forms for the approach to the One is characteristic of Neoplatonism and treated in Procl ET Cf Flint 1998; Lang 2005; D’Hoine 2014; D’Hoine and Martijn 2017 Cf García Ruiz and Álvarez Hoz 2004, 32 Marin Vit Proc 22, 554 See infra n 82 Marin Vit Proc 23, 574 It is probable that Marinus makes use of this appellation with a double function: on the one hand, it emulates another great hagiography and previous reference work such as Porph Vit Plot 13, 6–7 On the other hand, he directly relates Proclus to his predecessor in Neoplatonism (and in the golden chain), linking him through sacred attributes Likewise, the story is supported by visual sources that add weight and help to glorify and mythologize Proclus as theios aner A later mention was made of Plotinus in the same description of virtues in Marin Vit Proc 25, 604 Cf Cürsgen 2007, 37–284 See Tanaseanu-Döbler 2013, 257: “For Proclus, the theurgic rites, performed in private, in small groups of initiated, are the only form of interactive and collective cultic practice which he knows, beside his individual, personal practices such as fasting, prayer, hymn singing or various purification rites, Chaldean, Orphic or monthly bath in the sea, perhaps reminiscent of Eleusis His celebrations of the feast days of various deities as described by Marinus are strictly personal and private”

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were relatively few – and professors who acted as teachers in the introduction of these mysteries or the difficulty to access the last step of the scala virtutum Nevertheless, Marinus distinguishes Proclus as theios aner due to his assimilation to divinity, “which, beyond ethics, defines all philosophy” 86 It is in this last phase of his life – although already underlined from the beginning of his life as a disciple of Plutarch and Syrianus –87 where the cardinal division of the virtues ceases to make sense88 in order to be ascribed to theurgical activities (theourgica energemata), which are “aspects of the cosmos, modelled upon and participating in the same cosmic, especially creative and demiurgic dynamics”89 and “as an efficacious means of connecting humans with the divine, of producing visions or leading the soul upwards” 90 The connection with the divine through dreams,91 conjunctions,92 and practices such as Chaldean lustrations93 helped the intellectual soul to be “also dear to the gods” 94 The soul would come back in the last stages – to the material world – and in the assimilation of death the soul would find itself, constantly accompanied by the gods 95 All of this produces a state of eudaimonia that conferred prosperity on Proclus, both individually and in a community – see, his disciples or the polis 96 Providence plays a

86 87 88

89 90 91 92

93 94 95 96

García Ruiz and Álvarez Hoz 2004, 33 Marin Vit Proc 26, 609–626, 648–655; 27, 656–660 The commentary by Sheppard 1982, 223 and García Ruiz and Álvarez Hoz 2004, 33–34 is very accurate when pointing out that the theurgical virtues are the only virtues not subdivided with the classical scheme of the four cardinal virtues, just as Plotinus does with the virtues related to the nous, the paradigmatic virtues; see Plot Enn 1, 2 Marinus adds a step to the scala virtutum, which he may have used as an inflection point to categorise Proclus as divine with respect to his predecessors Iamblichus’ introduction of theurgy marks a further extension of Neoplatonism to purify the soul and transcend into unity/divinity Later authors will continue to expand the scale of virtues, perfecting it in their union with the Intelligible For authors before Proclus, see Porph Sent 32; Iambl Ep 3; 16 (Polleichtner and Dillon 2009) For later authors, see Dam in Phaed 2, 138–144; Olymp in Alc 24–27, esp 26, 129b; in Phaed 2, 8, 2 18–20; Psel De omnifaria doctrina 66–81 Cf Anderson 1994; Polleichtner and Dillon 2009, xix–xxii, esp xx; PanagoPoulos 2014 Tanaseanu-Döbler 2013, 255 Tanaseanu-Döbler 2013, 257 Marin Vit Proc 26, 630–636; 27, 661–663; 30, 740–743 Or Chald fr 208 (Des Places, 1971, 114, although also in Majercik 1989) Regarding the conjunctions or systasis, cf Iambl Myst 3, 14 (132 6–7); 2, 7 (84 17); 3, 197–198; 4, 778–779; 7, 505 ff ; Procl in Alc 75, 10; in Tim 2, 89, 16–20; Dam In Phd 167, 2 Magic spheres are also used, described as “divine and ineffable discs” or strophaloi, see Or Chald fr 206; Psel Exegesis 1133 (Des Places 1971, 179–180); in Or Chald , Philos Minora 2, Opusc 38, 126–46 ; Edwards 2000, 100, n 294; Fernández 2015, 246 Johnston 1990; Edwards 2000, 100, n 298 Marin Vit Proc 32, 8803 Similarly, in relation to divinity, the use in 33, 819 of the term “divine possession” leads us to Plat Phaedr 245a, 2; Io 536c, 2; Iambl Myst 3, 5 (111, 3); 3, 10 (111 Des Places); Plot Enn 5, 3, 14; Procl Theol Plat 1, 25, 113, 10; in R 1, 193, 15 Marin Vit Proc 32, 772–775 Marin Vit Proc 32, 801: “I shall declare the very words of the god – ‘Proclus is the glory of the city’ –” With reference to happiness, he continues: “Now what greater testimony could there be than this that the man who was happy in everything was also dear to the gods?”

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fundamental role by associating itself with the theurgical virtues to justify Proclus as theios aner,97 by conferring itself as the supreme and ordering element, translated into “destiny and good fortune” 98 In conclusion, the meticulous work carried out by Marinus in his praise reveals a series of outstanding events that give us to understand that (1 ) Proclus’s destiny was not that of an ordinary man, but that of becoming a diadochos of the school of Athens and the most representative figure of his time, because (2 ) his life’s journey is marked by the gods 99 Marinus points out this affinity with the divinity through a double path On the one hand, the qualification of Proclus’ life events as divine, by divine intervention or simply by being favourable to the gods 100 On the other hand, the terms applied to the philosopher himself, qualifiers that give him excellence, such as “happy man”,101 “man in line with his virtues”,102 “blissful man”103 or simply having a “divine soul” 104 In turn, the connection with the ancients105 conferred on Proclus a direct union with those already consecrated sages as theioi andres The attribution of superhuman characteristics, paired with the sacred, is the continuum of certain individuals who served as models of divine men/women in late antiquity The theios aner qualification becomes pluriform and multifaceted and cannot be simplified into a series of summation elements, like a list of qualifiers However, there are certain traits that differentiate the profane being from one who is united or has a direct relationship with the divine In this sense, Marinus’ hagiography gives us an exemplary being Proclus is a reference, a pan metron, characterised as a figure that transcends the material world, with a “soul that proceeds according to perfect virtue and is conveniently endowed with other goods, divine and human, in a full life”,106 as a consequence of the paradigmatic ascension by the scala virtutum model, which is a

97 98

Proclus is exalted almost like a god, see Sheppard 1982, 223 Marin Vit Proc 34, 836 Regarding providence and destiny, see Procl Opusc esp De Prov A brief but exhaustive commentary can be found in Steel 2007, 1–37, esp 16, 26–28 99 Marin Vit Proc 32–37 On the gods and their relationship in other discourses such as tragedy, cf Mikalson 1991 100 In his process of ascendancy through the scala virtutum, Marinus includes multiple episodes of divine influence with the gods, such as his dream with Athena, see Marin Vit Proc 30, 740–743; omens in relation to zoomorphic metaphors, see op cit 31, 761 or the premonitory visions and their oracular and healing capacities, see op cit 28, 687–690 Likewise, these events are used for identification as theios aner by those close to him (such as Syrianus or his disciples) 101 Marin Vit Procl 21, 515 In this sense, later in op cit 25, 608 will speak of “the honest man who takes the life of the gods” 102 Marin Vit Procl 34, 825; Plat Resp 4, 498e3, 499a1 103 Marin Vit Procl 32, 796 104 Marin Vit Procl 38, 911 Proclus feels that his soul belongs to the Pythagorean Nicomachus of Gerasa in op cit 28, 700; reminiscences of Plat Resp 10 and the reminiscence theory (metempsychosis) 105 Marin Vit Procl 27, 655–660 106 Marin Vit Proc 34, 844–845

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reflection of Neoplatonism itself Marinus structures Proclus’ life events around a path of virtue, promoted by the Hellenistic paideia There is a clear parallelism between the life of the philosopher, the events in his life and the Neoplatonic structure of ascension to the One through a life experience that contributes, as its ultimate goal, to the elevation of the soul and happiness, which corresponds as an objective of Neoplatonism To do this, Marinus shows that Proclus is the perfect role model for an eminent man In a first reading, it is inferred that an ordinary person could be exalted, like Proclus, if he imitates his way of life, following the hierarchy of the arete This conclusion is present on the surface of the text However, if you look more closely, there is a paradox in this approach Proclus is magnanimous from his birth, as he demonstrated capabilities beyond the ordinary He, in turn, came to the theurgic virtues, reserved only for a minority, because he was united with the divine from the beginning An impossibility of emulating the teacher is deduced, due to his innate gifts, his uniqueness, and the development of the holy traits that go beyond paideia By extension, only philosophers could naturally become theioi andres, since they are the ones who can apply the Neoplatonic theory, which is understood as a way of life, a vital experience For this reason, Marinus described Proclus as an extraordinary human being who was characterised as the representative author of the pinnacle of Greek classical ontology in its last phase Sonsoles Costero Quiroga PhD in Ancient Philosophy at the Autonomous University of Madrid sonsoles costero@gmail com

Therapeutic δύναμις in Marinus’ Life of Proclus Silvia Acerbi In a recently published monograph, entitled Questione d’autorità  Un’antropologia della leadership nella cultura greca, Carmine Pisano noted that, finding the equivalent of the Latin term auctoritas in the language of Homer is impossible – it implies the cultural metaphor of ‘to increase’ ‘grow’ (augere), take form, or develop from within1 – Unlike ἐξουσία, a word whose semantic field alludes to the cultural model of possibility, but especially to the ‘faculty’ attributed to or granted by an external source, implies a conception of leadership that, Pisano concludes, is close to what Pierre Bourdieu called a ‘delegated authority’: it is what emanates from outside and with which agents who operate as representatives or intermediaries of a higher sphere are endowed, by virtue of their charismata 2 Authority figures who are charismatic mediators and fall between the human πολιτεία and divinity, are undoubtedly pagan θεῖοι ἄνδρες3 and, one of them, Licinius Proclus, an important representative of the late-Hellenistic Neoplatonism, stands out as evidenced by his extensive philosophical work that represents the most systematic codification of the sympathetic principles from theurgy that have reached us We will not go into describing the philosopher’s renowned production but will instead comment on certain charismata of the one who has been called the ‘last pagan’,4 a definition that is associated with the philosopher arriving at the Acropolis of the city he will live for more than half a century (between 430/32 and 485) There, “as he was climbing up to the top, he was met at the entrance by the doorman, who was already about to insert the keys” (of the τέμενος), he said to him, “Honestly, if you had not come, I was about

1 2 3 4

Pisano 2019 Bourdieu 1994 For further information on θεῖος ἀνήρ see: Bieler 1935; Bowersock 1969, Anderson 1994; Du Toit 1997; Dzielska 1998; Edwards 2000; Sfameni Gasparro 2005, 247–309 Festugière 1966, 1581–90; Bos–Meijer 1992; Di Pasquali Barbanti, 1993; Dillon 2007; Chlup, 2012; Watts 2018, 1236

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to close up” 5 As noted by his disciple and biographer Marinus of Neapolis,6 it was a clear omen referring to the exceptionality of the protagonist, legitimate and authorised custodian of the platonic διαδοχή Of omens and dream experiences, the βίος written καταλογάδην καὶ ἐπικῶς by the future successor of Proclus in the Athenian Academy, is undoubtedly interwoven Found among the philosopher’s theurgic prerogatives – the θεουργικὰ ἐνεργήματα – are numerous forms of divination through sleep, oneiromantic practices common in late paganism, that testify to how the ὄναρ was seen as a privileged channel of communication between man and the gods,7 visions that prelude the divine epiphany and, at times, true συστάσεις (encounters) with the divinity 8 The oneirotherapeutic component is important without being preponderant; many of the epiphanies that appear in the βίος are associated with the authority of the medical god par excellence In these terms, Proclus speaks of a vision of Asclepius in his Commentary to Alcibiades: “Even now the saviour Asclepius brings us health … however we praise him more when we have been blessed with an epiphany, because we want our entire organism to participate in the perception of the offering of that god” 9 Proclus experienced one of these epiphanies in Adratta, in Lydia, at the temple (πρὸς τὸν νεών) of a divinity where “the oracles that brought healing were constantly being given, and that those who came there were saved from the greatest jeopardy” 10 He doubted who the tutelary god of that place was: whether it was Asclepius, the Dioscuri or others, since “certain people had also seen, in a waking vision (ὕπαρ), two youths on the road to Adratta, extremely fair of aspect, riding horses” 11 Asclepius – the god who visited him in a dream (ἐδόκει ὁι ὁ θεὸς ὄναρ ἐπιφοιτᾶν) – took the trouble to put an end to his perplexities, explaining that those were his own sons, Podalirius and Machaon, two legendary Greek heroes who participated in the Trojan War on the Achaean side, and who continued the family trade: Podalirius practised internal medicine and Machaon was a surgeon These two mythical brothers, probably twins like the Dioscuri, confirm the association of pairs of twin curators (see, for example, Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus and John) – an Indo-European mythologeme that attributes beneficial, protective and saving prerogatives to the gemini – with oneirotherapeutic 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Marin , Procl (Vita Procli) 72 This article uses the edition by Saffrey-Segonds 2001; for the English translation see Edwards 2000; see also the valuable Italian translation by Faraggiana di Sarzana 1985 Regarding the Palestinian biographer Μαρῖνος Νεαπολίτης, φιλόσοφος καὶ ῥήτωρ, μαθητὴς Πρόκλου τοῦ φιλοσόφου καὶ διάδοχος see Edward 2000, 55‒58 who translates the notitia from Lexico Suda Fernández Garrido 2003, 69–104 “At any rate, many of Proclus’ major decisions in life were directed, or influenced (on his own account), by dreams”: Dillon 2019, 11 Procl , Alc 166, 2–6 Marin , Procl 32, 37, Edwards 2000, 107–108 Marin , Procl 32, 37, Edwards 2000, 107–108

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rituals, especially those of incubation,12 during the long transition from Paganism to Christianity Other visiones in somniis recorded by Marinus that scholars have generically defined as iatromantic,13 can be, in our view, traced back to the incubation ritual As we know, the ἐγκοίμησις was a cross-cultural praxis, since it overcame ethnic barriers, and implied – in the great sociocultural and religious amalgam of the ancient Mediterranean world – the three great facets that it comprised: i e the Jewish tradition in peculiar forms of prophetic-divinatory revelation related to the oldest substratum of the cult; that of traditional cultures with a polytheistic structure, mostly aimed at achieving health (and practised by devotees of a healing divinity who fell asleep in a sacred place waiting for that same divinity to manifest in a dream, either to heal them directly or to provide them with therapeutic instructions they could follow in a waking state); and third, Christianity where therapeutic virtue attributed to the invisible power of God through the mediation of his representatives, martyrs and saints, prevailed over other dream-visionary experiences 14 The dream-healing association is very archaic As Luigi Canetti reminds us, ethnolinguistic and philological investigations within the Palaeolithic Continuity Theory15 framework have found that in various Indo-European linguistic and dialect contexts, the semantic area of the dream is frequently expressed in the same terms that are used for healing experiences (both make references to the figure of the magical healer), confirming in some way a common shamanic substrate between most of the peoples of prehistoric Europe, where pagans θεῖοι ἄνδρες, as representatives of a Hellenic shamanism, play a prominent role, and this could benefit from contacts with the Eurasian world, from a hermeneutical perspective as suggested by Dodds, Colli, Eliade, Couliano, Burckert, Kingsley, etc 16 Rather than a shaman, Marinus’ Proclus is a ‘medicine man’ endowed with a sapiential therapeutic art, along the lines of that practised by the pre-Platonic philosophers such as Epimenides, Empedocles, Pythagoras and Parmenides; an intellectual capable of radically rethinking Asclepius’ place in the divine order,17 a Neoplatonic Asclepius already transformed into a solar deity (his medical and mantic abilities are based on Apollonian paternity), a member of the Peony hierarchy and, similarly to the one in-

12 13 14 15 16 17

Harris 1906; Hankoff 1977, 307–319; Patton 2021 The link between prophetic capacity and medicine is already attested in Classical Greece (Vegetti 1996, 65–81), cf Esquil , Eum 62 and Ag 16 23 Regarding late-pagan iatromancy v Temkin 1991; Monaca 2000, 177–197 Regarding incubatio see Fernández Marcos 1975; Canetti 2010; Von Ehrenherm 2010; Canetti 2014; Graft 2014; Canetti 2019 Canetti 2010, 163 n 44 A synthesis in Hadot 2001, 389–402 See the contribution by Hernández de la Fuente in this volume Afonasin 2019, 338; Sfameni Gasparro, 2007

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voked by Julian the Apostate,18 conceived and sent to earth to save men and free them from the sufferings that afflict both their bodies and their souls This might be why, in his own narrative style, the biographer almost always avoids words that explicitly belong to the classical lexicon of incubatory praxes such as ἐγκοίμησις, or the simplest variants (κοιμάω, καθεύδω, κατακλινέω), and instead prefers to use others typical of the Christian incubatio (ὕπαρ/ὄναρ) Consequently, the scientific literature dedicated to the holy man Proclus associated with Asclepius tries to avoid the explicit definition of incubatio for therapeutic interventions, which in our view absolutely fall into that category 19 As has been shown, the pagan or Christian ἐγκοίμησις is presented as a rather ambiguous ritual in its defining and prescriptive terms New hermeneutical approaches have opened the field of research, overcoming a fairly generic normative definition elaborated at the beginning of the 20th Century from the presumed classical model (that of the Asclepius cult in Epidaurus) by Ludwig Deubner for the pagan world,20 and by Hippolythe Delehaye for the Christian 21 According to the Bollandist scholar, the essence of the practice was, 1) to sleep in the temple where the salubrious god lived, and 2) the patient’s intention to receive the healing response while sleeping These criteria are undoubtedly too rigid and, ultimately, anachronistic Regarding the first point, today there is a greater spatial articulation of the relationship we can have with the god/saint that can occur outside sacred enclosures:22 the sick could be cured far from the temple of the God, trough hierophanies that provide “home delivery” services, when they do not happen even in a waking state (the ὕπαρ as opposed to ὄναρ) 23 The intentional component – entirely psychological – should not and cannot be considered an exclusive discriminant Current interpretation uses two peculiarities of the former incubation rituals as selective criteria, which are non-distinctive, but sufficiently specific: the first, the visit to the

18

19 20 21 22

23

It is known that the sacralisation of medicine inspired Emperor Julian’s actions and thoughts: he defended it as an instrument of the liberating and consolatory power of traditional religion Against the role played by the Christian son of God, Julian would base his medical reflection on the figure of Asclepius, son of the Sun: cf Julian, In Helium Regem 153 B: “since the Sun (Helius) fills the whole of our life with fair order, he begets Asclepius in the world, though he has him by his side even before the beginning of the world … The Sun took thought for the health and safety of all begetting Asclepius to be the saviour of the whole world …” (Edelstein 1988, 305‒306) In his extensive work on the Neoplatonic Asclepius, Afonasin 2019 mentions incubation only once Deubner 1909 Delehaye 1925: his essay on the oldest Christian, Greek and Latin Thaumata collections, (5th–7th centuries) remains a point of reference, although criticised by modern authors such as Canetti Regarding the dream where Proclus, in his house, sees the goddess Athena, Stewart 2004, 36 writes: “It could he objected that the dream of Proclus was not an incubation dream because it occurred in his own home, but I don’t think it necessary to be so strict in our appreciation of incubation Incubation literally means sleeping in/at a shrine with the intention of cultivating a dream, but a number of intermediate possibilities such as dreaming of a god/saint while travelling as a pilgrim far from the shrine need to be considered as part of the same concept” Fernández Marcos, 1975, 78‒80; Narro 2018, 345–363

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sanctuary in search of a direct or indirect cure; the second, the dream, intentional or involuntary, or the ritually induced dream-vision ecstasy, setting and premise of the possible cure 24 Perhaps Canetti is right when he states that the term incubatio should be left aside, since it has been a source of error on too many occasions, an incorrect label through which an attempt has been made to mechanically select and classify extremely heterogeneous and flexible dream-visionary and therapeutic experiences, thus simplifying a reality in continuous evolution In the transition/overlap between Paganism and Christianity up to the 5th Century, the sources reveal dream-therapeutic practices that are much less formalised,25 more spontaneous and improvised, performed outside specialised sanctuaries (remote miracles), in which the intervention of the μάκαρες, whether pagan or Christian, do not necessarily occur in a dream state, but in a waking state, and where a healing action is followed by the reciting of prayers The flexibility of ritual devices is captured in the interaction with the written sources that testify to them, while simultaneously participating in their interpretation process, as we will explain later The intense thaumaturgical δύναμις of Proclus – which is not only transferred to people but also in physical places legitimately linked to the incubatory framework – is described by the disciple Marinus in a crescendum that underlines the relationship of affinity (φιλία) or familiarity (οῖκειότης) that exists between the god and the philosopher He loves the gods (φιλόθεος) and is therefore loved (θεόφιλης): it is the double prerogative that, according to John Dillon’s interpretation, sums up the essence of Proclus’ identity as θεῖος ἀνήρ26 and presents him as both the object and the subject of healing θαῦματα There are three specific moments in which Proclus seems to benefit as the recipient of a therapeutic δύναμις: 1 – The first episode is during his childhood in Xanthus, in Lycia, his native land, when he fell seriously ill 27 It seems that Proclus, perhaps during his fever and delirium, received the vision (in his dreams) of a beautiful boy, who turned out to be Telesphorus, the son of Asclepius The divinity materialised in his room, gently touched his head, his fever left him, and he was healed After this event, Proclus was rewarded with good health for most of his life: proof, according to Marinus, of his “divinity and friendship with God” 28 2 – When he was older, the god of medicine (“the one who came from Epidaurus”) saved him again, this time from arthritis from which the hagiographer, showing certain medical expertise, highlights that the disease might be hereditary A nominal premonition – the bandage (πτυγμάτιον) raised by a sparrow, a bird sacred

24 25 26 27 28

Canetti 2014, 17–44; Canetti 2019, 491–519 Teja 2008, 129–159; Graf 2014 Dillon 2019 Marin , Procl 7, Edwards 67 Marin , Procl 7

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to Asclepius – shows Proclus that something more is needed to completely cure him The praxis described below is certainly incubatory: the epiphany of the god occurs during sleep (καθευδησας εἶδε τινα ἐξ ’Επιδαύρου) The therapeutic sleep is followed by a ritual – a healing kiss from Asclepius on the injured knees – that reminds us of the praxis used by hiatrosophists and stigmatised by Christian authors as ridiculous 3 – Asclepius manifested himself to Proclus again “during his final illness”, in his appearance that is more consistent with the incubation practice, a serpent “crawling about his head” 29 After the apparition, “when he was halfway between sleep and dreaming”,, Proclus had the impression that his illness had stopped spreading but rejected new palliative cures, and instead accepted, almost wished for, the end of his own life 30 These three examples are undoubtedly explicit incubation practices when compared to other unspecified forms of sacred therapies, defined by Marinus as “extraordinary remedies” preceded by prayers (possibly ritualised in the form of hymns)31 to which Proclus – now the active subject and not the passive object of healing – resorts to by a feeling of solidarity (συμπάθεια) towards sick people, only after having unsuccessfully tried to get doctors to intervene with their traditional remedies,32 as Marinus notes in chapter 17 33 In our view, to these unspecified “sacred therapies”, one could perhaps ascribe a passage of Vita Procli that only very few authors dare associate with incubation rites,34 and that we would identify – without overlooking the peculiarities of Neoplatonic speculation from its theurgic perspective – with a variant of what is called vicarious incubation, very common in Christianity 35 In chapter 29 of the βιός, Marinus re29 30 31 32

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Marin , Procl 31, 3–25, Edwards 105–106 Marin , Procl 31, 3–25 The reciting of hymns such as prayers and purifications had the function of contributing or solemnising the most conspicuous expressions of rituality The Neoplatonists were familiar with cult hymns as a way of communicating with the gods: we interpret them as a prelude to ritual Apparently, there was no rivalry between the knowledge of the doctors who, from what we deduce from Marinus’ words, Proclus would pay to ensure they attended as quickly as possible to cure his friends; although, a verification of their ineffectiveness is propagandistically an effective way in discrediting them Marin , Procl 17, Edwards 83 We are comforted by the fact that an authority on the subject such as Luigi Canetti does not doubt that Athena’s vision in her dream and the healing of Asclepigenia were part of an incubation ritual: “A partire dal IV–V secolo … tende a scomparire anche l’antica compresenza di incubazione sacerdotale a finalità terapeutica (ancora, talvolta, iniziatica e sapienziale) e incubazione praticata dai pazienti/devoti L’incubazione per conto di terzi (oltre a quella diretta) è ancora sporadicamente attestata nei circoli neoplatonici dell’Atene tardo-pagana, come ben documenta la biografia di Proclo scritta da Marino di Neapolis …”: Canetti 2017, 505, especially n 36; see also Frantz 1965, 185–205, 194; Von Ehrenheim, 200; Saradi 2011, 263–310; Renberg, 183 n  7 This is the name given to the incubation in which the healing of the sick person or the prescription of an effective remedy occurs through an epiphany to another person: sometimes it was because

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counts the story of the miraculous healing of Asclepigeneia, daughter of Archiadas and Plutarch: declared terminally ill by doctors, her father asks the philosopher (“who was his final anchor, or rather his benevolent saviour”36) to intercede with the gods to assist his only descendant 37 There is nothing that contradicts the incubatory ritual logic: as in the medico-sapiential incubation practised by the pre-Platonists, it is the ἰατρόμαντις who goes to the sanctuary instead of the sick and it is him who experiences contact with the invisible powers that inhabit it38 exactly as the holy healers – the saints – will do in the Christian version of the rite It is not explicitly mentioned that Proclus sleeps in the enclosure, he went to pray,39 but normally if one went to an Asklepieion, it was to experience the incubation ritual, which prayers preceded or accompanied In our opinion, locution in ‘the ancient manner’ (εὐχομένου τὸν ἀρκαιότερον τρόπον), “following the traditional rite”, could refer to the praxis of the ἐγκοίμησις 40 The healing of Asclepigenia is carried out through the mediation of a θεῖος ἀνήρ, a Σωτήρ, Proclus himself, who in this case fulfils the functions that in the Christian incubationes are carried out by saints Marinus sees in this miraculous act a sign of providence And indeed, the episode becomes a central piece of the history of the Athenian Neoplatonic school: the girl, miraculously saved by Asclepius through Proclus, married the archon Teagenus a few years later and subsequently became the mother of a future Neoplatonic philosopher and the patron saint of the Academy If the girl had died, the transmission of the Platonic succession (διαδοχή) would have been interrupted The grandmother of the saved girl, also called Asclepigeneia, was the woman who had instructed Proclus in the theurgic rituals The theonym, Asclepigeneia, alludes to the devotional ties that undoubtedly existed between the family and the cult of Ascle-

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the patient could not visit the sanctuary due to the seriousness of his illness, other times because the pain prevented them from falling asleep or they had no resources to make the trip As in Epidaurus, in Christian rites the patient frequently had to be replaced by a relative, especially in that case of children And it seems that the people who substituted the patient did so by experiencing the dream Cf Frantz 1965, 185–205, in part 194 s ; Csepregi 2015, 49–57, in part 51; Renberg, 183–189, 634–650; Stroumsa 1999, 189–212 Marin , Procl 29, Edwards 102 Marin , Procl 29 The girl is thus healed thanks to the mediation of a holy man, something that happens quite often in contemporary Christian incubatio, where it is not the ill person who speaks with the god Canetti 2010,133: “Le più antiche testimonianze agiografiche sul rito cristiano di incubazione (Miracoli di santa Tecla, ma soprattutto dei santi Ciro e Giovanni, Artemio, Cosma e Damiano) registrano quasi sempre come prassi abituale l’uso di invocazioni, preghiere, digiuni ed ex voto, che accompagnavano la richiesta di guarigione” During incubation in Christian sanctuaries, the rite is reduced almost exclusively to prayers and the purifying and therapeutic baths Gregory of Tours (Glory of the Martyrs, 97) explains it in this way: “Duo vero gemini, Cosmas scilicet et Damianus, arte medici, postquam christiani effecti sunt, solo virtutum merito et orationum interventu infirmitates languentium depellebant” Marin , Procl 29, Edwards 102

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pius 41 In any case, thanks to this successful thaumaturgical act, Proclus conclusively proved his therapeutic charisma If it seems strange that it is precisely in this episode – describing Proclus’ displacement, with great secrecy, to the salutaris of Asclepius enclosure, which is said to continue functioning (as we will later explain, we would be inclined to translate τὸ ἱερόν into ‘sanctuary’, as the term alludes to the area of the holy enclosure where there is no construction) – that the philosopher does not sleep or enter a dream trance, on another plane, that of narrative stylisation of the ritual, it is undoubtedly worth noting that there is a contiguity between the θαῦμα of the healing of Asclepigeneia by Proclus and the miraculous healing of the regal centurion’s son, as presented in the Gospel of John IV, 46–54 from which Marinus seems to have taken inspiration 42 Agosti has cleverly shown that the biographer’s version has even more points of contact with the story than the evangelical episode presented by the paraphrases in the IV Gospel written in a play of refined intertextuality by Nonnus of Panopolis (first half of the 5th century), similarities in content and form that cannot be accidental 43 The biographer Marinus does not put the focus of the latest meaning of the episode – illustrating Proclus’ demiurge-therapeutic δύναμις  – through differential antagonistic elements, compared to the Christian ritual designs, but insisting on, almost playing with the elements of analogy, perhaps because at this moment they are considered in some way sources of mainly legitimising authority, or in any case they seemed worthy of being imitated 44 41 42

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Afonasin 2019, 170 Asclepigenia is terminally ill (νόσῳ χαλεπῇ κατείχετο καὶ τοῖς ῖατροῖς ἰάσασθαι ἀδυνάτῳ), aretalogical topos that appear in Nonno Ι, 213 (πεπεδημένα γούνατα νούσῳ) and I, 223 (ἐανέ υαἷ) Desperately worried, the girl’s father asks Proclus for help and begs him to pray for his daughter (ἦλθεν … μᾶλλον δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ σωτῆρα ἀγαθὸν τὸν φιλόσοφον, καὶ λιπαρήσας αὐτὸν ἠξίου σπεύδοντα καὶ αὐτὸν εὔχεσθαι περὶ τῆς θυγατρός), a passage that could be compared with Jn IV 47 (ἀπῆλθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν – Jesus – καὶ ἠρώτα ἵνα καταβῇ καὶ ἰάσηται αὐτοῦ τὸν υἱόν); Proclus goes to the Temple of Asclepius, and the girl is instantly cured (ῥεῖα γὰρ ὁ Σωτήρ, ὥστε θεός, ἰᾶτο) In the Gospel, Jesus tells the centurion that his son is alive ( Jn IV 50 πορεύου, ὁ υἱός σου ζῇ) Agosti 2009, 313–335: “Il miracolo del figlio del centurione sembra una risposta ad un analogo miracolo di Proclo Il poema di Nonno è di un livello stilistico assai elevato … e l’imitazione contrastiva è utilizzata con grande raffinatezza Il dialogo con i pagani colti è posto sul terreno dell’alta paideia: conseguente, del resto, alla scelta di parafrasare proprio il Vangelo di Giovanni” We agree with all of Agosti’s analysis, except one point where the Italian philologist commits an anachronism: Marinus’ account of the miracle of Proclus (he writes after 487) was the Neoplatonic response to the centurion’s son’s healing miracle in the paraphrase of Nonnus of Panopolis (mid-5th century) We can also find similarities on the healing of the paralytic person in the probatical pool ( Jn V,1–9): should be taken into account that Beth-zatha will be in the Roman Period a sacred ground dedicated to a oniro-iatromanthic ritual The common lexicon between Marino and Nonnus is interesting, it shows that there was a kind of Neoplatonic koiné: for the use of metaphors of the Neoplatonic oracular language in the Dionysiacs and in Nonnus’s paraphrase, see Agosti 2003, 247; Gigli Piccardi 1985, 211–245 For Nonnus vocabulary on divinity, see Arianna Magnolo’s chapter in this volume Agosti 2009, 330 speaks of “una sottile imitazione contrastiva fra l’ingannevole salvatore Asclepio e il vero Salvatore” The only complete edition of the Paraphrase is still that of Scheindler 1881, but

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Like Christ, who performs his θαύματα remotely, Proclus heals Asclepigeneia (from the area of the sanctuary that probably corresponded to the ἄβατον) and he does so by praying, i e , with his voice It is the divine word, pronounced by his voice and witnessed by his charisms, that plays the essential role 45 Much has been said about the similarities between the lives of the θεῖοι ἄνδρες (paradigmatic ethical biographies that collect the most iconic anecdotes and memorable sayings) and the Gospels, synoptic and apocryphal In the 5th Century, Christian paraphrastic poetry produced epics βίοι of Christ (such as the hexametric μετᾰβολή written by Nonnus of Panopolis) addressed to an intellectual public, both Pagan and Christian, texts that from Neoplatonic circles were labelled a threat: the opposition between θαύματα of the Hellenic religion and Christian miracles became a religious and cultural confrontation,46 which also implicated the genres that transmitted them As Agosti wrote, there was “a process of dialogue/opposition between the Gospels, poetic rewritings and hagiographies of θεῖοι ἄνδρες, which was often difficult to decrypt for us, but was probably very evident for contemporaries” 47 Contemporaries probably did not experience the transition between Pagan Hellenism and Christianity as a traumatic event because their cultural expressions were both inspired by the classical paideia 48 That does not mean that the biography-hagiography, aretalogical hymn, honorific epigram, eulogy as we like to define the βιός written by Marinus (Agosti speaks of the ‘Gospel of Marinus’) – did not have clear polemic aims: to counteract the Christian propaganda that presented Christ not just as any θεῖος ἀνήρ, but as the preeminent θεὸς ἀνήρ This is why we believe that Marinus notes Pro-

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the edition/translation by Agosti 2003 is essential reading, with a wide introduction dedicated to therapeutic cults Rotondo 2008, 288–309, 292 A few years ago in an article about the parrhesia of the theios aner (Teja-Acerbi 2014) we recalled the passionate debate on whether it was Christian biographies that influenced the pagan or vice versa, in which some Italian scholars had expressed their opinion: Cracco Ruggini 1972, 218 n 79 spoke of a “controversial rebound of ‘mirror’ motifs from Vitae of the Sophists and pagan sages to those of Christian saints and vice versa;” Monaci Castagno alluded to “a dynamic process of reciprocal influence”; Orselli 1998, 940, n 138 raised the issue in terms of “circolarità di codici di comunicazione” There were mutual influences; we would have to focus on the analysis of each author and their works to verify how these structural similarities were produced, which Momigliano (1987, 176–177) noted at the time What we find most interesting is that these codes of communication are not exclusively literary rhetorical in nature, but also include cultural and religious elements Agosti 2009, 39 Even in formal aspects, the similarities with Christian narratives, such as those of the Miracles of Cyrus and John in Menouthis, are clear in the use of the same narrative formulary, for example: “But I will mention only one case, out of the thousands there are, because it is wonderful just to hear it” In any case, in the Athens of the 5th Century CE, and in contemporary Alexandria, despite strong ideological oppositions, there was a relationship of coexistence, dialogue and interaction rather than a contrast between a still Pagan cultured elite and the representatives of the Christian upper class Cf Sfameni Gasparro 2006, 33–92

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clus goes to the Asklepieion, and instead of describing him immersed in an incubatory dream or in a dream trance, presents him as an intermediary with the divinity, as a saint who begs God to heal those who have been entrusted to him, or even as the son of God, the Christ Σωτήρ Further data that emerge from Marinus’ text and that imply a displacement of the therapeutic δύναμις of the θεῖοι ἄνδρες to emblematic sacred places49 can offer us new areas of reflection In the 5th Century, the interpretation of oracle visions and incubatory dreams, which was, as we have said, an important stake in the confrontation between Paganism and Christianity, increasingly involved the appropriation and control of sacred signs and spaces Therefore, it is not by chance that Marinus writes that, “The house in which he dwelt was in this respect of great assistance to him For in addition to the rest of his good fortune, his dwelling too was extremely congenial to him, being also the one inhabited by his ‘father’ Syrianus and by Plutarch, whom he himself styled his ‘forefather’” In a stratified system of cults installed on the meridional layers of the Acropolis of Athens50, the house formerly belonging to their spiritual ancestors, was located very close to Ἀσκληπιεῖον and the temple of Dionysus (… γείτονα μὲν οὖσαν τοῦ ἀπὸ Σοφοκλέους ἐπιφανοῦς Ἀσκληπιείου καὶ τοῦ πρὸς τῷ θεάτρῳ Διονυσίου  …) According to Vita Marini, Proclus lived, taught, and fulfilled his religious duties in this sanctuary-house, which had become the headquarters of the Neoplatonic School Although it has recently been confirmed that the Athenian Asclepius had lost his healing capabilities at this time, becoming the protector, almost the patron of the philosophers and their school that was turned into the seat of a cultural activity around which a circle of eminent intellectuals were based,51 archaeological investigations into the architectural structure of the building, the votive reliefs and religious furniture and tools (a table of offerings and sacrificial knives have been found) show that traditional rites were practised52 in that house-school until the end of the 5th Century: material testimonies that disprove those who obstinately argue that the spiritual sensitivity of the last Pagans included only verbal performances, hymns and not sacrifices 53 Neoplatonists of the late 5th Century sacrificed and practised ritual ceremonies (probably private

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We concur that “in this context the passage describing the location of the house of Proclus, the centre of the Neoplatonic School at Athens, is determined by sacral, not simply topographical reference points”: Karivieri 1994, 130 Monaco 2015 Caruso 2013 Karivieri 1994, 115–139 Found in the last room in the west of the house were the remains of a sacrifice, a piglet with offerings, seven ceramic cups, a jug, and a 5th Century lamp adorned with the depiction of a scooting Eros: “We cannot be sure from the text whether Proclus performed the rites in a physical or a symbolic manner, but the instance of the piglet’s sacrifice definitely suggests that the real animal sacrifices were normal for the period and could be a part of the religious practice of the Neoplatonic school”: Afonasin-Afonasina 2014, 22 The opposite opinion was that of Cameron 1969, 7–29

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and exclusive, out of fear, given the rapid escalation of imperial anti-pagan measures54, and not public) If they continued sacrificing to the gods, they probably did not disdain an ancient and ingrained ritual praxis such as the ἐγκοίμησις Furthermore, in that οἶκος, as Marinus narrates in chapter 33, Pallas Athena55 manifests to Proclus in a dream form asking the philosopher for permission to stay and ‘live’ there, since the Christians had dared to remove her ἄγαλμα from the Acropolis 56 The appearance of Athena is significant not just because it takes place through a dream, but because we know that Proclus related the goddess to the sphere of healing, and in the polis that relationship actually existed ab antiquo 57 The ‘temple’ that remained ‘undefeated’ (ἀπόρθητον τὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἱερόν) also acquires importance in this sacred spatiality We believe that τὸ ἱερόν could not refer to the temple (in other passages of the Vita defined by Marinus with the term ναός) but to the (incubational, in this case) shrine where the Ασκληπιεῖον was, or perhaps to the porticoes of the ἂβατον,58 which will not be included in the perimeter of the later Christian church The presence of the temple still intact in the middle of the 5th Century, as Marinus seems to imply, is a fact that archaeological sources do not confirm with total certainty 59 He may perhaps have used a synecdoche to refer to the ἄγαλμα 54

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We refer to the measure by Theodosius II and Valentinian III, collected in the Theodosian Code XVI, 10,25, addressed to Isidore, Prefect of the Praetorium, and enacted on 14 November 435, which ordered the end of all cultic activity in the temples of ancient beliefs and their subsequent purification, which would have to be verified “by erecting the sign of the venerable Christian religion” However, it is not thought that the Parthenon was immediately converted into a Christian church, but that it was used for civil uses before such a conversion took place See Fernández 1988, 3–10 In Plutarch’s Life of Pericles (13), it is said that during the construction of the Propylaea a τυχή θαυμαστή occurred: the hardest worker among the workers, slipped and fell from a remarkable height, and when the doctors realised his situation was serious, they decided not to intervene But Athena appeared in a dream to Pericles, prescribing a cure, and the worker was saved Pericles then had Athena Hygyia’s bronze ἄγαλμα erected in the Acropolis Marin , Procl 30, Edwards 105: “Εδόκει γὰρ τῷ φιλοσόφῳ ὄναρ φοιτᾶν παρ᾿αὐτὸν εὐσχήμων τις γυνὴ καὶ ἀπαγγέλλειν ὧ χρὴ τάχιστα τὴν οἰκίαν προπαρασκευάζειν· “ἡ γὰρ κυρία Ἀθηναία, ἔφη, παρὰ σοὶ μένειν ἐθέλει” It is not the chryselephantine statue of Phidias, eleven metres high, as believed by historiography (see for example Trombley 1993, 310), but another smaller simulacrum (Baldini Lippolis 1995, 84–185; Ead 2014, 319) For the dream epiphany that Stewart defines incubational, see supra note 22 The biographer Marinus talks about the closing of the τέμενος when he narrates that not long after Proclus had arrived in Athens, he found that it had been shut; the locus of the Vita Procli (“καὶ γὰρ εὐτύχει τούτου ἡ πόλις τότε καὶ εἶχεν ἔτι ἀπόρθητον τὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἱερόν”) confirms that in middle of the 5th century – the Asklepieion had suffered some form of occupation on the Christian side, but it maintained its traditional religious role: if Proclus goes to the shrine it is because he recognised its sacral identity The process of restructuring the pagan polis took place during the reign of Theodosius II As Cosentino explains, in the last quarter of the 5th century, the Athenian pagans witnessed the final occupation of the Asklepieion and the Parthenon (and perhaps also the Hephaisteion or the Erechtheum) by the Christians The precise social dynamic in which the transformation process took place is not completely clear It seems that the destruction of the pagan temples was a consequence of Zeno’s revenge against the city for having supported the coup d’état of Leontius and Illus in 484

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of the healing god, as has been suggested Drawing largely from the foundations of the pre-existing building, the stylobates, and the construction materials, we know that erection of the church of the ἅγιοι ἀνάργιροι Cosmas and Damian began at the second half of the 5th Century60, being already in use in the first decade of the 6th Century 61 Only a short amount of time would have elapsed between its Pagan use and Christian transformation 62 In some health centres such as Cos and Pergamum, the passage between rituals of Pagan to Christian ἐγκοίμησις was very slow, but it was not so in others, for example in the area of Agai, in Cilicia, where Santa Tecla very quickly supplanted the son of Apollo; nor does it seem to have been in Menuthis near Alexandria either – although the issue is now being debated – there was a continuity between the incubatory cults carried out under the patronage of the κύρα Isis and those that will be celebrated at the orders of the popes Cyril under the auspices of the saints Cyrus and John Although the historiography does not generally admit a direct and linear overlay between a Pagan iatromantic cult and the successive Christian healing ritual, in this case we do not rule out a continuity and spatio-temporal contiguity at all: if a civic space was to be shared between pagans and Christians, it could well be the religious one Passed to the control of the new religion, the area of the τέμενος of Asclepius, perhaps already before the construction of a basilica, could have hosted Christian incubation rites within customary practices of re-semantisation of sacred places and cults 63 If the supplanting/appropriating both the place and the ritual had really occurred, Marinus suggests that it was still frequented by the followers of the Neoplatonic sects who, aware of violating the laws in force, did it in secret, in a clandestine manner, especially at night 64 To hypothesise that Pagans and Christians simultaneously frequented the structures of the former Asklepieion, is perhaps going too far, although certain sources

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(Trombley 1993, 311) Christian intervention was not a simple desacralisation – an exauguratio – but, as Di Branco 2006 argues, an invasive and violent episode The archaeology seems confirm it: cf Aleshire, 1989; Melfi 2007, 395–407 This date is much disputed but conclusively resolved based on the decorative typology of the columns The area was left in a state of semi-abandonment until a Christian basilica (Baldini 1995, 185–186; Karivieri 1995, 900) was built On the basis of the architectural-planimetrics elements, Travlos 1939–1941, 53–57 dated its construction in 450/460 Karivieri 1995; Di Branco 2009, 317; Kaldellis 2009, 37; Saradi 2011, 275 suggested the second half of the 5th or at the beginning of the 6th Century when epigraphy indicates that it was used for the Christian practice of the ἐγκοίμησις; see Karivieri 1995, 898–905; Trombley 1993–1994; Price 1999 See Saradi 2011, 275: “In spite of the transference of the healing pagan god to Christ the Saviour (Σωτήρ), there is evidence of Christian hostility in the defaced votive stelai” Emmel-Gotter-Hahn 2018, 1–22 In V Const III, 56 Eusebius of Caesarea praised the Constantinian destruction of the Asklepieion from Aigai, but it was where the practice of incubation, associated with Saint Thecla, survived One of the miracles performed by the saint in a church dedicated to her not far from where the sanctuary of Asclepius was located was to heal the sophist pagan, Aretarcos, after he fell asleep: a Christian version of the incubation that had been practised in the old temple

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suggest, for example, that Hadrian’s library, seriously damaged by the Herulians, would have functioned like an osmotic space even if divided in two parts: one used by the Neoplatonic philosophers and the other one (the tetraconch Basilica) open to the Christians 65 It is our opinion that, as the temple was possibly destroyed, the sacred area continued to host incubatory acts carried out by the last Pagans, acts appreciated by Asclepius, who shows Proclus his deep gratitude 66 Concluding: the ἐγκοίμησις, a praxis traditionally linked to the great iatromantic sanctuaries of Greek-Roman polytheism, transits from Paganism to Christianity during the post-Constantinian Empire period, and, after an initial ideological condemnation, attempts to take on the role of exclusive mediator of the therapeutic rituality adopted in the new martyrdom memoriae without taking on any significant morphological variations But Neoplatonic Paganism reappropriated these ritual acts In the 5th Century, adherents of the ancient cults continued to visit the Pagan incubator enclosures that were still active – clandestinely – to seek or provide healing (direct or transferential) A balance is somehow established between religious praxeis that maintain their own homeostasis in an environment of confrontation, but also in a context of religious and cultural dialogue The flexibility detected in the ritual can be observed in the texts that transmit it The accounts of Pagan hagiographies strive to channel the rite in ways that are more functional and similar to the new Christian pedagogy of the miracle, as illustrated in the Gospels or in paraphrases such as those by Nonnus (the prologue of the IV Gospel in the refined version of the Egyptian poet had long interested the Neoplatonists) We agree with Canetti that the variations revealed in incubatory rituals are reflected in the narrative coding: “Comprendere un rito significa dunque interrogarsi in primo luogo sul progetto, lo schema e la forma redazionale del testo che lo ricodifica La scrittura, in quanto scelta, presentazione e stilizzazione ‘rituale’ di un’azione performativa, è parte attiva e operante della realtà che vuole documentare, e che pertanto intende orientare in una certa direzione” 67 Healings during sleep according to incubatory rituality, shed light on the historical-hermeneutical determination of the hagiographicaretological textuality in which there is a continuous set of references between dream experiences, salvific-therapeutic expectations and mnemo-historical and literary representations The tales of divine dreams showed which direction history was going to and to ‘manage’ its meaning Does Charles Stewart not speak of ἐγκοίμησις as a chrono65 66

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De Bernardi Ferrero 1975, 171–88; Karivieri 1994, 89; Saradi 2011, 275 And curiously enough, the image of the god who, appeared (in a dream?) to the philosopher as a public storyteller who is partial to a certain theatrical mimicry, sums up Proclus’ aretalogy in a definition that moves the θεῖος ἀνήρ to tears: κόσμος τῆς πολιτείας, Asclepius calls him, alluding to the healing not only of the physical manifestations of the πάθημα, but rather to ‘rectification’ operations through which he had reconquered conformity with the divine order for the patient, Marin , Procl 32, 108 Canetti 2019, 492

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tope in moments of tension or cultural unrest that extends to compromise the civicreligious foundations of especially sensitive geopolitical areas?68 What seems evident is that Pagan hagiography with refined rhetorical strategies alludes to Christians without explicitly mentioning them, within an opposing dynamic not expressed antagonistically as they do in contemporary Christian hagiographies, but inherent throughout the work,69 and which attests to the homeostatic equilibrium between Paganism and Christianity during Late Antiquity Silvia Acerbi Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Cantabria acerbis@unican es

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Canetti 2019, 498: “La divinazione onirica finalizzata al conseguimento della salute dei malati…è un fondamentale dispositivo per interpretare il senso della storia individuale e collettiva, e una chiave ermeneutica per decifrare il mondo”, in ref to Stewart 2004, 338–355; Graf 2014, 117–142 The philosophers of the Neoplatonic Academy fail to explicitly mention Christians, instead using various circumlocutions: Saffrey 1975, 553–63

Part 3 ‘Transmission and Reception’ From Holiness to Leadership

Symeon the Stylite The Best Archetype of a ΘΕIΟΣ AΝHΡ in Late Antiquity? Raúl Serrano Madroñal 1. Introduction In 1998 Koskenniemi published an article1 questioning whether Apollonius of Tyana was really a typical θεῖος ἀνήρ In the first part of his work2, he rightly points out that the multifaceted hypothesis of θεῖος ἀνήρ will continue to be a labyrinth with no way out as long as a closed definition limiting the concept is not agreed upon If we want to handle any type of concept rigorously, it is necessary to offer a series of propositions through which we can unambiguously and understandably expose its meaning Thus, by granting a definitio, that is, recognizable limits to the expression θεῖος ἀνήρ in the historical framework of Late Antiquity, we can analyse to what extent it is suitable to apply this academic conceptualization Since its origins, this term linked to Greek philosophy has been applied to people especially connected with the divine world But the first question that we should raise is the type of cohesion that relates so different figures such as Pythagoras, Empedocles, Apollonius of Tyana, Alexander of Abonoteichus and Moses From the beginning of the 20th century, Reitzenstein3 believed he had identified a prototype of a Hellenistic prophet and miracle worker who could have influenced the making of the Gospels and the NT Bieler’s monolithic pattern4 and Bultmann5’s school followed the historiographical trend that related the Hellenistic θεῖοι ἄνδρες to Jesus of Nazareth Since then, Bieler’s interpretation has been criticised and the direction of influence has been reversed, that is, the pagan θεῖος ἀνήρ was actually inspired by Judeo-Christianity6

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Koskenniemi 1998, 455–467 Cf Koskenniemi 1998, 455–460 Reitzenstein 1906 Bieler 1935–1936 Bultmann 1951, 130 Koskenniemi 1998, 455–467

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When we drill down into the sources that provide us with information about these individuals, we will verify that all of them transcended human capacities and produced miracles7 In the concrete period of Late Antiquity8, Peter Brown9 studied pertinently the role of “holy men” in late Roman society10 decades ago Without a doubt, there are connections between the holy men of the Classical World and Late Antiquity11, but we need to put the term in its proper context The late antique historian pointed out in his article on the Rise and Function of the Holy Men12 that we should not confuse the θεῖος ἀνήρ of late classicism with the holy men of Late Antiquity Despite this clarification, current historiography often confuses both terms and does not respect the differentiation, assuming that “holy men” is the English translation of the equivalent Greek expression13 Late Antiquity is a useful periodization that helps us to describe a time of transition between Classical Antiquity and Middle Ages The profound transmutations that affected the Mediterranean world changed the moral sensibilities14 The civic man of the second century will end up becoming a member of the Christian community, organised by the Catholic Church Likewise, the axis of power has shifted from West to East and Constantinople becomes the new Rome Returning to our focus of interest, we can appreciate that this new stage is accompanied by a new kind of holy man Most of them, Christians, will be integrated into the eastern part of the Empire and will withdraw from the urban centres, embracing the life of an anchorite However, this does not imply that there were no pagan holy men15 7

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Anderson 1994, 3 “In general I have sought for the broadest possible framework and the most flexible kind of label This has led me to regard as a holy man anyone who can reasonably be called ‘a virtuoso religious activist’” See also Du Toit 1997 In this comprehensive book, the problem of θεῖος ἀνήρ is approached from a historical and linguistic perspective Another definition in Thiébaut 1998, 204 Bieler 1967 In his book on Holy Men (göttlichen Menschen) in Late Antiquity and Early Christianity, he observed aspects of the Greek ideal of θεῖος ἀνήρ in Jesus Christ himself See also Blackburn 1991 This work contains a chapter (13–97) dedicated to the miracles produced by the holy men of Hellenism to focus on the figure of Jesus Christ later Brown 1971, 80–101; Brown 1998, 353–376 Brown 1998, 355 The great historian has highlighted the contextual importance of Eastern Roman society in his works on Holy Men in Late Antiquity “It was East Roman society, as we had begun to take the measure of it in the 1960s, that led me to the holy man, and not the holy man to East Roman society” Acerbi 2015, 23–37, has studied the vision of the holy man in the Religious History of Theodoret to conclude that the bishop contemplated the ascetic monks that he describes as perfect heirs of the pagan θεῖος ἀνήρ See also Teja and Acerbi 2014, 747–764 Brown 1971, 92 We will come back to the conclusions on this issue Brown 2002, 1 Fowden 1982, 33–59 In the introduction of the article, the author assumes: “The holy men of Greco-Roman paganism will never inspire either the reverence or the fascinated horror that the ascetics and monks of early Christianity have commanded ever since they first impigned on the common mind in the time of Antony and Athanasios”

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It is necessary to redefine the concept of θεῖος ἀνήρ in Late Antiquity because of the circumstantial transformations that differentiate the analysed periods, with the firm objective of delimiting the meaning of an applied term of notorious significance in the context that concerns us 2. Conceptual Redefinition of a θεῖος ἀνήρ in Late Antiquity Holiness in Late Antiquity manifested itself in different ways and for this reason it has been thought that there is no exclusive formula for identification M Alviz Fernández16 proposed an interesting series of categories that cover the entire context of action of the θεῖος ἀνήρ in Late Antiquity In his article, which could open new lines of research in this regard, he establishes a set of elements that would help us identify a Late Antique θεῖος ἀνήρ: – From his point of view, divine men in this period have a mystical side, which implies an intimate connection with the divinity – They have an ascetic component that leads them to renounce everything mundane in search of spiritual perfection – They are capable of violating the laws of nature by miraculous acts – The social prestige of the divine man will originate the creation of disciples and philosophical-religious schools that will try to perpetuate his legacy – In direct relation to social prestige, divine men will try to influence the political sphere Regardless of all these categories, we must bear in mind that one of the main causes of the success of the holy men in Late Antiquity is the appropriation of the institution of patronage The decomposition of the traditional urban aristocracies created a strong demand for patrons who would come to find a solution with this type of figure Starting from these defining premises of a theoretical nature, our interest from now on resides in identifying each of the aspects previously outlined in the figure of Symeon the Stylite to conclude or not that we can apply the name θεῖος ἀνήρ to this “Venerable Father” Peter Brown considered the Stylite to be the best archetype of a holy man However, Whitby17 saw his hagiography rather as an exception within the general dynamics of HR Peter Brown’s markedly sociological view of the holy man in Late Antiquity has been reviewed by authors such as Rapp18 In accordance with her proposal, we understand that the hagiographic sources that we handle in this type of research should be contemporary In principle, the vitae written shortly after the 16 17 18

Alviz Fernández 2016, 24 Whitby 1987, 309–317 Rapp 1999, 63–81

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death of their protagonists should contain much more reliable information, since the echoes of time end up distorting the facts As we well know, hagiographic literature has received quite critical treatment in academic circles as a consequence of its standardised nature and its lack of historical perspective19 However, as Halkin20 pointed out, we should not fall into anachronisms or judge other historical periods through our criteria We cannot forget that hagiographic literature was the most popular genre in the Byzantine Empire, and it is part of the very history of the period Recovering the old classification of the hagiographic sources that Delehaye21 contributed, we are going to investigate a literary source or vita that delves into the life of the holy man and the miracles that occurred before and after his death 3. Symeon and his mystical side The Christian bishop Theodoret of Cyrus, deeply linked to the Syrian monasticism and the school of Antioch, wrote a hagiographic Religious History22 (HR) that contained the biographies of thirty ascetics23 while the Stylite24 still lived25 This contemporary source26 tells us that Symeon was born in Sisa, between Syria27 and Cilicia28 He came from a family of humble shepherds and dedicated himself to caring for sheep until he decided to abandon worldly life and embrace the path of faith and religious life He entered a monastery29 but his mortification practices were so extreme that he

19 20 21 22

23 24

25 26 27 28 29

See Hinterberger 2000, 140, n 1 Halkin 1971, 261–262 Delehaye 1934, 1–12; 32 Urbainzczyk 2005, 4 “On the surface it is easy to say what Religious History is about; it is a series of lives of Syrian holy men told by Theodoret, who had known them either when he was young in Antioch or when he was bishop of Cyrrhus and to some extent was responsible for them as member of his flock” The life of Symeon the Stylite is included in the number XXVI See the original Greek text in PG 82, 1464–1484 Lietzmann 2010, 1–18 See Lietzmann 2010 This reissued volume also contains the two other lives; the text of Antony’s Life (19–80, in Greek) and the Syriac one (80–180, with a German translation) See an English translation of the lives in Doran 1992 Syriac life (Bedjan’s Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum) in Lent 2009, 1–112 On the different manuscripts of Syriac life, see Boero 2019, 25–67 Frankfurter 1990, 168 “Theodoret’s History of the Monks of Syria (or the Historia Religiosa) composed in 444 C E , fifteen years before Symeon’s death, although posthumously updated by a disciple of Theodoret” The Greek life by Antony and the Syriac Life are not contemporary sources and present more legendary and less reliable information This is the reason why we work with the text of Theodoret See Brown 1982, 153–165 This article delves into the patron role of holy men in Syria We handle A History of the Monks of Syria by Theodoret of Cyrus, translated by Price 2008, 160 A Spanish translation in Teja 2008 On the monks of the East, see all the volumes of Festugière 1961–1965

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had to go to the most isolated regions of the mountains30 Once he began his stage as an anchorite and became a famous holy man who lived on a pillar of thirty-six cubits31, Symeon demonstrated his intimate connection with God He acted as a mediator of his power through fabulous acts32 It is God who produces miracles, while the holy Symeon is a mere servant through whom death is stopped, diseases are fought and demons are put to flight If we understand mysticism as the state of religious perfection that puts the soul of an individual in contact with the divinity, to such an extent that he generates miracles as an intermediary of God, we can affirm that the Stylite enjoyed a mystical side Here we can see how Christianity attributes complete holiness only to God Only God can sanctify men and if they really want to start a life of holiness, they have to imitate the example of Christ, becoming an imago Christi Once the time of the persecutions had ended in the Roman world and the era of the martyrs had come to an end, the most visible sign of the holy man would be the worship received and the hagiographical construction of his vita Without a doubt, this type of literary creations shares and reproduces a series of qualities attributed to holy men that are repeated over and over again33 These narrations aim to exalt the veneration of the saint and through him strengthen the veneration towards God In the same way, the aim is to endow the town or monastery where the holy man resided with an indelible halo of mysticism

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Symeon’s biographical itinerary directs us to Teleda and then to Telanissus, that is, he went from southern Anatolia to mountainous north-west of Syria Theodoret himself visited Teleda See Weaver 2007, 32 16,45 metres HR 26 16 “On another occasion I witnessed the occurrence of a celebrated miracle Someone came in – he too was a tribal chieftain of Saracens – and begged the godly person to assist a man who on the road had become paralysed in the limbs of his body; he said he had undergone the attack at Callinicum – it is a very great fort When he had been brought right to the centre, Symeon bade him disown the impiety of his ancestors When he gladly consented and performed the order, he asked him if he believed in the Father and the only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit When the other professed his faith, he said: ‘Since you believe in these names, stand up!’ When he stood up, he ordered him to carry the tribal chieftain on his shoulders right to his tent, and he was of great bodily size He at once picked him up and went on his way, while those present stirred their tongues to sing hymns to God” Price 2008, 167–168 There are many other hagiographic accounts where holy men are able to fight disease and even evade death (HR 21 14) Predictions (HR 2 14); Control over the forces of nature (HR 1 11–12); Exorcisms (HR 3 9; 3 22: 9 4: 9 9–10)

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4. The ascetic component Two years before his arrival on Teleda34, Symeon had come into contact with the perfect virtue of the ascetic life35 At the monastery, he far surpassed all his brothers in asceticism36 The levels of mortification he brought his body frightened his superiors, fearing that the imitation of his peers would end in disgrace37 The superiors of the monastery repented for having expelled him; they found him in a cistern without water praying and they had to rescue him with difficulty38 In Telanissus39 he continued his practices of rigorous asceticism, fasting for forty days like the holy prophets Only when he reached the limit of malnutrition, did he drink a little water and eat some lettuce or endive40 However, if we have to highlight a specific episode about Symeon’s

34 35 36 37

38

39 40

If we accept that Symeon was born in 385–390, and that he entered the monastery at Teleda in 403, we can place his first contact with neighbouring ascetics in 401, being only a boy Price 2008, 173 On early Syrian asceticism, see Brock 1973, 1–19 HR 26 5 “While the others took food every other day, he would last the whole week without nourishment” Price 2008, 162 HR 26 5 “I heard the very man who is now superior of this flock recount how on one occasion Symeon took a cord made from palms-it was extremely rough even to touch with the hands-, and girded it round his waist, not wearing it on the outside but making it touch the skin itself He tied it so tightly as to lacerate in a circle the whole part it went round When he had continued in this manner for more than ten days and the now severe wound was letting fall drops of blood, someone who saw him asked what was the cause of the blood When he replied that he had nothing wrong with him, his fellow contestant forcibly inserted his hand, discovered the cause and disclosed it to the superior Immediately reproaching and exhorting, and inveighing against the cruelty of the thing, he undid the belt, with difficulty, but not even so could he persuade him to give the wound any treatment Seeing him do other things of the kind as well, they ordered him to depart from this wrestling-school, lest he should be a cause of harm to those with a weaker bodily constitution who might try to emulate what was beyond their Powers” Price 2008, 162 HR 26 6 “He therefore departed and made his way to the more deserted parts of the mountain Finding a cistern that was waterless and not too deep, he lowered himself into it, and offered hymnody to God When five days had passed, the superiors of the wrestling-school had a change of heart, and sent out two men, charging them to look for him and bring him back So, after walking round the mountain, they asked some men tending animals there if they had seen someone of such a complexion and dress When the shepherds pointed out the cistern, they at once called out several times, and bringing a rope, drew him out with great labour-for ascent is not as easy as descent” Price 2008, 162–163 See Nicholson 2018, 1251 “Both Antonius and the Syriac author agree that the total length of time Simeon spent in the areas around Telneshe was forty-seven years, so that he would have arrived there in 412” Doran 1992, 17 HR 26 7 “The provisions were left, and the door was sealed with mud At the end of the forty days, Bassus, this wonderful person and man of God, came and removed the mud; on going in through the door he found the complete number of rolls, he found the jar full of water, but Symeon stretched out without breath, unable either to speak or to move Asking for a sponge to wet and rinse his mouth, he brought him the symbols of the divine mysteries; and so, strengthened by these, he raised himself and took a little food -lettuce, chicory and suchlike plants, which he chewed in small pieces and so passed into the stomach” Price 2008, 163 We must understand this type of vegetarianism simply as a common form of Christian asceticism, accepted by the official

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asceticism41, that is obviously his way of life on a pillar42 He dressed in furs and decided to raise his pillar more and more as a symbol of disconnection with the material world and as a way of ascending to Heaven43 In Theodoret’s judgement, holy men’s ascetic practices were always directed by God, in order to show the strength of faith to those accustomed to ease The bishop shows his admiration for the one who is visible to all standing for a long time, repeatedly bowing down and offering worship to God As a result of his zeal, Symeon developed a malignant ulcer on his left foot44 but nothing could stop his devotional way of life45 Until the end of his days he continued to spend sleepless nights directing his prayers to the highest The phenomenon of the holy man in Late Antiquity is closely linked to Christian asceticism and monasticism According to the beliefs of the time, this asceticism favoured a more perfect union with God, moving away from everything profane through a life full of privations, penances, and prayers that many monks, hermits and anchorites embraced The height of the Stylite’s column separated him from worldly temptation and brought the soul of the servant of God closer to Heaven Symeon’s extreme asceticism pursued mystical or ecstatic union with the Creator In Harvey’s words46, the Stylite represents the idiosyncratic extremes to which the ascetic movement47 was able to go in its early centuries 5. Miraculous acts Theodoret recorded numerous miracles performed by the Stylite The bishop relates that he himself was an eyewitness of a miracle by which the holy man healed a Sara-

41 42 43

44 45

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Church, as opposed to vegetarianism practised by Manicheans or (presumably) Priscillianists See Ferreiro 2008, 464–478; Serrano Madroñal 2021, 587–606 Stang 2010, 447–470 Hence its nickname, since the Greek name of pillar is στῦλος HR 26 12 “Since the visitors were beyond counting and they all tried to touch him and reap some blessing from his garments of skins, while he at first thought the excess of honour absurd and later could not abide the wearisomeness of it, he devised the standing on a pillar, ordering the cutting of a pillar first of six cubits, then of twelve, afterwards of twenty-two and now of thirty-six-for he yearns to fly up to heaven and to be separated from this life on earth” Price 2008, 165 On desert asceticism and mortification of the body, see Miller 1994, 137–153 HR 26 23 “As a result of his standing, it is said that a malignant ulcer has developed in his left foot, and that a great deal of pus oozes from it continually Nevertheless, none of these afflictions has overcome his philosophy, but he bears them all nobly, both the voluntary and the involuntary, overcoming both the former and the latter by his zeal” Price 2008, 170 Harvey 1988, 376 On Stylitism and ascetic practice, see Vranic 2019, 243–259

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cen48 tribal leader who had been paralyzed49 Likewise, Symeon was in charge of evangelising a large number of Ishmaelites, forcing them to deny their ancient pagan beliefs In this context, a converted Arab swore to renounce animal meat to Symeon and when he broke the engagement by hunting a bird, the animal was turned to stone50 Theodoret also corroborates that Symeon was able to establish prophecies about the future that were rigorously fulfilled51 He predicted droughts, bad harvests, famines and plagues two years before they occurred The Stylite even predicted an attack by the Persians The pious old man achieved through his prayers from the pillar that the queen of the Ishmaelites gave birth despite her infertility52 Regardless of the many miracles he performed and the devotion he aroused before and after his death53, he always remained a modest man The miracles of Symeon did not stop with his death54; his memory55 and his relics56 were another source of acts of divine power and cures of all kinds of diseases

48 49 50

51

52

53 54 55 56

The Saracens were Arab peoples of the Syrian desert in alliance with the Romans See Vasiliev 1956, 306–316 Price 2008, 167–168 HR 26 18 “It happened that another miracle occurred in no way inferior to the preceding A not undistinguished Ishmaelite, who was one of those who had found faith in the saving name of Christ the Master, made prayer to God with Symeon as the witness, and a promise as well: the promise was to abstain thereafter till death from all animal food At some time, he broke this promise, I know not how, by daring to kill a bird and eat it But since God chose to bring him to amendment by means of a reproof and to honour His servant who had been the witness of the broken promise, the flesh of the bird was changed in nature to stone, with the result that not even if he wanted to was, he now able to eat – for how was it possible, since the body which he had got hold of for eating had been petrified”? Price 2008, 168 HR 26 19 “I have been, not only an eyewitness of his miracles, but also a hearer of his predictions of the future The drought that occurred, the great crop-failure of that year and the simultaneous famine and plague that followed, he foretold two years beforehand, saying that he had seen a rod threatening mankind and indicating the scourging it would cause” Price 2008, 169 HR 26 21 “The queen of the Ishmaelites, being sterile and longing for children, first sent some of her highest officials to beg that she become a mother, and then when she obtained her request and gave birth as she had wished, took the prince she had borne and hastened to the godly old man Since women are not allowed access, she sent the baby to him together with a request to receive blessing from him ‘Yours,’ she said, ‘is this sheaf; for I brought, with tears, the seed of prayer, but it was you who made the seed a sheaf, drawing down through prayer the rain of divine grace’” Price 2008, 170 On the worship received by the saint, see Gallo 2007, 43–56 This allusion contradicts the thesis on the writing of the Historia Religiosa while the Stylite was still alive According to Frankfurter 1990, 168, some disciple of Theodoret must have included additions a posteriori Symeon’s death was set in 459 and Theodoret passed away in 457 See Torrey 1899, 253 Torrey 1899, 254 “After his death, his body was carried with great pomp to Antioch, and buried there; though Constantinople coveted the honour, and the Emperor Leo himself had planned to have the body brought to that city” Harvey 1988, 377 “Two monuments raised in honour of Simeon deserve particular attention The first is physical: the magnificent building complex of Qal’at Sim’an, the church and monastic structure erected on Simeon’s mountain to house the relic of his pillar (…) The church itself is a cruciform martyrion with an octogonal centre at the heart of which stood the pillar” This archi-

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Canivet57 argued that, unlike other hagiographical works, the HR does not record too many miracles Urbainzczyk58 counted four miracles in Symeon’s vita But what is relevant is that it is confirmed again in the source that we handle that Symeon was capable of leading wonderful events that could not be explained by the regular laws of nature and that were attributed to the intervention of God and his mediation as a holy man Up to this point, the Stylite fulfils all the theoretical requirements to be considered a late antique θεῖος ἀνήρ 6. The creation of disciples The fame of the Stylite as a man capable of working miracles generated a great pilgrimage around his pillar Theodoret cites Ishmaelites, Persians, Armenians, Iberians59, Homerites60, Hispanics, Gauls, and Britons In the city of Rome itself, miniatures of the saint were exhibited at the entrance of all the workshops as a protection However, far from being satisfied with this veneration, Symeon ordered to raise his pillar to get away from worldly pride Certainly, he never neglected his evangelising work and attended to all those in need who came seeking his divine mediation, but it does not seem that the Stylite had any intention of creating any school In fact, this iconic anchorite always sought isolation and solitude so that he could dedicate himself entirely to prayer and penance The Greek etymology of the word anchorite (ἀνα-χωρέω) implies retirement, and this is opposed to the will to create disciples who perpetuate his legacy The anchorite is by definition someone who has withdrawn from society He was always modest in spirit, close, sweet and humble in his dealings with others, whatever their social rank61 As for his desire to create a group of disciples, we know that Symeon exhorted twice a day lessons on Christian conduct, but these sermons from his pillar were only intended to spread contempt for the material world, fear of Hell and hope towards the Salvation We cannot observe a deliberate intention to build a school62 He also judged and issued correct verdicts in any litigation, showing

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62

tectural vestige is located in the vicinity of Aleppo See archaeological information in Biscop 2009, 1421–1444 Canivet 1977, 119 Urbainzczyk 2005, 93 Caucasian Iberians Allusion to the Homerite kingdom, in the southern highlands of Yemen HR 26 25 “Despite such labours and the mass of his achievements and the quantity of his miracles, he is as modest in spirit as if he were the last of all men in worth In addition to his modest spirit, he is extremely approachable, sweet and charming, and makes answers to everyone who addresses him, whether he be artisan, beggar, or peasant” Price 2008, 171 HR 26 25 “Making exhortation two times each day, he floods the ears of his hearers, as he speaks most gracefully and offers the lessons of the divine Spirit, bidding them look up to heaven and take

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himself as a true local authority63 He fought as best he could the impiety of the pagans, the insolence of the Jews and the deviations of the heretics, but we again emphasise that he never intended to create disciples who would follow his way of life Regardless of his will, his habits became an anchoretic form of monasticism especially widespread in Syria, as the long list of Byzantine stylites shows64 However, the creation and origin of Stylitism is only proof of the impact that his innovative anchoritic proposal originated In this case, we cannot consider that Symeon belongs to this defining category of θεῖος ἀνήρ in Late Antiquity 7. The political sphere Following the supposed words of Theodoret65, Symeon’s prophecies alerted the Romans to a Persian attack and prevented it66 With a hagiographic purpose, the bishop claims that even the Sassanid monarchy sought the blessing of the Stylite67 despite the slanders spilled by the Magi68 However, our interest lies in evaluating the political influence that Symeon may have had on the Constantinople court itself In a passage of great historiographical relevance69, Theodoret records that the Stylite sometimes sent instructions to the emperor and governors on religious matters As a holy man of Late Antiquity, he had enough authority to resolve religious disputes that could confront members of the community It is obvious that his particular opinion in the Christological disputes could determine the definitive adoption by the group At this point, we need to analyse the letters attributed to the holy man to delve into

63 64 65

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flight, depart from the earth, imagine the expected kingdom, fear the threat of hell, despise earthly things, and await what is to come” Price 2008, 171 HR 26 26 “He can be seen judging and delivering verdicts that are right and just” Price 2008, 171 On the Stylite saints, see Delehaye 1923 On Syrian Stylites, see Peña, Castellana and Fernández 1975 HR 26 19 “He also saw on one occasion two rods descend from the sky and fall on the land both east and west The godly man explained it as a rising of the Persian and Scythian nations against the Roman empire; he declared the vision to those present, and with many tears and unceasing prayers stopped the blows with which the world was threatened Certainly, the Persian nation, when already armed and prepared for attack on the Romans, was through the opposition of divine power driven back from the proposed assault and fully engaged in domestic troubles within” Price 2008, 169 The source edition itself indicates this passage in brackets, considering it an interpolation HR 26 20 “His reputation is also great with the king of the Persians As the envoys who came to see Symeon related, he wished to inquire carefully about the man’s way of life and the nature of his miracles; and his spouse is said to have asked for oil honored by his blessing and to have received it as a very great gift” Price 2008, 169 Priests in Zoroastrianism HR 26 27 “Sometimes sending instructions on these matters to the emperor, sometimes rousing the governors to divine zeal, at other times charging the very shepherds of the churches to take still greater care of their flocks” Price 2008, 171

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Symeon’s hypothetical political influence Almost all of these letters have to do with the theological controversies that occurred in the Eastern church during the middle of the fifth century The first letter open to analysis deals with the problem of synagogues Theoretically, the Stylite addresses the emperor Theodosius II in a context of difficult coexistence between Jews and Christians Despite the Christian militancy of the court, the emperor was obliged to ensure the rights of his Jewish subjects and for this reason he ordered that the assaulted properties of the Jews be restored, arousing the hostility of the most extreme Christians When some bishops came to Symeon and told him what had happened, the holy man would have sent an epistle in threatening terms to the emperor himself70 If we go back to the hagiography that Theodoret composed, there are clear allusions already mentioned to the anti-Judaism of the Stylite and to the correspondence between the anchorite and the emperor However, it is plausible that Symeon’s name was used for political pressure and that he never actually dictated71 such a letter Perhaps, the hagiographic echoes only exaggerate Symeon’s political influence We must not forget that Symeon’s Syriac life was not composed before 459/47372, that is, the figure of Theodosius II after his death (450) was already very frowned upon by Chalcedonians The legislation preserved73 during the reign of Theodosius II shows that steps were taken to protect the already built synagogues from spontaneous attacks Torrey74 accepts as justifiable the scepticism that the authenticity of the letter can generate Likewise, it seems highly unlikely that the emperor removed his prefect Asclepiodotus and made a humble reply to Symeon The rest of the letters attributed to the holy man are related to the theological controversies of the moment75 In a completely different tone from the previous letter, Symeon respectfully addresses the Emperor Leo I and the Bishop of Antioch, Basil, to

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“Because in the pride of your heart you have forgotten the Lord your God, who gave you the crown of majesty and the royal throne and have become a friend and comrade and abettor of the unbelieving Jews; know that of a sudden the righteous judgement of God will overtake you and all those who are of one mind with you in this matter Then you will lift up your hands to heaven, and say in your distress, of a truth because I dealt falsely with the Lord God this ‘punishment has come upon me’” Torrey 1899, 255 See original Syriac text in the same article, Torrey 1899, 254–255 Although the article is considerably old, the academic and historiographical value is incestionable as shown by the fact that the reedition of Lent 2009, 115–137 has included it in its entirety We are not certain that Symeon could read or write, based on his biography Boero 2015, 320; 2019, 25 CTh 16 8 25; 16 8 26; 16 8 27 All these decrees are dated in 423 1899, 257 Nestorianism spread rapidly in the eastern part of the Empire until its conciliar defeat in 431 A new council in Ephesus (449) displaced orthodoxy and embraced Monophysitism After the death of Theodosius II, the Council of Chalcedon condemns Monophysitism and restores Christological orthodoxy Chew 2006, 207–208

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express his commitment to the Council of Chalcedon76 in the case of the second77 Another of the letters78 presents Symeon kindly redirecting the orthodoxy of Eudocia79 We can doubt more about the authenticity of the first letter presented in the legendary and hagiographic Syriac life than of those (later in time) which merely corroborate Symeon’s Chalcedonian orthodoxy, and which are included in more reliable historiographical works However, the problem is compounded by other attributed epistles showing us a Symeon totally contrary to the Chalcedonian creed These letters published by Torrey80 were found in two Syriac Monophysite manuscripts dated to the 8th and 9th centuries There is a first letter in which a radically Monophysite Symeon addresses Leo I to annul the dogmas sentenced in Chalcedon Of course, the style of the writing points to a forgery The second letter has very similar characteristics A Symeon with a militantly Monophysite character, artificially attacks the Chalcedonian creed, praising Dioscurus as a martyr The third epistle recreates for us Symeon’s hypothetical position with respect to Nestorianism, urging John of Antioch to go to Ephesus (431) to condemn heresy, in collusion with Monophysite positions Can this late documentation prove that Symeon was not a Melkite and held Monophysite beliefs? In our view, these misleading sources are plagued with elements that corroborate the falsification made a posteriori by the Monophysite faction We find it difficult to believe that the Stylite was so careful in dating his letters81 The true Symeon would not include expressions to demonstrate his status as an anchorite who lives on a pillar82 The insistence that he never approved the Council of Chalcedon in any writing could well be a manoeuvre to make us believe that the true records were the forgeries and not the other way around Finally, no one could think that if the Stylite had really been a Monophysite, he would have received such a prominent hagiographic treatment from Thedoret, a contemporary theologian openly opposed to Monophysitism83 76 77 78 79

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At this Ecumenical Council held in 451 the doctrines of Monophysitism were condemned Torrey 1899, 258 Evagr HE, II 10 This sixth century Syrian historian is known for his rigorous use of sources Torrey 1899, 259 This letter is mentioned by Cyril of Scythopolis in his life of Euthymius His work has also been valued for its historical fidelity See the Greek original text and a Latin translation in Ecclesiae Graecae Monumenta, II, 271 Eudocia was sympathetic to Monophysitism “Palestinian Monophysitism included among its adherents not only Gerontius and John Rufus, but Eudocia herself ” Clark 1982, 145 “Antioch was notoriously Nestorian, and Eudocia, who was inclined to monophysitism, would not have been likely to travel with any of the four Antiochene bishops of the time” Rubin 1996, 110 1899, 260–273 “To the Emperor Leo, who reigned after Marcian” Torrey 1899, 264 “To our Spiritual Brother in Christ; adorned with graces illustrious and divine; zealous for the orthodox faith of the fathers, which we have learned from prophets, apostles, and saints; the Archimandrite, Mar Jacob of Kaphra Rehima; from the mean and weak sinner, Simeon, who stands upon the pillar near the village Telnesi; great and exceeding peace in the Lord” Torrey 1899, 265 On Theodoret’s Christological vision, see Clayton Jr 2007

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To be sure, it is difficult to assess Symeon’s political influence with such dubious sources However, the fact that his opinion about Christological disputes is openly manipulated shows the importance of his figure Peter Brown84 has already highlighted the social role played by holy men in Late Antiquity We know of the social prestige that Symeon achieved in life and, above all, after his death However, the distortions and falsifications of the documentation presented make us doubt about the true capacity for political influence that the Stylite could have had while he lived 8. Conclusion Every historian must handle hagiographic sources with great caution In the case of Symeon the Stylite, we are forced to select our documentation based on the contemporaneity and the existing degree of veracity These premises do move us to work with the life of Theodoret, although it is true that the theologian’s work is not an example of historiographical objectivity, obviously What we want to extract from this source is very concise We seek to corroborate that all the theoretical elements that allow us to identify a late antique θεῖος ἀνήρ are visible in the saint venerated by Catholics and Orthodox Traditional historiography has not hesitated to define the Stylite as the most famous θεῖος ἀνήρ of Late Antiquity However, despite fulfilling (supposedly) mystical, miraculous and ascetic attributes, Symeon never intended to create a monastic school Likewise, we do not have sufficient documentary certainty to affirm that he had a decisive political influence while he lived We can accept that he corresponded with the emperor and his court on religious matters and that his position on the Christological debates enjoyed importance But this does not imply that the anchorite influenced any transcendent decision of the period As a consequence of all these nuances, we find that not all the defining characteristics of the late antique θεῖος ἀνήρ are so present in the Stylite Likewise, perhaps the theoretical excesses of the θεῖος ἀνήρ hypothesis have diverted the philological focus from specific research If we go to the HR and consult this source in its original language (Greek), we can confirm that in no case is the expression θεῖος ἀνήρ recorded to designate the Stylite Theodoret used only the noun ὁ ἅγιος, a term much more closely connected with Christian conceptions of saints85 This should make us reflect on the appropriateness of using the pagan expression θεῖος ἀνήρ (divine man) to designate the Christian holy men of Late Antiquity, as Brown pointed out Raúl Serrano Madroñal PhD in Ancient History at the Complutense University of Madrid raulserrano83@hotmail com

84 85

1971, 80–101 Lietzmann 2010, 13

Bishop Masona’s Charismatic Construction Through Vitas Sanctorum Patrum Emeritensium José Ángel Castillo Lozano 1. Introduction Vitas Sanctorum Patrum Emeritensium1, a hagiographic work2 set in Mérida in the 6th century, represents one of the most important sources of knowledge on urban and church life in Visigothic Hispania The text is organised in five opuscula or small semi-independent works The most important one is dedicated to Masona (“Life and Virtues of Holy Bishop Masona3”) Although the work focuses on local events that took place in Mérida and its surroundings, the depth of detail about ceremonial and liturgical life in the city, constant references to social conflicts of the time and the presence of characters like Masona, who played a leading role in the main events during the reign of Leovigild (569–586) and Reccared (586–601), make it a priceless document Moreover, according to Roger Collins4, their author not only intended to strengthen the authority of the commissioning bishop and the prestige of the metropolitan see but also to justify their aspirations to an honorary primate, Toledo also fought for that prestige in the early 7th century, which makes us see the strong local character of this literary work This is due to the fact that, when the first version of this literary source appeared, Mérida was still an important city, proud of its past, of the power and influence of its bishops and especially of having the main pilgrimage centre in the kingdom, the Santa Eulalia cellae memoriae But its position started to be undermined by the rise of Toledo, something lying behind the work to a certain extent when reinforcing the charisma and position of its community leaders: its bishops Therefore, we intend to analyse in this work the ideological and charismatic construction behind Masona’s 1 2 3 4

Used editions: Fear 2011, 45–105; Garvin 1946; Maya 1992 and Velázquez Soriano 2008 For a general picture, Drews 2006, 349–354 Incipit vita vel virtvtibvs sancti Masone episcopi Collins 1980, 189–219

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portrait to explain its meaning, nature and position inside the circles and the conception of power in the Visigoth Kingdom of Toledo 2. Predestination to govern by Masona In the literary source that we analyse, Masona is presented to us as a worthy bearer of Catholic virtues who is predestined to occupy the throne by divine will This is reflected in the text when the anonymous author of these vitas claimed as follows: When the gentleman of whom we have spoken passed to his homeland above, the providence of the Divine Godhead chose as his successor an Orthodox man named Masona, who was his equal in all his virtues5 This highlights Masona’s willingness to be God’s chosen one He will govern because God wills it by strengthening that charismatic construction of the Late Antique leader, so influenced by the sanctification of political power Furthermore, this is boosted by his own origins since he comes from a noble lineage At the same time, it was a literary cliché in the recreation of these bishops-leaders in the Visigoth world as a whole and of the Meridan community in particular (a good example of this was Renovatus’ or Fidel’s figure) In the same way, certain clichés from the Roman world are present in the development of his portrait as the optimal ruler such as the fact that he was originally not ready to occupy the Episcopal chair and to reach it almost as a duty Therefore, we find ourselves facing a kind of resignation connecting with the ritual of the Roman recusatio imperii6 happening in political circles, but also, and increasingly at that time, it was present in church circles7 For that reason, he preferred isolation and prayer without having to lead what would be a resource for the creation of the literary figure representing a good Visigoth bishop This is a characteristic picture of bishops from that period and a commonplace in Hispanic hagiography, that is, the permanent duality between hidden and prayer life and public life of social projection 3. The arrival of a holy man to the city When Masona left a hermit’s contemplative life in which he found himself and returned to Mérida to occupy the Episcopal chair, that is, a man chosen directly by God 5 6 7

VSPE, V, 1: Huic prefato almo uiro ad supernam patriam transmigranti prouidentia diuine pietatis subrogatur non in par ómnium uirtutum uir ortodoxus cui nomen erat Masona Béranger 1948, 178–196 Lizzy 1987

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returned to exercise his profession For that reason, miracles appeared soon in the Hispanic city by following a similar model to the one of the imperial adventus8 So it is said that his only presence and his prayers will manage to keep away illnesses, pain and everything negative linked to the devil in this sanctified world of Late Antiquity It is all part of elements making up the Hispanic holy man as is the case, for example, in certain poems explaining the journey home of “martyr” Hermenegild’s body9 This is reflected in the following passage: “In his time through his prayers the Lord kept disease, plague, and famine far from the city of Merida and indeed from all of Lusitania, driving them far away because of the merits of the most holy virgin Eulalia (…) The peace that brings joy prevailed so strongly on the passions of everyone that the Ancient Enemy was conquered and the Serpent of olden times overthrown” 10

The ancients could not represent virtuosity and illness’ effects more than as the activity of living beings According to the old mindsets, all illnesses were caused by evil spirits11 All this responds to a world where political conception and power have been sanctified, so the fact that Masona keeps away these devils corresponds to the construction of a leader, that is, practically a holy man who was able to keep away devils linked in many cases to the bad use of power as it appears in this work in the figures of Nepopis, Leovigild and Sunna, characters/figures that we will analyse later Furthermore, by interconnecting with the earlier thesis, a hidden quote addressed to the devil through the draco/dragon that is found both in Vulgata and Itala and in Christian authors appears12 The same applies to the appearance of the snake in this work, although it is much more frequent to identify the devil The opposite of everything that we comment on is Masona, whose only presence marked good, since he was a man sent from God and a holy man Another example of this adventus happened when the prelate returned to his home city after suffering exile by Leovigild, what might, at the same time, find some parallel with Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem So Masona’s entry into this city also has lots of a Roman triumphus to some extent regarding that series of rituals that marked the entry of this victorious character Therefore, the author of this work wanted to grant that sacred character to Masona within its local character when he entered the city of

8 9 10

11 12

Roddy 2000, 147–179 Charlo Brea and Pozuelo Calero 2011, 163–184 VSPE, V, 2: Huius itaque temporibus morbum pestem inedieque inopiam ab urbe Emeretensi uel omnem Lusitaniam eius precibus Dominus procul abegit meritisque sacresancte Eolalie uirginis longius pepulit tantamque salutem et ómnium copiam deliciarum cuncto populo inpertire dignauit (…) deuicto antiquissimo hoste ac superato ueternoso dracone Harrison 1959, 67 and Gil 2004, 247–280 Velázquez Soriano 2008, 114

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Merida13, something that theoretically only corresponded to the King in that context of exits/entries of the royal urbs (in this case, Mérida rose up as if it was Toledo), which was the perfect occasion for the staging of power14 4. Masona’s work as a town councillor Another aspect we must mention when analysing the literary construction of this leader of the Meridan community is his work as a town councillor that assumes great importance in this work Therefore, it highlights how Masona was able to enrich and transform the city, a very interesting aspect, since it is an attribute that should theoretically belong to a lay and not to a religious position However, the bishop from Late Antiquity proclaimed to be an authentic political chief as in the case of what we are dealing with there For that reason, it is said that he founded monasteries at the very beginning of his episcopate by providing them with properties and built basilicas as shown below: “After he was taken by the will of God without reproach for many years After he was taken by the will of God from that place where he had been spoken of by everyone and he had been admired by, and been an inspiration to them all, and ordained bishop, at the very beginning of his incumbency he founded and richly endowed many monasteries built a even larger number os basílicas of wondrous appearance, and consecrated in these places many souls to God Then he built a xenodochium, enriching it with a large patrimony and appointing ministers and doctors to serve travellers and the sick” 15

This action can be called private evergetism, since it does not only point out that kindness, but it constitutes a literary cliché of this kind of main characters appearing in hagiographic works At the same time, it reflects the growing control exercised by bishops in the monastic16, social and political field, an aspect that sometimes caused different problems due to conflicts of jurisdiction between abbots and bishops17

13 14 15

16 17

Pérez Sánchez 2002, 248–249 and Escudero Manzano 2016, 722 Valverde Castro 2017, 207–211 VSPE, V, III: Postquam uero inspirante Deo in ómnium ore, oculis et animo residens, sublatus inde ordinatus est pontifex, statim in exordio episcopatus sui monasteria multa fundauit, prediis magnis locupletauit, baselicas plures miro opere construxit ibídem Deo animas consecrauit Deinde xinodocium fabricauit magnisque patrimoniis ditauit constitutisque ministris uel medicis peregrinorum et egrotantium Linage Conde 1986, 235–260 and Díaz Martínez 1987 Velázquez Soriano 2008, 114–115

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5. Masona’s characterization compared with Sunna, Leovigild and Nepopis This work could be, as has sometimes been stated18, more than a hagiographic writing or hagiographic biographies19, that is, a panegyric work showing virtues of bishops and where Masona appears as an advocate and an overcomer of Christian faith over heresy represented by Arianism led by Leovigild and Sunna All this is part of the universe of literary topoi in this genre20 Another hypothesis that deserves to be highlighted is the one by A Maya, since this researcher, without denying that it is a hagiographic work, talked about the fact that the persecution to Masona by Leovigild and Sunna responds to a completely well-known scheme belonging to the world of martyrs’ passions21 with everything involved, especially in the portrayal of characters This theory by A Maya would explain different literary motives such as Leovigild, advised by the devil22, or Sunna, a false bishop23 who talked through a dragon’s mouth, so it is a clear sign that he is a follower of the devil24 Later, Sunna will also appear by representing this army of executioners discussed in Vita Desiderii, written by King Sisebut and Leovigild himself with each and every feature implemented to pursuing emperors25 Even Leovigild himself would die from a serious illness sent by God to punish him26, so another cliché of Acts of Martyrs27 happened On the other hand, Masona’s portrayal will respond to the one of a martyr who would not move away from his faith despite presents, later menaces and final punishments28 and who will eventually reach the category of a saint29 Therefore, we observe a literary standardization regarding the characterization of main characters in this narration In this way, Leovigild, Nepopis and Sunna were accused of being tyrants, false bishops and of being advised by the devil in their actions It is very interesting to note how the popular conception around devils and their close link to power or at least regarding an evil and negative conception of it was a distinctive feature of Late Antiquity Therefore, the writer of this work does not hesitate to refer to devils or monstrous creatures like dragons to shape the portrait of these 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Díaz y Díaz 1981, 54 and Velázquez Soriano 2008, 19 Codoñer Merino 1983, 436–411 and 452–459 For he Visigothic case, read: Castellanos García 2004; Castillo Maldonado 2007, 247–284 and Velázquez Soriano 2005 Hillgarth 1970, 306 and Maya 1994, 167 VSPE V, IV, 3 VSPE, V, V, 8 VSPE V, IV, 15 Maya 1994, 169 VSPE V, IX, 2 Maya 1994, 180–182 Maya 1994, 172 Pérez Sánchez 2008, 203

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characters Furthermore, it is also interesting to highlight that relationship between ugliness30 and the bad praxis of power Similarly, we would like to stress that the name of Nepopis has an Egyptian root or at least reminds us of a name with Eastern roots as if it was an ancient Pharaoh This is not the result of random chance and neither is the statement dealing with Sunna that compares him to a Pharaoh31, since it is a real commonplace in the whole Christian Patristics to identify the devil with the Pharaoh, even more from an allegorical and Origenist interpretation due to the homiletic and didactic character in the literary production of the Church Fathers32 We also note in the portrayal of characters how Sunna and Leovigild were accused of being tyrants33 That political thinking with a theological root was of vital importance in the Visigoth conception of power For that reason, the author of VSPE did not hesitate to relate Leovigild or any Arrian like Sunna or those rebels who spoke out against Reccared in Narbonensis to envoys of the devil in order to plague Christianity34 On the other hand, Masona appears as God’s spokesperson and therefore he represents humility, piety, charity, and other Christian virtues35 That is why Masona was beautiful outside unlike his opponents, but even more beautiful inside since he was illuminated by the Holy Spirit What has been mentioned earlier responds to a sanctification of political terms that is so common in the time that we face today For that reason, Leovigild and Sunna served as tyrants who were instigated and guided by the devil acting as troublers of the people’s order36 within the mental schemes of the author of the work All that responds to a symbolic scheme where, in order to highlight Masona’s virtues, he dealt with his opponents in power, that is, the figures of Sunna, Leovigild and, to a lesser extent, Nepopis, since Christian virtues that the Christian Meridan bishop37 had been strengthened and shone more this way As well as this theocratic conception of power present in this literary scheme that we have commented before, this work lets us glimpse a very interesting historic event since, although Leovigild had been labelled as a prosecutor, he actually tried to unify the kingdom and consolidate his authority in the whole Visigoth territory with these measures For this reason, current historiography queries these prosecutions against Catholics since Leovigild only tried to achieve the unity of his kingdom38

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

VSPE, V, V, 3 VSPE, V, VI, 1 Molina Gómez 2000, 180 Castillo Lozano 2019 This is repeated in the battle of Caracasona Castillo Lozano 2018, 94–114 Orlandis Rovira 1962, 318–3179; Orlandis Rovira 1992, 35–37; Maya 1994, 172; Pérez Sánchez 2002, 246–247 and Pérez Sánchez 2009, 223 Pérez Sánchez 2009, 223 Pérez Sánchez 2002, 255 and Pérez Sánchez 2009, 223 Valverde Castro 1999, 132; Navarro Cordero 2000, 98 and García Moreno 2008, 128

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The fact that he fought against Masona could be caused by an attempt to get rid of a troublesome power that was not related to him39 at all and that probably tried to limit power of the representatives of the king Since he could not attract him to his power block (at the beginning, as VSPE confirm, he sent him gifts and incentives), he exiled him, so that exile was a penalty with a strong political character when he excluded him from his social group and, as a consequence, from his power bases40 This would explain why after the king called a new Catholic bishop, Nepopis, to come to Mérida after expelling Masona That event had no logical explanation if we accepted the image that we were provided by this literary source of the Visigoth king as an alleged persecutor of Catholics Therefore, in Mérida’s case, he would have no problem with restoring the Catholic Episcopate of the city, but with a bishop who was akin to his power circle This would enter a relationship with the corruption of church offices and with the process of worldliness in the Episcopate and its increasingly tighter engagement with political elites at the same time This phenomenon would be the natural result of that “politicisation” of the Church happening during the 4th century that has led certain authors to interpret that the Church was at that time a simple “instrument of political and social power”41 To sum up, religious unification undertaken by Leovigild clashed with the interests of local Catholic elites aligning with bishop Masona, since he rose up as a “leader-citizen42” and saw both in Sunna and Nepopis a clear danger of his privileges Hence the negative reception of a Catholic bishop in that source, but, at the end of the day, he was the representative of a power group against the dominant one in the city of Mérida43 6. Miracles happening in the times of Masona Due to the very nature of VSPE, the speech conveyed to us has an intentional bias regarding what happened in the city of Mérida to magnify Masona’s figure and, on the other hand, to make those of his enemies smaller In such a way, a laudatory speech around Masona’s, Claudius’ and Reccared’s figures was generated, they were all Catholic and, as a consequence, protected from the Christian divinity On the other hand, this speech will become very pejorative when talking about Leovigild, Sunna and, to a lesser extent, Nepopis, since they were all branded as tyrants, betrayers and servers of

39 40 41 42 43

Masona supported Hermenegildo in his war with Leovigildo Saitta 1979, 131–132; Pérez Sánchez 1992, 314; Castellanos García 2007, 153 and Fuentes Hinojo 2012, 14 Frighetto 2015, 130–131 Fernández Ubiña 1997, 103 My translation Castillo Maldonado 2012, 12 Castellanos García 2004, 209

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the devil In this speech, the intervention of Providence and its judgement will be the axiom that will become the engine of this narration So we have events where Providence acts directly such as those where it punished Leovigild44 with death due to a serious illness (which in turn responded to a resource that was widely used by emperors-persecutors in Christian passions); Sunna45, due to his faith in Arianism and his persecution to Catholics according to the model of Christian passions46 and there also appeared to be a divine punishment to archdeacon Eleuterus for his ambition that will make him sick and die after the symbolic figure of three days47 almost as if it was the opposite of Christ’s resurrection Similarly, he was directly involved in the protection of his subjects like that time when he saved Masona from the punishment of Leovigild’s horse, who intended him to find death48 and, by the same token, he protected him when Witteric tried to kill him in the context of Sunna’s revolt, but God prevented him from pulling his sword to commit such a heinous crime That is all part of that historiological thought where God’s judgement appears in all spheres of life For that reason, God will be directly involved in the events to protect his servant as reflected in the following passage: “In response to their wicked encouragement, he tried again and again with all his might to draw his sword from its scabbard, but to no avail When this happened to Witteric he realised that his sword was stayed by the power of God so that he was no way able draw the blade which hade ver lain ready for his use, thereupon he was terrified and grew pale” 49

Moreover, all this is completed by Masona’s predestination to govern (as we highlighted in the previous paragraph); with the apparition of the Virgin Eulalia or with other phenomena linked to the condition of Meridan bishops as holy men of Catholic Christianity Likewise, there were other miracles that also happened since Meridan bishops were chosen by Christ and God In this way, they drove away illnesses, pain and everything negative linked to the devil, in this sanctified world of Late Antiquity All without forgetting either God’s direct action in the battle of Carcassonne, appearing in Mérida under Masona’s government, where there was a full development of militia Christi by Meridan Claudius and king Reccared against a militia diaboli led by Visigoth and Frank usurpers 50

44 45 46 47 48 49 50

VSPE, V, IX VSPE, V, XI Maya 1994, 167–186 VSPE V, XII VSPE V, VI VSPE, V, X: Quumque supradictus iubenis cerneret, sensit diuino munere gladium fuisse adscritum, ut quem Semper suis husibus abtum habuerat tunc minime educere potuisset, et hic in strupore nimio conuersus expalluit Castillo Lozano 2018, 94–114

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To sum up, we witness in this work the anonymous author of this source introducing in his narration miracles and thaumaturgical events in a natural way to show who are chosen by Divinity to govern 7. Ceremonies and rituals to consolidate Masona’s position of power There are two cases where we want to stop: the one with the crosier and the one with a song to the victory of Carcassonne led by Masona The first passage that we are referring to is as follows: “When he had taken hold of the deacon’s staff and holding it in his hands arrived at the palace, the holy man at once absolved him from his punishment along with his wife, sons, and all his godos and let him go free” 51

The context and this phrase, according to Velázquez Soriano52, are surprising because of the use of the verb arripicere It seems odd that Vagrila took or seized Masona’s crosier For that reason, it cannot be interpreted as a negative but a generic meaning of taking with one’s hands by understanding that it has been the deacon himself who has placed his own crosier in Masona’s hands in some form of ordination ceremony By looking for parallels, it states in the Liber Ordinum 57–60 how the crosier is part of an ordination rite Therefore, it is possible that VSPE refers to a sort of a submission or obedience rite through this handover to the nobleman for him to take that object Furthermore, the crosier is a symbol of power that could even be assimilated to a spear with all its symbolic meaning53 that it would bring, that is, interconnecting heaven with earth to shed light during this hypothetical ceremony This would show us how Masona was actually sent from Divinity (or at least one person who has his support) and someone with enough charisma to lead such a powerful and numerous community as it was the Meridan one in 6th Century The second case where we want to stop is the song to victory appearing below: “When all the enemies of the Catholic faith had been cast down or had been put to flight, the Holy bishop Masona and all his flock reciting the psalms sang mystic praises to the Lord He then went to the hall of the gente virgin Eulalia with all the people clapping theis hands and singing hymns Afterwards at the solemn feast os Easter all the citizens celebrated Mass with hum in great joy, rejoicing after the fashion of the ancients, celebrating with loud cries in the streets, praising the Lord, and saying, ‘We shall sing unto to the Lord,

51 52 53

VSPE, V, XI: (…) baculo supradicti diaconi manibusque gestans ad atrium peruenisset, statim eum uir sanctus cum uxore et filiis et ómnibus prediis absolbens liberum habire permisit Velázquez Soriano 2008, 120–121 Chevalier and Gheerbrant 1986, 628–629

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for he has been honoured gloriously’, and again, ‘Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power; thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy And in the greatness of thy excellency, thou hast overthrown those that rose up against thee’” 54

This passage seems to place us under the clue that, during the war and until the return of the monarch, there was a series of prayers and songs for God to lead to the king’s victory over his enemies More specifically, this song happened when there was evidence of the victory of Gothic troops over their rivals in Carcassonne The return of the king usually occurs in a climate of victory For that reason, the warriors, the king and the other inhabitants of the kingdom were asked to thank God for his help when completing their victory and then ask for a long-lasting peace (which also proves that a sanctification of war has happened) However, this rite was held in Toledo On the other hand, VSPE tell us that these ceremonies happened in Mérida55 regarding the song of victory related to the suppression of rebellion in Narbonensis In this ritual, the anonymous author tells about how Masona and the Meridan people thanked God for the victory by chanting and singing hymns of victory referring to Moses56, as Tajón’s letter regarding Recceswinth’s triumph over Froia and Julián de Toledo’s magnificent work also did it when Wamba returned from the battle, what gives us a clue of a certain standardization during these ceremonies Returning to the topic of why this ritual was held in Mérida, we can think that it could have taken place in other strong cities in the kingdom, we cannot forget that Mérida was an episcopal city with a broad network of power and customers who were faithful to the bishop leading the metropole However, there was another factor of which we must not lose sight, since VSPE have a strong local character in a moment when Mérida disputed the primate see to Toledo and this narrated event was likely to be embedded in this mechanism of praising and increasing the glory of Emerita Augusta and its bishop: Masona

54

55 56

VSPE, V, XII: Denique prostratis consternatisque uniuersis fidei catholique inimicis, sanctus Masona episcopus cum omni plebe sua psalmodie canticum exorsus misticas laudes Domino cecinit atque ad aulam alme uirginis Eolalie cum omni plebe plaudentes manibus ymnizantesque uenerunt Ac deinde Paschalem sollemnitatem omnes cum eo ciues iucundissime celebrantes more priscorum platearum fragore magno iubilantes in laudem Domini clamauerunt dicentes: Cantemus Domino, gloriose enim honorificatus est; et iterum: Dextera tua, Domine, magnificata est in uitute; dextera manus tue, Domine, confregit inimicos et pre multitudine magestatis tue conteruisti aduerssarios Pérez Sánchez 2002, 245–264 The evocations of Moses are very frequent in liturgical hymns Díaz y Díaz 1986, 450

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8. Conclusion As we have reflected during this contribution, Visigoth bishops stood as the main personalities in certain local levels Among the functions of these figures, we find the ability to deliver justice, to correctly manage society and to govern by relying on their charismatic power, as they were the representatives of Divinity among humans Therefore, we faced a process of secularisation by bishops, who became powerful lords with a broad charismatic power and who could lead groups of the nobility sometimes, as it seemed to be Masona’s case Consequently, the confrontation in Mérida between Leovigild and Masona would not be linked to a religious fight, but it would be included in a confrontation between rival factions of the nobility and in a very strong opposition between nobility and monarchy57 Likewise, it would be explained how the city of Mérida rejected a Catholic bishop like Nepopis since he was sent by king Leovigild Therefore, the sense of the laudatory tone addressed by this literary source to this bishop when strengthening his power position in the Visigoth kingdom and when configuring Masona’s Mérida as God’s city in contrast to Leovigild’s city of Toledo, which was the devil’s city, is also explained On the other hand, we must add the symbolic factor to this historical process of concentration of civilian, even military power by Visigoth bishops since they rose up as charismatic leaders sponsored by Divinity to hold it, so they prevail and are helped by plans of Providence for the Visigoth people due to this aspect Moreover, they give rise to a succession of conceptions, symbols, and rituals of power in this regard that were intended to consolidate their position in the Gothic state organisational chart Likewise, this was partly achieved thanks to literary stereotyping that featured this figure in that literary source when implementing purely Christian virtues such as piety, treatment of the poor, clemency, humility, obedience, etc In other words, the forming of Masona’s portrait responded to a series of literary clichés of these holy men who generated a literary archetype that was meant to strengthen these ecclesiastical figures by determined literary sources such as these VSPE with a strong local character José Á. Castillo Lozano PhD in Ancient History at the University of Murcia joseangel castillo1@um es

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García Moreno 1975, 140

Neoplatonic Themes in Late Antique Poetry Pantomime Dancing as a Case Study1 Anne Sheppard 1. Introduction Much of the discussion of Neoplatonist philosophers as holy men has focused on their role in late antique society There has also been discussion of Neoplatonic texts as literary works, of philosophical commentary as a literary genre and of literary aspects of the extant biographies of Neoplatonic philosophers What has been rather less discussed is the possible interaction between the ideas of Neoplatonic philosophers and late antique poetry That is what I wish to consider in this article I shall begin with some remarks about the difficulties posed by the topic before attempting to discover whether Neoplatonic uses of the image of the pantomime dancer are reflected in two passages of Nonnus’ Dionysiaca We know from John Lydus, De magistratibus III 26 (p 113 14–17 Wuensch) that the poet Christodorus of Coptos wrote a poem about the pupils of Proclus although we do not know precisely what kind of connection there was between Christodorus and Proclus’ philosophical school in Athens 2 Over a century ago Schneider showed that Proclus’ Hymns are close to the poetry of Nonnus and his school, both in their metrical technique and in their vocabulary, although he thought that this indicated the influence of Nonnus on Proclus rather than the reverse More recently Gelzer has noted that three lines of Musaeus’ Hero and Leander suggest that he knew Proclus’ Hymns and Delphine Lauritzen has pointed out that John of Gaza in his Tabula mundi not only quotes or paraphrases Proclus’ Hymns at least six times but also uses some vocabulary found in Proclus’ philosophical works 3 So we have some ‘hard’ evidence of connections between poets writing in Greek in the fifth and sixth centuries CE and Proclus, 1 2 3

I am grateful to all those who commented on this article when it was delivered as a paper at the conference in Madrid in October 2019, especially Filip Doroszewski and Regina Fichera Cf Saffrey and Westerink 1968, xlix See Schneider 1892; Gelzer 1975, 299–300; Lauritzen 2015, lxi–lxiii

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primarily as a writer of hymns but also as a philosopher It is more difficult to make a firm case for the influence of Proclus’ philosophical ideas on the poetry of his time Gelzer argued that Musaeus’ Hero and Leander was a Neoplatonic allegory4 although his view has not been generally accepted In recent years David Hernandez de la Fuente and Daria Gigli Piccardi have both argued that Neoplatonic metaphysics and aesthetics, including Proclus’ theory of inspired poetry, influenced Nonnus, John of Gaza and other poets of the ‘Nonnian school’ 5 It remains challenging to demonstrate such wider influence, not least because many Neoplatonic themes are already present in some form in earlier philosophical and literary tradition A possible way forward is to study some specific topics and motifs found both in later Neoplatonism and in Nonnian poetry in order to determine what kinds of connections exist between philosophy and poetry at this level I propose to consider one such topic, that of pantomime dancing, a cultural phenomenon which became increasingly prominent under the Roman Empire Unlike some of the themes which are common to late antique poetry and Neoplatonic philosophy, pantomime dancing does not go back to Homer, or to Plato, or to commentary on these authors in the Hellenistic period The fullest literary accounts of pantomime, as a solo performance by a dancer acting out a complete story, can be found in Lucian, in the second century CE, and in Libanius, in the fourth century Recent scholarship has sought to rehabilitate pantomime as an art form and has led to interest both in references to pantomime by Neoplatonic philosophers, especially Plotinus, and to the depiction of pantomime by Nonnus 6 In particular, Karin Schlapbach, in The Anatomy of Dance Discourse, has discussed the two passages of Nonnus which I shall be considering I shall set these passages against the background of Neoplatonic views of pantomime, and of Dionysus, and shall examine whether a case can be made for Nonnus having such views in mind when he wrote his poem 2. Neoplatonists on pantomime7 Plotinus’ fullest and best-known use of the image of the pantomime dancer is in Ennead 4 4 (28) 33: Τῆς δὴ φορᾶς τὸ εἰκῆ οὐκ ἐχούσης, ἀλλὰ λόγῳ τῷ κατὰ τὸ ζῷον φερομένης, ἔδει καὶ συμφωνίαν τοῦ ποιοῦντος πρὸς τὸ πάσχον εἶναι καί τινα τάξιν εἰς ἄλληλα καὶ πρός ἄλληλα συντάσσουσαν, ὥστε καθ᾿ ἑκάστην σχέσιν τῆς φορᾶς καὶ τῶν αὖ ὑπὸ τὴν φορὰν ἄλλην καὶ ἄλλην τὴν διάθεσιν εἶναι, οἷον μίαν ὄρχησιν ἐν ποικίλῃ χορείᾳ ποιούντων· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐν ταῖς παρ᾿ ἡμῖν ὀρχήσεσι τὰ 4 5 6 7

See Gelzer 1975, 316–322 See Hernandez de la Fuente 2011; 2014a; 2014b; Gigli 2011; Gigli Piccardi 2014 See Molloy 1996; François-Garelli 2007; Lada-Richards 2007; Hall and Wyles 2008; Webb 2008; Schlapbach 2018, esp Chapter 6 on Nonnus I consider the texts discussed in this section in more detail in Sheppard 2017

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μὲν ἔξω [πρὸς τὴν ὄρχησιν] καθ᾿ ἕκαστον τῶν κινημάτων, ὡς ἑτέρως μεταβαλλόντων τῶν συντελούντων πρὸς τὴν ὄρχησιν, αὐλῶν τε καὶ ᾠδῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν συνηρτημένων, τί ἄν τις λέγοι φανερῶν ὄντων; ἀλλὰ τὰ μέρη τοῦ τὴν ὄρχησιν παρεχομένου καθ᾿ ἕκαστον σχῆμα ἐξ ἀνάγκης οὐκ ἂν ὡσαύτως δύναιτο ἔχειν, τῶν μελῶν τοῦ σώματος ταύτῃ συνεπομένου καὶ καμπτομένου, καταπιεζομένου μὲν ἑτέρου, ἀνιεμένου δὲ ἄλλου, καὶ τοῦ μὲν πονοῦντος, τοῦ δὲ ἀναπνοήν τινα ἐν τῷ διαφόρῳ σχηματισμῷ δεχομένου καὶ ἡ μὲν προαίρεσις τοῦ ὀρχουμένου πρὸς ἄλλο βλέπει, τὰ δὲ πάσχει τῇ ὀρχήσει ἑπομένως καὶ ὑπουργεῖ τῇ ὀρχήσει καὶ συναποτελεῖ τὴν πᾶσαν, ὥστε τὸν ἔμπειρον ὀρχήσεως εἰπεῖν ἄν, ὡς τῷ τοιούτῳ σχηματισμῷ αἴρεται μὲν ὑψοῦ τοδὶ μέλος τοῦ σώματος, συγκάμπτεται δὲ τοδί, τοδὶ δὲ ἀποκρύπτεται, ταπεινὸν δὲ ἄλλο γίνεται, οὐκ ἄλλως τοῦ ὀρχηστοῦ προελομένου τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τῇ τοῦ ὅλου σώματος ὀρχήσει θέσιν ταύτην ἀναγκαίαν ἴσχοντος τοῦδε τοῦ μέρους τοῦ τὴν ὄρχησιν διαπεραίνοντος τοῦτον τοίνυν τὸν τρόπον καὶ τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ φατέον ποιεῖν, ὅσα ποιεῖ, τὰ δὲ καὶ σημαίνειν, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸν μὲν ὅλον κόσμον τὴν ὅλην αὑτοῦ ζωὴν ἐνεργεῖν κινοῦντα ἐν αὑτῷ τὰ μέρη τὰ μεγάλα καὶ μετασχηματίζοντα ἀεί, τὰς δὲ σχέσεις τῶν μερῶν πρὸς ἄλληλα καὶ πρὸς τὸ ὅλον καὶ τὰς διαφόρους αὐτῶν θέσεις ἑπόμενα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ὡς ζῴου ἑνὸς κινουμένου, παρέχεσθαι, ὡδὶ μὲν ἴσχοντα κατὰ τὰς ὡδὶ σχέσεις καὶ θέσεις καὶ σχηματισμούς, ὡδὶ δὲ κατὰ τὰς ὡδί, ὡς μὴ τοὺς σχηματιζομένους τοῦς ποιοῦντας εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τὸν σχηματίζοντα, μηδ᾿ αὖ τὸν σχηματίζοντα ἄλλο ποιοῦντα ἄλλο ποιεῖν – οὐ γὰρ εἰς ἄλλο – ἀλλὰ αὐτὸν πάντα τὰ γινόμενα εἶναι, ἐκεῖ μὲν τὰ σχήματα, ἐνθαδὶ δὲ τὰ συνεπόμενα τοῖς σχήμασιν ἀναγκαῖα παθήματα περὶ τὸ οὑτωσὶ κινούμενον ζῷον εἶναι, καὶ αὖ περὶ τὸ οὑτωσὶ συγκείμενον καὶ συνεστὼς φύσει καὶ πάσχον καὶ δρῶν εἰς αὑτὸ ἀνάγκαις “The heavenly circuit has nothing casual in it, but goes according to the rational principle of its living organism; there must therefore be a harmony of action and experience and an order which arranged things together, adapting them and bringing them into due relation with each other, so that according to every figure of the heavenly circuit there is a different disposition of the things which it governs, as if they were performing a single ballet in a rich variety of dance-movements In our ballets, too, there is no need to mention, since they are obvious, the external elements, the way in which piping and singing and everything else which joins in contributing to the total effect of the performance change variously at every movement But the parts of the dancer’s body, too, cannot possibly keep the same position in every figure: as his body follows the pattern of the dance and bends with it, one of his limbs is pressed hard down, another relaxed, one works hard and painfully, another is given a rest as the figuring changes The dancer’s intention looks elsewhere; his limbs are affected in accordance with the dance and serve the dance, and help to make it perfect and complete; and the connoisseur of ballet can say that to fit a particular figure one limb is raised, another bent together, one is hidden, another degraded; the dancer does not choose to make these movements for no reason, but each part of him as he performs the dance has its necessary position in the dancing of the whole body It is in this way, then, that we must say that the beings in the sky do what they do (but some things they only indicate); or, better, we should say that the whole universe actively lives its own complete

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life, moving its great parts within itself, and continually rearranging them, and, as when a single living thing moves, the relations of the parts to each other and to the whole and their different positions make everything else follow, being disposed in one way according to one set of relationships, positions, and arrangements and another way according to another, so that it is not the arranged parts which do what is done, but the arranger; but the arranger is not a doer distinct from what he does – for he is not acting on something different from himself – but he is himself all the things he does, the arrangements up in the sky and their consequences here below, which are experiences necessarily affecting the living being when it moves in this particular way, the living being, that is, which is composed in this particular way and naturally conjoined, and necessarily both acts upon itself and experiences its own action” (trans Armstrong)

As often, Plotinus here starts from a Platonic text but then moves beyond it In Timaeus 40c3–d3 Plato compares the movement of the heavenly bodies to a choral dance Plotinus transposes this image to a comparison with a solo dancer and moves from a comparison between the activity of the heavenly bodies and dancing to a comparison between the whole cosmos and the activity of the individual dancer For Plotinus the whole cosmos is a living organism in which all the parts ultimately cohere and serve the whole; the pantomime dancer too is a being of this kind, on a microcosmic level The image of the dancer is used in the same way in Ennead 3 2 (47) 16 23–27 and 17 8–11 and again in Ennead 6 7 (38) 7 8–16 8 For Plotinus all living things have a unified activity which is due to their rational principle (λόγος) and the dancer is a prime example of such activity at the level of the human being In a number of other Neoplatonic texts we find an analogy between pantomime dancing and language In the Latin tradition the analogy can be found in Augustine and Boethius while in the Greek tradition it appears both in Proclus and in his pupil Ammonius, son of Hermias, who was head of the Alexandrian Neoplatonic school at the end of the fifth century CE and the beginning of the sixth 9 In his commentary on Aristotle’s De interpretatione Ammonius writes: διόπερ οὐδὲ ἀνάγκη αὐτὸν εἶναι φύσει· τὰ γὰρ ἀποτελέσματα τῶν φυσικῶν δυνάμεων οὐδὲν κωλύει θέσει εἶναι, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ὀρχήσεως ἔχει· φυσικῆς γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν δυνάμεως οὔσης τῆς κατὰ τόπον κινήσεως, ἀποτέλεσμα ταύτης ἡ ὄρχησις οὖσα θέσει ἐστί· καὶ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ ὀρχηστῇ τοίως ἢ τοίως κινοῦντι τὰς χεῖρας σημαίνειν φέρε τὸν Ἀχιλλέα τῷ ἄλλοτε ἄλλα διὰ τῶν σχημάτων ὑποδεικνύναι καὶ παραδηλοῦν τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν συμβεβηκότων καθάπερ οὖν τὸ μὲν κατὰ τόπον κινεῖσθαι φύσει τὸ δὲ ὀρχεῖσθαι θέσει καὶ κατὰ συνθήκην, καὶ τὸ μὲν ξύλον

8 9

Cf also Ennead 6 1 (42) 27 18–26 and 5 9 (5) 11 1–6, discussed in Sheppard 2017, 70–71 In these passages too the dancer is an example of organic unity See Augustine, De doctrina christiana 2 3 4 and 2 25 38, De magistro 3 5 34–6 42, De ordine 2 11 34, Boethius, in Int II 94 19–28, Proclus, in Cra 16 30–17 1, and Ammonius, in Int 63 7–18

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φύσει ἡ δὲ θύρα θέσει, οὕτω καὶ τὸ μὲν φωνεῖν φύσει τὸ δὲ σημαίνειν δι’ ὀνομάτων ἢ ῥημάτων ἢ τῶν ἐκ τούτων συγκειμένων λόγων, ὡς ἐξ ὕλης τῆς ἀρυθμίστου φωνῆς τὸ εἶναι ἐχόντων, εἰδοποιουμένων δὲ υπὸ τῆς ἡμετέρας διανοίας, κατὰ συνθήκην καὶ οὐ φύσει “Therefore there is no necessity for it (i e language) to be natural; for nothing prevents the products of natural faculties from being conventional, as is the case with dancing; for while we have a natural faculty of locomotion, the product of this, dancing, is a matter of convention; for it depends on the dancer moving his hands this way or that to signify, say, Achilles by showing and indicating by means of gestures different things which happened to him at different times Therefore just as locomotion is natural but dancing is conventional and a matter of agreement and wood is natural but a door is conventional, so too making vocal sounds is natural but signifying by means of names or verbs or sentences put together from these, which are take their existence from irregular vocal sound as their matter and are given form by our minds, is a matter of agreement and not natural” (Ammonius, In Aristotelis De interpretatione Commentarius 63 7–18 Busse My translation )

This passage alludes explicitly to a pantomime dancer presenting the story of Achilles and claims that such dancing is conventional in the same way as language is At the end of the passage Ammonius describes φωνή (“vocal sound”) as the matter of language, given form by our minds Elsewhere in his commentary, at 34 17–37 28 (especially 35 13–21) Ammonius argues that Aristotle’s view that language is a matter of convention rather than nature is to be understood not as meaning that anyone can use a word to mean anything he likes but as meaning that things are given names which are appropriate to their natures If Ammonius believes that the mimetic gestures of the pantomime dancer are conventional in this sense, then the mimesis of the dancer whose material movements are given form and meaning by the power of the mind will reflect the nature of the world, in the same way as in Plotinus 3. Dancing and Dionysus So what has this to do with Dionysus? When Neoplatonist philosophers use imagery drawn from dancing, they sometimes have pantomime dancing in mind but at other times are thinking more of choral dancing The connection between choral dancing and Dionysus, the god of both wine and drama in the classical period, is very old: we should remember that, according to Aristotle, both tragedy and comedy originated in choral performance 10 The Neoplatonists associated choral dancing with Dionysiac mystery rites, influenced by some of the language used in the myth in Plato’s Phaedrus 11 10 11

See Aristotle, Poetics 4 1449a9–14 For discussion of Plotinus on choral dancing and the link with the myth in Plato, Phaedrus 246a– 253c, see Sheppard 2020

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However, further investigation of the Neoplatonic view of Dionysus reveals that the pantomime dancer whose movements on a physical level reflect the unified activity of the cosmos also fits very well into a Dionysiac context For Proclus, in his Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus (II 80 19–24, 145 11–146 18 and elsewhere), Dionysus is the leader of the partial demiurges whose role, like that of the lesser gods in Plato, Timaeus 41a–42e, is to create individual mortal beings 12 The story of Dionysus/Zagreus being torn apart by the Titans, after looking in a mirror made by Hephaestus, associates the god with the fragmented, sensible world but, according to the same story, Dionysus’ heart was saved by Athena and became the intellect of the world, i e the demiurge within the world The same view of Dionysus can be found in both Olympiodorus and Damascius 13 The mortal beings created by the partial demiurges live in an apparently chaotic world whose form, order and meaning depend on the intelligible power which shapes it In the same way the movements of the pantomime dancer are given form and meaning by the power of the mind 4. Pantomime dancing in Nonnus The story of Dionysus/Zagreus also appears in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca 6 169–205 14 In 6 179, in the account of the metamorphoses which Dionysus/Zagreus undergoes after being divided by the Titans, he is described as ποικιλόμορφον (“of variegated shapes”) Several scholars writing on Nonnus have highlighted ways in which Nonnus, within his poem, reflects on his own poetic practice and have drawn attention to the importance of ποικιλία or variatio for Nonnus’ poetics 15 The Dionysiaca can give the impression of being a somewhat chaotic poem; yet it is the work of a single poet who attempts to give his creation form, order and meaning The two passages of Nonnus to which I now turn, 1 11–44 and 19 198–348, have both been interpreted as ‘metapoetic’, i e as having something to say about Nonnus’ conception of poetry 16 If we bear in mind the Neoplatonic understanding of pantomime dancing which I have just explained, we can see that it is no accident that both these passages describe such dancing 1 11–44 forms part of the proem to the epic Here Nonnus calls on Proteus, the shape-shifting old man of the sea described by Homer in Odyssey 4 383–424, to join him in the dance of the Muses He describes how Proteus transforms himself first into a whole series of creatures – a snake, a lion, a leopard and a boar – and then into water 12 13 14 15 16

See Opsomer 2017, 146–148 See Olympiodorus, in Phd § 1 5–6 and Damascius, in Phd I §§ 1–12 and §§ 165–72, with the notes on all these passages in Westerink 1976–1977 See also Yates 2004 and Miles 2018 Cf the comments in D Hernandez de la Fuente 2011, 317–318 See Fauth 1981, 35–38; Shorrock 2001, 20–22; Hernandez de la Fuente 2011, 315–318 and 2014a, 244– 245; Gigli Piccardi 2016, 422–428 See esp Shorrock 2001, 20–22 and 156–158

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and finally a tree Proteus is described as πολύτροπον (“of many turns”) in line 14 and as ποικίλον εἶδος ἔχων (“taking a variety of shapes”) in line 15 In that line Nonnus explicitly compares the diverse, ποικίλον nature of his own poetry, his ποικίλον ὕμνον, to the diverse ποικιλία of Proteus, as a number of critics have pointed out 17 Karin Schlapbach has explored how the description of Proteus’ transformations suggests that he is being envisaged as a pantomime dancer who mimics the movements of the different animals, of water and of a tree She has suggested a link with the allegory of Proteus in Proclus’ Commentary on the Republic I 112 22–113 19 Here Proteus is interpreted as an “angelic intellect” (νοῦς ἀγγελικός) which contains all the forms of things that come to be and which appears to change its shape because lower, partial souls are not capable of fully understanding it 18 The details of just where an “angelic intellect” fits into the elaborate structure of late Neoplatonic metaphysics need not concern us here Much more significant is the overall Platonist perspective implied in both Proclus’ allegory and Nonnus’ description: the diversity of the physical world is given form and order by its relation to a higher, intelligible reality We have seen that for a late antique Neoplatonist pantomime dancing offers another example of how the diversity of phenomena is unified by intellect I suggest that for Nonnus, as for the Neoplatonist philosophers of his time, the world in which we live, a realm of apparent chaos which is unified by an intelligible power, associated sometimes with the heart of Dionysus, sometimes with Proteus and sometimes with other mythical figures or philosophical entities, can be compared to both poetry and pantomime dancing as arts in which diverse phenomena are unified by the shaping skill of the poet or the dancer The analogy reappears in the second passage of Nonnus to be considered in this article, the lengthy account of the dancing competition at the funeral games for Staphylus in Dionysiaca 19 198–348 Three dances are described, one by Maron and two by Silenus Maron’s dance and Silenus’ first dance are both pantomimes while Silenus’ second dance is, to use Schlapbach’s words, “an acrobatic showpiece”19 at the end of which Silenus suddenly changes into a river The dances are followed by a speech from Maron, the survivor and so winner of the competition, in which he compares Silenus to Marsyas who, notoriously, competed unsuccessfully against the god Apollo 20

17 18

19 20

See n  15 above See Schlapbach 2018, 258–261 On Proclus’ allegory of Proteus, cf Sheppard 1980, 79–80 and Lamberton 1986, 226–227 As is pointed out in Baltzly, Finamore and Miles 2018, 225, n  183, Proteus is already described as ποικίλος in Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana I 4 Although this language is not found in Plato’s references to Proteus in Euthphr 15d, Euthd 288b, Ion 541e and R 2 381d, those references are not inconsistent with the Neoplatonic interpretation of Proteus: cf Clark 2016, 110, n  22 Schlapbach 2018, 265 Cf the allusion to the story of Marsyas and Apollo in 1 41–4 and the discussion of this whole episode in Fauth 1981, 39–44

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Several words and phrases in the description of Maron’s dance point up both its variegated nature, its ποικιλία, and its mimetic character: the adjective ποικιλόμυθον (“telling a varied story”) is used in line 200, the verb ποικίλλε (“he told in a varied way”) in line 210, and the adjective πολύτροπον (“of many turns”) in line 219 while the phrase εἰκόνα μύθων (“an image of the story”) is used in line 201 It is also worth noting that the rhythm of Maron’s dance is described as νοήμων (“intelligent”) in line 202 and that the movements of his feet are called σοφὴν … ὁρμήν (“clever … motion”) in line 220 When he comes to describe Silenus’ first dance, in lines 225–262, Nonnus does not attempt to describe the dancer’s movements in detail but instead tells the story which the dance presents Nevertheless the lines which introduce the description of this dance, lines 225–226, again use significant language to make it clear that the gestures of this dance are more than just expressive movements: Σιληνὸς δ’ ἐχόρευε· πολυστρέπτοιο δὲ τέχνης σύμβολα φωνήεντα κατέγραφε σιγαλέη χείρ 21 “Now Silenos danced: his hand without speech traced the speaking signs of his intricate art (i e the art of pantomime)” (trans Rouse, modified)

The phrase σύμβολα φωνήεντα (“speaking signs”) in line 225 is particularly telling For Silenus’ second dance, Nonnus returns to a detailed description of the dancer’s movements Here are the opening lines of this description, lines 263–269: τοῦτο σοφῇ παλάμῃ κερόεις Σιληνὸς ὑφαίνων δεξιτερὴν μὲν ἔπαυσε, πολυσκάρθμῳ δὲ πεδίλῳ ἐκ χθονὸς ᾐώρητο καὶ ἠέρι πέμπεν ὀπωπάς, πῇ μὲν ἐπ’ ἀλλήλοισιν ὁμόζυγα ταρσὰ συνάπτων, πῇ δὲ διαζεύξας ἑτεραλκέι πάλλετο τέχνῃ, ἄλλοτε πουλυέλικτος ὑπὲρ δαπέδοιο χορεύων ὀρθὸς ἐπὶ πτέρναις ἑλικώδεϊ σείετο παλμῷ· “So horned Silenos wove his web with clever skill, and his right hand ceased to move Then fixing his gaze on the sky, he leapt into the air with bounding shoe Now he clapt both feet together, then parted them, and went hopping from foot to foot; now over the floor he twirled dancing round and round upright upon his heels and spun in a circling sweep” (trans Rouse, modified)

At the beginning of this passage, in line 263, Nonnus explicitly refers to the σοφὴ παλάμη (“clever skill”) of the first dance Unlike that one, Silenus’ second dance tells no story and has no meaning beyond itself

21

The text here follows Keydell 1959 and I have modified Rouse’s translation accordingly; cf Gerbeau and Vian 1992, 122, n  2

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Robert Shorrock has argued that the contrast between the dances of Maron and Silenus is a contrast between two types of poetic composition, the one skilful and controlled, the other collapsing into meaningless chaos just as Silenus himself collapses and becomes a river 22 This interpretation blurs the distinction between Silenus’ two dances: Silenus seems to begin as the same kind of dancer – or poet – as Maron and only with his second dance does he become a rather different kind of performer However Shorrock may be broadly right that there is a metapoetic aspect to the description of the dances in Book 19 What I should like to emphasise is the difference between Maron’s dance and Silenus’ first dance, on the one hand, both pantomimes, both dances with meaning beyond the mere gestures, and, on the other, Silenus’ second dance which is the dance that collapses into meaningless chaos If we bear in mind the Neoplatonic understanding of pantomime dancing, then we can see that the dances with meaning are skilful and controlled precisely because they present an overall ordering of movements to tell a story, in a way that ultimately comes from beyond the physical world; the meaningless acrobatic dance tells no story, has no reference to anything beyond itself, and ends in shapeless fluidity 5. Conclusion So should we speak of Neoplatonist influence on Nonnus’ presentation of pantomime dancing in the two passages of the Dionysiaca which I have discussed? That may not be the right way to put it We can certainly say that these passages suggest a broadly Platonist outlook, and I think that detailed study of further topics, such as the analogy between cosmology and writing, along with the notion of the natural world as a book, or the theme of circular movement in connection both with metaphysics and with choral dancing, would strengthen the case for saying that Nonnus is a Platonist, or Neoplatonist, poet Was he reading Proclus’ philosophical works as well as his Hymns, listening to Ammonius or talking to Christodorus of Coptos? There is no way of answering these questions with any certainty and I doubt whether it is possible to make a case for Nonnus being influenced by any one particular Neoplatonic ‘holy man’ However study of the kind I have tried to undertake in this paper does indicate that some of the broad ideas of late antique Neoplatonism became widely accepted in the intellectual circles of the time and are reflected in Nonnus’ poetry Anne Sheppard Professor Emerita of Ancient Philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London A Sheppard@rhul ac uk

22

Shorrock 2001, 156–158 For a more positive interpretation of Silenus’ second dance, see the full discussion in Schlapbach 2018, 267–281

Divinity and Humanity Some Remarks on Nonnus’ Christology in the Paraphrase Arianna Magnolo 1. Introduction The Paraphrase of Saint John’s Gospel, the Christian poem by Nonnus of Panopolis, is characterised by a syncretistic interweaving of Christian and pagan motifs, as well as his epic-mythological work, the Dionysiaca1 So, it is not surprising that in the Paraphrase the character of Christ is not univocally represented Indeed, some words and expressions referring to him underline his divinity, while others hint at his humanity, in accordance, we could say, with a typically Nonnian duality In this paper I will present some examples of divine and human vocabulary in the representation of Jesus and I will reflect on their meaning Undoubtedly, this theme leads to that of Nonnus’ Christology, which has not been defined in clear terms so far Fabian Sieber has addressed the issue in a paper published in the Brill’s Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis2 The scholar has highlighted some elements which seem particularly important to me, first of all the need to understand the Christology of the Paraphrase as an example of religious pluralism: “several concepts are used simultaneously and equitably to explain the mystery of Christ”3 Just to give an instance, in the first book of the poem the human and divine nature of the incarnate Logos is particularly emphasised: the definition θεὸς ἀνήρ at v 39 proves to be emblematic in this regard Therefore, (a) I will try to understand which one of these two aspects of Christ (divinity and humanity) Nonnus tends to emphasise more, then (b) I will suggest a possible reason for the presence of passages which are apparently in contrast with this tendency, making reference to the cultural context of Late Antiquity

1 2 3

Similarities between the two poems have been studied, among others, by Shorrock 2011 Cf Sieber 2016, 308–326 Sieber 2016, 312

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2. Divinity of Christ In the first verses of the poem (1–5)4 Nonnus amplifies the concept of Logos (expressed in only one line by John5) with different words, as, for example, ἄχρονος, ἀκίχητος, ὑψιγένεθλος ἄχρονος means “timeless”, that is to say “who is not subject to time”, which is generated by God and proceeds from God Maybe the attribution of the epithet to Christ is linked to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (τὸν ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς γεννηθέντα πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων) and affected by Philon’s vision, according to which God is the father of time6 Similarly, ὑψιγένεθλος, “born on high”, seems to send back to the γεννηθέντα οὐ ποιηθέντα of the Nicene Creed7 Nevertheless, as Sieber has noted8, we have not to interpret the Nonnian verses as dogmatic statements What is important here is only that all these epithets are intended to underline the divinity of Christ Moreover, if we compare the definition of the Logos as θεὸς ἀνήρ at v 39 with the corresponding passage of the Gospel, we notice that in the latter the word θεός is not present9 We can thus say that in the Paraphrase it reveals the intention to indicate the divine nature of the Logos10 Indeed, here the reference is not to the Logos that becomes flesh, but to the Logos that becomes man still remaining God: it is God who lives with men (v 42 καὶ θεὸς οἶκον ἔναιε σὺν ἀνδράσι) But there are many other passages where Nonnus employs the word θεός referring to Christ without the Gospel doing it11 I will focus on this term because it unequivocally indicates Christ’s divine nature Sieber reports some of the passages where Christ is identified as θεός12, which I summarise below – In 1, 157 it is once more accompanied by ἀνήρ and seems to explain the nature of the Μεσσίας of John 1: 4113, that is, again, divine: the Messiah, the first Christologi-

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

ἄχρονος ἦν, ἀκίχητος, ἐν ἀρρήτῳ λόγος ἀρχῇ, / ἰσοφυὴς γενετῆρος ὁμήλικος υἱὸς ἀμήτωρ, / καὶ λόγος αὐτοφύτοιο θεοῦ γόνος, ἐκ φάεος φῶς / πατρὸς ἔην ἀμέριστος, ἀτέρμονι σύνθρονος ἕδρῃ· / καὶ θεὸς ὑψιγένεθλος ἔην λόγος κτλ Cf John 1: 1: ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος The text of John’s Gospel is from Nestle-Aland 201228 Cf De Stefani 2002, 104 Cf De Stefani 2002, 110, where it is rightly clarified that in these adjectives there are no references to Arianism at all Cf Sieber 2016, 311–312 Cf John 1: 14: καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἐθεασάμεθα τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας So, I do not think that the expression is only a stylistic device, a “coppia ossimorica”, as De Stefani 2002, 137 argues In general, the Gospel uses this word with reference to Christ only in three cases: John 1: 1 and 18 and 20: 28 Cf Sieber 2016, 318–319 εὑρήκαμεν τὸν Μεσσίαν, ὅ ἐστιν μεθερμηνευόμενον χριστός

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– – – – –

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cal category which can be found in John’s Gospel14, is God, the second category – so the two categories come to coincide In 1, 148–151 it refers to Christ in his relationship with Andrew: more specifically, Andrew is said to be one of those accepted by Christ – and the Messiah is again defined as God (v 151) In 3, 112 it represents Jesus going to Judea and remaining there in order to baptize In 4, 82 it represents Jesus with the Samaritan woman In 20, 72 it represents Christ resurrected preventing Mary Magdalene from touching him In 21, 107 and 116 it is referred to Christ inviting Peter to herd his sheep (v 107) and to follow him (v 116)

I would like to add some more passages I consider relevant for my purposes Firstly, in 3, 150 John the Baptist defines Christ as θεός when distinguishing him from himself: ἀγχινεφῆ μέν κεῖνον ἀεὶ χρέος ἐστὶν ἔχειν παλιναυξέα τιμήν ὡς θεὸν ἀθανάτην, ἐμὲ δὲ βροτόν ἐστιν ἀνάγκη ἥσσονα μέτρα φέρειν, ὅτι μείονός εἰμι γενέθλης “For him it is to have unending eminence as God immortal in the clouds15: for mortal me, I must diminish by degrees, for I am less16”

150

150

This definition is part of the Nonnian amplificatio of the corresponding Johannine line17 As some scholars have noted18, Nonnus transforms John’s line in a Christological assertion: Christ has to grow because he is God, while the Baptist has to stay at a lower level, because he is a man So, here the poet takes advantage of the contrast with the Baptist, who is mortal, to exalt Christ’s divine – and immortal – nature Secondly, in 4, 190 the word θεός occurs in a sentence that basically repeats the concept expressed at v 188, where we can find the epithet ἄναξ, which is not present in the

14 15 16 17 18

Cf Denaux 2014, 534, who detects two categories of Christological titles in John: the horizontal category of Jesus’ Μessianity (e g Χριστός, Μεσσίας, βασιλεύς) and the vertical category of Jesus’ divinity (e g θεός, υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ) The epithet ἀγχινεφῆ can be attributed also to τιμήν: cf Agnosini 2020, 154, who highlights that this rendition is in line with Cyril’s interpretation The translation of the Paraphrase passages is Prost’s Cf John 3: 30: ἐκεῖνον δεῖ αὐξάνειν, ἐμὲ δὲ ἐλαττοῦσθαι Cf Cutino 2009, 242, followed by Agnosini 2020, 154

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Gospel, but is adopted in the Paraphrase as an equivalent19 of the most common Johannine κύριος and Χριστός20: Χριστὸν ἐγουνάζοντο φιλοστήργῳ21 τινὶ μύθῳ αὖθι μένειν· καὶ πᾶσιν ἄναξ παρὰ γείτονι πηγῇ22 καὶ ταχὺς εἰς πόλιν ἦλθεν ὁμόστολον οἶμον ὁδεύων καὶ θεὸς αὐτόθι μίμνεν κτλ

190

“They begged Christ with affectionate and humble pleas to visit there a while, and so he left the well and joined the company and quickly came to town, and God stayed with them”

190

The idea is that Christ remains with the Samaritans (v 190), as they request (vv 187– 188) This is an interesting case insofar as Nonnus seems to enhance a simple concept23, by repeating it in a very similar way24, taking advantage to underline that Christ is θεός Observe also that both Χριστόν and θεός are placed in emphatic position, with the conjunction “and” somehow connecting them and, at the same time, giving a particular relevance to the latter Christ, whom the Samaritans beg, turns to be God when accomplishing their request, because they have finally recognized him as such I have to point out that very likely after v 188 there is a gap25, where we were supposed to have a verb (on which the dative πᾶσιν would depend) indicating that Jesus accedes to the Samaritans’ request (and so he “quickly came to town”, v 189) In this way, the passage would make sense Thirdly, in the fifth book Christ defines himself as θεός twice, in his speech to the Judeans after his healing of the paralytic (vv 153–164): οὐ θεὸν υἷα δέχεσθε καὶ οὐ πέμψαντα τοκῆα· γραπτὰ θεορρήτων μαστεύετε θέσφατα βίβλων, ᾗσιν ἔχειν ἔλπεσθε χρόνου παλιναυξέι κύκλῳ ζωὴν οὐ μινύθουσαν· ἐνὶ γραφίδεσσι δὲ κεῖναι μαρτυρίην βοόωσιν ἐμὴν ὑποφήτορι μύθῳ ἀθανάτῳ σάλπιγγι· καὶ οὐ σπέρχεσθε μαθόντες γράμματα φωνήεντα θελήμονες εἰς ἐμὲ βαίνειν· 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

155

Cf Sieber 2016, 317 Cf Belle 2005, 457–458 On this title see infra As Caprara 2005, 283 observes, φιλοστήργῳ is probably Scheindler’s typographic oversight (the correct form is φιλοστόργῳ) The text is from Scheindler 1881, who, however, prints παῦσεν ( Juvenis’ proposal) instead of πᾶσιν As noted also by Caprara 2005, 285, who, however, does not say anything about the addition of θεός at v 190 αὖθι μένειν cf αὐτόθι μίμνεν Both iuncturae are substantially Homeric: cf Caprara 2005, 283 and 285 I thus agree with Caprara, who decides to leave πᾶσιν at v 188: cf Caprara 2005, 283–284

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τιμὴν ἐκ μερόπων οὐ δέχνυμαι· ἀλλά που ἔγνων ὑμέας ἀστόργοισιν ἐν ἤθεσιν, οὐδὲ τοκῆος φίλτρον ἐπουρανίοιο φυλάσσετε παμβασιλῆος· ἦλθον ἐγὼ βοόων πατρώιον οὔνομα κόσμῳ, καὶ θεὸν οὔ με δέχεσθε καὶ οὐ πείθεσθε τοκῆι

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“God’s Son you did not hail, though sent you by the Father Ye seek for written rules from God-dictated books; from them you hope to have, in future time to come, eternal life But see, those very books you prize, they shout my prophecy in voice oracular like deathless trumpets But, relying on your books, you do not will yourselves to hasten unto me Acclaim from men I do not seek For I perceive you lack all natural affection, and you feel no love for Him, the Father and the king of all I came announcing to the world my lineage; you did not hail me God, you do not trust the Father”

As it can be seen, the word θεός occurs at vv 153 and 164 This repetition26 seems to stress that the Judeans are particularly guilty because it is even God27 that they refuse to accept Observe especially v 153, where the word accompanies υἷα in order to underline the divine nature of the Son in a topical moment, i e that of the miracle: at this point, this contributes to emphasise the blame of the Judeans, who know the Scripture (vv 154–156), but do not recognize the reference to God’s Son (vv 156–158)28, that is God, and therefore do not believe in God himself (v 164) These last two cases seem especially meaningful to me because they testify the will to highlight Christ’s divinity in two opposite contexts, i e an episode of conversion (involving the Samaritans) and one of reluctance (involving the Judeans) The contrast is marked by the employment of the adjective φιλόστοργος in 4, 187 (referred to the Samaritans’ word) and ἄστοργος29 in 5, 161 (referred to the Judeans’ habits): they both express, even if in opposite directions, the idea of love, which is strictly connected with that of faith, insofar as “amare o non-amare equivale a credere o non-credere”30 (to love

26 27 28 29 30

Agosti 2003, 520 and 529 only reports this repetition Prost translates “God’s Son”, but I would prefer the following translation: “you did not hail the Son as God” It is a declination of the theme of Judeans’ blindness, which is fundamental in the Paraphrase (in the wake of Cyril’s commentary), especially in book 4: cf Caprara 1999, 214 The adjective can be also found in 13, 82, in which it is attributed to Judas, and nowhere else in the Paraphrase For a brief history of this word see Agosti 2003, 528 Fabris 1992, 354

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or not is equivalent to believe or not) So, the merit in the first case and the guilt in the second are equally considerable Fourthly, in 11, 188, Nonnus adds the definition of Christ as God31 after Lazarus’ resurrection, when some Judeans are said to go to the Pharisees in order to report the miracle: καί τινες αὐτῶν εἰς πόλιν ἴχνος ἔκαμψαν ἐς ἀντιθέους ἱερῆας πληθύι κηρύσσοντες ἀπιστοτάτων Φαρισαίων ἔργα θεοῦ Χριστοῖο

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“But some of them, their feet took them to town, to the ungodly priests and to the throng of the most faithless Pharisees, and they described the deeds of Christ32

185

Here Christ’s divine nature is underlined again, as in 5, 153, in the topical moment of the miracle Finally, in 20, 131 we read Thomas’ confession The disciple believes only after having touched Christ’s body and in John pronounces the famous words ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου (20, 28), “my lord and my God!” In the Paraphrase these words turn into κοίρανος ἡμέτερος καὶ ἐμὸς θεός, that is to say “our lord and my God” It is necessary to begin with the Johannine line, which has been interpreted in different ways33 Dodd34 believes that ὁ κύριός μου is the historical Jesus and ὁ θεός μου the incarnate Logos, that are unified here Instead, Zumstein thinks that the καί is epexegetical The scholar has underlined that the term κύριος is to be understood in the context of the so-called messenger’s Christology, which derives from ancient Middle East thinking In this perspective, the messenger, i e the Son, perfectly represents his sovereign, i e the Father, despite being different from him Therefore, in Thomas’ confession the divine Logos has manifested himself in Christ, so that knowledge of Christ is knowledge of God35 Sieber thinks that Nonnus’ rendition should be read as follows: calling God the Father “lord” is a common opinion, while believing in Christ as God is something personal36

31 32 33 34 35 36

Cf also 12, 164 ὅττι θεοῦ Χριστοῖο προώριον ἔδρακε τιμήν, where, however, it is the reference to Christ, which is not present in John, that is added to θεοῦ by Nonnus Prost does not translate θεοῦ, which is instead an important Christological element Cf Belle 2005, 454–455 For an ecclesial interpretation of Thomas’ confession see Piazzolla 2018, 120–124 and 127 Cf Dodd 1963, 430 Cf Zumstein 2017, 56–59 and 950 Cf Sieber 2016, 317

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Thus, in the Nonnian passage the confession would be objective with regard to God the Father, but subjective with regard to Christ’s divinity First of all, I do not think that κοίρανος ἡμέτερος hints at God the Father, since Christ, as we will see, is commonly called κοίρανος in the Paraphrase Furthermore, in Sieber’s reading, Thomas’ words would introduce a clear division, which is problematic Indeed, why should Christ’s divinity be confined to a personal confession, after it has been highlighted many times during the poem? It is true that this could be explained with the fact that Nonnus wants to leave the reader free to choose whether to believe37 However, we have to consider that another, more convincing interpretation of the Nonnian verse is possible As Agnosini has noted38, the first person singular and plural possessives are frequently interchangeable in Nonnus, so this could simply be a case of variatio Hence, the two dimensions of Christ, historical/human and divine, come to coincide In this perspective, we could say that Thomas’ confession is a sort of duplication of Nathanael’s confession in 1, 200–204, where Christ’s dual nature, notably amplified if compared with the Vorlage, is explicitly affirmed, albeit only after a minor miracle: ῥαββίν, ἐπουρανίων ἀδύτων ὑψίθρονε ποιμήν, Ἰσραὴλ σὺ πέλεις βασιλεύς, σὺ Χριστὸς ὑπάρχεις, υἱὸς ἀειζώοιο θεοῦ λόγος· ἀμφότερον δέ, Ἰσραὴλ τεκέων σε θεὸν βασιλῆα καλέσσω καί σε θεοῦ ζώοντος ἐτήτυμον υἱὸν ἐνίψω

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“O Rabbi, highest throned in heav’n’s most secret chamber, you are the shepherd king of Israel, Christ at hand, Son of the ever living God, the Word And both as God-King of the sons of Israel I hail you, and true Son of the living God I will proclaim you!”

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The words βασιλεύς, Χριστός and βασιλῆα hint at the first dimension, while υἱὸς … θεοῦ, θεόν and θεοῦ ζώοντος ἐτήτυμον υἱόν at the second one Maybe Nonnus’ elimination of the Johannine distinction between the Father and the Son could be linked to the decisions of the great anti-Arian councils Before closing this point, a final remark concerning the adjective θεῖος As already noted by Sieber39, Nonnus does not consider it adequate to describe the reality of Christ In fact, in the Paraphrase θεῖος is never attributed to Jesus, but rather to John the Baptist (in the majority of cases), to Moses, to Jacob and to the Messiah predicted by the Old

37 38 39

Cf Sieber 2016, 326 Cf Agnosini 2020, 395–396 and Accorinti’s translation: “o mio Signore e mio Dio!” Cf Sieber 2016, 321

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Testament40 In short, θεῖος designates above all a man acting as an intermediary41 and not Christ I think that this further underlines the need to emphasise the divinity of Christ, who is not θεῖος but fully θεός 3. Humanity of Christ I would like to start this paragraph with the first part of Thomas’ confession (20, 131), where Christ is called κοίρανος, “lord” This title, which is the poetic form of the Johannine κύριος42 and in Nonnus hints at the historical/human dimension of Jesus, can be coherently traced mainly in the speeches of characters who turn to Christ but do not really recognize him or are somehow confused about him The same is true for ἄναξ and βασιλεύς, which have a similar meaning43 Here are some examples: – the Samaritan woman in 4, 71, where the title is κοίρανος44; – Pilate in 18, 159, where the title is βασιλεύς45; – the Judeans in 7, 58, where the title is ἄναξ46 The passages deal with characters who, at that specific point, do not recognize Jesus as God Observe especially the first passage, where the title κοίρανος substitutes the Johannine κύριος as in Thomas’ confession and is pronounced by the Samaritan woman This is significant insofar as the woman is described to be ignorant (vv 79 and 122 ἀγνώσσουσα) since she is not able to recognize Christ, although he is next to her Even when she thinks she knows everything, in reality she does not: she only reports what she heard without connecting it to what she sees – and again calls him κοίρανος, at vv  88 and 125 Similarly, in the second passage Pilate, who asks Jesus if he is a βασιλεύς in 18, 159, does not believe in his divinity Christ is like ἀγνώσσων when hearing his question, i e

40

41 42 43

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To John the Baptist in 1, 129 and 3, 125, to Moses in 5, 179, to Jacob in 4, 17, to the Messiah of the Old Testament in 4, 126 In this last case, as already noted by Sieber 2016, 320–321, we understand that the term in a Christological context is inappropriate because it is pronounced by the Samaritan woman, who does not really know who Christ is (on this cf also the following paragraph) For a parallel with the θεῖοι ἄνδρες of the Late Antique pagan world, see Caprara 2005, 236 Cf Accorinti 1996, 210, De Stefani 2002, 227 and Agosti 2003, 333 ἄναξ is an equivalent of the Johannine κύριος (cf De Stefani 2002, 24 and Sieber 2016, 317) just as κοίρανος and also as βασιλεύς, which belongs to the category of Jesus’ Messianity (cf Denaux 2014, 534): the Messiah is human, though being endowed with special powers Furthermore, see Franchi 2013, 355, who makes explicit reference to the category of Messianity: “il nesso Χριστὸς ἄναξ inquadra Gesù come Messia” δός μοι, κοίρανε, τοῦτο πιεῖν βιοτήσιον ὕδωρ Cf 18, 159–160: αὐτὸς Ἰουδαίων βασιλεὺς πέλες; εἰρομένῳ δέ / εἴκελος ἀγνώσσοντι θεηγόρος εἶπεν Ἰησοῦς θεσπεσίοις στομάτεσσιν ἄναξ ἠρεύγετο φωνήν

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he pretends not to understand, but the real ignorant is Pilate, who can contemplate only an earthly kingship for Jesus47, as we can comprehend from vv 168–17348, where Nonnus amplifies the Johannine section in which Jesus clarifies that his sovereignty is not from this Earth (six verses for about three lines49) In addition, βασιλεύς can be mainly found in contexts alluding or explicitly referring to Christ’s Passion50, a canonically ‘human’ section (see also further) But also, in book 7, Christ is mentioned as ἄναξ many times51, when speaking to the reluctant Judeans Even those of them who seem to be persuaded by his speech do not recognize his real nature52 So, we can include in this framework also the passages where the above titles are pronounced not directly by unwilling characters, but by the narrator introducing their words53 In a similar manner, the title ἄναξ put in John the Baptist’s mouth in 3, 14254 could simply reflect the point of view of the crowd, that is confused and needs thus to be instructed by him about Christ55 Therefore, all these passages, containing titles which do not hint at Christ’s divinity, are not in contrast with Nonnus’ intention to highlight his divine nature, because they reflect the point of view of somehow ἀγνώσσοντες characters Anyway, we cannot forget that the titles κοίρανος, ἄναξ and βασιλεύς indicate a superiority, although only at a “human” level Of course, this is to be connected, as already pointed out56, with Nonnus’ constant intention to mark the distance between Christ’s knowledge, which is absolute, and the earthly knowledge, which is limited57

47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56

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Cf also Livrea 1989, 189 οὐ χθονίη τελέθει τις ἐμὴ βασιλήιος ἀρχή· / οὐ πέλον ἐκ κόσμου μινυώριος ἡμετέρη γάρ / εἰ πέλε κοιρανίη γαιήιος, εἰ πέλε κόσμου, / καί κεν ἐμοὶ δρηστῆρες ἐνόπλιον εἶχον ἀγῶνα, / ὄφρα μὴ Ἑβραίοις μεταχείριος ἔκδοτος εἴην· / νῦν δέ μοι οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν ἔην βασιλήιος ἀρχή Cf John 18: 36 See, e g , 6, 60; 18, 180; 19, 104 and 111 See, e g , in addition to v 58, also vv 69, 102, 117 (pronounced by the Pharisees), 124 μὴ γὰρ Χριστὸς ἄναξ λαοσσόος, εἴποθεν ἔλθῃ, / ἔργων, ὧν κάμεν οὗτος, ὑπέρτερα θαύματα ῥέξει / λυσιπόνοις στομάτεσσι; Another example is 4, 1, where Jesus is defined as κοίρανος when he is said to leave Judea in order to escape from the hostile Pharisees Cf 3, 142–143: Χριστὸς ἄναξ οὐκ εἰμὶ βιοσσόος, ἀλλά με κείνου  / ὑψιμέδων προέηκε θεὸς πομπῆα κελεύθου All the more so as in John (3: 28) we have only Χριστός, to which Nonnus adds ἄναξ probably in order to underline the human – and more common – aspect linked to the crowd’s perspective Cf De Stefani 2002, 26, who observes that this aspect distinguishes the Paraphrase from John’s Gospel, which wants to highlight, rather, the familiarity between Jesus and his Apostles and, coherently, does not make extensive use of the title κύριος The scholar rightly underlines that, however, Nonnus, by doing so, remains in line with the Christology of the Gospel, which represents “l’isolamento del Figlio dell’Uomo dinanzi al mondo che non ne intende le parole” Indeed, in some passages these titles are associated with the Apostles (see, e g , 13, 121 κοίρανος; 13, 30 ἄναξ, pronounced by Simon) or to other positive characters (see, e g , 11, 71 and 89 κοίρανος – Martha; 20, 59 βασιλεύς – Mary Magdalene)

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Now I will concentrate on some words which can be connected with a concept strictly linked to Christ’s humanity, i e his suffering An important feature suggesting this idea is the act of crying This act can be traced only twice in the same passage, in book 11, in the verb ἔστενεν (v 123) and in the substantive δάκρυα (v 124)58 It is the famous passage commonly associated with that of the Dionysiaca describing Dionysus in a very similar way (12, 171)59: 11, 123–124: καὶ ἔστενεν αὐτὸς Ἰησοῦς ὄμμασιν ἀκλαύτοισιν ἀήθεα δάκρυα λείβων “And Jesus then, himself, bewailed, and in his tearless eyes welled unaccustomed tears” D 12, 171: Βάκχος ἄναξ δάκρυσε, βροτῶν ἵνα δάκρυα λύσῃ “Lord Bacchus cried, in order to release men from tears” 60

The two words are meant to express Christ’s pain for his friend Lazarus, who will be resurrected Instead, in the Dionysiaca the verb δάκρυσε expresses Dionysus’ pain for his beloved Ampelus, who will be turned into the vine, which, through the wine, will release men from pain What is interesting in the Paraphrase is that ἔστενεν and δάκρυα are ‘separated’ by an expression making reference to Christ’s divinity, placed in emphatic position, as to prevent the reader from forgetting it: ὄμμασιν ἀκλαύτοισιν at v  124 Moreover, the definition of Jesus’ tears as ἀήθεα, “unaccustomed”, at the same verse, and the adding of αὐτός at v 123 seem to have the same purpose In particular, αὐτός underlines the unity of the human and divine aspects in weeping Christ and ἀήθεα Christ’s alienation in the world61 This is a sign that Nonnus follows Cyril, who wants to explain this uncomfortable human feature of Christ62 The iunctura ὄμμασιν ἀκλαύτοισιν does not occur in the above passage of the Dionysiaca, but elsewhere in the poem, mainly with reference to gods, also to Dionysus63 As Agosti has noted64, the fact that Dionysus cries more easily than Jesus could be intended to draw attention to an important difference between the two characters – as to mean that Jesus is the only real God So, this could be another way to further stress Christ’s divine nature 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

Almost two verses render the Johannine ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς (11: 35) Cf Gigli Piccardi 2003, 835 Translation is mine Cf Spanoudakis 2014, 249–250 and 251 respectively Cf (also for the precise references) Gigli Piccardi 2003, 835, Agosti 2004, 299–301 and Spanoudakis 2014, 250–251, followed by Agnosini 2020, 258–259 For the references see Agosti 2004, 301 Cf Agosti 2004, 301

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Then, as far as I know, there is only one reference to Christ’s pain in 19, 11, in the nexus ἐν ἄλγεσιν After his condemnation, the Roman soldiers put on Christ a sort of robe65: καί μιν ἀνεχλαίνωσαν ἐπὶ χροῒ πέπλα βαλόντες Σιδονίης στίλβοντα σοφῷ σπινθῆρι θαλάσσης, σύμβολα κοιρανίης καὶ ἐν ἄλγεσιν κτλ

10

“And cast upon his flesh a curtain for a robe, dyed brilliant purple from the catch of Sidon’s sea, the very sign of kingship in the midst of pain”

10

The incipit of v 11, which qualifies the robe as “the very sign of kingship in the midst of pain”, is a Nonnian exegetical addition It is important insofar as it aims to highlight Jesus’ regality even in the section on his Passion Actually, it seems to reaffirm his suffering precisely in order to remember his regality The soldiers’ perspective is thus completely inverted66 So, in the two passages concerning Christ’s suffering Nonnus operates in a similar way, even if in the first he wants to underline his divinity and in the second his superiority at a human level Finally, there is one more aspect linked to the issue of Christ’s humanity I would like to take into account Scholars have not really explained it so far67, but I think that this is possible, as we will see, if we look at the cultural context of Nonnus’ age At times in the Paraphrase Jesus clearly distinguishes the Son from the Father This seems in contrast with the Nonnian tendency, which has been highlighted, to put a special emphasis on Christ’s divinity and on his equality with God In my view, the most striking example68 is 5, 71–78, where Jesus establishes the inferiority of the Son compared to the Father More specifically, at v 75 the Son is said to be able only to imitate the Father: οὐδὲν ἑῇ ἰότητι δυνήσεται υἱὸς ἀνύσσαι, εἰ μὴ ἐσαθρήσειεν ἑὸν τελέοντα τοκῆα· ἔργα γὰρ εἰν ἑνὶ πάντα πατὴρ ἐμὸς ὁππόσα ῥέξει, ταῦτα θεὸν γενέτην μιμούμενος υἱὸς ἀνύσσει

65 66 67 68

75

On the symbolic meanings of this robe see Hadjittofi 2018, 165–183 Cf Agnosini 2020, 350–351 Cf Sieber 2016, 316, who does not go beyond the religious pluralism which characterises the Paraphrase in the wake of John’s Gospel I think that Ev 10, 84–107, proposed by Sieber 2016, 315–316, is not a valid example of this, as the passage ends with the affirmation of the unity between Father and Son (see vv 106–107: αὐτὸς ἐγὼ μεδέων τε πατὴρ ἐμὸς ἓν γένος ἐσμέν, / ἔμφυτον, αὐτόπρεμνον, ὅθεν φυτὰ μυρία κόσμου), so we can assume that it is the Father-Son complex, not only the Father, that is ὑπέρτερος … πάντων (v 105)

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“By his own will the Son is able to do naught, unless he look to do the things his Father wills; and all whatever things the Father does, at once His Son does, imitating God the genitor”

75

The idea of imitation, which is conveyed by the participle μιμούμενος and is not present in the corresponding lines of John69, is central in Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy In addition, words conveying this concept are very frequent in Nonnus, especially in the Dionysiaca70, where they are connected to one of the underpinning themes of the poem, i e the relationship between reality and copy71, which is developed in many ways72 In the Paraphrase they are used less and can be found often in connection with the imitation of Christ by his disciples73 Agosti notes that “l’uso di μιμέομαι per denotare l’opera del Figlio esula dall’abituale impiego nonniano della radice” and argues that here Nonnus follows Cyril74, who interprets the relationship between Father and Son as an imitation of the former by the latter, employing words as ζηλωτήν, μίμησιν, μιμητής, and emphasises the equality between them75 This is no doubt true However, I would like to stress the importance of the Neoplatonic background, recognized, however, by the same scholar76 In particular, I would like to draw attention to the fact that in the passage there are also other words of Neoplatonic flavour, as εἰν ἑνὶ πάντα at v 7477 Moreover, the idea of looking at a superior model in the act of creation (v 73 ἐςαθρήσειεν) is originally Platonic78 Agosti79 quotes a passage from Plotinus (2, 9, 2), where the Intellect is said to “imitate the father as far as he can”, and the father, πατέρα, designates the One80

69 70 71 72 73 74 75

76 77 78 79 80

Cf John 5: 19 On this topic see Gigli Piccardi 1985, 234–235 For a study on the vocabulary linked to this theme with regard to Neoplatonic φαντασία see Hernández de la Fuente, forthcoming An instance is the description of the constellations, in the astronomical sections of the poem, mainly inspired by Aratus: cf Magnolo 2020, 178–179 See, e g , 13, 68 and 73; 15, 12 and 21 (μίμημα) Agosti 2003, 438 Cf Io 2, 6, PG 73, 352 τοῖς τοῦ γεννήσαντος ἔργοις ἐνατενίζειν ἑαυτὸν εἰρηκὼς ὁ Υἱὸς οὐκ ἀσθενοῦντα δεικνύει, ζηλωτὴν δὲ μᾶλλον, ἤτοι θεατήν; 73, 353 ἐργάτης τῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐνεργείας ἀναματτόμενος εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὴν μίμησιν, ἵνα διὰ τῆς τῶν ἔργων ὁμοιότητος καὶ αὐτὸς νοῆται Θεός; 73, 356 θεωρήσας γένηται μιμητής Cf Agosti 2003, 438 Cf Agosti 2003, 436 Cf Agosti 2003, 435 Cf Agosti 2003, 438 Οὐ τοίνυν οὔτε πλείω τούτων οὔτε ἐπινοίας περιττὰς ἐν ἐκείνοις, ἃς οὐ δέχονται, θετέον, ἀλλ’ ἕνα νοῦν τὸν αὐτὸν ὡσαύτως ἔχοντα, ἀκλινῆ πανταχῇ, μιμούμενον τὸν πατέρα καθ’ ὅσον οἷόν τε αὐτῷ (ed Henry-Schwyzer 1951)

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I would like to add another passage from the same author, that is to say 6, 6, 781: Ὅλως γὰρ δεῖ νοῆσαι τὰ πράγματα ἐν μιᾷ φύσει καὶ μίαν φύσιν πάντα ἔχουσαν καὶ οἷον περιλαβοῦσαν, οὐχ ὡς ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ἕκαστον χωρίς, ἀλλαχοῦ ἥλιος καὶ ἄλλο ἄλλοθι, ἀλλ’ ὁμοῦ ἐν ἑνὶ πάντα· αὕτη γὰρ νοῦ φύσις· ἐπεὶ καὶ ψυχὴ οὕτω μιμεῖται καὶ ἡ λεγομένη φύσις, καθ’ ἣν καὶ ὑφ’ ἧς ἕκαστα γεννᾶται ἄλλο ἄλλοθι, αὐτῆς ὁμοῦ ἑαυτῇ οὔσης

In this case, the act of imitating is attributed to another hypostasis, the Soul (ψυχή) – as well as to the Nature (φύσις) So, it is clear that the inferior hypostasis imitates the superior one Furthermore, the passage focuses on the unifying and unified nature of the Intellect, which is expressed precisely with the words εἰν ἑνὶ πάντα, the same employed by Nonnus This could be significant, insofar as the poet, through this Neoplatonic suggestion, could have the intention to hint at the unity of Father and Son Therefore, it could be a way to remember the equal importance of the two persons, thus excluding the idea of subordination between them In addition, I think we have to consider that also Origen, whose commentary to John’s Gospel is strongly influenced by Neoplatonism82 and is probably one of Nonnus’ exegetical sources83, speaks of the Son as an imitator of the Father See, for example, Io 6, 4, 17, 6: ἀεὶ γὰρ εἰργάζετο, μιμητὴς τοῦ πατρός ὢν

and 20, 38, 357, 1–284: τάχα δὲ καὶ ὁ σωτήρ, μιμητὴς ὢν τοῦ πατρός, ζητεῖ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ

Origen is even more significant if we consider that Neoplatonism and Origenism do not always correspond85; rather, Origen’s texts can be read as a sort of synthesis between (Neo)platonism and Christianity In sum, this author could be one of the starting points for Nonnus, as he offers an example of conciliation between classical/pagan motifs and Christian concepts In this case, μιμητής could allude to the fact that, for Origen, Father and Son share the same substance, despite being hypostatically different (i e Father’s existence is different from Son’s existence86) In Neoplatonic terms, we could thus interpret the inferiority of the Son compared to the Father at v 75 as the inferiority of a hypostasis (in this case the Intellect) compared to the superior one (the One, that is the Father) In fact, the hierarchical relationship between the hypostases is the fundamental difference between the Neoplatonic triad and the Holy Trinity, which

81 82 83 84 85 86

Ed Henry-Schwyzer 1973 Cf , e g , Limone 2013, 80–115 Cf , e g, Simelidis 2016, 291 Ed Blanc 1970 and 1982 Cf Belcastro 2013, 178 Cf Limone 2013, 130 (with references)

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is instead characterised by equality between the three persons The Neoplatonic allusion in the Nonnian passage87 could simply be part of a language common to Late Antique authors, or could be intentionally used for didactic aims, as the public of the Paraphrase was also constituted by pagans who needed to be instructed about Christianity More specifically, Nonnus uses Neoplatonic terminology to make a difficult concept, namely the relationship between the persons of the Trinity, more comprehensible to this kind of public He thus adapts Neoplatonic words to a Christian context, showing that the Son imitates the Father as an inferior hypostasis does with the superior one, but, at the same time, they are united as the Intellect is This makes even more sense if we take into account that Origen uses the same vocabulary, maybe hinting both at the hypostatic difference and at the substance identity between Father and Son (and the latter is Nonnus’ main interest) 4. Conclusion In the light of my analysis, we can say, with Sieber88, that Nonnus wants to stress Christ’s divine nature Indeed, while Christ’s human aspect is a well-established reality, as confirmed by the occurrence of non-divine titles even in passages dealing with ignorant characters (who do not understand or do not recognize Christ’s divinity), his divine aspect could still raise problems So, the characterization of Jesus as God proves to be the poet’s main concern The Panopolitan adds the word θεός in some key passages, until Thomas’ confession (a duplication of Nathanael’s confession), where Christ’s two aspects are finally reaffirmed in parallel, after the miracle of all miracles, i e Christ’s own resurrection However, non-divine titles as κοίρανος, ἄναξ and βασιλεύς have also the function of remembering Christ’s superiority even at a human level, as we can better understand in the passage concerning his suffering (19, 11) Instead, in the passage where Christ cries for his friend Lazarus (11, 123–124) the words evoking his pain are ‘softened’ by a iunctura hinting at his divinity Furthermore, the fact that the Son is sometimes distinguished from the Father and considered inferior to him is not a problem if we turn to the philosophical context of Nonnus’ age When speaking of the Son as able only to ‘imitate’ the Father, the poet 87

88

Cf Agosti 2016, 657, 660 and 666 I would like to add that this perspective could also serve to explain the debated relationship between Christ and the Holy Spirit, which emerges, e g , from 11, 121 and 13, 95, where Christ is said to be troubled by the Spirit, that is “paternal” in 11, 121 These passages have been connected with the Nonnian view of the Spirit as proceeding only from the Father (cf , e g , Agnosini 2020, 258), which is problematic I cannot focus on this issue here, but the employment of the adjective ἔμφρων in 13, 95 could suggest an allusion to the Neoplatonic intelligent Soul (cf Plot 6, 7, 20, 10) and to the Intellect, that proceeds only from the One (the Father) However, this requires further research Cf Sieber 2016, 324–326, recently followed by Agnosini 2020, 74

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could express himself in Neoplatonic terms, recalling the hierarchical relationship between the hypostases This is not contradictory with what I have concluded about the major importance of Christ’s divinity, since Neoplatonic vocabulary was part of a Late Antique authors’ common language and, in the Paraphrase, could also have didactic aims towards the pagans89, who could find it difficult to grasp some Christian concepts90 In addition, Nonnus could also have in mind Origen and his synthesis between Neoplatonism and Christianity regarding the Father/Son relationship In short, the Paraphrase does not provide a rigid dogmatic system, but Nonnus’ position about Christ’s divine nature is clear, beyond the religious and, above all, cultural polyphony which emerges from the depth of his verses Arianna Magnolo PhD in Greek Philology at the University of Genoa arymag@hotmail it

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I think that Doroszewski’s words are particularly appropriate: “the references to the non-Christian tradition in Nonnus’ Paraphrase do not distort the message of the Gospel, nor make the poet’s interpretation of the Gospel unorthodox Quite the opposite as they always serve one purpose: to make the message of the Gospel, as understood in Nonnus’ times, clearer and more appealing” (Doroszewski 2014, 134) That the aims are merely didactic is proved by the fact that Neoplatonism does not constitute a coherent system in the Paraphrase: for example, in book 17 the terminology used (which I have analysed in a forthcoming article) would suggest an intention to compare Christ to the Soul and not to the Intellect as in the passage under discussion

Translation and Interpretation in the Arabic Reception of Platonism1 Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis The field of the “Graeco-Arabica” is a well-defined Academic subject: It treats the translations of Greek literature into Arabic, beginning with the Umayyad Era and reaching its peak during the eight and tenth centuries at the ʽAbbāsid court This “translation movement” is a continuation of the translations achieved during the Early Byzantine period in the Near East: The Greek classics were translated into Coptic, Armenian, Syriac etc first, and then into Arabic A splendid example for this is the Syriac Papyrus with Galen’s treatise on simple drugs later translated into Arabic by Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (Nr 53 Bergsträsser, with remarks on the complicated translation history) 2 Only during the ʽAbbāsid Era though direct translations from Arabic to Greek were undertaken 3 There can be discerned a continuity of these two periods since – The groups who performed these translations are the same: The Christians of the Near East who had by historical reasons a strong knowledge of Greek, but had developed their own literary languages since the third century CE: the Copts, the Aramaeans (with Syriac as their language), the Georgians, the Armenians, the Persians are to be mentioned here Of these groups, the Aramaeans, represented as the Syriac Christians (divided by doctrinal strife into three groups at least) are the most important These groups after the seventh century found themselfs all under the sway of Islam and adopted Arabic as their spoken and literary idioms This process lasted for centuries, from group to group and from region to region

1

2 3

To EPJ ‫ﻳﺍﺭﻣﻥ‬ I am aware that every translation is a recodification What is meant here in the title is that a translation sensu propio has as its goal equivalence between the original semantics and the meaning in the target language Interpretation tries to adapt the sense to the intended meaning for a later society  – I want to express my warmest gratitude to Rüdiger Arnzen (Bochum) for a critical reading; and to my research assistant Vassili Thanassis who helped in many difficulties Afif–Bhayro–Kessel et alii 2018 McCollum 2015

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It was the Aramaeans (Suryānī) who translated the bulk of Classical literature, and their translations were to get further translated into Arabic So, often we have two Arabic translations: one from Syriac, one directly from Greek, like in the case of de caelo or the Metaphysics4 The Syriac Christians did so before and after Islam (not so the Armenians)

Also, very active in translating Greek literature were the Armenians but this field remains by far less studied and expects a thorough assessment Before proceeding, four points deserve our attention: – The Jews, though they had a good knowledge of Classical literature since Imperial times (Philo of Alexandria), did not display a significant role in this process of transformation of knowledge into the Middle Ages This is surely to be connected with the Rabbinic movement of Early Byzantine times: Greek as a first-rate sign of Jewish identity disappears and gets restricted to the Byzantine Empire proper – The first text translated from Greek into Coptic, Syriac etc was the Bible, beginning with the third century Pioneers were again the Aramaeans (and the Copts), beginning with the Coptic bible and the early Peshitta The full systematic and temporal range from the Bible through patristic literature, and ending in philosophy is but displayed by the Aramaeans and the Armenians: So, as A Becker has elucidated the following sequence (only for Syriac): Bible (3 Century CE) – Patristic literature (4 /5 centuries) – Classical literature (6 Century; Sergios from ReshʽAyna/Ra’s al-ʽAyn) 5 On the Gnostic translations of Plato into Coptic v infr – The Oriental Christians who found their identity in confrontation with the Islamic “Leitkultur” after the eighth century translated Ecclesiastical literature and Byzantine theological/canonistic literature during the whole period after the seventh century, and this until Modern times This is the topic of G Grafs monumental Geschichte der christlich-arabischen Literatur (1944–1953) The “translation movement” in contrast, reached ist peak during the ninth and tenth centuries CE, mostly in Baghdād and financed by Muslim patrons, close to the court (e g by al – Kindī, d 873) The best introduction to the Islamic translation movement is Gutas (1998) who underestimates though the roots of this movement in Byzantine times The first strand, the continuous translations from Greek into Arabic (“Christian Arabic”), is not considered in this paper: They are typical for the Christian Orientals als “middle men minorities” between Byzantium and Islam – What we call today “Classical literature”, was but rarely if at all translated: Attic tragedy e g is missing, also (almost) Homer The Oriental Christians / their Muslim readers/patrons performed a selection, every group having its own one: The

4 5

Endress 1966; Bertolacci 2006 A Becker 2006, 4 (with notes 20 f ); 9 ff (with notes); 127 ff

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Copts e g have a notorious aversion to every literature which is neither Christian (with one notable exception, v infr ) nor popular (different versions of the Alexander novel) The factors for this reception/vs denial are differently to assess Most conspicuously, Platon, the centre of this paper is among the prominently missing authors, as can be best seen by his absence in the chain “Greek – Syriac – Arabic” On a probable exception to this v infr As the structure of this champ littéraire (in the sense of Bourdieu [1992/1998]) is concerned, both on the level of texts and of the social grounding for the “translation movement” (Gutas), Classical Philology used but recently to ignore the Syriac (etc …) versions for the constitutio textus, one famous exception being the edition of Plotinus’ Enneads by Henry–Schwyzer They give at least an English version where the direct translations from Greek into Arabic are distinguished from the additions typographically But even the new standard edition of the Politeia by Slings commits a serious mistake in the preface 6 The number of Orientalists (R Walzer, F Rosenthal, P Kraus) working in this field is small, but counts famous names among them That Christian Oriental Studies deal mostly with Patristic and Biblical research is understandable, but most striking is the absence of Byzantine Studies in this research This can easily be explained, because the study of Classical literature is still viewed as a direct communication between e g Aristotle and its Medieval reception (e g Ibn Sīnā), while the Byzantine manuscripts are still seen as a mere transmitter for this Byzantine philosophy in its own right is still an underdeveloped subject But as can be seen from the above sketch, this approach is simply wrong: The Aramaeans etc passed from the Byzantine State to the Islamic, and the princeps translatorum Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (died 873) travelled to the Byzantine Empire in search of Greek (i e Byzantine manuscripts) There is though no direct way from Alexandria to Baghdad but by Constantinople Important is the fact that most of our Greek (i e Byzantine) manuscripts were written after the Syriac and even their Arabic translations were executed (e g this is true for Ptolemaios) This holds also for Plotinus: The oldest manuscript of the Enneads: D, from the twelfth century (praefatio vol I, Henry Schwyzer, XXII), contains only a small part of the Enneads It does not fit into one of the existing families, so of now use for Henry–Schwyzer But it is about three hundred years younger than the Arabic version of Plotinus By the same token, the textual variants these translations display are independent from the Byzantine branches of tradition, while it is still unknown which tradition(s) these translations represent (v infra) In any case, some of these translations were

6

On the new edition of politeia by Slings, Moseley 23 f and n 32

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executed during the time of the Byzantine μετασχηματισμός of the ninth century, i e the introduction of the Minuscola script in the transmission of Classical texts As a result, most Classical texts are transmitted only in the new script of the beginning Macedonian Renaissance as far as the Greek original is concerned; this includes Plato’s manuscripts Apart from textual criticism, this situation has a high relevance for the Nachleben of Antiquity in Islam and generally, for Oriental Hellenism Arabic philosophy is mostly considered as Aristotelian, by bearing in mind such exemplary Aristotelians like Ibn Sīnā (for whom this received theory is true only partial) and Ibn Rushd who was indeed intentionally a pure Aristotelian This picture is only partially true, since such a famous representative of Classical Islamic Philosophy like al – Fārābī (died950) had a good knowledge of Platon, whose Politeia gave the blueprint to his famous ʼarāʼu ahli al-madīnat al-fāḍila … and who wrote also a book on the harmony of the two masters 7 His source for his talḫīṣ of Plato’s Laws is still unknown Immense is the importance of Plato and Platonism on Islamic mysticism, e g Suhravardī maqtūl(d 1191), and Shīˁī Islam, especially the Ismāʽīliyya who beginning with the 11 century adopted Neoplatonism as their leading philosophical framework (Abū Sulaymān al – Sījistānī) 8 One example is the image of the Wise Man who leaves the corporeal world and interprets texts in an allegorical manner, “philosophy for the few” as can be seen in the first two chapters of Plot V 8 and its significant Arabic additions in uth IV (Henry–Schwyzer, vol II 374 ff ) Nevertheless, the old dictum by F Rosenthal recently repeated by Moseley (Moseley[2017, 9], is still valid: “the character of those quotations [sc from Platonic dialogues] which we have before us never seems, as far as we can judge, to afford grounds for the slightest probability that we are concerned with the remains and complex text of a Platonic dialogue; therefore, a certain doubt may be entertained as to whether the translations mentioned [by Mediaeval bibliographers] were verbal reproductions of an unaltered Platonic wording” The question of this article is: How then Platonism reached Arabic philosophy and mysticism, and in which form? As a first step, we must distinguish between Plato’s genuine works (including works which were considered as genuine, like the Alcibiades), as they were used in a fix program (the tetralogies) by the Academy and thus transmitted to posterity, and Neoplatonic philosophy which gained a kind of Deutungshoheit about Platonism in Late Antiquity Dualist strands in Platonism, to say this here once and for all, as represented by Numenius and the Oracula Chaldaica entered the realm of Syriac literature early (the Hymn of the Pearl) but had no future in Byzantium, the latest with the eradication 7 8

D’Ancona Costa 2006 considers this work as spurious V etiam Moseley 2017, 376 Halm 1978, 128 ff : (“Die Ismāˁīliyya und der Neuplatonismus”) H assumes the Neoplatonic turn of the sect with the tenth century and Iran as the centre; Joel Kraemer 1986

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of Origenism This strand though survived in forms of the extreme Shīʿa (Ghulāt); and it is no coincidence that the Ismāʽīliyya after their dualist beginnings opted for Neoplatonism We do not pursue this strand in this article and refer to van Bladel(2017) So, we have first to give an example of the fragments of Platonic dialogues (I), and then come back to Neoplatonism in Islam (II) Though Moseley repeats the absence of Plato in Arabic, he gives the first critical editions of the fragments preserved from dialogues like Phaedo, Laws, Republic and Timaeus In chapter VI (293 ff ) he gives short pieces of other dialogues than these So, we have four dialogues of which we have reasonable fragments, and eleven short pieces from other genuine works by the master (all in all fifteen) As will be seen in the course of this article, not only the quantitative harvest gives a less pessimistic view than Rosenthal’s and Moseley’s, but also a detailed approach (here in one example) shows that the tradition of the original Plato was richer than it seems It has also to be expressed that the same author excludes the material from the Republic and the Laws as preserved by al – ʽĀmirī (ib 13 f and n 14, v also 143) Moseley (2017, 9) focusses on one of Rosenthal’s four types of Platonic reception: “direct quotation” (1), the others being: (2) the doxographic, (3) the gnomological, and (4) the pseudepigraphic In this paper, too, the last three items will not be treated Among point one, Moseley (2017, 337 f ) distinguishes again three types : (1) gnomologies and doxographies; (2) original works like Nicomachus of Gerasa (1 /2 ct ) where the original Plato is cited, and (3) adaption, summaries and commentaries This division is not convincing, since it overlaps with the older aforementioned by Rosenthal Anyway, since Moseley concentrates convincingly on material from point (3: summaries and commentaries), it is clear that our main source for this material are the Arabic works by Galenos from Pergamon (died 180) In his edition of material from the Republic (p 144 ff ), Moseley leaves the question open, if these six fragments were transmitted by the Πλατωνικῶν διαλόγων σύνοψις by Galenos, or by “some other, perhaps Neoplatonic tradition” 9 The Galenic text is now described by the Christian master translator, Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, a Nestorian who managed in Baghdād a whole translation bureau; this work should well be distinguished by the synopsis of Plato’s Timaios The author from alḤīra writes (nr 124 Bergsträsser) : ‫أﻓﻼطﻮن ﻓﯽ‬ ‫ﺟﻮاﻣﻊ‬ ‫ﻟﻠﺠﺎﻟﯿﻨﻮس‬ ‫ثماﻥﻣﻘﺎﻻت‬ ‫ﻣقاالتﻣﻦﻣنﺛﻤﺎن‬ ‫أﺭبعﻣﻘﺎﻻت‬ ‫آخرﻓﯿﮫفيهأرﺑﻊ‬ ‫كتاباآﺧﺮ‬ ‫ﺍلكتبﻛﺘﺎﺑﺎ‬ ‫ﻣن اﻟﻜﺘﺐ‬ ‫ﺍلفن ﻣﻦ‬ ‫هذﺍ اﻟﻔﻦ‬ ‫ﻣن ھﺬا‬ ‫ووجدت ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ووﺟﺪت‬ ‫أفالطوﻥ‬ ‫ﻛﺘﺐكتب‬ ‫جوﺍﻣع‬ ‫ﻓﯿﮭﺎفيها‬ ‫للجالينوس‬ ‫ﻣقاالت‬ ‫ﺳﻮﻓﺴﻄﯿﺲ ﻓﻲ اﻟﻘﺴﻤﺔ‬ ‫اﻷﺳﻤﺎءفيوﻛﺘﺎب‬ ‫أﻗﺮاطﻠﺲ ﻓﻲ‬ ‫أفالطوﻥﻛﺘﺎب‬ ‫أﻓﻼطﻮن وھﻰ‬ ‫خمسةﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﺧﻤﺴﺔ ﻛﺘﺐ‬ ‫اﻷوﻟﯽ‬ ‫اﻟﻤﻘﺎﻟﺔ‬ ‫سوفسطيس‬ ‫ﺍألسماء وكتاب‬ ‫أقرﺍطلس‬ ‫وهى كتاب‬ ‫ﻛﺘﺐﻣن كتب‬ ‫كتب‬ ‫ﺟﻮاﻣﻊجوﺍﻣع‬ ‫ﻣﻨﮭﺎ ﻣنها‬ ‫ﺍألولی‬ ‫ﺍلمقالة‬ ‫فی‬ ‫ و ﻓﻰ اﻟﻤﻘﺎﻟﺔ اﻟﺜﺎﻧﯿﺔ ﺟﻮاﻣﻊ أرﺑﻊ ﻣﻘﺎﻻت‬.‫و ﻛﺘﺎب ﺑﻮﻟﯿﻄﺴﻘﻮس ﻓﻲ اﻟﻤﺪﺑّﺮوﻛﺘﺎب ﺑﺮﻣﻨﯿﺬس ﻓﻲ ا ﻟﺼﻮر و ﻛﺘﺎب أوﺛﯿﺬﯾﻤﺲ‬ ‫ﺍلثانية‬ ‫اﻟﻤﻘﺎﻟﺔ و فى‬ .‫أوثيذﻳمس‬ ‫في ﺍلقسمة و كتاب بوليطسقوس في ﺍلمدبّروكتاب برﻣنيذس في ﺍلصوﺭ و‬ ‫ﺍلمقالة ﻣﻌﺎﻧﻰ‬ ‫اﻟﺮاﺑﻌﺔ ﺟﻤﻞ‬ ‫ وﻓﻰ‬.‫كتاب‬ ‫ﻰ‬ ّ ‫ﻣﻦ ﻛﺘﺎب أﻓﻼطﻮن ﻓﻲ اﻟﺴﯿﺎﺳﺔ وﺟﻮاﻣﻊ اﻟﻜﺘﺎب اﻟﻤﻌﺮوف ﺑﻄﯿﻤﺎوس ﻓﻲ اﻟﻌﻠﻢ اﻟﻄﺒﯿﻌ‬ ‫وفى‬ . ‫ﺍلطبيعﯿّﺔ ّى‬ ‫ﺍلعلم‬ ‫بطيماوس في‬ ‫ﺍلمعروف‬ ‫ﺍلكتاب‬ ‫وجوﺍﻣع‬ ‫كتاب‬ ‫ﻓﻲﻣن‬ ‫ﻣقاالت‬ ‫جوﺍﻣع أﺭبع‬ ُ‫فيﺗﺮﺟﻤﺖ‬ ‫]ﺗﺮﺟﻢ‬ ‫اﻷول ﻷﺑﻰ‬ ‫إﻟﻰ اﻟﻌﺮﺑ‬ ‫ﻣﻮﺳﻰ‬ ‫ﺟﻌﻔﺮﻣﺤ ّﻤﺪ ﺑﻦ‬ ‫ﺍلسياسةاﻟﺜﻠﺚ‬ ‫وﻗﺪ‬.‫أفالطوﻥ‬ .‫ﻷﻓﻼطﻮن‬ ‫اﻟﺴﯿﺮ‬ ‫ﻋﺸﺮة ﻣﻘﺎﻟﺔ‬ ‫اﻷﺛﻨﺘﻰ‬ ّ ‫اﻟﻤﻘﺎﻻت‬ ‫ﻋﯿﺴﻰ ذﻟﻚ ﻛﻠﮫ ﻓﺄﺻﻠﺤﻰ ﺣﻨﯿﻦ ﺟﻮاﻣﻊ ﻛﺘﺎب اﻟﺴﯿﺎﺳﯿﮫ‬

9

This work by Galen is missing in the on – line list published by the Berlin – Brandenburg Academy of Science (Gesamtübersicht – Galenus und [Galenus] (bbaw de), access 22 1 2021) It does not appear in the “Supplementum Orientale” It is also missing under the link “In Preparation”

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This means (my translation): (124) “I found from this art among the books another book, which contains four chapters (maqāla) from the eight chapters by Galen with the content of ‘summaries of Plato’s books’ In the first of this are the summaries of five books of Plato’s books, and these are the book ʼqrṭls on denomination, and the book swfsṭys on divisions (of being, jnp), the book bwlyṭyqws on the gouverneur, and the book brmnydhys on the ideas, and the book ʼwthydhyms” “And in chapter two the summaries of four chapters of the books by Plato On politics [are to be found] And in chapter three, six chapters left from the Politics, and the summaries of the book known as ṭymʼws about the science of nature And in the fourth chapter, the summary of the contents of the twelve books on the manner of living by Plato And I [sc Ḥunayn] translated a third of the first chapter for Abū Jaʽfar Muḥammad ibn Mūsā into Arabic”

It follows a notice by an unknown later author which says that “ʽĪsā translated the whole and Ḥunayn corrected the part on the politics” 10 This information has to be analysed carefully The passage is structured in the usual manner of Ḥunayn’s risāla: The entry follows always the same scheme: first a description of the original text at his disposal: in Greek or not, the state of preservation of the manuscript, how and where Ḥunayn got it into his hands The second part tells about the translation history: If it was translated earlier, by whom and into which language; how old the translator was, and to whom the translation was dedicated Here, Ḥunayn, makes no exception: He had at his disposal only half of Galen’s chapters: four of eight These chapters are called in Arabic throughout maqāla The title of the whole work is jawāmiʽ, conveniently translated by “summary” In the first maqāla, which was translated according to his own words, by the learned Syriac Christian himself by a third, were the summaries of five “dialogues” as we would call them But Ḥunayn calls them equally maqāla which might cause some confusion Now, in the first chapter, it is not difficult to find there the names of the Cratylus, the Sophist, the Statesman11 and the Parmenides, finally the Euthydemos The last is left without any notice about the content (scribal error? B used only one manuscript) These titles are surely not by Platon and to be compared to Porphyrios’ subtitles for Plotinus’ Enneads But the titles given to the dialogues correspond to those given by Diogenes Laertios (v  supra), with the exception of the Sophist 10 11

On these later additions v Bergsträsser 1925, VII f and Note 3 on p VIII Meant here is ʽĪsā ibn Yaḥyā a contemporary and pupil of Ḥunayn, v the index by Bergsträsser, s nomine Aristophanes from Byzantium ordered the dialogues into trilogies Diog Laertius 61 ff gives an incomplete list of this order Here too, Sophistes, Politikos and Kratylos were grouped together

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In the second chapter, there were to be found summaries of the first four maqālāt of the Republic Since in the following “chapter”, were to be found the remaining six books found of the same work, it is clear that maqāla here means “books” as we use to say when we speak about the “ten books of the Republic” This third chapter also contained a summary of the Timaeus The last, fourth chapter contained summaries of the twelve books (the same term) of the Laws The brief, spurious notice at the end states that ʽĪsā (ibn Yaḥyā), a famous Christian translator often mentioned by Ḥunayn (v the index by Bergsträsser) translated the whole work by Galen which Ḥunayn only corrected This is a full contradiction to the original wording Evidently, when Galen wrote his treatise, he used a certain order of Plato’s dialogues But we do not dispose the four books not accessible to Ḥunayn The Greek original by Galen is not preserved (v supra) This order now resembles conspicuously the traditional order in which Plato’s works were read, the tetralogies: the order Republic – Timaeus – Laws corresponds roughly to the tetralogies eight and nine, while the dialogues summarised in the first “chapter” correspond exactly to tetralogy II and III, only the Theaetetus missing 12 This is remarkable, since our order according to tetralogies goes back to Dascylides or Thrasyllus (prob 1 cent CE), but the genuineness of this information is highly debated 13 Galen in Arabic is thus a reliable source of independent information The question is now, if we can stitch these informations together with what we learn by the first piece given critically by Moseley (p 144 ff )? This is the famous “parable of the sun” (506d–509b) from the sixth book of the Republic So, if this piece as it is transmitted by the more shadowy Isfizārī (Abū Ḥamīd), is the same as indicated by Ḥunayn, it is not him who translated it, but somebody else, because he translated only one third of the first chapter, while the Republic is contained in the second and third But it should be kept in mind that the learned Nestorian had not his library at his disposal when he wrote the risāla, but did this by memory For our question it is now essential to investigate, if we are dealing really with a resumé (jāmiʽ), so we must compare the piece published by Moseley with the original It should be stressed though that this piece, the “parable of the sun”, earlier published and commented on by Reismann in 2004, is one of the foremost set pieces by Plato, followed by the “parable of the lines”, with which the sixth book finishes The chain of parables though is kept up by the “parable of the cave” at book VII; the actual division into books is not by Plato but was done by the philologists posterior to Plato

12 13

Only the Euthydemus does not fit Diogenes Laertius 3, 57 [66] seqq , and Alcinous, Eỉσαγωγή, ch 4

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So, the piece preserved by Isfizārī could be transmitted separately because it played a prominent role in the context of the Politeia and was commented upon oftentimes by later Platonists If one looks at its translation into Arabic, it catches one’s eyes that the names of Socrates’ dialogue partner, Glaucus and Adeimantus, Plato’s brothers, are missing in our Greek text, but to be found in Arabic This makes the text more explicit and thus easier A thorough examination of the translation shows, that this translation is a real translation made directly from the original text by Plato, not from a paraphrasis; this is what Isfizārī (or his source) says verbatim: fa – innī ḏākirun qaul al – ilāhī Aflaṭūna bi – nafs alfāżihi The Greek original showed different readings, and these readings have been assembled carefully by Moseley on p 157 Most of these variant readings have little impact on the sense of the text As usual, these minor and the few major readings go once with this Byzantine text family (e g with F), once with the other This corresponds what Giorgio Pasquali expressed decades ago (1934) in his Storia della tradizione e critica del testo about the papyri with Plato’s works14: They cannot be identified with any of the Byzantine manuscripts So what happened? Our Byzantine viz Minuscola tradition of Plato is based on one and the same tradition represented in three/four manuscripts (A, B, O and T, with overlapping; O and B form one manuscript, T is a copy of A[mutilus]) Only the first part of O (until leges 746b) had a different Vorlage They are all well written and stem from the late ninth / early tenth century, this means the circle of Photios and his pupil Arethas This group also includes the famous Clarkianus in Oxford (B) 15 We can assume three complete edd of Platon in the time of the Macedonians So, the theory expressed by Moseley (339) that it was easy for the translators to go to Byzantium and find manuscripts by Plato, is valid only for Ḥunayn who was self admittedly not an expert in philosophy and describes only his experiences with manuscripts by Galenos But the fact that the Byzantines in the ninth century had not many manuscripts of Platon at their disposal, contradicts Moseley’s thesis The low number of manuscripts looks more like a recourse during the Macedonian Renaissance For the history of the text of the parable of the sun, the most challenging passage is the following: In the course of the parable (in the Arabic it begins with 506 d, Glaucon’s words), we read in 508 d the following phrase: (Socrates)

14 15

Pasquali 1934, 247 ff In this article, the Byzantine manuscript tradition is treated but briefly, 248 f This is better in Hunger 1975, v following note Hunger 1975, 258 ff In contrast to Pasquali (v the preceding note), this aperçu concentrates on the manuscript tradition of Plato Papyri, the Nebenüferlieferung plays but a minor role The predominance of the school of Photius/Arethas is evident (τοῦ πατριάρχου τὸ βιβλίον in the Vaticanus (O, fourth hand), but also that “um das Jahr 900 noch andere Platonausgaben existierten” (260 f )

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Οὕτω καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ὧδε νόει

The context of the argument is that just like the sensual eyes do not see well in darkness, and “thus also the (eye) of the soul you have to understand” The Arabic text reads in Moseley’s translation like that: Qāla Suqrāṭ: fa – kadhālika ayḍan al – ḥayy alladhī bihi taʽqilu al – nafs matā … ً ‫ﺳﻘﺮاطأﻳضا‬ ‫ﻣتىﻣﺘ‬ ‫اﻟﻨﻔﺲ‬ ‫تعلى ﺗﻌﻠﻰ‬ ‫واﻟﺬي ﺑﮫ‬ ‫ﻰ‬ ُ ُ‫ﺍلنفس‬ ‫وﺍلذي به‬ ‫ﻓﻜﺬﻟﻚﺍلح ّى‬ ‫…قال سقرﺍطﻗﺎلفكذلك‬ ّ ‫أﯾﻀﺎ ً اﻟﺤ‬

In the Arabic there are thus two major differences against the Greek: First, the replacement of τοίνυν as ζῷον/Arabic al – ḥayy “animal” This cannot be explained by palaeographical reasons: One cannot read TOINYN as TO ZΩIΟΝ, so the main reason for this textual change is the development inside Platonism: Plotinos inserted between the spirit (νοῦς) and the individual souls the “Soul of the World”, often called ζῷον by Plotinus and in continuous communication with the individual souls (Enn IV, 4, 34 [Gesamtlebewesen]; IV, 4, 42 [also in the Arabic version16]; IV, 5, 3[bis]; IV, 5, 8 [where ζῷον and ψυχή are used side by side for the same] Theiler Beutler) 17 The Arabic translation with al – ḥayy follows this usage 18 This is by far the most common rendering The main reason for this gloss is thus the internal development of Platonism: Plotinus displays long digressions about the relation between the individual soul and that of the world in his “problems of the soul” (Enn IV, 3–5 Theiler – Beutler) The second case concerns the extension of the phrase by the noun through which the soul perceives: In our textus receptus this is not expressed Proclus in his commentary extends this by one noun and by one relative clause: καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς

The relative clause sentence goes clearly back to a different Majuscola text in scriptio continua Here Moseley in his apparatus p 157 is not correct: Proclus displays also the relative clause like in the Arabic In the Arabic, only the gloss ὄμμα is missing This relative clause is clearly due to mishearing of the sequence ΩDENOEI and its reinterpretation: The eye of the soul is now the instrument by which the soul and the world soul perceive the One/Good This is due to Plotinus’ interpretation of the “parable of the sun”: The soul has to perceive through a corporal organ: δι’ὀργάνων σωματικῶν ἡ γνῶσις (Enn IV, 5, 1 Theiler-Beutler); cf ib below σῶμα τῆς ὄψεως In IV, 4, 24 ad fin

16 17 18

gr2a ilc cnr it:8080/Teologia_Wapp/Home xhtml ?centerPage=teologia (recalled 25 1 2021) Slemann and Pollet 1980, s v ζῷον, col 470b f Ullmann 2006, 438 f

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(Theiler/Beutler), it is the sphere of the fixed stars (ἡ ἀπλανής) which acts as a messenger to the world soul; the organ for this is the ὄμμα 19 Proclus knew this interpretation So, the result of this first part is that the Greek Vorlage of this famous passage does not go back to an abridged version, but to the verbatim Platonic text – probably a separate piece with the tree parables 20 The compilator took out famous passages (like also “Gyges and his ring”: Moseley 190 ff ) and connected them with his comments That this piece belongs to Galen’s summaries, is less probable than a Neoplatonic expanded text – for example Proclus in his Commentary to the Republic; Galen lived three hundred years before Proclus This is indeed not the only case where his text as represented in his commentary on the Republic or his De theologia platonica serves as an independent witness, not to get identified with one of the later Byzantine families, as noted already by Pasquali 21 So, the Arabic text serves as witness for the time between Proclus/Simplicius and the first Byzantine manuscripts from the epoch of the Macedonian renaissance It should be stressed though that there are Arabic uses of the original Plato which still cannot be identified as the sources are concerned; among these you find famous authors like al – ʽĀmirī and al – Fārābī who had a knowledge of the Republic and the Laws, but it is unclear which translations they used (v supra) The Neoplatonic school gives a thoroughly different picture through the Arabic tradition: All the extant translations are reelaborations of longer works written by the Neoplatonists beginning with Plotinus They are preserved in a sufficient manner so as to judge about the Greek Vorlage, but no one is transmitted under the name of its real author but under the name of Aristotle Also the title under which they are transmitted is never the original one We are dealing with a big corpus of Pseudepigrapha which go all back to Neoplatonic writings The question is: why? We are dealing with mainly three works, one of them in a pre-Islamic translation: – The corpus of Pseudo – Dionysius Areopagita; – The Plotiniana Arabica; – The De theologia platonica by Proclus Addendum 1: Since a long time it is known that the corpus Dionysiacum is a slightly Christianised form of Proclus’ philosophy in Christian garb It sailed but under the flag of the Athenian martyr Dionysios Areopagita (Acts of Apostles 17, 34) Since Proclus

19 20 21

Cf also IV, 3,11 (Theiler/Beutler) None of these passages is referred to in the index, vol VI, 39 Theiler/Beutler In Ibn Rushd’s commentary on the fragments of Plato’s Republic accessible to him, there is in R   Lerner’s translation of Rosenthal’s Hebrew translation (from the Arabic), the parable of the cave (94 f ), but the parable of the sun is missing Pasquali 1934, 249 ff Moseley does not seem to be aware of Pasquali’s results though he cites it in the bibliography

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died in Athens 485 as a convinced pagan, there can also be detected a slight irony in this title This work, in Greek well represented by Byzantine manuscripts, was very early translated into Syriac by the famous bishop Sergios of ReshʽAynā/Ra’s al – ʽayn who was criticised so harshly by Ḥunayn (v the index by Bergstässer) for his Galenic translations The Syriac translation is older than any Byzantine manuscript and as usual highly important for the Greek constitutio textus This attestation in Sergius’ translation is also the first testimony of our text and was executed before the purification of the corpus by Cyril of Scythopolis This was taken into account but late by the editor of the corpus Dionysiacum, B R Suchla 22 Bettiolo in 2005 thus claimed that it was Sergius who wanted to substitute a Christian Plato in apostolic garb 23 In any case, the name of Proclus is not mentioned at all Moseley connected this correctly to the fact that the other Pseudo – Platonic material too did avoid the real authors of the other works Addendum 2: The last three books of Plotinus’ Enneads were translated into Arabic in three different corpora and different titles: – The “theology of Aristotle” (uthūlūjiyā la –Arasṭū) – The sayings of the Greek wise (ash – shaykh al – Yūnānī); – The “letter on things divine” (risālafī ’l ʽilm al – ilāhī) Here, again, you can feel a certain irony, since the name of the real author is again camouflaged These three corpora go back to one and the same translation (there are occasionally overlappings), and there is a high probability that it was done for the circle of al – Kindī (d 873) by the Rūm bishop of Emesa/Ḥimṣ, al – Nāʽima Since there are no traces of any Syriac translation, even if the chapters of the work are called mīmar(a Christian loanword in Arabic from Syriac), there is no reason to assume such a prototype The translator, in fact one, expands and explains the Greek original very often, as can be seen by the edition of the Greek Plotinus by Henry–Schwyzer who printed the additions together with the English translation of the uthūlūjiyā in their famous three volume Plotinus (1951–1973) The main problem with this text and the other pieces from Plotiniana Arabica is that we have until now no convincing edition: The ERC grant project led by Cristina d’Ancona et aliis is not yet completed in the promised manner, and the volume until now edited by the colleague in Pisa is based on the older editions by Diederici and Badawī (who notoriously corrected the reading in his understanding) and four

22 23

Dionysios Areopagita (Suchla), praeff critt ; v etiam Suchla 2008 and Stock 2008 Moseley 2017, 371 ff

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other Arabic manuscripts (including the oldest known, Aya Sofya2457) 24 The only additional manuscripts used in D’Ancona 2003 is Oxford Bodleian Marsh 539 25 Since Dieterici did not know about the real origin of the uthūlūjiyā, his text is not reliable And Badawī’s neither Even worse is that the Italian colleague did not take into account the Judaeo-Arabic tradition represented by several manuscripts of the National library in Jerusalem (on – line; Firkowitch collection) and earlier than any Arabic manuscript This translation, already investigated by Borissov in the first third of the twentieth century, influenced such important thinkers as Isaac Israeli and in al – Andalus the fons vitae by Ibn Gabirol They read the book surely in this variant of Arabic 26 On this, v appendix Addendum 3: Also under the flag of Aristotle sails the “Introduction to Platonic philosophy” by Proclus as kitābal – īḍāḥ li – Arisṭūṭalīsfī al mahḍ al – xayr “The Pure Good” – this is the common expression for the Platonic ἕν Again, the real name of the author is not named, again Aristotle had to give his name, and again the translation expands and comments the Greek original In ist Latin form, it was called the Liber de causis And when Thomas Aquinas compared this Latin version with the direct translation from Latin (by his friend Wilhelm of Moerbeke), he understood clearly ist origin 27 In difference to the uthūlūjiyāwe have the raw translation of chapters by Proclos diadochos into Arabic as discovered by G Endress This material is still without the additions of the “Book on the pure Good” and thus precious Evidently, the redactor, also anonymous, proceded in the same manner as the bishop from Homs 28 As a result, we can stress that it was not so much Plato who suffered this damnatio memoriae in the Arabic – Islamic world but the Neoplatonists as we call them But why? Moseley (vide supra) was right that he drew a line between the first of these false ascriptions to Dionysios instead of Proclus by Sergius of ReshʽAynā

24

25 26

27 28

On the homepage of “Greek into Arabic” (g2a ilc cnr it : 8080/Teologia_Wappxhtml Home? centerPage = teologia) one finds a list of the manuscripts allegedly consulted (eight in number; they coincide with the mss used by Badawī and Dieterici) The text presented there is though the one by Badawī (with one exception: the one by D’Ancona 2003) This statement stands in contradiction to the website, because the text offered by D’Ancona 2003 comprises only Enn IV, 8 On which though one must consult D’Ancona 2003, the note on the page opposite to the abbreviations of the sigla The nowadays common opinion on the Plotiniana Arabica was established in 1986 by Zimmermann Philosophically the best treatment is by Adamson 2002 A useful introduction is also the preface to D’Ancona’s partial edition of 2003 V also her new edition of the risāla in the Festschrift Arnzen 2020 On Borissov’s work see Treiger 2007 On this issue D’Ancona 1995 The Arabic edition is still the one by Bardenhewer of 1882; the Latin Liber de causis is commented by D’Ancona Costa 1995 The Latin edition is by Pattin 1966 The unaltered translation of Proclus by Endress is from 1973

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For understanding this we should remember that by the Council Const II Platon, Mani, Epicurus and Marcion were condemned (together with Origenes) as possible sources for theologians (like Theodorus of Mopsuestia) at the Constantinopolitanum secundum in 553(and before in 543) by Justinian and his patriarch Eutychios 29 And this in the course of the second Origenist crisis in the time of emperor Justinian, more than a century after the first one in the time of Epiphanius The first attestation of the corpus Dionysiacum is to be found in the works of the Miaphysite patriarch of Antioch, Severus, and Sergius evidently translated a non – domesticated version of it into Syriac The remaniement by Cyrill ten years before the council shows clearly that the aim was to take Neoplatonic tendencies out from their miaphysite reputation Since Plato was condemned in 553, his survival and that of his school’s works was endangered 30 There had been a time, towards the end of the second half of the second century and until Plotinus and his school made the day after 250 (Vita Plotini 65: Gallienus and his wife Salonina maintained a friendship with him) where a dualist variant of Platonism (represented by Numenius and the Chaldaean oracles) interacted freely with gnostic Christianity (Bardesanes), gnosticism (Elkasaites), Orthodox Christianity (Clemens) and the roots of Manichaeism 31 This time is best represented by the fragment of a faulty Coptic translation of Plato’s Republic found in Nag Hammadi(Codex VI) The fact that Plotinus charged Porphyry to write a refutation of the same book Zostrianos(vit Plotini 80), which was found in the same library, fits into the picture: The Neoplatonists in Plotinos moved from a more dualist Platonism to an idealistic monism and by doing so, they obliterated their own origins; and this hiding one’s roots did not convince everybody in the Near East (Puech [1957], 185) This was topped by the Church, the latest by the first Origenist controversy about 400 (Hieronymus contra Rufinum), and the Roman State (Diocletian’s prohibition against the Manichaeans, parallel to the Sassanians) Though Neoplatonism was somehow the answer to Gnosticism as can be seen easily by Plotinus (e g his first treatise I 6) where he is still obliged to his Gnostic past (ib ch 7, 8 and 932) In search of Eastern wisdom, he had participated in Gordian’s failed expedition against Shahpur’s Iran, Vita Plot 16 f

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0553–0553 Concilium Constantinopolitanum II\ – Operum Omnium Conspectus seu ‘Index of available Writings’ (documentacatholicaomnia eu) Et, quod peius est, etiam in interpretatione, quam in actus apostolorum scripsit Theodorus, similem fecit Christum Platoni et Manichaeo et Epicuro et Marcioni, dicens: Quod sic ut illorum unus quisque ex dogmate quod invenit suos discipulos fecit vocari platonicos et manichaeos et epicureos et marcionistas, simili modo et cum Christus dogma invenisset, ex ipso christianos vocari Moseley 2017 does not mention the council of 553 nor the ambiguous role of Sergius between Miaphysitism and Orthodoxy See Niehoff-Panagiotidis 2019 and the book by van Bladel 2017 Cf The commentary by Harder: parallels to the Hermetic treatise Poimandres and the New Testament V also Puech

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The school program by Barḥadbeshabba (late six century) shows clearly that the Syriac speaking Christianity, especially the Apostolic Church of the East had introduced, based on their Neoplatonic interpretation, Aristotle’s logical works into their curriculum 33 Evidently, the Miaphysites/Rūm were more open to Platonic lore  – and Sergius vacillated between these directions – but had to hide their Platonic heritage under the name of the convert by Saint Paul (v supra) This is to be connected with the time of Constantius II where everything which had a smack of Gnostic Christianity became suspicious (Origenes) But it was the “Nestorians” who acted close to and in Baghdād – where Timothy I had established his famous school So, in ninth century Baghdād the tradition of Platonism could be dangerous, also because Gnosticism was continued in the rising Shīʽamovement 34 The Ismāʽīlis even changed from a gnostic, viz dualist worldview to the Neoplatonic one (vide supra) – by use of the uthūlūjiyā and other translations from Neoplatonism At the same time, in Konstantinople we find a reappraisal to Platon himself by Photios (vide supr ) – and this is probably no coincidence In the end, the resistance against a more Dualist Platonism (the Chaldaean oracles are only transmitted by their later Neoplatonist commentaries) is equally indicative of its persistence as his survival in Ghulāt and other “sects” We should learn to see Islamic, Jewish and Christian Platonism as a whole, independent from language Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis Professor of Byzantine Studies at the Free University of Berlin jnp@zedat fu-berlin de

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Becker 2006, index s v Aristotle and especially ch 7 V Asatryan–Burns 2016

Ἡ μόνη τῶν πασῶν ἐλευθέρα A Narrative Approach to Zoe Porphyrogennete’s Mysterious Charisma as Depicted in Michael Psellos’ Chronographia Francisco López-Santos Kornberger The empress Zoe Porphyrogennete (CE 1028–1050) is perhaps one of the most famous empresses in the history of New Rome Just like in the case of her sixth-century predecessor Theodora, a mosaic representing the empress has survived (in Hagia Sophia no less), which has inevitably led to her image being used in multiple contexts as an archetype of Byzantine art and culture 1 While we can approach Theodora’s life through the historical account written by a contemporary court member (the inflammatory Secret History by Procopius of Caesarea), three eleventh-century historical accounts describe Zoe’s reign with some degree of detail: Michael Psellos’ Chronographia, Michael Attaleiates’ History and John Skylitzes’ Synopsis Among the three accounts, Psellos’ perspective is the most privileged one: like Prokopios, Psellos held key positions at court during Zoe’s reign, describing at length her character and habits Zoe was the niece of the famous emperor Basil II (976–1025) 2 Basil ruled together with his younger brother Constantine VIII (976–1028) While Basil did not marry nor produced offspring, Constantine had three daughters from her spouse Helena: Eudokia, Zoe and Theodora Shortly before his death, Constantine chose Zoe as his successor Zoe stayed in the throne for over 22 years and married three different men, whose legitimacy as emperors derived from her own dynastic rights Zoe’s life and reign was not free from tribulations Both Psellos and Skylitzes hint at the fact that Zoe probably ordered the assassination of her first husband, the emperor Romanos III Argyros (1028–1034), and then her lover ascended the throne, Michael IV Paphlagon

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Herrin 2007, a recent publication that could be found in mainstream shops and displayed Zoe in his cover, has surely reinforced this mosaic ‘s value as a sort of cultural ambassador of Byzantium; the presence of Zoe’s mosaic is also felt in modern low-price souvenirs produced by the Anadolu Kültürel Girişimcilik, increasing the chance that the Turkish products carried by tourist as a memento to their visit to Turkey display Zoe’s image: Anadolu Kültürel Girişimcilik 2019, 19 Stephenson 2003 on Basil’s legacy; on Basil’s reign, Holmes 2005

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(1034–1041) 3 Michael died soon afterwards as well, and it was arranged that his nephew, Michael V Kalaphates (1041–1042), would be proclaimed emperor, Zoe becoming his adoptive mother Zoe and Michael, mother and son before law, were meant to rule together However, although Michael seemed to agree with Zoe’s position at first, he finally sent her to exile and tonsured her Zoe’s exile unleashed a major rebellion in Constantinople Psellos described it as “the most vital event of the Chronographia” and the matter became the object of interest in later years 4 The people of Constantinople rose against the emperor, who first tried to calm his subjects by bringing back Zoe and presenting her to the people at the hippodrome 5 The determination of the rebels did not cease Some brought Zoe’s sister, Theodora, back from the monastery where she resided to lead the rebellion 6 The emperor finally conceded and fled to the monastery of Stoudion Theodora, however, made sure Michael could not return as emperor by sending some of her followers there, dragging Michael from the monastery and blinding him outside 7 Zoe was replaced on the throne, ruling the empire with her sister for a few months Not long afterwards, she married her third husband, Constantine IX Monomachos (1042–1055), depicted with her in the mosaic at Hagia Sophia 1. Zoe’s multi-layered authority What exactly granted Zoe such a stable position ahead of the empire remains an open question, even more so since recent scholarly debate has questioned previous consensus on Byzantine political ideology and dynastic succession 8 An initial approach from the three main categories used by Max Weber does seem to offer different solutions, depending on which elements from our primary sources receive most of our attention Perhaps the most intuitive explanation for Zoe’s capacity to stay ahead of the empire is based on her dynastic rights Weber would classify that type of authority as traditional, based on lineage As contemporary historical accounts noted, Zoe was chosen by her father to inherit the imperial position 9 That may have constituted a satisfactory

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Chronographia 3 17–26; Synopsis 389–391 Chronographia 5 24 16: τὸ καιριώτατον τῆς χρονογραφίας; Kekaumenos, Strategikon 59 6–8 and 100 13–16; concerning the modern reception of the episode, see Diehl 1924, 141–142; Schlumberger 1905, 347; Iorga 1925, 272; Svoboda 1940, 389; Kaldellis 1999, 103–104 Chronographia 5 32 Chronographia 5 37 Chronographia 5 39–51 Hill – James – Smythe 1994; Kaldellis 2015 recently proposed an approach to Byzantine political ideology in which the republican principles (pursuit of the common good for the polity and its inhabitants) overruled the position of the emperor as all-powerful by divine mandate Chronographia 2 9; Synopsis 373–374

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explanation if the Roman Empire was a hereditary monarchy, but that was not the case – not, at least, in theory Byzantine rulers were elected Ideally, divine election was mirrored in a harmonic consensus between the different social sectors, such as the senate, the people, the army, and the church In principle, belonging to the same family as the previous ruler should be irrelevant, and yet some emperors managed to get their relatives chosen for imperial dignity This was accomplished mainly by associating a given relative to the throne, bestowing a title second to the senior ruler upon them and ensuring the junior emperor was tacitly accepted by others as the successor This process could always backfire for any reason derived from the power struggle inside and outside the court 10 These ‘dynasties’ were often short-lived Zoe’s situation, however, was exceptional By the time Constantine appointed her as his successor, the so-called Macedonian dynasty had ruled for over a century and a half, surpassing in longevity any other Roman imperial dynasty Dynastic claims, therefore, could have played a major role supporting Zoe’s position as empress Moreover, the memory of her uncle Basil II as an exceptional emperor resonated in the generations succeeding him Basil was represented by his contemporaries as an exceptional ruler, devoted to his military pursuits to the point that he would not abandon his troops over winter He may have developed a charismatic type of authority himself, based not only on matching the expectations of his subjects but rather by surpassing them 11 Consequently, positive representations of later emperors sometimes tried to associate their figures to Basil and his extraordinary exploits, as if his charismatic authority was juxtaposed to the traditional imperial ideal 12 Psellos, in particular, depicts Basil as a model of virtuous rule for later emperors Psellos has Isaak Komnenos, another talented emperor, remember Basil’s exploits to his friends while fighting disease 13 The Chronographia also contains a summary of the rise and decline of the empire in recent years, allocating Basil’s rule at the apex in terms of wealth and military prowess 14 Psellos also reinforces the connection between Zoe and Basil Towards the end of her life, Zoe is represented listening to the stories about his uncle 15 Moreover, as Michael V sends Zoe to exile, Psellos reminds the readers of her legitimacy as empress particularly through her relation to Basil The narration, allegedly derived from the stories Psellos collected from people who accompanied the empress to exile, represents Zoe

10 11

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Kaldellis 2017, 4: Dynasties were only occasional arrangements of power, vulnerable to challenge and liable to be suspended or overthrown Chronographia 1 32; see also Kaldellis 2017, 81–152; Max Weber defined ‘charisma’ as an element of someone’s personality, which makes that individual to be perceived as an exceptional being, possessing qualities that are not accessible to ordinary people Charismatic authority is the power legitimised on the leader’s charismatic personality: Weber 2002 History 233–234/180 8–26; Material for History 1 1 ; Weber 2002; Deusdad Ayala 92–95 Chronographia 7 52 Chronographia 6 8, 6 63, 7 52 Chronographia 6 158

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looking at the palace, remembering her relatives while lamenting her fate, and addressing her uncle with the following words: It was you, my uncle and emperor, you who wrapped me in my imperial swaddling clothes as soon as I was born, you who loved me, and honoured me too, more than my sisters, because, as I have often heard them say who saw you, I was like yourself It was you who said, as you kissed me and held me in your arms, ‘Good luck, my darling, and may you live many years, for you are the glory of our family and the most marvellous gift to our Empire!’ … I beg you, watch over me from above and with all your strength protect your niece!16 Through these words, Psellos colours Zoe’s exile as inadequate, not only because she was a legitimate empress by dynastic tradition, but also because she was Basil’s successor In Zoe’s words, she inherited Basil’s character and became his political project for the empire’s future Psellos’ account then represents Zoe arriving safely to her destiny: since Zoe was expecting to die on board, she thanked God and Basil as her protectors The narrator thus frames Zoe’s speech, phrased as a petition addressing a living emperor,17 as successful: even though Zoe would struggle later on, her petition to Basil is immediately followed by a moment of relief Zoe could therefore ground her legitimacy on traditional authority on the basis of her family’s pedigree or by consolidating herself as the successor of his uncle’s charismatic rule When the people rose up in arms to defend Zoe’s position as empress, however, Psellos has a group of armed women describe Zoe as an exceptional figure herself, not only because of her ascendancy but also due to her own qualities: “Where can she be?” they cried, “she who alone is noble of heart and alone is beautiful; she who alone of all women is free, the mistress of all the imperial family, the rightful heir to the Empire, whose father was emperor, whose grandfather was monarch before him, and her great-grandfather too? How was it this ignoble fellow dared to raise a hand against a woman of such lineage? How could he conjure so vile a thought against her that no other soul would conceive?”18

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Chronographia 5 22 10–22: “σὺ μὲν” ἔφη “ὦ θεῖε καὶ βασιλεῦ, βασιλικοῖς γεννηθεῖσαν εὐθὺς σπαργάνοις ἐκόσμησας· καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μᾶλλον ἔστερξας· καὶ ἐτίμησας, ὅτι σοι καὶ τὴν θέαν εἶχον παρόμοιον, ὡς τῶν ἑωρακότων ἠκηκόειν πολλάκις ἀλλὰ καὶ σύ με ὡς ἤδη γε καταφιλῶν καὶ ἀγκαλιζόμενος, “σῴζοιο” ἔλεγες “παιδίον· καὶ ἐπὶ μήκιστον ζήσαις, τοῦ τε ἡμετέρου γένους ζώπυρον καὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ θεοπρεπέστατον ἄγαλμα” … ἀλλ’ ἐφορῴης ἄνωθεν· καὶ παντὶ σθένει τὴν σὴν σῴζοις ἀνεψιάν” Note, in particular, the manner in which the first words emulate the common formula “(σὺ μέν) ὦ θειότατε βασιλεῦ”, which we find at the opening of imperial panegyrics and other related texts, as in the case of Attaleiates’ dedication of his historical account to the emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates (1078–1081): History 3/3 5; also, in Chronographia 7c 11 Chronographia 5 26 8–14: ποῦ ποτε, βοῶσαι, ἡ μόνη καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν εὐγενὴς· καὶ τὴν μορφὴν εὐειδής; ποῦ ποτε ἡ μόνη τῶν πασῶν ἐλευθέρα· ἡ τοῦ ξύμπαντος γένους δεσπότις· ἡ τὸν κλῆρον τῆς βασιλείας ἐννομώτατα ἔχουσα, ἧς καὶ ὁ πατὴρ βασιλεὺς· καὶ ὁ ἐκεῖνον φὺς· καὶ ὁ τοῦτον αὖθις ἀποτεκών; πῶς δ’

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The first words of their declamation remind of other verses addressing the Theotokos, presenting Zoe as a most extraordinary woman 19 Both Psellos and Skylitzes underlined the popularity of the empress Psellos even suggests (speaking through a different character) that Zoe’s popularity was related to her ascendancy, her condition as a woman, and her generosity in sharing wealth with the people 20 Despite rumours concerning Zoe’s involvement in the assassination of her first husband or the attempts made by Michael V to win over the people’s favour, the empress managed to remain a popular figure to be defended by the population in a manner that altered the political life at the capital Once Zoe regained her position, joined by her sister Theodora, Psellos noted that the people marched in harmony and obeyed the empresses with extreme zeal 21 The strong support to the empress shown by the people in arms at the capital, allegedly convinced of Zoe’s extraordinary qualities, may make a case in support of Zoe’s charismatic authority Other scholars, however, would argue that the situation in Constantinople was in fact not so unusual At the very least, the rebellion would show the violent side of the political ideology and institutions that had been in place over most of Byzantine history Anthony Kaldellis’ monograph on Byzantine political ideology, for instance, frames the rebellion and the destitution of Michael V as a matter of legal authority His argument is set in opposition to other approaches to the rebellion grounded on the rise of new urban classes within the empire, which showed their strength when rebelling against imperial authority 22 One of Kaldellis’ core claims in his monograph is that, beyond a superficial and ineffective layer of theocratic rhetoric, the effective Byzantine political ideology operated on ‘republican’ grounds, prioritising the welfare of the polity and its citizens, that is to say, the res publica or ‘republic’, identified in Greek as τὸ κοινόν or πολιτεία 23 According to Kaldellis, it was the people, instead of the emperors, who were sovereign The role of Michael V when ascended to the throne, from this perspective, was to fulfil a necessary role as manager of the imperial affairs 24 The public opinion in 1042 was that Zoe remained the legitimate heir to the empire, but a male emperor was needed beside her When Michael questioned the former, thus failing at the latter, the citizens rose against a perceived tyrant Kaldellis

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ἄρα καὶ ὁ δυσγενὴς τῆς εὐγενοῦς κατετόλμησε καὶ τοσοῦτον ἐπ’ ἐκείνην ἐνθύμημα, ὁπόσον οὐδὲ μία ψυχὴ τῶν πάντων ἐχώρησε; See, for instance, an equivalence to Psellos’ way of depicting the Theotokos in Orationes hagiographicae 3b 209–210: ἡ μόνη ἀμίαντος καὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν μετά γε τὸν σὸν υἱὸν καὶ δεσπότην Chronographia 4 22 10–14: Synopsis 393: Skylitzes, however, focused on Michael’s lack of popularity rather than on the popularity of the empress He also underlined the people’s perception of Zoe as the original inheritor of the empire Chronographia 6 1 4–5 and 6 10 Vryonis 1963; Charanis 1978, 69–70; Krallis 2009 Kaldellis 2015 ix–xi and 1–31 Kaldellis 2015 91

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has the people at the centre of the stage during the rebellion (Zoe and Theodora “were only caught up” in the revolt), even though our sources depict the rebels obsessively preoccupied with the honour of the empresses 25 While Kaldellis notes that Byzantine authors do not condemn the rebels for violating their loyalty oaths to the emperor, tacitly accepting that the people and not the ruler was sovereign, the situation makes more sense once we remember, as our three historians did, that it was the emperor who first broke his most fearsome oaths to respect the legitimate empress 26 Even though Kaldellis’ argument seems convincing insofar as the people felt entitled to take justice into their own hands, our accounts present the situation as if they acted in the name of justice, having their eyes set on an empress they thought to be extraordinary The rebels seemingly believed in a πολιτεία that upheld values such as divine justice and retribution, charismatic rule and, for a time, dynastic succession Once again, it becomes apparent that we have different, even conflicting, approaches to the events, and to the nature of Zoe’s legitimacy, based on different interpretations of the source material Even further, the utility of fitting the aforementioned political events within Weber’s categorisation of authority does not seem particularly helpful in analysing the information as it is conveyed in each Byzantine historical account In order to unravel this situation by having a closer look to concrete accounts of the rebellion, we may benefit from relying on auxiliary disciplines such as narrative studies 2. A narrative approach: character construction and narrative tempo at the rebellion In previous decades, Byzantine scholars have grown in the realisation that historical accounts must be analysed from a literary viewpoint in order to properly understand the narrative conventions at stake, something that came to be known as the ‘linguistic turn ’27 While traditional approaches to Psellos’ Chronographia may have doubted the accuracy of the events portrayed, based on the author’s political interests, it has become more apparent that neither Psellos invented events out of nowhere, nor the apparently more reliable accounts are free from some degree of subjectivity Recent approaches to Psellos’ writings and, in particular, to his Chronographia, reveal an account in which separating reality from fiction seems harder than ever, if not entirely pointless In Psellos’ account, political interests collide with complex philosophical stances and an individual purpose in favour of historical accuracy The ongoing research on Psellos’ views on recent history has helped us understand, for instance, his extremely critical

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Kaldellis 2015 93 Kaldellis 2015 93; Chronographia 5 4; History 11/9 1–5; 15/12 10–14; Synopsis 416 Mullett 1990; also Macrides 1996, 205–22

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approach to the reign of Constantine IX 28 There is, however, plenty of room for disagreement, as markedly different perspectives on Psellos’ personal philosophy and the scope of his works still coexist 29 What follows below is a close-up analysis of Psellos’ account on the rebellion against Michael V 30 Psellos’ testimony is allegedly based on his own impressions as a witness and a participant of the events This analysis will bring forth some conventions followed by narrative studies, a field devoted to the study of the principles and practices of narrative representation 31 One way in which narrative studies may help to our analysis is by providing further context to the different quotes we cherry-picked earlier on from the Chronographia while scrutinising the nature of Zoe’s legitimacy My aim is to take into further consideration the unequal attention Psellos gives to different characters and aspects of the rebellion This unequal prominence in the account can be measured by analysing the narrative’s tempo and its effect in the characters and events described Instead of setting all of Psellos’ statements concerning imperial politics and the character of rulers and advisors on the same level, we may profit from analysing the occurrence and relative weight of certain ideas in the narrative The first section of the Chronographia, depicting the emperors from Basil II to Constantine X, was divided into seven books, each of them corresponding to one male ruler Even though multiple characters show up in the Chronographia, a careful analysis reveals that Psellos is focused on describing the ethos of a few main characters (almost invariably emperors) and how their natural impulses and particular efforts led to some consequences for the empire and for themselves 32 Other characters (enemies, servants, relatives or else) tend to orbit the protagonist, their deeds often complementing those of the main character At the core of each emperor’s description lies Psellos’ attempt to transmit lessons on philosophy and history, hinting at the defects in character that led to major events for the empire Although Psellos usually chooses to keep philosophical explanations short in what is supposed to be a work of history, hints of

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Kaldellis 2017, esp 181 and 213 Kaldellis 1999, focused on the presence of a revolutionary message hidden in the Chronographia, concerning the arrival of true philosophy to the court; Papaioannou 2013 analyses Psellos’ style more broadly, emphasising his interest in self-promotion; Lauritzen 2013; Walter 2018 on Psellos’ philosophy; López-Santos Kornberger 2019 on the two-fold separation within the Chronographia in terms of aim and use of literary genres; on a more general stance concerning history writing in Byzantium, see Neville 2016; a description of some general approaches to Psellos can be found in López-Santos Kornberger 2020, 42–58 A separate analysis on Attaleiates’ account, the second author in terms of chronological proximity to the events: López-Santos Kornberger 2020, 111–118 Meister 2014; on Byzantine narratology, see Bourbouhakis – Nilsson 2010; Messis, Mullet – Nilsson 2018 Here I coincide, at least partially, with the ideas from Kaldellis 1999; Pietsch 2005; Lauritzen 2013 and others

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his Neoplatonic philosophical principles can be detected upholding his explanation of historical causality 33 In the case of Zoe’s deposition and the rebellion that brought her back to power, Psellos presents a story both focused on the emperor Michael V and a whole lineage The fifth book of the Chronographia begins with the ascension of Michael V as emperor, under the guidance of the empress Zoe and his uncle and informal head of Michael’s family, the eunuch John Orphanotrophos The story ends with Michael’s violent deposition and Zoe’s return to the throne, now accompanied by Theodora The account can be thematically divided in two halves of nearly equal length The first section depicts Michael getting rid of his uncle’s tutelage and managing to exile the empress, cutting his ties with the initial distribution of power and leading to his sole rule, where Michael can unleash his tyrannical tendencies unrestrained 34 The second half, in turn, describes the popular rebellion and moves from a triumphant Michael to his deposition and blinding 35 Michael’s story, however, is tied to other equally important characters: his uncles Michael IV Paphlagon and John Orphanotrophos 36 The three of them combined constitute the story of a family who aspires to consolidate a new glorious dynasty by clinging to Zoe’s legitimacy – a narrative that resembles the story of their immediate predecessor, Romanos III 37 Psellos narrates their collective rise and fall as a lineage, explaining the reasons for their downfall from a philosophical standpoint Michael IV first appears in the story at the end of book three, dedicated to Romanos III Profiting from the conflict between Romanos and Zoe, John Orphanotrophos used his position at the court in order to bring his brother Michael to Zoe’s presence The empress grew fond of Michael, Psellos argues, and their affair led to Zoe’s decision to assassinate her husband 38 As Michael’s reign began, Psellos introduced him as an ideal ruler except for two aspects: Michael’s unlawful acquisition of the imperial dignity and his family, formed by selfish people at odds with each other 39 Although Michael tried to reprimand his siblings, John Orphanotrophos stood in between, protecting his brother from the emperor’s anger out of love for his family 40 Psellos introduces John as an intermediate figure, a mixture of good and bad qualities He plays a transitionary role in the narrative between Michael’s virtuous rule and his nephew’s tyranny Similar to his brother, John is depicted as a smart individual, an 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

López-Santos Kornberger 2020, 171–178, 208–228 and 237–244 Chronographia 5 1–23 Chronographia 5 24–51 Their stories combined cover the following sections: Chronographia 4 1–5 50 My analysis of Romanos’ reign as described in the Chronographia follows in López-Santos Kornberger 2020, 82–92 Chronographia 3 22–26 Chronographia 4 6–7 and 11 Chronographia 4 6–7 and 11

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experienced, hard-working and meticulous administrator of public affairs He was also a character of malleable opinions, prone to drunkenness and weak towards his family members John helped his brother by administering the imperial affairs but also hid the actions of his siblings from the emperor’s gaze 41 When it became clear that the emperor’s sickness could lead to his early death, John suggested the emperor name their nephew Michael kaisar, a court rank only second to the imperial dignity itself, so he would succeed him and the family would stay in power 42 John succeeded, but Psellos signalled this decision as the beginning of the family’s debacle 43 Psellos describes Michael as a deceitful man of ignoble origins, prone to evil thoughts, lacking in respect for his benefactors and eager to destroy his own relatives 44 John realised Michael’s true character but was not able to prevent his coronation on time 45 Psellos concluded that the fact that Michael was chosen to succeed the emperor was the method used by Divine Providence in order to get rid of the whole family 46 The way Psellos describes the moments following Michael’s death underline the fact that John remained the smartest and most proactive member of his family, while also being the only one who cared for them all The family managed to pressure Zoe to recognise Michael V as the new emperor only thanks to John’s work and ingenuity 47 It is then when the new emperor began to distance from John In part, this happened because of the machinations of John’s brother, Constantine His character clearly matches with the description Psellos made of the whole lineage: Constantine is jealous of John’s leadership over the family and therefore incited Michael V against him, unaware of the fact that the floor under their feet would break down the moment when John disappeared 48 Michael V finally succeeded in humiliating and exiling John from the court 49 He then unravelled his tyrannical and immoderate inclinations, described by Psellos in a manner that subverted conventions about the first measures taken by new emperors Instead of ascending the ranks of the court members and sharing gifts, he inspired fear among them and cut some of their ancient privileges 50 Subverting the Platonic

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Chronographia 4 12–15 Chronographia 4 21–22 Chronographia 4 23–24 Chronographia 4 26–28; Psellos will again describe Michael’s character once he has obtained the imperial dignity in section 5 9 Chronographia 4 29, again in 5 6; Cheynet 1996, 1 12, argues that rebellions against the tyrannical emperor did not break out immediately because the ruler hid his true intentions, but Psellos’ approach combines this individual-based approach with his focus on family dynamics Chronographia 4 30 Chronographia 5 2–5 Chronographia 5 7–8 Chronographia 5 10–14 Chronographia 5 15; compare, for instance, with 6 2 for Zoe and Theodora, 6 29 for Constantine Monomachos, 6a 3 for Theodora’s sole rule, 7 2 for Michael VI

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principle that prioritises quality over quantity, Michael chooses to have the support of the people over the senators because the people had the numbers 51 Furthermore, Psellos has Michael surrounding himself with Scythian eunuch bodyguards, implying that he used them for sexual games 52 A triumphant Michael then decided to get rid of Zoe, even though Psellos underlined her legitimacy and popularity 53 The narrator notes that this political decision stems from the emperor’s uncontrolled emotions Michael is even depicted as a beast fighting to be unleashed 54 Once Zoe’s exile becomes a reality, Psellos has Michael indulging in puerile jokes 55 This is the context in which the rebellion is framed Psellos’ story has led to the representation of an ungrateful, ignoble son expelling an innocent and noble adoptive mother from the bedchamber where she was born 56 In response, some sort of superhuman force seemingly empowered the people, increasing their strength and determination to depose Michael 57 When the city rises up and even women who had never before walked down the streets join the protests, their laments partially match with Psellos’ earlier opinions 58 Psellos adds that Michael had one last chance to save himself when he brought Zoe back from exile, but he chose his own fate when he denied Zoe her imperial garb once again 59 Although Michael caused the uproar by dispatching and tonsuring Zoe, the rebels are depicted destroying the properties belonging to the whole family of the emperor The Chronographia contains descriptions of children destroying these houses with incredible ease The soil itself regurgitated the foundations of the buildings as if Earth itself wanted to get rid of them 60 Later on Psellos reveals that Michael had amputated his siblings’ genitalia at the peak of his tyranny, contributing to the destruction of his own lineage 61 In sum, Psellos implies that Providence fell upon the whole family because of their wickedness According to Kaldellis, however, Psellos’ allusion to Divine Providence simply constituted a pious remark, if not some sort of mockery, as the philosophical lessons conveyed in the Chronographia discarded divine intervention as a factor effectively interfering in human affairs 62 It seems to me, however, that Psellos does not draw a line 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62

Chronographia 5 15 6–9 Chronographia 5 15 9–14 For instance, Zoe is represented as the one who introduced Michael as emperor to the people: Chronographia 5 5 Chronographia 5 17–18, esp 5 17 11: ἵν' ἔχοι μόνος ὁ θὴρ Chronographia 5 25 Chronographia 5 21 Chronographia 5 28 Chronographia 5 26 Chronographia 5 32 Chronographia 5 29 Chronographia 5 42; noted as a key factor of Michael’s tyranny by Cheynet 1996, 1 11 Kaldellis 1999, 102–104

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between human activities and divine intervention where we would expect to see it Although other narrations of the same historical episodes, namely Attaleiates’ History, tend to point at divine intervention more explicitly, Providence does play a role in the Chronographia Psellos himself attributed every affair except those in which humans do not pervert the natural order, to Divine Providence 63 Providence appears in the account as the entity that ensured that Michael would succeed his uncle (so that his deplorable family would be erased) and the force ensuring that the people end up dethroning him 64 This entity, albeit vaguely defined, seems to act as the very force enhancing what Psellos would call harmony and order This is accomplished by punishing disorder, ultimately erasing from the map each character as a result of their own defects Michael’s final moments consolidate our previous ideas about him Psellos even brings back his uncle Constantine to the scene, as a way to compare him with the emperor In contrast to Michael’s lack of initiative, Psellos has Constantine venture outside his states and bravely cross the city to meet his nephew in the palace Once there, Constantine suggested bringing back Zoe, which Psellos described as the solution to the conflict only if Michael had gone further by restabilising the empress’ former condition 65 When Constantine and Michael are about to have their eyes gouged out, Constantine endures the pain and reacts with stoicism, behaving as “a man who rose superior to the trials that beset him, to whom death was as nothing” 66 Constantine’s boldness only emphasises Michael’s cowardice: Psellos portrayed him as a man dominated by his fear and depleted of any dignity 67 3. Charisma, narrative and gender in Psellos’ account about Zoe Looking at Psellos’ narration from the angle of his philosophical arguments and their insertion throughout the narrative may explain, for instance, some differences between the Chronographia and other narrations on the rebellion John Skylitzes, for instance, has Zoe sending John Orphanotrophos to exile, while the narrator of the Chronographia blames Michael for it Psellos’ narrative clearly benefited from having Michael expelling his uncle from the court, creating a linear explanation about the downfall of the emperor and his family Likewise, Skylitzes noted that Michael gave back the imperial robes to Zoe once he brought her from exile 68 Psellos, in turn, stressed the fact that

63 64 65 66 67 68

Chronographia 4 30 Chronographia 4 30 and 5 24 Chronographia 5 29–31 Chronographia 5 50 3–4: καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν ἦν αὐτῷ, εἰ καὶ τεθνήξοιτο, τοῦ καιροῦ γίνεται δυνατώτερος Chronographia 5 49–50 Synopsis 419

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Zoe returned as a nun and would stay that way because Michael was too selfish to give some power back to her, thus explaining his downfall We may then wonder what Zoe’s role in Psellos’ story is Although the empress has a solid presence as the legitimate ruler and a victim of Michael’s tyranny, her character does not enjoy the prominence of the two Michaels or of John Orphanotrophos The sections from book five when the story focuses on her thoughts and words seems to be aimed at vilifying Michael for his harsh treatment of Zoe 69 Zoe’s position as a sympathetic victim, however, is not followed consistently through the oeuvre At the beginning of book three both Zoe and her first husband Romanos III are the laughingstock of the audience for their futile attempts to produce offspring 70 Later on, Psellos mostly blames the empress for Romanos’ assassination Zoe then becomes a threat to future emperors, justifying Michael IV’s decision to restrict her movements 71 Zoe is approached as a pitiful figure only when the narrator wants us to feel pity for her, and then blame Michael V for his actions 72 This malleability of Zoe’s figure resembles other characters such as Constantine, whose role at the beginning of book five was that of a corruptor of his already-wicked nephew Michael V, only to become later an exemplary character whose presence underlines Michael’s weaknesses What Constantine and Zoe have in common is their role as secondary figures in the story, even though Zoe appears throughout the Chronographia for as long as she remains the empress The reasons behind Psellos’ decision to subordinate Zoe’s presence in the account to some of her male colleagues are grounded in both gender and literary genre conventions Despite Zoe’s unusually powerful position at the court, Byzantium remained a patriarchal society where political affairs (the sort of affairs that were expected to make history and be collected in historical accounts) were expectably operated by men In the Chronographia, Psellos offers some prominence to empresses and other female members of the court alongside the conventions of biography and imperial panegyrics, two literary genres Psellos used in conjunction with history throughout his work 73 Psellos followed the traditions of these literary genres in mostly describing the qualities and deeds of male figures Women’s presence traditionally remains secondary to the main figure 74 In the Chronographia, likewise, Zoe’s actions (or inaction) tend to be subordinated to whatever Psellos is saying about people other than her 75

69 70 71 72 73 74 75

Chronographia 5 22 Chronographia 3 5 Chronographia 4 12 Chronographia 5 22–23; Zoe again becomes a dangerous, flawed character again in Chronographia 5 34–35, when the narrator mentions that Zoe sent his sister Theodora to a monastery out of envy Markopoulos 2009; Signes 2009 In this respect, applied to the figure of Justinian and Theodora, see Brubaker 2004 López-Santos Kornberger 2020, 92–99

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Analysing Psellos’ account from a narrative standpoint may give readers the impression that we end up with less information, since it becomes harder to extract pure facts from the narrative disregarding their context The opposite is also true, however, as the narrative analysis allows for more solid explanations on Psellos’ choices when speaking of Zoe’s legitimacy The words pronounced by the rebellious women, for instance, repeat Psellos’ earlier claims about Zoe’s dynastic rights Their statements concerning Zoe’s extraordinary qualities, instead, are seemingly framed as an exaggeration made by women behaving like Maenads 76 Likewise, it becomes apparent that Psellos’ chronological frame allows him not to elaborate on the traditional grounds of Zoe’s quality After Psellos establishes that Zoe inherits the throne from Constantine, the narrative focuses on the attempts by several men to rule wisely and consolidate their family as the new ruling dynasty Further research may profit from comparing Psellos’ views in the Chronographia with his other writings: in this account, however, Psellos’ arguments on Zoe’s legitimacy do not go into further detail Overall, narratology constitutes another useful discipline to analyse the information from the primary sources It does not offer an absolutely satisfactory explanation of phenomena such as Zoe’s authority, nor should we expect any other discipline to provide such a thing Weber’s approach to authority offers researchers another frame of reference through which we may attempt to classify political phenomena As Weber’s approach is not objective, we cannot expect that the data provided from another auxiliary discipline, such as narrative studies, will fit perfectly into Weber’s categories We should not fall into the trap of considering Weber’s approach less ‘politically-charged’ than other disciplines, such as gender studies, as it has been the case occasionally 77 Weber’s sociological point has already been revealed as a subjective approach tied to his own historical circumstances The concept of ‘charisma’, in particular, likely sprang from a “disenchantment with the modern world” perceivable in Weber’s time, an attitude that influenced Weber’s academic work 78 Although gender studies are nowadays perceived by some as a discipline particularly indebted to different political agendas, the survival and popularity of the Weberian concept ‘charisma’, and its application to the humanities, is not innocent either Weber’s concept has gained popularity in the humanities as a consequence of its popularity in popular culture This popularity, in turn, can be explained not in terms of the scientific accuracy of the concept, but in terms of the concept’s adequacy for the modern capitalist society In John Pott’s words, there is a “cultural need” for the concept, particularly as a way to consolidate discourses, either linked to self-help gurus or to modern celebrities, that explain social and economic success based in some

76 77 78

Chronographia 5 26 7: μαινάδων δίκην ἐφέροντο Alviz Fernández 2016, 75–76 Potts 2009, 3

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individual’s possession of some mysterious ‘charismatic’ abilities 79 ‘Charisma’ remains a popular concept in a society in need of conceptual scapegoats that deviate attention from systemic inequalities based on class, race or gender, focusing instead on a given individual’s agency in attaining success Thus, the way to proceed with concepts and entire disciplines that will be inevitably tied to specific politically-charged discourses, may be to combine their partial approaches to historical phenomena, so we can observe the same processes from different angles Being unaware of the subjectivity inherent to our disciplines does not seem a fruitful path either 80 While charisma may offer us some insightful views on the mysterious origin of Zoe’s authority as empress, narrative studies can help in better contextualising the different statements ingrained in the story The application of gender studies into the Byzantine past, likewise, may remind us of the conventions that moved Psellos to corner Zoe, an all-powerful empress during a huge portion of the author’s political career, on the backstage of his historical account Francisco López-Santos Kornberger PhD in Byzantine Studies at the University of Birmingham francisco byzantium@gmail com

79 80

Potts 2009, 5 Haldon 1985

The Return of the Θεῖος ἀνήρ in the Dadaist Avant-Garde Hugo Ball’s Byzantine Christianity1 Nuria Sánchez Madrid “Today we do not see the academy any differently from the way Tertullian and the abbot Anthony might have seen it Since the philistine has become poet and philosopher, rebel and dandy, one after the other, prudence demands that we should set up in contrast to him voluntary poverty, the most rigorous abstinence, if not the deliberate presumption of death in which he would see the most sublime of miracles” Hugo Ball, 3 January, 1921, The Flight out of Time

The huge leap from the function of the theios aner in pagan and Christian Late Antiquity to the return of this figure in the early decades of 20th century is inarguable Moreover, the revival of the figure of the early Christian saint by intellectuals from other than theological or philological academic circles still requires further explanation But, however unlikely this encounter was between early Christianity and the Dadaist avant-garde, the German artist, poet and essayist Hugo Ball could be said to embody it The central aim of this chapter, then, will be to focus on the reasons that help to explain the attraction that a Dadaist poet and performer might have felt to a corpus of stories and beliefs that was quite removed from the German Protestant identity This objec-

1

This paper is a re-elaboration of the presentations given in the lecture cycle on primitive Christianity directed by Prof Mercedes López Salvá at the Faculty of Philology of the UCM during the 2018/19 course year, and at the research seminar The Return of Gnosticism, coordinated by Roberto Navarrete and Nuria Sánchez Madrid at the Faculty of Philosophy of the UCM on the 21st of January, 2020 It has been supported by the following ongoing research projects: Precariedad laboral, cuerpo y vida dañada Una investigación de filosofía social (PID2019–105803GB-I0); the CAM Macrogroup On Trust-CM (H2019/HUM-5699); the project UCM-Santander PR87/19–22633 Filosofía y pobreza Una historia cultural de la exclusión social; and PIMCD UCM 2022 n  52 Precariedad, exclusión social y marcos epistémicos del daño: lógicas y efectos subjetivos del sufrimiento social contemporáneo (II) Thanks to Donald Murphy for having translated this chapter into English The Spanish version of the text has been published by Ediciones Rhemata in 2021

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tive touches on the key features of Ball’s appraisal of Byzantine Christianity, which appeared to this artist and free-thinking intellectual as a powerful means of resisting the episteme of modernity as rationality, as in the Lutheran mindset In his Critique of the German Intelligentsia (1919), Ball had already given an adamant dismissal of the German conceptual tradition, whose values such as reason, autonomy, obedience and order evoked for him only the sound of a concealed failure It was this failure that would lead Ball to embrace the remote, arcane ideals of the Byzantine saints as a promise of human development in a world where the power of technology, the threat of warfare and the normalisation of violence had become the triumphant social values Put another way, in a nihilistic world, Ball discovered in the sacrifice of these ancient saints an existential example that encouraged another form of life and another way of accepting death If birth and death are the opposite ends of life, the radical commitment that the Byzantine hermits showed in their attitudes towards pain and other manifestations of evil became a powerful inspiration for building one’s own life, a life not dominated by the values of liberal reason and technical performance Thus, Byzantium appeared as a way of escape – Flight Out of Time is the title of Ball’s diary – from the social and cultural anxieties of the early 20th century While anachronism seems to be the glaring feature of the dadaist’s discovery of these neglected sources of Christian subjectivation, there is also a hint of what is a common phenomenon in that narration of the human past that we call “history” In effect, history does not proceed in a beeline It takes steps backwards and forwards, generates whirlpools, even transforms past events, as Walter Benjamin pointed out in relation to Flaubert’s novel Salaambo in his Theses on the Philosophy of History History is also the space where the Pathosformel identified by Aby Warburg helps to assemble the aesthetic elements that history assigns to different ages Most probably, as Ball began to feel a special relief in reading and reflecting on the stories of Byzantine saints largely unknown to the general public, he recognized his own spiritual demands in an age that saw the Protestant mindset as the key to social and economic success The flaws in Ball’s approach to Late Antiquity explain the fact that he did not heed the figure of the pagan theios aner, who in the vein of emperors such as Julian had announced the decline of paganism in the Roman Empire Indeed, he discovered in the attitude of the pagan elites the position of all social elites throughout history What no doubt convinced Ball to follow Byzantine spirituality as a form of life twinned to the Dadaist program was its complex intertwining of body, understanding and pain Thus, Ball’s criticism of his own epoch was not aimed at ridding the world of violence He felt, rather, that the Byzantine saint possessed the advantage of knowing that temporal power could not deliver either happiness or human perfection The theios aner thus became all the more exemplary, inasmuch as he accepts failure in the struggle against society, politics and culture at the same time that he builds a sort of inner citadel in his mind, where silence and inner meditation disavow the noise of the social realm As I mentioned at the outset, Ball’s approach to Early Christianity did not require a

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background in philology for the discrimination of its sources He merely trusted his nose to distinguish which materials from the past could be used to stage an epistemic resistance to the “inauthentic” religious beliefs that the German state, the war effort and liberal values had promoted in his time In such circumstances, nothing could be better than to cultivate the company of those men of Late Antiquity who chose to resist the enticements of a violent world that was pressuring them to become what they saw as completely unfit human beings It is no easy task to classify someone who in 1916 would mount the stage of the emblematic Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich dressed as a “magical bishop” to recite a series of phonetic poems vaguely inspired by the pneuma of ascetics in the backwaters of the Byzantine Empire; nor one who noted in his diary – published originally as Flight from the World – that “to understand cubism perhaps we have to read the Early Fathers”, someone well acquainted the intense connection between liturgy and the avant-garde, and who would declare in an annotation dated the 18th of June, 1921: “When I came across the word ‘dada,’ I was called upon twice by Dionysius the Areopagite, D A – D A” (Ball 1996, 296) It should be added, without falling into hermeneutic excesses, that it was Ball who organised, in Zurich’s Dada Gallery in 1917, a conference on Kandinsky’s “sociology of colours”, which Ellen Kennedy has identified with the condensation of a “political expressionism” (Ball 2013, xviii) As Herman Hesse recalled in a piece written in memory of Ball, the questions that motivated the constant unease of both intellectuals during their period as neighbours in the canton Ticino called desperately for a way out of the reigning nihilism of the time: “Where is the place that one may understand and overcome all this hell of war, corruption and emptiness of soul? Where can one take a stand that will again make something like spirit, dignity, beauty and meaning possible on this earth?” (cited in Ball 2016, 453) What Siddhartha (1922) represented for Hesse would in Ball’s case lead to a study of the angelic orders described by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite In his declaration of intentions, an incorruptible will to make anarchy and eccentricity the origin of an authentic normativity gave way to a desire to return to the primitive Christianity practised in the Eastern Roman Empire as an antidote to the demonic power released by the totalizing ideal of a system hinged on the separation of faculties, for example, of intellect from morality Taking inspiration from a saying by the Romantic theologian Franz von Baader – “Satan separates, Christ unites” –, Ball shows his disaffection for a formulation of morality that was removed from the dominant anomie of early Christianity and made the categorical Kantian imperative the foundation for obedience to kaisers such as Frederick Wilhelm The search for meaning that led Ball to an encounter with a spirituality for which he was not in fact prepared –he lacked a knowledge of classical Greek, for example, nor was he sufficiently trained in the study of late Antiquity– was a reaction to the experience of administrative submission, by which he was progressively convinced that the mind could only surrender itself to supra-rational principles Starting from an affirmation by Rookmaaker (1973, 130), who described dada as “a nihilistic movement,

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destructive and anti-art, anti-philosophy […], a new gnosticism that proclaimed that the world was devoid of all meaning or sense, that the world was bad, and contact with any sort of god was impossible”, it is essential to examine the attraction that early gnosticism held for Ball It is, however, no less certain that his interest in the figure of the Byzantine saint reflects an aspiration to find release from the impasse of despair that was spurred on by the technological dictatorship he saw in Protestant culture 2 1. Two readings of primitive Christianity: Hugo Ball and Carl Schmitt Ball’s interest in primitive Christian mysticism allows his personal trajectory to be easily linked to that of Schmitt, but, while their intellectual interchange deserves specific attention, there can be little doubt as to the disparity of interests that led both to Christian theology 3 The latter was especially concerned with the capacity of the Church to act, in its role as complexio oppositorum, as “a concrete, personal, representation of a concrete personality” (Schmitt 2011, 23) that connects the civitas humana with the Incarnation and the sacrifice of Christ; the former, meanwhile, would contrast the figures of hermits like John Climacus and Simeon the Stylite with the Celestial Hierarchy of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite In a reasonably favourable review of Byzantine Christianity published in the journal Schildgenossen (1923/24), Romano Guardini, the quintessential Catholic theologian of the 20th century, then a professor in Weimar Berlin, manifests his sympathy for the “ferocious attack” on the liberal mentality that pulses through the work, in which the finite is destroyed by the absolute He warns, however, against the dangers of lay theology, characterised by a radicalism of ideas, individual conscience and the urgency of the moment Schmitt would argue in 1970 that the tragic problem of Ball in this work lay in the debate between personal charisma and that of the officium In Schmitt’s judgement, Ball had found a solution in the subordination that Pseudo-Dionysius’ hierarchical angelic system had established between the asceticism and martyrdom of the monk and the authority of the bishop But this 2

3

In this same line, see the clarification by Sauquillo 2020, 340: “Ball gives a positive evaluation of gnosis when he points out that it surpassed pagan attempts at rationalism and that it was the gnostic magicians who praised and exalted Christianity But the determination of Dionysius is clear: the Church Fathers are the antidote to the pagans and the heretics; ascending the stages of extasis illuminates the mysteries; and the clergy is superior to monasticism The monk is an aspirant with temptations, contradictions and fears The hierarchy is unlimited” Schmitt would describe to Carl Muth – on November 7th, 1927 – the facts behind his closeness to Ball (Ball 2013, 266–267): “I am certain that there was no one closer to Hugo Ball than I was We are both Catholics from the Rhineland and had the same spiritual and moral training In the autumn of 1924, when his book about the consequences of the Reformation was about to appear, I spoke openly with him and begged him not to publish it I did not hide any of my opinions, but the influence of Hermann Hesse proved to be greater […] I never lost sight of him In my book The Concept of the Political, every line is dedicated to him”

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he did, felt Schmitt, with a “monstrous energy” and in counter to Ball’s own personal vocation It should be noted that in this judgement there is a distinction between a juristic theology and a theology understood as a philosophy of miracles, which invites a loose connection of Ball’s ideas with some of Simone Weil’s 4 Only physical illness would prevent Ball from continuing his work on early Christianity with a study of the demonology and thaumaturgy practised by saints in the centuries analysed in his 1923 work In his view, no performance could be more dada than an exorcism to expel the evil spirits from the battered body of German society Indeed, he had taken on this task in his controversial essay of 1919, in which he predicted the collapse of the German Protestant state as the prelude to “the democratic Church of the intelligentsia” (Ball 2011, 302) The pagan concept of the theios aner, for its presentation of the miracle as factum, might well have directed his attention to the reconstruction of figures such as that of Apollonius of Tyana (1st century CE) by the sophist Philostratus of Athens, under direct commission of the Syrian-born empress Julia Donna, whose family was linked to the priesthood of the god Sol (El Gabal) of Emesa, now Homs Ball’s spiritual thirst, however, could not be sated with the harmonious figure of the pagan, Neopythagorean saint extolled by historians such as Ammianus Marcellinus Instead, he sought a radical incursion into the tragic experience that impels one to live by obeying opposing elements Ball –to a much greater extent than Schmitt– was aware, especially in Byzantine Christianity, of “the anxiety of influences” that existed among pagans and Christians and would later be studied by authors such as Eric R Dodds and Arnaldo Momigliano The co-existence of differing models of religious experience and the Christian reception of Neoplatonism was one of subjects that most interested both Ball and Schmitt from their position in the convulsive 20th century The balancing of this constant friction would find a false closure in the complexio oppositorum, which for Schmitt meant choosing counter-revolution to support Western European civilization against the atheist socialism of Bakunin (an author that Ball would translate from French to German) As is well known, the complexio was only the “hardening” of a victory, and not the stabilising of a syncretism of spiritual traditions, a path that intuitively held a greater attraction for Ball On this point, he would again coincide completely with Schmitt, that is, on the obsession with victory as a historical event, one comparable 4

Waldemar Gurian’s prologue to Byzantine Christianity supports this reading (Ball 2016, 385): “A symbolic work! He who does not keep this in mind may perhaps see Byzantine Christianity as a great literary achievement, as the testimony of a strange crisis of the soul, as proof of the collapse and disillusionment of an intellectual in the modern world of appearance and aesthetics, but will not really have understood the true sense of the book, will not understand that it is an edifying work, edifying not in the sense of a sentimental appeal to the heart, that is to say, of a maudlin sensitivity, but rather a work that edifies merely by showing that human life has no meaning in itself, but is framed within a divine order that simply opens, effortlessly, without work or sacrifice”

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to the mystery of the Incarnation However, in their choice of means, the two authors were at polar extremes For one, the Church emerged triumphant over the forces of paganism, while for the other, the Byzantine anchorites and their retreat from the world vanquished by their example the evil that was inherent in contemporary society The cyclical nature of the pagan concept of history could not satisfy the eschatological condition of Sinngebung that Schmitt, especially, demanded of history For Ball, Christian hegemony would be decided in terms of the image, which in his understanding always preceded the concept For this reason, the political concept of representation needed the figure of the angel as the foundation and origin of all criteria The angel, however, could not be merely the messenger of reason, as Schmitt would have liked, but rather carried reason to its limits and reduced it ultimately to silence An intense attraction to the same themes, along with a continual disagreement as to method, would mark the relationship of Hugo Ball and Carl Schmitt from 1920 to 1924, the years during which they engaged in heated discussions that ranged from Leon Bloy’s virulent conversion to Catholicism to disputes over the relative charisma of priest and saint In a series of declarations that I will refer to later, Schmitt alludes to his brotherhood with Ball as a German Catholic in a conversation with Schickel, in which he says the following to explain their common bond: “We both came from very Catholic families and saw ourselves as tied to the Wilhelminian period We had to determine how to find our place, and we each managed to do so in our own way” (Schmitt 2012, 104) His comment that every line of The Concept of the Political was dedicated to Ball gives further fuel to the legend of Schmitt’s intellectual vampirism – and the opportunistic occasionalism referred to by Karl Löwith –, as well as his inability to sustain the intellectual relationships he established He speaks of the “mutations” of Ball’s religious experience, which distance it from any dialectical projection of a link with the divine There is hardly a trace here of the “political expressionism” which, even so, Ellen Kennedy has identified with a sort of magnetic field that connected Ball’s path with Schmitt’s Ball would claim to his wife, Emmy Hennings, in reference to the juristic works of Schmitt’s that he knew and analysed in a 1924 article – Political Theology (1922), On Dictatorship (1921) and Political Romanticism (1919) –, that their author was clearer than Kant in his explanations “and as rigorous as a Spanish Inquisitor when dealing with ideas” (23 November, 1923) He would point out Schmitt’s contribution to German culture by quoting Chesterton: “It is wrong to fiddle while Rome is burning; but it is quite right to study the theory of hydraulics while Rome is burning” (Ball 2013, 195) Editors such as Franz Blei, of the journal Summa, and Carl Muth, of Hochland, the mouthpiece of German Catholic intellectuals in the Weimar period, would prove to be important figures in the multi-faceted relationship of Ball and Schmitt In a 1970 conversation with Joachim Schickel in Plettenberg, in which he clarified many aspects of his enigmatic relationship with Ball, Schmitt pointed out what he considered the greatest tribute he had ever received in his life, pronounced by Hugo Ball: “In the awareness [Gewissensform] of his attitude he experiences his own time”

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(Schmitt 2012, 148) Schmitt’s reception of this observation of Ball’s shows how strongly Schmitt valued subjectivity, in opposition to the objectification of historical events, as the hidden motor behind the forms of juristic thought It was nothing less than a momentary lapse in Ball’s own awareness of the historical moment that led him, in Schmitt’s view, to insist on publishing in 1924 a book like Consequences of the Reformation, the writing of which he had undertaken as a sort of amendment to the positions he defended in his Critique of the German Intelligentsia (1919) Ball remained aloof from the efforts of the Catholic party Zentrum to become the linchpin in the complex articulation of governing parties in Weimar Germany, just as he kept out of the controversy over the political culture of liberalism He was not sufficiently removed, however, as to stop assigning the blame for the catastrophe of the First World War to the military, imperialist “German mentality” In any case, in 1921 Ball would note in his diary an observation about his time that was diametrically opposed to Schmitt’s program: “Our era can no longer be understood intellectually The formulas and irrational aspects of Catholicism will be rediscovered and will gain new support” In his 1924 article on Political Theology, Ball defined the Pope of Rome as the absolute representative of “a concrete, irrational world, ungraspable for the logical register of people and things” (Ball 2013, 198) It will not be amiss here to recall the paradoxical coincidence in time of this essay of Ball’s and Max Weber’s Parliament and Government in Germany under a New Political Order (1919), which denounced the ineptitude of an “argumentative parliament”, caught in its own dialectical spider’s web Rather than dispute the imposition of a rational model as proposed by Schmitt, Ball had chosen his own path by appearing as a magical bishop, as he described it, before the artistic vanguard of Zurich For his part, in Glossarium, a collection of notes written between 1947 and 1951, Schmitt would combine in a nearly contiguous manner a celebration of the birth rate in Arendt with his conception of Christianity and his approval of what he would call “Catholic hardening”: “For me, Christianity is not primarily a doctrine, nor a moral code, nor even (and I apologise here) a religion; it is a historical event” (Ball 2013, xxiii) This is a peculiarity that would not go unnoticed in Ball’s review of Political Theology, which stresses the priority of forging the institution as the supreme materialisation of concept and form in Schmitt 5

5

See Ball 2013, 236: “Institutional representation is the embodiment of immortality, of permanence; it gives to Roman Catholicism a ‘pathos of authority’ which Schmitt describes as its political force, that dignity and superiority over political and social fact Thus, it can be at any moment a source of new Law, as each new political constellation can only receive its laws and measure from the absolute”

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2. A Dadaist theological project: Byzantine Christianity The work Byzantine Christianity is a reflection of Ball’s highly personal spiritual demands as well as his complex relationship with his own time It opens with the idea of recovering an archive of practices forgotten by history that the author feels are capable of orienting the citizens of early 20th-century Europe The immense historical gap with respect to the figures of the saints analysed is overcome thanks to the spiritual communion that Ball feels with their concerns and the ascetic models they followed In the book’s prologue he cites some of the philological and historiographical sources that enabled its creation, although the work is itself unfinished Of the total of 15 saints originally planned for inclusion, among them St Francis, Hildegard von Bingen and Ignatius de Loyola, only three lives, from the 5th and 6th centuries AD, would be presented, together with some notes on Anthony the Egyptian –better known as the abbot Anthony or Anthony of Egypt, the founder of Christian monasticism Authors that Ball cites include Dietrich, Holl – a Protestant theologian who would publish a harshly critical review of the work –, Reitzenstein – a scholar of the Hellenistic mystery religions and religious syncretism in late Antiquity –, Leitzmann – author of a life of Simeon the Stylite – and Norden – author of Agnostos theos (1913), a celebrated work of the time In addition to these, in Ball’s correspondence with Schmitt in 1924, during part of which he lived in Rome, we find reflections of his conversations with the academic Neuss, who wanted to meet him after the book was published, as well as with Engelbert Krebs, professor of dogmatics in Freiburg, and Emil Göller, historian of law and the Church at the same university In Rome, Ball would also maintain contact with Ernesto Bonaiuti, professor of church history at La Sapienza and the author of Essays on Primitive Christianity (1923), who would be ex-communicated in 1926 The Catholic theologian and professor of patristics Josef Witting, also ex-communicated in 1926 for his historical reconstruction of the figure of Christ, would publish a glowing review in Hochland of what he considered to be a valuable contribution to the recuperation of the Christian religious life, in contrast to the furious accusations of intellectual shoddiness published by the liberal Protestant theologian Adolf Jülicher in the journal Christliche Welt and by the Catholic theologian Philipp Funk in the Bayerischer Kurier 6 As is evident, Ball’s own theological contacts preferred to walk the razor’s edge of dogmatic condemnation, as they defended freedom of criteria and hermeneutic licence The Jesuit Josef Stiglmayr, the first German editor of the work of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, took a cavalier attitude toward the idea of referring to this author as a saint, while Ball argued convolutedly in a letter to his wife, Emmy Hennings, that “my hymn to the priests, to him, as priest, cannot logically convince” (Ball 2016: 436), a

6

A detailed reconstruction of the early reception of this work of Ball’s can be found in the epilogue by Bernd Wacker in Ball 2016, 427–436

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veiled accusation that the Catholic church of Weimar Germany was suffering from a deadening of both nationalistic and evangelical fervour that separated it from authentic religiosity, that is to say, one that begins with the negation of the self This did not prevent Ball from indicating in the testament he left at his death in 1927 that the work should be referred to an expert in dogmatics to purge it of all that might clash with the dogma of the Catholic church His intention of returning to the eccentricity of the saints of Eastern Christianity responded in large part – as we noted earlier – to a desire to heal post-Reformation German culture, taking as a starting point the “heroism of the saint and the ascetic”, vaguely inspired by the free pedagogy advocated by Schopenhauer, a thinker with a marked presence in the doctoral thesis that Ball had begun writing on Nietzsche The articulation of the three saints included in the final version of Byzantine Christianity traces an itinerary that runs from the mystical gnosis of the ascetic monk to the priestly hierarchy that makes up the ecclesial institution, and finally to the eccentric anchorite who is himself nearly an angel of God As Ball points out in reference to the system of Pseudo-Dionysius, purification, illumination, and perfection are the three exemplary stages of Christian ascension The abbot of Sinai and the Syrian saint Simeon the Stylite do not correspond, then, to the image of a priest and bishop of the ecclesial hierarchy, which adds a note of unresolved tension to the work, while for Ball the Scala Paradisi of John Climacus can be seen without difficulty as complementing the system of Pseudo-Dionysius At the same time, infallibility in his view falls invariably to the saints, and not to the Pope, who is not mentioned in the essay and whose leadership is found to be limited by a worldly rationalism that impedes ascension to the seraphic light that ideally radiates from the ecclesial institution The press of the time – the editor of the Kölnische Volkszeitung, Alfred Ludwig, can be mentioned in this regard – quickly called attention to the lack of a clarifying prologue or epilogue in the published book Indeed, it did not provide such elements of courtesy for the academic reader It was, and not in vain, a work that sought minds and souls as torn by the experience of a generalised spiritual crisis as the author’s own Nor did the adjectivization of the Christianity it dealt with as “Byzantine” help to position the study, as in no way was Ball’s intention to point out the difference between Eastern and Western Christian religiosity His editor, Bernd Wacker, would offer a relevant fact for understanding the intention behind the title: in his judgement, it may have been inspired by a reading of Hermann Cohen’s Germanness and Jewishness (1915) In effect, the hybridization of the German Protestant and Jewish traditions was perceived in that work as endangered by “the threat of Byzantine Christianity and the fanaticism of that oriental mysticism”, a passage cited in Critique of the German Intelligentsia (Ball 2011: 178, n ) 7 This was a spiritual tendency reflected profusely in the 7

The passage by Cohen is the following (Cohen, Germanness and Jewishness, Giessen, 1915, 43): “Pressing need as well as the relationship of our own future to Russia’s imperialism demands above all that we draw attention to perhaps the most powerful Russian writer, Dostoyevsky He embod-

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literature of Dostoyevsky, to whom Ball was devoted Perhaps the identification with this mystical tradition explains the choice of the definitive title of what had originally been called The Lives of Three Saints, rejecting Hesse’s recommendation, in a letter in June of 1922, of “Byzantine Saints”, which would likewise have generated misleading hermeneutic expectations A critical apparatus of texts and reliable sources, inaccessible in the canton of Ticino, is conspicuous for its absence in a work that was never meant to dialogue with the patristic philology of the time Ecclesiastical authorization was not even solicited for its publication, despite the author’s interest in a specialist opinion regarding the conformity of its treatment of the saints with Catholic dogma Let us now look for a moment at the structure and content of the work The teachings that Ball attributes to John Climacus emphasise gnostic asceticism as essential for maintaining the aspirant at the necessary distance from reality, considered to be a plague, and from the “demonic deceit” of the Self The ascetic is not a corpse, in Ball’s view, but “the most living of the living”, having directed all of his senses toward his encounter with the One who “reigns over all of the darkness and nourishes all beings” (Ball 2016, 82) The saints appear as “epileptics of the spirit” and “athletes of renunciation” Of the triad of figures examined in Byzantine Christianity, however, the most striking is that of Pseudo-Dionysius, a mystic of the 4th/5th centuries of our era, who, in opposition to the methodology of Plato and that of Catholic Neo-Scholasticism, in which concepts give rise to eidetic forms, connects with the allegoristic tradition of the School of Alexandria, in the understanding that the celestial hierarchy of Christianity cannot forego the power of images Unlike concepts, these belong to the realm of the irrational and thus respect the inexpressible If there is one factor that separates asceticism from the mystical union espoused by both Neoplatonism and Christianity, it is the “hermetic revelation” of the “humble teaching” of the Incarnation, says Ball At the same time, there is a strong current of gnosticism in the work of Pseudo-Dionysius He knew that, while Plotinus had proposed a theodicy in the third century CE, the gnostics argued for flight from the world through either self-negation or libertinism, as they considered it the work of a minor daimon, like the body and all other matter The recoverable nucleus of gnosticism must then be “the comprehension of God’s secret behaviour towards the world” (Ball 2016, 118), accessible only to pneumatic men, by whose hand Christ is returned to the world, without recurring to the Incarnation, which is an “impurity of the divine” (Ball 2016, 177), able to absorb all light but not all suffering Echoing Carl Schmitt, Ball notes the indignation of Plotinus at the sect of the chosen who believed themselves to be the redeemers of humanity

ies the full threat of Byzantine Christianity and the fanaticism of that oriental mysticism, unfolding yet disguising it with his powers Only when we will have recognized how these false literary heroes of that fad for foreign things [sic] differ from us and have overcome them will our victory move gradually toward completion”

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In the 2nd century of our era, Clement of Alexandria would incorporate gnosis, which continued to survive among Christian monks, into what would be the first systematisation of Christian mysticism – that mosaic of traditions known as the Stromateis –, where magic ritual was replaced by personal asceticism, without falling into excesses of anthropomorphism, as only Christ had achieved the perfection that Moses, Job and the apostles sought but could not equal (Ball 2016, 201) This made Clement a precursor of Pseudo-Dionysius, who Ball says “no doubt wanted to appear as the Areopagite that Paul knew” (Ball 2016, 231) This also makes it clear that the stoic tradition, along with the Platonic and Pythagorean, lies at the foundation of the Greek patristic authors, who had little in common with the Syrian and Alexandrine monks and their imitatio of the death of the Christ Conscious of the lack of substantiation for priestly Christian wisdom, which postulates the Church as idea, and at the same time knowing the danger that had existed since the 4th century, the time of the great ascetics, of ecclesiastical power displacing monasticism and its free mysticism, Clement proposed a virtuous mediation between Neoplatonism and gnosticism, whose struggle for hegemony began in the year 260, in the wake of the distinction between clergy and Therapeutae in the Egyptian religion Another advantage of Pseudo-Dionysius’ hierarchical system was that it avoided the risks involved in the exaltation of saintly figures, their “misunderstood liberty”, Ball noted (Ball 2016, 214) These risks were similar to those that had led Ball, in his review of some of Schmitt’s works in 1924, to denounce the power of homines a deo excitati (Ball 2013: 223–224) such as Cromwell and the holy men of the German Puritan Reformation, along lines similar to Schmitt’s condemnation of Michael Kohlhaas in his Theory of the Partisan (1962), as there could be no sovereign authority outside the Church The system of angelic orders, meanwhile, resisted anthropomorphism and defended the “super-humanity of Christ”, as Ball would refer to it (2016, 286) Of these he claimed that “too often it occurred that the pneumatic was mistaken with regard to his own perfection, that this perfection was ruled by his own human image, which confused the limit of his vision, the limit of his personal effort, with the immensity of all that was worthy of his effort” (Ball 2016, 196) While the Council of Chalcedon (451 CE) had decreed the subordination of monasteries to the bishops, the system of Pseudo-Dionysius gave symbolic legitimacy to that political decision, retaining features of gnosticism in its presentation of wisdom as ascension and the articulation of three spheres built around the figures of the monk, the priest and the angel The priesthood was in turn obliged to distinguish the priest from the liturgist, the catechist and the monk The crucifixion, which lay far beyond one’s “sane understanding”, functioned within this scale of knowledge as the dissolution of false magic and the crowning of all symbolic entities in a pedagogy of light The third figure examined by Ball, Simeon the Stylite, allows him to analyse the relationship of the ascetic to the enigmatic language of God In many respects, Ball’s reflections on this saintly figure recall those of Benjamin on Leskov’s narrative in The Storyteller Phrases like “The divine language does not require human approval It

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plants its signs and waits” or “The hermeticism of that language makes one forget all banal phrases” (Ball 2016, 292) make the link with the divine a pact with the abyss, one into which Simeon would leap at an early age Ball presents him as scandalising his fellow cenobites, who saw him as a second Job, practising corporal mortification with a cilice made from a palm-leaf rope Expelled from the monastery, Simeon throws himself into a well – an image that recalls the cistern in which Joseph was abandoned by his brothers, as well as the tomb of Christ – filled with toads, snakes and vermin, from which he is then saved by the tormented archimandrite who had expelled him He builds himself a hut near Antioch, where he competes with Moses and Elias in fasting and tests himself before the astonished eyes of the local priests, soon attracting the attention of kings as well as beggars They flock to see him perched at the top of the column that will become his home, as a symbol of divine omnipotence Ball describes him as belonging to a group of “determined athletes thirsty for life, record-breakers on the racetrack and in the panopticon” (Ball 2016, 306), opposed to Judaism for making abstraction the ladder to God, rather than the lamentation of the flesh Only through the practice of penitence can a concordance of the creeds be announced and the walls between pagans, Jews and Christians pulled down A few brief notes on Anthony the Egyptian, the 3rd/4th-century hermit who challenged the gnostic sects then active in Alexandria, conclude Ball’s study of Eastern Christian mysticism, in which he highlights Pseudo-Dionysius’ system of angelic hierarchies as the imaginarium that would strengthen the Church as an institution He had understood the importance of the “pathos of authority” that Schmitt attributed to Roman Catholicism, “that dignity and superiority over political and social fact”, as Ball would refer to it (Ball 2013, 236) What the hermits and anchorites hoped to find in their solitude, like desperate artists of the European avant-garde, Pseudo-Dionysius presents as an ecclesial, communal task, the later echoes of which would range from the Latin translation of the Arabic commentary on Proclus’ Elements of Theology to the aesthetic of Paradise in The Divine Comedy Ball shares with Schmitt the conviction that classical Romanticism has robbed us of any possibility of grasping reality, by renouncing God as the supreme reality, by the imposition of the two gnostic demons of society and history and their supposed internal dynamics He also shares Schmitt’s view regarding the nihilistic foundations of what he calls the “capitalist industrial State” and the “socialism of tomorrow”, self-governed by economic laws, concluding that “while this State remains focused with incredible determination on the irrational, it cannot be interested in a transmission of supra-rational values [übervernünftig]” (Ball 2013, 237–238)

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3. Conclusion Ball contra mundum: contempt for the age, praise for the Byzantine saint Among the circle that surrounded Schmitt, whose own reservations regarding the publication of Byzantine Christianity he had expressed personally to Ball, the book was subjected to a ruthless criticism that would lead to the breaking off of their relationship A review by Waldemar Gurian, one of Hannah Arendt’s men in dark times, whom the editor Feutchtwanger, after attending his seminars in Bonn, would describe to Ball as “Schmitt’s errand boy”, is notable for its coldness and sceptical tone The piece began eloquently with the phrase: “Religion must never be converted into something banal” While the publication of Byzantine Christianity by Duncker–Humblot brought offers for Ball to write a History of Byzantium for the Munich publisher Bruckmann and to edit Joseph Görres’ Christian Mysticism for Hochland, the flagship journal of Romantic Catholicism, his revised version of Critique of the German Intelligentsia would turn the cultural world of Munich and of Germany against Ball “From an attitude as personal as that of the author one could equally expect a pamphlet attacking the Church as an act of protection” was the disdainful closing of one review by the cleric Weiger, who was very close to Guardini As if foreshadowing the Austrian Thomas Bernhard, Ball had written an essay that invited all German citizens to suicide, to extinction, Gurian noted Schmitt told Ball in a letter that both the professor Neuss and the Protestant theologian Erik Peterson had been surprised at the essay’s omission of such traditional references as Denifle’s Luther and by the news that the young Russian Gurian had referred to this in his review At the same time, Schmitt pointed out the accuracy of Ball’s definition of the German ethos: “Being German means taking a position against the grain of humanity; being German means confusing, overthrowing, and bending all concepts to protect ‘freedom ’ Being German means erecting Babylonian towers from which in ten thousand tongues nonsense lays claim to novelty; being German means excogitating refractory systems full of sophistry out of the simple fear of truth and goodness” (Ball 2013, 170)

Ball’s close friend Hermann Hesse, the Balls’ neighbour in the anarchist commune of Monte Verità, not far from their home in Agnuzzo, would indirectly accuse Schmitt of a campaign of harassment toward Ball, in virtue of Schmitt’s circumstantial adhesion – like all of Schmitt’s affiliations, this was in the name of a presumed encounter with the “authentic” historical situation  – to post-Kulturkampf nationalism Thus, in 1934 he would write the following lines to Adolf Baden regarding the poor reception of The Consequences of the Reformation: “The official Catholicism has treated Hugo Ball like any intransigent heathen Indeed, it has used him as much as disallowed him I remember that at the time, when the Critique of the German Intelligentsia was sold out and was being revised, a powerful and famous Catholic came to Ball, who was working on the revision […] and pressured him more than he should have done […] This Catholic

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leader is still playing an important role today; he has always been where the power is” (Hesse 1979, 412 ff ) “He has always been where the power is”: this is the shadow of a doubt that will always accompany the one who has no qualms about presenting himself as the Benito Cereno of empirical history The hyperbolic gesture would characterise The Consequences of the Reformation, where Luther is accused of providing the German princes with the ideology necessary to act toward their subjects as regional popes, emancipated from the yoke of Rome On this point Ball would affirm that no one had more faith in the scripture than Luther, for whom a personal reading of the Bible was essential, while interpreting it in a common sense impoverished the faculties of the soul Luther, that reformed revolutionary who Ball referred to as “the Pope of Wittenberg”, had acted historically as an Orpheus, knowing the probability of being torn to pieces Ernst Bloch, Ball’s associate in the pages of Freie Zeitung from 1917 to 1919, would later confess the debt that his Thomas Müntzer as the Theologian of Revolution (1921) owed to what he called the rediscovery of that historical figure in Ball’s essay, which situated Müntzer among the ecclesia militans of political revolutionaries and dissidents in general By contrast, the mystical sources of the Reformation were to be found in a rationalism that sacrifices the image, eschews allegory, and accelerates the process of Entbildung, with the ensuing damage to the formation of the individual and the development of the social imagination Once again, in the judgement of Hermann Hesse, this time in the prologue to Ball’s posthumously published diary (1931), the essay represented the most gigantic and honourable exercise in diagnosing “the disastrous forces that led to the spiritual and moral degeneration of modern Germany and to its intimate complicity in the general misery and outbreak of the World War” (Ball 2005, 18) It is precisely the archaeology of the symbolic sources of humanity’s faith in a better world that connected the consequences of the Reformation with the study of primitive Christianity, as it was the mysticism of Pseudo-Dionysius that protected the sphere of the supra-rational against its liberal misappropriation The remembrance of ascetic penitence would form part of this effort to grant Germany a new opportunity to recover a lifeblood that had been weakened by the ideal of practical autonomy and which existed as “a military garrison in a conquered city” of the spirit This Freudian image describes vividly the fragility with which German institutional culture had extended its tentacles in an age that for Ball demanded other sources of spiritual wealth, sources which invited one to look instead to the experiential theology of the East in the first centuries of our era Nuria Sánchez Madrid Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Complutense University of Madrid nuriasma@ucm es

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This book deals with the intersection between religion, philosophy, and politics in the Graeco-Roman world, and especially in Late Antiquity, with special reference to the figure alluded to in ancient sources with the expression “theios aner”. Charisma and leadership are basic elements of this notion: its literary, historical, and ideological context and the different interpretations of holiness and sanctity in a sociopolitical or educative community are researched in this collective endeavour. The scholarly contributions are organized along three sections – ‘Holiness’, ‘Charisma and Leadership’,

and ‘Transmission and Reception’ – aiming at an overall analysis of the patterns involving charismatic leadership of the intellectual and spiritual figures in the sources and its sociopolitical context, with the central axis of Late Antiquity. Thus, together with some methodological considerations, this book examines some well-known figures of “divine men and women” and attempts to offer a panoramic, transdisciplinary, and comparative view of their cultural and intellectual context, and to determine what sociopolitical role they had.

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