Ancient Readers Research Articles

Digital Florilegium

This lesson explains an approach to engaging students in close reading of challenging texts. It introduces florilegium, an ancient reading practice utilized by copyists in medieval European monasteries. This lesson’s approach to florilegium took a digital twist: rather than hand-writing snippets of text into a copybook as medieval monks might, we used a Google form to capture the whole class’s snippets from a shared reading. These text snippets became a shared digital repository that students could use to engage the text in a variety of interactive, creative ways. In the instance described in this article, the students were graduate students taking an online Educational Technology course, but the practice is flexible and could be adapted for use in many different content areas and grade levels.

Was the Woman with the Flow of Blood Drunk? An Exploration of the Possibility that She Was Viewed as an Anus Ebria

This article offers a new reading of the story of the woman with the flow of blood in Mk 5:25–34 that focuses on the intersection of gender and social status. Moving away from gynaecological analysis, I use the representation of the anus ebria (drunken old woman) figure in Greco-Roman literature, drama, and art to explore how ancient readers might have responded to her conduct. Using this material, I argue that many readers would have understood the woman’s behaviour as conforming to this ancient type. The distinction is important, I contend, because, unlike widows, the anus ebria was an unsympathetic figure in ancient drama. This more intersectional reading of the woman’s social status, in turn, sharpens our reading of the revolutionary character of Jesus’s ministry in Mark.

Reading for Efficiency in Ancient Rome: The Case of Pliny the Elder

ABSTRACT Readers in ancient Rome did not have efficiency of reading as a goal. The much-cited exception that proves the rule is a letter of the Younger Pliny (Letter 3.5, early 2nd c. CE) that describes the extraordinary reading habits of his uncle the Elder Pliny, as he read and digested the 2000 works used as sources for constructing his encyclopedic Natural History. Famously, the Elder, as he rode in his carriage or litter, would have a lector read to him and a stenographer take notes. This article examines in detail how an ancient reader would imagine such a scene. The aims of the article are two: (1) to shine further light on the enslaved persons enabling Pliny’s project; (2) to elucidate how and why an ancient reader would see (as modern commentators have not) the comical impracticalities behind the Elder’s extreme “efficient” reading behavior.

Eastern Sages in Roman Egypt

Scholars have long been curious about the transmission of religious and philosophical ideas across Eurasia in antiquity. It is well known that Mani named a number of important figures from “Eastern” religious traditions—such as Buddha and Zoroaster—among his list of prophetic forerunners in an effort to establish his own authority as a religious teacher. Recently published portions of the Dublin codex of the Manichaean Kephalaia provide an additional attestation of this prophetological paradigm in an even more amplified form, as it includes figures not previously attested. Textual analysis of this new testimonium invites us to reflect on how Mani and his early followers imagined their relationships to other religious traditions. It will be shown that, while Manichaean textual traditions were an important conduit of religious information across Eurasia, modern interpreters should be cautious about supposing that ancient readers of Manichaean texts made any meaningful association between the names of these prophetic forerunners and particular doctrines, which by then had been fully naturalized as “Manichaean” teachings.

Удивительная Скифия Гая Юлия Солина

The lost ethno-geographic information of Hellenistic tradition and of the earlier one on the northern Black Sea and neighboring territories are partially preserved due to the compilations emerged in the epoque of the Roman Empire. Thus, “Collectanea rerum memorabilium”, the work by Gaius Julius Solinus, (the 3rd cent.), despite its “secondary” information, is a promising source for the researchers of the northern Black Sea’s ethno-geography. The article discusses Solinus’s information on peoples and tribes dwelling in the region of the northern Black Sea in antiquity, as well as other descriptions (mostly concerning hydronyms, local fauna and customs and the mode of life of Scythian tribes) drawing attention to the features of Solinus’s world picture. Solinus’s compilation’s chief sources were works by Pomponius Mela and Pliny the Elder. Exposing their texts, Solinus used rhetorical techniques and added paradoxography’s excursions to his predecessors’ information, i.e., inserted unusual facts and curious natural phenomena. Obviously, such a description should have made Solinus’s ethno-geographical stuff more attractive to ancient readers and contribute to “a popularization” of the science of ancient oikoumene, i.e., serve didactic targets. If mirabilia in ancient literature are used from the early times, “the miraculous examples” in the work by Solinus are put to the forefront. So, one can speak of his proximity to the literature of ancient paradoxographers. Conventional requirements of sophistics do not exclude the use of Solinus’s work as a historical source containing true facts and details, which not only remove complications in understanding of Solinus’s ethno-geographic map, but also add some evidence of history and culture of the northern Black Sea region in antiquity.

Asking for Trouble: Two Reading Traditions of פללים (Exodus 21:22) in Antiquity

Abstract The Biblical Hebrew word פללים is rare and cryptic. Various readings have been offered for it in its long reception history. Ancient readers of Scripture read פללים in Exod 21:22 in two distinct ways. Some read it as “judges,” whereas others associated פללים with requests, pleas, petitions, and prayers. This latter understanding of the word is found at Qumran, in the Samaritan Targum, and in several late-ancient translations of the Greek Bible. It is reflected in the Mishnah, perhaps in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and in the writing of the sixth-century Christian scholar John Philoponus. Academic scholars of the Hebrew Bible, however, were not aware of the reading of פללים as “request” or “petition.” Scholars of later interpretive traditions often attempted to impose the “correct” reading of the word, “judges,” on ancient readers who read it to mean “request.” These different interpretations offer diverging understandings of the verse and the legal remedy it prescribes. The history of this reading tradition is a case study in moving beyond the important questions of Vorlage and historical linguistics to the long and usually unsung history of how biblical words were read by the many diverse communities that made them their own. Finally, these two readings offer different visions for how the Covenant Code was meant to function: Is it meant to be applied by judges, or are individual adherents meant to use it to solve disputes themselves?

QUEER (A)EDI-(M)OLOGY: ON CALLIMACHUS’ AETIA PROLOGUE

In the prologue of Callimachus’ Aetia, every single word opens up a wide, virtually boundless spectrum of suggestions, intimations, and evocations. In this paper, I heed Callimachus’ formal intricacies, joining the decoding game that has vexed and entertained ancient and modern readers by homing in on the para-etymological potentialities of the verb ἀείδω (‘I sing’). I wish to explore the possibility that, in this architext of Callimachean programmatics, ‘singing’ may amount to a sort of aesthetic satisfaction in self-deprivation, with formal elements mobilizing a spiral of eating and non-eating. This exploration offers the opportunity to think about Callimachean ‘singing’ as a challenge to conventional notions of human subjectivity and to the very idea of poetic immortality, expressing something like the wish of a poète maudit not for monumental permanence, but for a looping insistence. We may then see Callimachean aesthetics as less rarefied, aristocratic, and decorous than it is usually made out to be. In the recalcitrance, the unruly looping of poetic form, we may glimpse an aesthetic sense that is more subversive, shaped by temporal stuckness, a rejection of fulfillment, and a hunger that rejects the lack that is satisfaction. I first locate the possibility of an alternative para-etymologizing of ἀείδω within the prologue's discourse of corporeality, in its precarious opposition of thinness and fatness. I then search the epigram dedicated to Heraclitus and the Hymn to Demeter for traces of the restless aesthetics inherent in this para-etymologizing, which I will ultimately connect with queer temporality. The Callimachean hymn invites us to see the poetic persona of the Aetia's proem in a new light—as a counterpart of the starving binge eater Erysichthon, Demeter's enemy, who is barely distinguishable from the goddess herself.

The Contribution of the Structuring of the Canon to Debate about the Place of Wisdom in Biblical Theology

Abstract Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs are routinely juxtaposed (in different orders and combinations) in the Hebrew and Greek OT canons. The implication of their propinquity is that the books were viewed by early readers as belonging together and mutually enriching. The regular collation of these five books means that they were treated as primary conversation partners, whose interaction took hermeneutical precedence over other possible intra-canonical links. Irrespective of whether it is decided that these generically diverse texts are to be designated a “wisdom collection,” contemporary readers of Scripture will benefit by taking into consideration that the books were placed together by ancient readers who viewed them as needing to be read in relation to each other.

Early Latin Poetry

Abstract This analysis explores aspects of the extant fragmentary record of early Roman poetry from its earliest accessible moments through roughly the first hundred and twenty years of its traceable existence. Key questions include how ancient readers made sense of the record as then available to them and how the limitations of their accounts, assumptions, and working methods continue to define the contours of our understanding today. Both using and challenging the standard conceptual frameworks operative in the ancient world, the discussion details what we think we know of the best documented forms, practitioners, contexts, and reception of Roman drama (excluding comedy), epic, and satire in their early instantiations, with occasional glances at the further generic experimentation that accompanied the genesis of literary practice in Rome.

Сила легенды: Повесть о Словене и Русе в общерусском летописании XVII в.

The article examines the influence of the 1630s Novgorod literary tale about the descendants of Noah, the Scythian princes Sloven and Rus, the Great City of Slovensk, which later became Novgorod, the empire they founded and their descendant Gostomysl, for the broad circles of scholarly book lovers of the 17th – early 18th centuries. The author tries to explain why this tale became extremely popular among highly educated chroniclers and was included into the largest chronicle and chronographic monuments, from the Code of 1652 to the Russian Chronograph, as well as into works of the annalistic scriptorium of Patriarch Joachim, the Novgorod Zabelinskaya Chronicle, Latukhin’s Book of Degrees, the Synopsis and the Detailed Chronicle from the Beginning of Russia to the Battle of Poltava. The tale remained stable in the writings of the overwhelming majority of authors, who were accustomed in other cases to seriously revise, shorten or supplement the text. The fact that the attempt remake the tale in a scholarly way and to integrate it into the chronographic text was unique and unsuccessful makes us think that ancient scribes and readers of their works, like M.V. Lomonosov later, were attracted by the literary merits of this poetic legend. We see the opposite picture in the history of the similarly conceived scholarly story about Mosokh existence, confirming this conclusion by constant alterations of its text.

The Husband of Philosophy

The paper highlights some related features of allegorical interpretations of Odysseus and Abraham. Both figures were interpreted as souls on a quest. The affinity between exegetical depic­tions of these quests may have prompted the later synthesis of ancient readings regarding Odys­seus’ intellectual pursuits. The comparison of Penelope and her maids to philosophy and lesser dis­ciplines influenced Philo’s image of Abraham as the husband of wisdom, and the mirror image of Philo himself as the husband of philosophy. There are grounds to question whether Philo’s exegesis subsequently formed a background against which Odysseus’ pursuits were expounded. Among the similarities between his Abraham and Eustathios’ Odysseus the philosopher, the portrayal of these characters as stargazers is the most conspicuous.

The Main Character of the Book of Esther: The Contribution of the Textual Divisions and the Assigned Titles of the Book of Esther to Uncovering Its Protagonist

Scrutiny of the traditional textual divisions of the Hebrew version of the book of Esther—the sedarim, the Hebrew paragraphs and the Latin chapters – throws light on whom some ancient readers thought was the main character (protagonist) of the book. The sedarim appear to favour Mordecai’s role over Esther’s in the events narrated, whereas the positioning of the Hebrew paragraph breaks apportions attention more evenly between Esther and Mordecai, who each sought the welfare of the Jewish people. The chapter divisions show an interest in all three leading characters namely, Esther, Mordecai and Ahasuerus. In terms of assigned titles, the book was given the alternate names of Esther and Ahasuerus. It is plain, therefore, that early readers did not come to a settled conclusion as to who is the main character; however, it is clear that the role of Ahasuerus cannot be ignored and that the Persian king must be a candidate for the main character of the book.

“Forgive us our debts”: Jubilee prays the Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer has long held a venerable place in the life of the church. This article argues that one of the reasons for this central importance is that the Lord’s Prayer was a habitus-forming reminder to Jesus’s followers to enact Jubilee daily as the defining socio-eschatological praxis of early Christian communities. This interpretation tempers the tendency to spiritualize ancient readings of the Lord’s Prayer with the steel of collective social practice, the physicality of the body, and the grit of social need.

Is New Testament Theology Still Having an Identity Crisis? A Review of Five Recent Contributions

This article reviews five recent contributions to the field of New Testament theology. More accurately, three NT theologies will be examined alongside two biblical theologies, given that some regard NT theology as inherently deficient apart from OT theology. These five works are notable not only for their diversity of methodology but also their diversity of cultural perspective—one book by a Finn (Timo Eskola’s A Narrative Theology of the New Testament), one by two Germans (Reinhard Feldmeier’s and Hermann Spieckermann’s God of the Living: A Biblical Theology), one by a Canadian (Thomas R. Hatina’s New Testament Theology and its Quest for Relevance: Ancient Texts and Modern Readers), one by an American (Craig L. Blomberg’s A New Testament Theology), and one by a native Briton (John Goldingay’s Biblical Theology). Along the way, this review article will consider how these works navigate the tricky and contested terrain of NT (or biblical) theology, particularly vis-à-vis matters of history, canon, synthesis and diversity, and contemporary relevance.

Chapter Four Didymus and comedy

Abstract Didymus’ commentaries on the comic playwrights and his Comic Vocabulary responded to the interests of the readership of Attic comedy primarily in two ways: by summarizing the opinions of previous scholars and by offering a wide range of explanations, useful also to less specialized readers. Although his exegesis of comedy is now preserved only through quotations (mainly in the scholia to Aristophanes), it is still possible to identify the main features and interests of Didymus’ interpretative work and highlight its relevance for both ancient and contemporary readers of Greek comedy.

Books, Scribes, and Cultures of Reading in the Shepherd of Hermas

In this article, I analyse how the Shepherd of Hermas constructs an ancient Christian reading culture through concurrent portrayals of Christian reading, copying and book production. I argue that, by portraying its protagonist Hermas as an idealised reader, scribe and auditor, the Shepherd constructs an early Christian reading culture that authenticates Hermas's role as prophet, activates the textual dissemination of the Shepherd and ritualises the practice of Christian auditory ‘reading’. The article closes with ‘Hermas the freedman’, which considers how Hermas's self-presentation as a formerly enslaved person may have connections to the Shepherd's centralisation of ancient reading cultures.

Author and Characters: Ancient, Narratological, and Cognitive Views on a Tricky Relationship

AbstractThis article argues that ancient readers had a very different sense of the relation between author and characters from modern literary scholars. The tendency of ancient critics to ascribe t...

Fashioning Mark: Early Christian Discussions about the Scribe and Status of the Second Gospel

This article examines early Christian theories about the identity and role of Mark as transmitter of Petrine tradition. Building upon recent work in classics, it argues that the identification of Mark as Peter's interpreter, the description of his composition as lacking order and his reported excellent memory would have led ancient readers of Papias to conclude that Mark was performing literate servile work. The positioning of Mark in this way strengthened claims about the accuracy of Mark's text.

Anthia and Habrocomes in Full Bloom: A Literary Onomastic Analysis of Erotic <i>Andreia</i> and Lasting Beauty in Xenophon’s <i>Ephesiaca</i>

Ancient readers were highly attuned to etymologically and allusively significant character names, which helped shape their experience and understanding of narratives in a variety of ways. Authors frequently exploited that fact in their compositions. This paper capitalizes on that state of affairs by utilizing a literarily attuned onomastic analysis to explore two themes in Xenophon’s Ephesiaca. Specifically, I argue that Xenophon deploys several character names in interpretively important and sometimes sophisticated ways to serve the construction of themes relating to erotic andreia and lasting beauty. Regarding erotic andreia, this study largely supplements and corroborates conclusions that have been emerging in recent scholarship and offers a few fresh proposals for consideration. Xenophon’s interest in lasting beauty has not received much attention in contemporary scholarship outside of David Konstan’s Sexual Symmetry. The results of this study suggest that the theme deserves further examination. I offer a brief sketch, informed by onomastic analysis, of where the theme occurs and why it matters in the story Xenophon is telling.

Before the Bible: The Liturgical Body and the Formation of Scriptures in Early Judaism by Judith H. Newman (review)

Reviewed by: Before the Bible: The Liturgical Body and the Formation of Scriptures in Early Judaism by Judith H. Newman Jillian Stinchcomb Judith H. Newman. Before the Bible: The Liturgical Body and the Formation of Scriptures in Early Judaism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. xiii + 178 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009420000203 Over the last decade, scholarly conversations about scripturality and canonization in the late Second Temple period have blossomed. Newman's volume offers a concise entry point into this ongoing research for specialists and nonspecialists alike. Through close readings of the Wisdom of Ben Sira, Daniel and 4 Baruch, 2 Corinthians, and the Hodayot Newman integrates a range of Jewish and early Christian literature into a broader argument that links the development of Scripture in Judaism and embodied practices of prayer and liturgy. Her concern, she writes, is [End Page 427] "with how bodies engage oral and written texts" through prayer, shaping individual selves and communities, and how these practices shape texts that are "invested, or come to be invested, with a revelatory status" (13). Newman's argument is successful in part because she carefully frames it against a teleological view of the Hebrew Bible, discussing instead the development of Scriptures (plural) in early Judaism. She offers an effective example of the integration of historical-critical methods with a focus on the material, embodied experiences of ancient readers, attending to the role of the liturgical body—which includes but is not limited to the scribal hand—in the formation of Scriptures. Newman utilizes a framework called "embodied cognition." This approach, based on anthropological and neurocognitive perspectives, argues for "an integral tie among brains, sense organs, motor systems, and emotions as humans interact with others and their environments" (11). She focuses on prayer because of its ubiquity in early Jewish texts and because of prayer's relationship to the evolving status of early Jewish Scripture. Newman argues that prayer has five major functions in the scripturalizing process, and offers a diachronic view of this process in social contexts. Newman's discussion of the "liturgical body" refers to both an individual participating in liturgy and a communal body brought together in prayer and collective engagement. She thus engages with the material realia of prayer and textual interpretation, describing the authorizing strategies of the textual sites she examines, which include a traditioning process by which authoritative figures like Paul and the Teacher of Righteousness mediate revelatory texts. In chapter 1, Newman argues that the daily practice of prayer described in the Wisdom of Ben Sira functions as a technology of selfhood, using the conceptual framework of neurocognition to explain the effects of prayer. She focuses on honor and shame, especially with regard to the (male) reader's conduct with women, as anchoring values for Ben Sira. The development of the book of Wisdom of Ben Sira mirrors the development of the self and acts as a reflection on Ben Sira's teaching and interpretation of Scripture. In chapter 2, Newman looks at the use of Jeremiah in Daniel and 4 Baruch. In her argument, the instability of Jeremiah in the Hellenistic-Roman period (at least as late as the second century BCE, according to evidence from Qumran) is not a bug but a feature, one which is reflected in the confessional prayers of Daniel and 4 Baruch. These texts exhibit differing views on prophecy and the relationship between Diaspora Jewish communities and Jerusalem. Daniel and 4 Baruch try to "end" the book of Jeremiah according to their own needs. Daniel presents angelic revelation and prophecy as "continuing means for discovering divine reality" (55). In contrast, for Baruch, the age of prophecy has closed, foreclosing the possibility of further prophetic utterance, but Baruch as the learned sage can act as authoritative interpreter and confessor of Torah for both Diaspora- and Jerusalembased Jewish communities. Moreover, his effectiveness in this role can end the exile. In chapter 3, Newman examines Paul's efforts "to shape a cohesive community from a fractious congregation" (75) in 2 Corinthians, a text that was continually reread and performed as a medium "crucial to the ongoing communication of the [End Page 428] gospel" (75). By connecting the collection of money...