Life Of Apollonius Research Articles

Bodies of Knowledge in Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius

Abstract Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius uses the transmigration of the soul to tie the present to the past through corporal metaphors of cultural preservation. These metaphors are laced throughout Apollonius’ visits to Indian Brahmans and Ethiopian naked sages (Gymnoi), two wisdom groups who respectively celebrate and deny the embodied knowledge of the past that reincarnation allows. This somatic line of thinking culminates in a debate over the Gymnoi’s eponymous nudity, which Apollonius critiques on two counts: it wrongly suggests that the Gymnoi can divest themselves of their past and creates a false dichotomy between clothes and body, ornament and essence.

Literary Eyewitnesses: The Appeal to an Eyewitness in John and Contemporaneous Literature

This essay supports the thesis that the Beloved Disciple is a purely literary character employed as a literary device of authentication recognisable during the late first and early second centuries CE. As evidence, three works are thoroughly compared with the Fourth Gospel in regard to their eyewitness appeals: Philostratus’Life of Apollonius of Tyana(a biography), theWonders beyond Thuleby Antonius Diogenes (a historiographical novel) and theDiary of the Trojan War(a revisionary history) attributed to Dictys of Crete. All three works are roughly contemporaneous with the Fourth Gospel and offer important insights into the sophisticated use of an eyewitness as a literary character to guarantee the (spiritual and moral) truth of a narrative.

Ominous Swans in Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius (1.5)

AbstractThe opening chapters of Philostratus’Life of Apollonius of Tyanapresent readers with a series of signs foreshadowing the future character of the text’s protagonist. This article addresses a little discussed omen at Apollonius’ birth: the appearance of swans who set up a chorus around the future philosopher’s mother, startling her and bringing on his birth, before departing, apparently on their annual migration. This curious avian episode is, on closer inspection, laden with evocations, which have so far been only partially explored: of the god Apollo, and of the philosophers Pythagoras, Plato and Socrates, specifically as Apollonian philosophers.

The Liminal Space: Suburbs as a Demonic Domain in Classical Literature

ABSTRACTThis article explores the potential significance of the suburbs as a liminal space in both ancient Greek and Roman literature, focusing on literature from the imperial period. It will be demonstrated that in these texts the suburbs recur as a setting of preternatural stories, such as those found in The Life of Apollonius of Tyana by Philostratus, in Lucian's Philopseudes, and in Petronius's Satyricon, as well as in many other loci. In all of them, the “demonic” in various forms operates on the outskirts of town. Such a setting is no coincidence. The suburbs comprise a specific area that both literally and figuratively constitutes the limen of the city, and demons are commonly regarded as liminal beings; hence, by virtue of this symbolic connection, the urban periphery appears as an ideal location for the demonic.

The title of Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Abstract:The title of Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius of Tyana as it stands in all editions since Kayser’s 1844 edition, Tὰ ὲç τòν Tυανέα Ἀπολλώνιοώ is not correct. The genuine title of the work is Eἰç τòν Tυανέα Ἀπολλώνιον. The suggestion by Ewen Bowie, that the title of the work characterizes it as a novel, must therefore be dismissed. The meaning of the title is ambiguous: it means both ‘About Apollonius of Tyana’ and ‘In honour of Apollonius of Tyana’. This ambiguity may very well have been intended by Philostratus.

ON SOME POSSIBLE SOURCES FOR PHILOSTRATUS'VITA APOLLONII3.34

The king therefore went down to the village, since the Wise Men's rule did not permit him to spend more than a day with them, but Iarchas said to the messenger, ‘Damis too we consider worthy of the secrets here, so tell him to come, while you look after the others in the village.’ When Damis had come, the Wise Men formed their usual circle and gave Apollonius permission to put questions. So he asked what they thought the universe consisted of, to which they replied, ‘Elements.’ ‘Four, do you think?’ he said. ‘Not four’, said Iarchas, ‘but five.’ ‘What could a fifth one be’, said Apollonius, ‘besides water, air, earth, and fire?’ ‘Ether’, said Iarchas, ‘which we must consider to be the origin (γένεσιν) of the gods. All that breathes air is mortal, but what breathes ether is immortal and divine.’ Next Apollonius asked which of the elements came into existence first. ‘All came together’, said the other, ‘since a living being is not born one piece at a time.’ ‘Am I to consider the universe living?’, asked Apollonius. ‘Yes, if you reason correctly’, said Iarchas, ‘since itself it gives life to everything.’ ‘Should we then call it female’, asked Apollonius, ‘or of the contrary, male sex?’ ‘Of both’, was the answer, ‘since it has intercourse with itself, and performs both the mother's and the father's role with respect to generation. It feels a desire for itself more intense than that of any two other beings, and this joins and unites it, and there is nothing unreasonable about its coalescence. And just as the action of the hands and feet in a living creature comes from mobility and the intelligence (διὰ τὸν ἐκείνου νοῦν) that causes it, so also we must suppose that, because of the intelligence of the universe (κατὰ τὸν ἐκείνου ϕοιτᾷ νοῦν), its parts accommodate themselves to everything that undergoes birth and conception. For instance, the sufferings resulting from drought arise from the mind of the universe, when justice is banished from mankind and treated with dishonor. And this being guides itself not by one hand alone but by many unseen ones that it uses; though too large to be restrained, it moves obediently and tractably.’The doctrine contained in this extract – the only passage ofThe Life of Apollonius of Tyanatreating matters of ‘cosmogony’ – could be summarized in the six following propositions. First, the universe consists of five, not four elements, the fifth being the ether, the γένεσις θεῶν. Just as mortals breathe air, gods breathe ether. Secondly, there is no ‘primordial element’; all five came into being simultaneously. Thirdly, the universe is a living being. In the fourth place, the universe is both male and female at the same time. In the fifth place, as the universe is androgynous it feels desire (ἔρως) towards itself and it is this desire that makes it whole and united. And finally, the passion of the universe for itself is governed by Intelligence (ἐκείνου νοῦς).

Studies in the Textual Tradition of Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Cet article, consacre a la tradition textuelle de la Vie d’Apollonius de Tyane de Philostrate (VA) , fait suite a mon article : Towards a new critical edition of Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius : the affiliation of the manuscripts, in K. Demoen, D. Praet (ed.), Theios Sophistes, Leiden- Boston, 2009, p. 21-56. Le present article est compose de quatre parties. La premiere contient une description codicologique des seize manuscrits preservant le texte entier ou de grandes portions du texte. La deuxieme traite des douze manuscrits contenant des fragments ou des extraits de la VA. La troisieme concerne le traite d’Eusebe et les extraits conserves dans la Bibliotheque de Photius et dans la Suda. La quatrieme partie, finalement, donne une correction du stemma qui etait presente dans l’article de 2009. J’ai a present demontre que le Scorialensis Φ.III.8 (E) est la source de l’ancetre commun du Parisinus gr. 1696 (P) et du Marcianus gr. XI.29 (M) et non pas son jumeau.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF CULTURE IN PHILOSTRATUS' <em>LIFE OF APOLLONIUS OF TYANA</em>

While the travel narrative in Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius of Tyana has been the subject of much scholarly commentary, little has been said about the geography created by those travels. This paper examines the representation of Paraca, Greece, and Rome to demonstrate how Philostratus reverses the traditional Greek view of center and periphery. In his figuration, the extreme geographic periphery of Paraca becomes the center of civilization, whereas the traditional center of Rome is reconceptualized as a dangerous periphery. This reversal supports Philostratus’ larger commentary on the loss of self-knowledge in the Greek world and its consequences. hilostratus’ The Life of Apollonius of Tyana (hereafter VA) is one of the most important texts for scholars interested in the discourse of travel in late antiquity. 1 The biography, a largely fictionalized account of the firstcentury sage, depicts the protagonist’s journey through and beyond the Mediterranean oikoumenē. Earlier scholarship on VA focused on questions of historicity, genre, and reliability, and much of this work took the fantastic nature of Apollonius’ travels as indicative of the author “perpetrating a work of fiction.”2 Recent work has given us a better understanding of travel as a literary motif that ∗ I would like to thank Jaś Elsner and David Frankfurter for their comments and suggestions, and Ryan Platte for help elucidating some of the terser passages of Philostratus’ Greek. Additional thanks go to Laurel Fulkerson and the two anonymous reviewers. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2011 Society for Biblical Literature annual conference. Translations provided are my own, except where noted. Citations for VA follow Jones’ Loeb edition. 1 Recent scholarship has largely been focused on the Realien of ancient travel. In a useful review article, Jaś Elsner (2009) refers to “the perennial obsession of ancient historians with enticing a world of actuality out of the fragmentary materials before them, in resistance to (an overly?) imaginative reconstruction of mentalities” (75). 2 Bowie (1978) 1653. The most recent example of this approach is Jones (2001), who takes Philostratus’ geographic errors beyond Arabia as indicative of the work as “a romance of travel, with homage to Herodotus as well as lost authors such as Ctesias” (198–9). P This content downloaded from 157.55.39.165 on Thu, 14 Jul 2016 04:13:49 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Apuleius’ Cupid Considered as a Lamia (Metamorphoses5.17-18)

AbstractThis paper re-examines what many scholars have seen as the problematic intrusion of the monstrous serpent into the narrative of Cupid and Psyche. Psyche seems far too easily convinced by her sisters that her unseen husband is a horrendous creature intent on devouring her. Psyche’s extreme credulity, terror, and willingness to kill her husband are more understandable if her reaction is interpreted in the context of Lamia lore, with which Apuleius and his audience were clearly familiar. Relevant evidence includes Dio’s fifth Oration and Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius, as well as tales of anguipedal males such as Typhoeus and Cecrops.

Magic and Vampirism in Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana and Bram Stoker's Dracula

ABSTRACT This essay considers the intersection of magic and vampirism in Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana and Bram Stoker's Dracula. It demonstrates that these texts, though separated by more than sixteen hundred years, present a similar picture of the beguiling monster—one that is not simply the product of literary influence. Both bind vampiric sorcery—primarily mesmerism and shape-shifting—to anxieties about foreignness, gender, and sexuality. Given the late antique and Victorian obsession with the occult, as well as the apprehension of marginality and femininity, the vampires of Philostratus and Stoker may be said to embody a “Return of the Repressed.” The essay also acknowledges the particular features of the two periods, such as the rise of asceticism in the former and the triumph of science in the latter, but it emphasizes the parallel and virtuosic representation of the vampire–magician.

Beyond Compare: Pagan Saint and Christian God in Late Antiquity

1. A Proposition on Christian Sainthood Let me begin with a proposition: Christian sainthood functions as a means not only of airing the uncertainties of a hegemonic culture but also of negotiating, with existing literary and communicative structures, how best to play out and deny those uncertainties. This may seem a tad paradoxical, especially given that Christian hegemony over the centuries has not typically seen itself as uncertain. But I want to exemplify my claim by examining the surprisingly long history of vituperative Christian attacks on a pagan ‘saint’, Apollonius of Tyana, who has at various times been seen as a rival both to Jesus and his saints. I shall move chronologically backwards through certain Christian assaults on the figure of Apollonius, who lived in the last half of the first century AD, and his hagiography by Philostratus, Vita Apollonii [The Life of Apollonius of Tyana].1 The fact that John Henry Newman writing in the nineteenth century should have delivered as vehement a defence of Jesus against Apollonius as that by Constantine’s biographer, Eusebius of Caesarea (writing in the fourth century),2 is itself evidence of the extraordinary longevity, vibrancy, and continued relevance of this form of apologetic for a strikingly extended period in Christian culture. I will conclude the argument by

Book Review: New Loeb Edition of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Book Review: New Loeb Edition of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Miracle and Magic: A Study in the Acts of the Apostles and the Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Miracle and Magic: A Study in the Acts of the Apostles and the Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Miracle and Magic: A Study in the Acts of the Apostles and the Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Miracle and Magic: A Study in the Acts of the Apostles and the Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Miracle and Magic: A Study in the Acts of the Apostles and the Life of Apollonius of Tyana

Miracle, magic, and methodology gaining power intersecting power defending power concluding thoughts.

Snakes, Lovers, and Moralists: A Comparative Look at the Lamia Legends of the West, the White Snake Legends of China, and the Orthodox and Gnostic Interpretations of Genesis

This paper looks at several stories, spread over a wide distance through both time and space, that share some remarkable features. The lamia stories of the ancient Mediterranean area, especially that told by Philostratus in his life of Apollonius, John Keats retelling of Philostratus's story, the 17th century Chines legend of White Snake as told by Feng Menglong, as well as the so-called orthodox and Gnostic interpretations of the Genesis story of Adam, Eve, God, and the snake, all seem to share a very similar cast of characters acting out a very similar plot. The characters include a young woman who is either identical to or in league with a powerful snake, a gullible, naive young man whom she tempts or seduces, and an older, male, moral authority figure who exorcizes or punishes the snake and upbraids the young man for his moral laxity. All the stories, regardless of their temporal or spatial origins, seem eventually to be interpreted in two, diametrically opposing versions, one version with the snake/woman cast as the villain, the other with the moral authority figure playing the bad guy. This paper examines some of these stories and raises a few questions about psychological meanings as well as possible connections

Damis the Epicurean

Damis is a character in, and his memoirs the putative source of, Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana. Many scholars have doubted the existence of these memoirs, some the very existence of the man. Against the latter party Graham Anderson has advanced an ingenious argument, which attempts to prove that the Damis whose existence has been doubted is identical with a bearer of the same name to whom existence has hardly ever been ascribed. His evidence comprises: (1) Lucian's dialogue Zeus the Tragedian, in which a certain Damis appears as the Epicurean tormentor of the popular divinities; (2) a tale now extant in mediaeval Persian, in which a philosopher named Dini performs a similar function; (3) the testimony of Origen that Moiragenes numbered among the men seduced by Apollonius ‘the illustrious Euphrates and a certain Epicurean’ (Contra Celsum 6.41). Between these reports he detects the following parallels:

The Conception of India in Hellenistic and Roman Literature

Going through the literature of late antiquity, of, say, the third and fourth centuries A.D., one is likely to discover very easily three different concepts of Indian geography.(1) In literary—not in scientific—texts which belong to the classical tradition, India is usually thought of as the country of two big rivers, namely the Indus and the Ganges. This India does not include the region south of the Vindhya mountains, in spite of the fact that the commercial relations between South India and the Roman empire had been particularly close during the first and second centuries A.D. India, according to this literary tradition, was accessible by land, by following the course of Alexander's campaign, whereas Indian trade in the Roman period actually followed the passage provided by the monsoon, which had been discovered in the late Hellenistic period. Many details of that classical or rather classicistic conception of India can be gathered from Philostratus' Life of Apollonius, written early in the third century A.D., as well as from the History of Alexander, falsely attributed to Callisthenes.

Philostratus. In Honour of Apollonius of Tyana. J. S. PhillimorePhilostratus, the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, the Epistles of Apollonius and the Treatise of Eusebius. F. C. Conybeare

Previous articleNext article FreeBook ReviewsPhilostratus. In Honour of Apollonius of Tyana. J. S. Phillimore Philostratus, the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, the Epistles of Apollonius and the Treatise of Eusebius. F. C. Conybeare Paul ShoreyPaul Shorey Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Classical Philology Volume 8, Number 1Jan., 1913 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/359759 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Notes on the Philostrati

For the following notes, which are mainly on the Life of Apollonius, I have taken Kayser's Teubner text (1870) as the foundation, and my references are to the Olearius paging in his margin.