Pagan Cults Research Articles

The Limbo Party

This piece is comprised of video stills from The Limbo Party, an audio-visual collaborative project cumulated through a long-term creative and dialogical process that explored representations of human mobility, archaeology, and landscape between 2017 and 2019. The Limbo Party features a group of “limbo experts,” Tivoli Föreningen, a self-organized association of refugees in southern Sweden. Initially, members of this group came together to learn Swedish, but then later expanded to include a wide range of practical and leisure activities. This led to the development of The Limbo Party, an arts-based investigation that considers how spatio-temporal concepts, such as limbo and twilight, can be metaphorically connected to the state(s) of waiting for asylum or other such permits. In so doing, the project explores the relationship between middle states, potential states, and suspended states in relation to migration. Together we interpreted and materialised concepts of limbo, investigating its limits and potentialities as a fertile, subversive and creative space. The first part of the process connected the contemporary reality of refugees living in Blekinge with a nearby iron-age pagan cult site. Banners were produced and placed on the ‘Dansbana’ (a typical space for dancing during social gatherings) of the local social centre followed by a party and twilight walks through the area of great archaeological significance. A second phase saw the conception and creation of a messenger-object from limbo and its ‘finding’ in the local landscape along with the the message/gift it was sent to communicate.

Нарциссическая культура и проблема политической легитимации

The work continues the rethinking by the authors of the phenomena of changes in education, science and the structure of power in the 21st century within the framework of the philosophy of culture. The concepts of “carnival” according to M.M. Bakhtin, “the soul of culture” according to O. Spengler, Dionysianism (and neo-paganism) by F. Nietzsche are used for this work. The central problem of this study is the legitimation of the political regime of liberal democracy in the context of a narcissistic culture. The latter, due to its internal characteristics, does not allow the existence of any internal authority, the approval of which would provide a moral sanction to the rule of certain political actors. History provides several options for the ontology of the legitimation process. The fi rst of them are associated with the priesthood that existed in the conditions of the domination of pagan culture, the Abrahamic religions that replaced it developed their own sacred mechanisms for granting sanctions to power. The most important shift occurs during the Modern: mass culture is forming, the role of moral authority is shifting from priests to scientists. To achieve legitimacy, political actors must ensure the progress of society on the basis of new advances in science and technology. The legitimacy is also challenged with the help of scientifi c argumentation – the authorities are presented with claims of erroneous technical and economic decisions that have entailed negative socioeconomic and/or environmental consequences. An extreme but signifi cant case is the challenge of scientifi c foundations of politics, as was the case in the case of Soviet Marxism. Expanded reproduction of science and education in the 20th century erodes the former exclusivity of the scientifi c elite and at the same time eliminates the scientist mechanism of political legitimation. The situation is reversed: now, in order to continue pursuing science and education, the former authorities must prove their usefulness to the authorities and society. But the same thing happens with the authorities themselves: offi cials and deputies turn into “servants of people” and explain their necessity to society with the help of representatives of the humanities. They do not rule anymore but produce public goods in exchange for taxes. Bakhtin’s carnival is triumphing. The regime of liberal democracy that ensured the protection of rights of minorities is close to narcissistic culture, in the center of which is the need for freedom and self-realization of the individual. At the same time, however, any authority – political or scientifi c – has a conditional legitimacy here. The proportion of partisans is growing – actors who recognize the legality of the existing social order but deny its internal justice. Fragility and instability are inherent in liberal democracy. The longevity of such a political regime is ensured by the rise of neo-paganism. Unlike previous pagan cults there is no separate social group of sacrifi ces. Thus, the problem of legitimation is removed: what is already there automatically becomes legitimate. With the help of the liberal discourse, each individual political personality is instilled that it has all the full rights, and the state is left with only responsibilities for the service of this personality: this is the uncontested meaning of Fukuyama’s ‘last man’.

Converting after Constantine: Firmicus Maternus and the Scriptures

Abstract: The two extant works by the senator Julius Firmicus Maternus, a manual of astrology ( Mathesis , ca. 337) and a ferocious attack on senatorial paganism ( De errore profanarum religionum , 343–50), offer exceptional insight into the transformation of a convert's beliefs in the era of Constantine. Study of Firmicus's Christianity has long been hampered by distaste for his desire to see pagan cult annihilated and by the belief that he took essentially all of his scriptural knowledge from Cyprian's Ad Quirinum and Ad Fortunatum . Recent scholarship has dealt with the first issue. This article focuses on the second. Surveying Firmicus's biblical quotations and allusions, it demonstrates that he had extensive knowledge of biblical passages that Cyprian does not cite, ranging far beyond the Psalms (which Firmicus is generally thought to have known independently). He interprets Cyprianic texts in light of non-Cyprianic parallels, cites surrounding context, weaves in references to liturgical custom, and deploys well-known exegetical motifs such as the interpretation of Psalm 23 (LXX) in reference to Christ's descent and ascension. Combined with his heavy reliance on Cyprian for quotations, Firmicus's use of biblical passages and extrabiblical theological ideas suggests that he was widely read in scripture, but that had to hand only Cyprian's collections, with whose explanatory headings his ideas about coercion and his Christology engage. Firmicus's engagement with scripture, in part through Cyprian's mediation, thus illustrates the processes by which an upper-class convert could assimilate Christian ideas. His integration of astral language into his description of Christianity, in turn, undercuts modern generalizations about the Christianity of the Constantinian era. Far from being at home with pagan conceptions of the universe, Firmicus reworks them to exalt Christ and the cross above the stars themselves.

A Positive Side to Apophaticism: Prolegomena

The article synthetically presents positive aspects of apophaticism. It discusses its apologetic role, its importance in defending against magical thinking, its focus on experience, its openness to pluralism, and its inspirational role for a variety of disciplines in delimiting their cognitive boundaries. Some of the most important conclusions are: a) apophaticism played an important role in the early days of Christianity in polemics against both pagan cults and magical tendencies; b) already in ancient Greece apophaticism influenced the search not only for symbolic interpretations of Homer’s poems but also for religious experience; c) the limits of cognition discovered by theology are becoming a contemporary experience of other sciences (mathematics, physics).

Participation of Russian Neo-Pagans in the Activities of Russian Political Parties (1990–2017)

The paper investigates the participation of neo-pagans in the political life of post-Soviet Russia. Until now, such studies have mostly focused on the rituals and mythology of neo-pagan practices and the study of their sacred books and artifacts. According to the author, contrary to stereotypes about the escapism of neopagans, the analysis shows that neo-pagan organizations are very active. Neo-pagan organizations are characterized by their focus on infi ltration into the parties and organizations, either leftist (the Russian Communist Workers’ Party, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the Russky Lad, created in 2012 within this party) nationalist (the National Power Party of Russia (NDPR), the Russian All-People’s Union (ROS), the National Democratic Party of Russia), ultra-liberal (PARNAS, Navalny Headquarters) or ecological (Union of Greens of Russia). There are a number of cases when the leaders of regional branches of political parties simultaneously performed the functions of priests of pagan cults. For example, the head of the Russian Bloc – Saratov movement Pavel Galaktionov or the secretary of the Kirov district Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in Saratov Vladimir Maslov, who in 2014–2017 lobbied for the construction of a neo-pagan temple in the center of Saratov. In 2002, the same claim was addressed by the capital’s neo-pagans to the Moscow authorities under the slogan, “Let there be a shrine on Poklonnaya Hill!” In addition, the paper reveals the infl uence of neo-pagan fi gures on the right-wing youth, provides extensive evidence on this subject, and examines the attitude of neo-pagans (both ideologists and their ordinary followers) to Christianity.

Stage Concept of the Golden Calf Dance in Myroslav Skoryk Opera "Moses"

The authors of the article considered the peculiarities of the stage interpretation of the vocalchoreographic component in Myroslav Skoryk's opera "Moses", namely the scene of worship before the Golden Calf. Two productions of this opera, which took place in Kyiv and Lviv, were analyzed. The relevance of this plot is due to the appeal to works of a parable direction in the fateful period for mankind, times when one has to choose one's own path on the basis of the spiritual treasury of Christianity - the Bible. The essence of the dance before the Golden Calf is a kind of echo of ancient Egyptian honors performed before the sacred Apis bull and Assyro-Babylonian religious rites dedicated to the god Baal. The characteristic signs of the pagan ritual of worshiping the Golden Idol, their manifestation in an orgiastic, passionately seductive dance with the excitement of the winefueled imagination of the crowd, driving it to frenzy and immoral acts, are proven. In order to create an artistic and holistic performance, it is necessary to synthesize oratorical features (the leading function of the choir, symbolic-generalized interpretations of events with their static-slow-motion unfolding) with operatic specifics (dynamic directing, bright scenography, expressive musical dramaturgy). The article notes the logic of the dance mise-en-scene with the ballet appearance from the choristers who are opponents of Moses, the ballet dancers gradually shed their clothes, and the audience watches the transformation of a religious ceremony into an orgy in the Lviv opera version. The Lviv version differs from the Kyiv version in that the latter has an interpretation of the idolatry scene with a weakly expressed conflict between the two ideological camps due to a simplified miseen-scène of introducing the ballet into the dance action without delineating its affiliation with Moses' opponents. The conformity of the stage solution of the dance of the Golden Calf in the Lviv and Kyiv versions of the opera to the creatively reinterpreted ancient pagan cult of fetishization of wealth and power is proven. Attention is focused on the logic of mise-en-scène in the Lviv version of the play, and on the psychologization and personification of the characters' images in the Kyiv version. The need for complex integrated studies of the use of ancient cult rituals in opera performances with the synthesis of historical, cultural, theological, ethical-aesthetic, socio-psychological, art-based foundations of the existence of a certain ethnic group in the conditions of the development of civilizational processes is predicted.

Les démons étaient-ils vraiment le problème à Corinthe ?

Abstract A consensus of opinion exists among scholars that Paul appears to contradict himself in 1 Cor 10:17–22: on the one hand, he makes clear that idols have no existence beyond the material objects themselves ; on the other hand, he appears to warn the Corinthians that they are exposing themselves to a dangerous metaphysical reality, namely demons (i.e., evil supernatural beings), by taking part in pagan cults. This supposed non sequitur is generally resolved by claiming that Paul adheres to two Jewish traditions simultaneously. The Jewish witnesses, however, do not support such a conclusion. In fact, the Jewish sources offer an alternative solution to this supposed problem, namely that Paul uses the word δαιμόνια to designate foreign gods to which he attributes no metaphysical reality. In short, there are no demons involved. As such, he maintains a biblical position : even if the idols are nothing but wood and stone, idolatry is forbidden.

Η ρητορική υπέρ της θρησκευτικής ανεκτικότητας: ο Λόγος 30 «πρὸς Θεοδόσιον τὸν βασιλέα ὑπὲρ τῶν ἱερῶν» του Λιβανίου.

The present article discusses how the Antiochean orator Libanius endeavors to create through his rhetoric a more tolerant stance towards the already persecuted paganism and its cults in the later 4th century during the reign of emperor Theodosius I. By tracing and interpreting the rhetorical techniques which the orator uses in the Oration 30 (Pro Templis) so as to achieve his goal, the article also presents the religious unrest that broke out in the broader area of Coele Syria due to the gradual criminalization of the pagan cults and the plundering of pagan shrines and temples by highranking Christian officers and fervent monks. Libanius tends to become not only a pagan apologist, but he also seems to assume a role of defender of the social stability and order, by calling for religious neutrality (and subsequently tolerance) in the public sphere, which was dominated by the Nicene Christianity.

ЖИВОТНЫЙ МИР В КАРТИНЕ МИРА ФИЛОСТОРГИЯ

The article examines the place of the animal world in the picture of the world by Philostorgius. Being a prominent representative of the Alexandrian school and the heretical church historiography of the IV-V cent. AD, he approached this issue much more seriously, paying attention to the symbolism due to the appearance and relationship of a person with one or another biological species. All this correlates with the methods of biological descriptions in antiquity, some of which are also used by modern biologists. Careful handling of the biological terminology of Aristotle and Pliny is noticeable in the use of such a key concept of the Philostorgian worldview as φύσις.Regarding animals, he uses this word in the sense of gender, which successfully correlates with Aristotle's “History of Animals”. It is concluded that the descriptions of animals in the “Ecclesiastical History” is an imitation of “Natural History” by Pliny the Elder and “History of Animals” by Aristotle. Trying to follow, on the one hand, Polybius in covering the political events of the Roman Empire; on the other hand, Eusebius of Caesarea in a story about the religious struggle between currents in Christianity, Judaism and pagan cults; Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, in an effort to represent the entire cosmos from Paradise and heaven, to the depths of the earth and Hell, Philostorgius created a religious and political work with elements of scientific descriptions, intended for an educated reader and aiming to educate a citizen of Rome, a diversified Eunomian.

Христианизация античной архитектуры: крупные метрополии и далматинские провинции

The article examines the peculiarities of the processes of Christianization of architecture in the major metropolises (Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth) of the Roman Empire, as well as in the Dalmatian provinces (Jader, Salona, Pola, small settlements and islands) on the border between them. The specifics of the religious situation in these regions and the missionary activity of Christian preachers led to the transformation or adaptation of pagan cult structures, household or residential buildings. At the same time, pagan temples were very rarely destroyed intentionally, but as a rule they became abandoned and gradually destroyed naturally, providing building material for Christian churches. The use of such building material of previous structures could be symbolic, and in some cases architectural details changed their function from constructive to liturgical. Both in the capitals and in the provinces, there was a certain tolerance when different religious buildings functioned at the same time. Christian conversions could occur while preserving the special functions of the revered place. With the advent of Christianity in the Dalmatian provinces of the Roman and then the Byzantine Empire, very conservative ancient traditions were preserved there for a long time, which allowed these lands to organically survive the process of Christianization of ancient architecture.

Антропоморфная деревянная скульптура как категория языческих древностей средневекового Новгорода (хронология, топография, семантика)

Anthropomorphic wooden sculpture of small forms is one of the categories of pagan antiquities of medieval Russia. The Novgorod collection of such finds is the most important one and allows for a comprehensive analysis, including morphological, stratigraphic and topographic studies. Thanks to the introduction of new finds into scientific discussion, the typology was clarified, and the main variants of images were considered. The chronology of anthropomorphic sculpture corresponds to the dating of other categories of pagan cult objects. The variety of types and variants falls on the pagan period and the first century after baptism. The exception is wooden finials, the use of which continues until the early 14th century. Topographic analysis shows that most of the finds are localized in structures, which indicates the use of small anthropomorphic sculptures as housing apotropaea. Perhaps the semantic meaning of this category of cult objects should be sought in the cults of “domestic” gods, such as Rod or Svarozhich, and a connection with the archaic traditions of house-building magic is not excluded.

Interioryzacja misterium paschalnego Chrystusa w celebracji Eucharystii

Starting from the difficulties in the reception of the Council’s teaching on the liturgy and its implementation, this article points to the need to discover the paschal mystery of Christ in the Eucharist. Because of the biblical and patristic-liturgical renewal and the re-emphasis on “mystery” in the twentieth century, the article introduces the concept of mystery in pagan cults and in the Church of the first centuries. The second part of the article, based John Paul II’s teaching on the Eucharist, shows the spiritual attitude towards the paschal mystery of Christ in the celebration of the Eucharist and considers the components of this attitude. At the same time, he takes into account signs and symbols and their functions in the interiorization of this mystery.

Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion

Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion

Χρήσεις του προσωνυμίου "Γαλιλαίοι" και του εθνωνύμου "Έλλην" στο έργο του Ιουλιανού.

After the first half of the fourth century, the Christian doctrine appeared to be the indisputable, sovereign cult, in the religious conflicts that took place in the vast acreage of Late Roman Empire. Not only it prevailed upon the various pagan cults of the empire, but it also ended up as the imperial cult. Earlier this period, the ethnonym “Hellen” adopted a novice, “religious-based” meaning, designating “pagans”, which would prevail among others in the following centuries.Emperor Julian’s reign (361-363) comprised a brief disruption of the inevitable domination of Christianity. In the present paper, we study the functions of the appellative “Galilean” and the ethnonym “Hellen” in the julianic corpus, in order to contribute to the apprehension of the julianic philosophical and religious thought, as well as to illuminate undiscernible shades in the functions of the terms under study.

Философия и религиозная политика в «Философской истории» Дамаския

In the paper, I consider some aspects of religious politics in late antiquity on the basis of select fragments from Damascius’ “Philosophical History,” translated into Russian for the first time. I also observe that the archeological finds, often better than the biased literary evidences, show both the different strategies of interaction between the adherents of pagan cults and official Christianity in late antiquity and, more importantly, the non-linearity of the paths by which Christians advanced towards their goal, without ever reaching it. We see that the church authorities often permitted the total destruction of pagan sanctuaries, as happened in 392 with the Serapeum, by initiating the full-scale persecution of pagans and their physical elimination, as Damascus testifies in many sections of his history. On the contrary, in some cases they sought only to "neutralize" the pagan cult, depicting crosses on statues and using ancient temples as churches and, accordingly, to attract the pagan intellectual elite to their side. All in all, this material allows us to take a more comprehensive view of history, reconstructing a complex cultural context.

ПОЛАБІСТИКА ЯК НАПРЯМ СЛАВІСТИЧНИХ ДОСЛІДЖЕНЬ АНТОНІЯ ПЕТРУШЕВИЧА (1821–1913)

Among Ukrainian slavists of the second half of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century A. Petrushevych occupies a prominent place. The scholar had made a substantial, although ambiguous in its scientific value, contribution to the development of the discipline. His Slavonic studies cover a variety of subjects and problems, in particular they include papers, which to the larger or lesser extent are concerned with the past of the Polabian Slavs. In them A. Petrushevych explored the earliest period of their history, pagan beliefs, material culture, etc. Until now there is no separate study, which would investigate these works. So, the article’s purpose is a historiographic analysis of the research work of A. Petrushevych in the field of Polabian studies, of the topics, problems, and methods of his papers and notes. In the works on the ancient and medieval history of the Polabian Slavs, scholar’s interest is evident in religious, philological, historical, archaeological, and ethnographic problems. The researcher has read a wide range of the newest scientific – historical, archaeological, philological literature. Antonii Petrushevych had analyzed specific evidence and plots of the history of the Polabian Slavs, foremost their pagan cults, compared them with beliefs of the eastern Slavs, the Scandinavians, and other people of the ancient world. However, Polabian studies do not occupy an important place in his research work and only rarely appear on the pages of his Slavonic papers. In the works devoted to pagan beliefs of the Polabian Slavs, an interest in comparative studies is obvious. Such an approach is not careful and reasonable, because the phenomenas that are compared are very distant in time and distinct from one another. The research on the history of the Polabian Slavs is not systematic and shows rather a sporadic interest in the topic. At the same time, such interest was not accidental, inasmuch as it could be traced on various stages of the scholar’s scientific life. Antonii Petrushevych had not written any special work on the history of the Polabian Slavs, but, despite this, his Polabian studies constitute an integral part of his Slavonic research legacy.

K voprosu o meste i roli kolodcev v mifologicheskih predstavleniyah vostochnyh slavyan domongol'skoj epohi

Based on the analysis of ancient Russian chronicles, archaeological data and folklore sources, the publication reconstructs the ideas and beliefs of the Eastern Slavs of the Old Russian era associated with wells, which represented in the minds of our ancestors a certain mythological space between the world of people and the sacred underground world. The authors point to the obvious connection of the pagan cult of wells with the cults of water and earth, as well as the ideas of our ancestors about the afterlife. In their opinion, the custom of worshiping wells is one of the oldest traditions in ancient Slavic paganism, which existed for several centuries after the adoption of Christianity.

Kantian Aesthetics as “Soft” Iconoclasm

Kantian Aesthetics as “Soft” Iconoclasm Thomas Pfau (bio) What is this endeavor called aesthetics, and what prompted its rise in the mid-eighteenth century? Do such theories typically, or perhaps only, arise when their main object of inquiry has become questionable, when (as Hegel avers) the end of art is upon us? Has the time for aesthetic reflection only come when the practice of art has drifted away from meanings that, at some earlier (though not easily specifiable) point in time, had been intuitively felt and practically embraced? Is aesthetics but a supplemental discourse, only called for under conditions of a modernity that, “estranged from the world, sees the world as severed into the purely factual and the hidden signification of metaphor, [whereas] the old image rejected reduction to metaphor”?1 If Schiller’s das Sentimentalische marks the moment when the production of art has become terminally self-aware, philosophical aesthetics attempts to relegitimate practices now seemingly incapable of enduring without a conceptual warrant. As evidenced by the myriad prefaces, defenses, manifestos, and reviews that, from Romanticism to high Modernism, seek to frame works of art for an increasingly disoriented and distracted public, philosophical aesthetics is a belated attempt at legitimating symbolic forms that have [End Page 69] manifestly become untethered from their millennia-old function. The result, as Hans-Georg Gadamer notes, is the paradoxical situation in which “as far as so-called classical art is concerned, we are talking about the production of works which in themselves were not primarily understood as art.” Their function, we may say, was to mediate human beings with an “order” (Gk. kosmos) that formerly could be seen, felt, and touched, but that human beings never claimed to have made or control themselves. Conversely, Gadamer goes on, “as soon as the concept of art took on those features to which we have become accustomed and . . . began to stand on its own, divorced from its original context,” the result was the “emancipation of art from all of its traditional subject matters and . . . [its] rejection of intelligible communication itself.”2 The shift from a metaphysical order to the immanent frame of homo faber thus appears to have drained the very concept of mimêsis of its essential motivation. Provided we do not misconstrue it as neo-classical “imitation” but retain its classical Greek meaning as “symbolic presentation” (Darstellung), mimêsis had been the very pivot of attempts, both in pagan cults and in Christian liturgical life, to mediate between the human and the divine. Yet, in the wake of the Reformation and the rise of Enlightenment rationalism, that sacramental framework has become notably atrophied and, at times, vigorously contested. As a result, the metaphysical view of mimêsis as intercession seems increasingly drained of motivation, irrelevant or, within seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Anglo-Protestant, Pietist, and Methodist culture, is regarded with a mix of perplexity and suspicion. Let me now put a sharper focus on what, thus far, has been but a series of sweeping and eminently debatable hypotheses by raising some fundamental questions about Kant’s discussion of art as unfolded in his Critique of Judgment (1790). What follows proceeds from the hypothesis that Kantian aesthetics amounts to a concerted, if not entirely successful, attempt to repurpose the Platonic notion of the beautiful for an avowedly postmetaphysical world and its procedural and conceptualist notion of rationality. Within this paradoxical [End Page 70] situation, Kantian aesthetics occupies a unique position in that he does not yet seek to “explain” art by situating it within an explicitly historical scheme. Then again, inasmuch as Kant’s project of a “critique” aims to delimit and exclude given metaphysical commitments of any kind, his proposed rehabilitation of the beautiful is carried out with much ambivalence and countless qualifications—perhaps nowhere more so in section 59 of the Critique of Judgment, which takes up the quintessentially Platonic thesis that the Beautiful is the symbol of the Good. Two questions arise here that warrant closer consideration: first, why reengage with the concept of the beautiful at all? What necessitates reintroducing a concept whose metaphysical entanglements are palpable and bound to vex the very project of a critical philosophy so keen...

Проблема сакрального в контексте истории философской мысли

The article analyzes the general history of the formation of the phenomenon of sacred, as well as its potential for research in the context of the history of philosophical thought. Within the framework of the existing trends in the study of the sacred, it is customary to analyze the phenomenon either in its narrow subject specialization, or in the context of individual disciplines with which it finds a connection. At the same time, the phenomenon is not fully considered as a separate phenomenon that exerts and undergoes internal and external changes within the framework of general secular trends in the development of mankind. It is assumed that this situation develops due to insufficient research of the phenomenon within the historical context. The author believes that this problem can be solved with the help of historical reconstruction of the phenomenon, analyzing it indirectly, through the connection with monotheistic religions and pagan cults.

Lappo-Danilevskii , K. Iu. Zav'ialov , S. A. Alkei i Safo. Sobranie pesen i liricheskikh otryvkov v perevode razmerami podlinnikov Viacheslava Ivanova so vstupitel'nym ocherkom ego zhe (review)

SEER, 99, 1, JANUARY 2021 162 not satisfactory to their creator, to problems that continued to plague him and are never entirely solved. Still, as with Knapp’s biography, Zorin’s account is woven together by thematic threads, including love and death, as they manifest themselves throughout the author’s life and in his writings. Zorin pays especial attention, for instance, to Tolstoi’s relation to important women in his life, from his mother, who died before he turned two, to his wife Sonia and their off again on again love story, and to Sonia’s sister Tania. When Zorin characterizes War and Peace as ‘arguably the longest and the most exquisite declaration of love ever written by any man to any woman’ (p. 79), the woman he has in mind is not Sonia, but Tania! Although Zorin does not say this, one can speculate that Tolstoi’s undeniable attraction to his irresistible sister-in-law was all the more powerful because it was not, and could never be consummated. (He defended his occasional homoerotic feelings for men as higher than those he had for women, because they were chaste.) This was not true of his relations with Sonia, with whom he had thirteen children, the last one born in 1888, when he was sixty years old. There is a trend now to publish short biographies for busy people. Such books can be assigned to provide context in one author courses. It is helpful to read more than one such biography, because great writers, even one like Tolstoi who stresses simplicity, are so complex that they deserve and need multiple perspectives. Professors Knapp and Zorin bring out different aspects of Tolstoi’s life and works. And just because they disagree in some places does not mean that either of them is all wrong. This reviewer, having read both biographies, has profited from them and recommends them both to readers who are fascinated by the genius whose life they describe. Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures Donna Tussing Orwin University of Toronto Lappo-Danilevskii, K. Iu. and Zav´ialov, S. A. (eds). Alkei i Safo. Sobranie pesen i liricheskikh otryvkov v perevode razmerami podlinnikov Viacheslava Ivanovasovstupitel´nymocherkomegozhe.3rdrevisededition.Izdatel´stvo imeni N. I. Novikova, St Petersburg, 2019. lxiv + 398 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliographical references. R 1,000.00. This handsome volume is a scholarly gem and labour of love. Konstantin Lappo-Danilevskii, a specialist in Russian literature at IRLI (Pushkinskii dom), and Sergei Zav´ialov, a classicist, literary critic, translator and poet, have combined their impressive textological and philological skills to produce a definitive edition of Viacheslav Ivanov’s remarkable translations of the two main lyric poets of seventh-century BC Greece, Alcaeus and Sappho. REVIEWS 163 As a classical philologist, leading Symbolist poet and experienced translator, Viacheslav Ivanov was uniquely qualified to undertake this task. Like his friend and fellow classicist Faddei Zelinskii, he strove to revive the spirit of ancient Greece in contemporary Russia and to establish connections between pagan cults and mystic Christianity. Translation was a powerful means of furthering his mythopoeic agenda. After publishing innovative versions of Pindar (1899) and Bacchylides (1904), he began translating Alcaeus and Sappho in 1910–12 for the benefit of his students at N. P. Raev’s Historical and Literary Courses for Women. The project soon took off and grew into a substantial book, published by the Sabashnikov brothers in the prestigious series, ‘Pamiatniki mirovoi literatury’. The first edition of 1914 (216 pp.) was followed by a second expanded edition in 1915 (255 pp.), incorporating new texts from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri. The third revised edition, prepared for publication in 1919 but not printed at the time, differed substantially from the first two editions. Ivanov merged the poems added in 1915 with the previous body of texts, added some verses, removed others, and revised the introduction and notes. The present volume (462 pp.) makes the final text of Ivanov’s authorized typescript of 1919 available for the first time, a century after its completion. The editors’ accompanying essays and commentaries contextualize and clarify the significance of Ivanov’s work. When the first two editions of Alkei i Safo appeared, they created quite a...