Greek Tradition Research Articles

The Aesopic Wisdom of Tevi: A Tale of Two Tongues

Abstract: This essay shows that the character of Tevi is not homogenous but a conglomerate of shifting topoi. The tannaitic Tevi is pious, the amoraic Tevi is learned, and a Tevi as portrayed in an episode in Leviticus Rabbah is a smart-mouth. This last shift hints at a different character who has merged into the Tevi cycle: the episode in Leviticus Rabbah parallels an anecdote that appears in the Life of Aesop that has received little scholarly attention. The parallel highlights the shifting nature of Tevis and the transformation of Tevi into something of an Aesop figure: the clever slave who can answer power with wit. The connections between the rabbinic and Greek traditions are, in this instance, prolonged. An ancient reworking of the Leviticus Rabbah episode alters the narrative in ways that align more closely with a different version of the Greek tradition, erasing Tevi and his wisdom from the story. Much like Aesop, the rabbinic slave figure becomes uncannily wise and subsequently—or consequently—disappears.

Might Beauty Bolster the Moral Argument for God?

John Hare argues that Kant, in his Third Critique, offers an aesthetic argument for God’s existence that shares premises with his famous moral argument. Karl Ameriks demurs, expressing skepticism that this is so. In this paper, I stake out an intermediate position, arguing that the resources of Kant provide ingredients for an aesthetic argument, but one distinctly less than a transcendental argument for God or an entailment relation. Whether the argument is best thought of as abductive in nature, a C-inductive argument, or a Pascalian natural sign, prospects for its formulation are strong. And such an argument, for its resonances with the moral argument(s), can work well in tandem with it (them), a fact not surprising at all if Kant was right that beauty—in accordance with an ancient Greek tradition—exists in close organic relation to the good. More generally, along the way, I argue that the sea change in Kant’s studies over the last decade or so should help us see that Kant is an ally, rather than foe, to aesthetic theodicists.

Antyczno-chrześcijańskie proweniencje staropolskiej literatury pastoralnej

This article describes the influence of the ancient and Christian tradition on the formation of the genology of the idyll. It is a species structure that has a special kind of motivation, which was manifested in the methods of its conventionalization. The author presents the stage of the entry of the idyll into Polish literature of the Renaissance starting with the first Latin-language traces of idyllic creativity by Pietro Illicino and Stanisław Koszutski. Currently, these literary works are little known, although the circumstances of their creation are very interesting. Furthermore, bucolic provenance was discussed, referring to the Italian and Greek traditions. The theme of ancient and Roman Catholic Arcadia was analysed. The systematized theoretical record includes information on the relationship of the idyll with other pastoral genres, such as eclogues, carols or pastorales. The article also interprets idylls that refer to the Christian concept of neoplatonic love, i.e. the divine Amor divinus and the wordly Amor profanus. The process of transforming a Latin idyll into a Polish-language idyll is presented in the context of cultural and literary conditions of that time. This article contains a description of important genre criteria (with the textual exemplifications) gradually adapted by the first authors of pastoral literature, such as: Jan Kochanowski, Szymon Szymonowic and the Zimorowic brothers. The opus of these poets prove the numerous transformations of idyllic criteria in specific textual realizations, showing the complicated path in the location of the idyll in the canon of literature and in Polish culture in general, with its lifespan and topicality at the same time. Key words: idyll, genology, Antiquity, Renaissance, Christianity, Jan Kochanowski, Szymon Szymonowic, Szymon Zimorowic, Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic

On the Question of the Adoption of the Epiclesis ‘Euergetes’ by Ptolemy III

In 2020, I published the monograph From Basileis-Pharaohs to Pharaohs-Basileis: The First 100 Years of the Ptolemaic Monarchy. In that book, I proposed to move the date of the famine that occurred during the reign of Ptolemy III from 245/244 BC to the period between 243 and 238 BC, drawing on the evidence of the Alexandrian ‘synodal’ decree of 3 December 243 BC. If my hypothesis is correct, it becomes necessary to reconsider the background of Ptolemy’s adoption of the Greek form of the sacred epiclesis ‘Euergetes’ (Benefactor), which earlier I associated with the help that the population of Egypt received from the king during that famine. In modern historiography, there are a number of alternative suggestions regarding the prior actions of Ptolemy III, supposedly consistent with the Hellenistic ideas about euergetism. Among them are the victorious end of the Asian military campaign (246–245 BC); suppression of unrest in Egypt; return to Egypt of the statues of local gods and cult objects that had been removed by the Persian conquerors; and deeds for the benefit of Egyptian temples and sacred animals. But these actions of Ptolemy III either did not meet the definition of a ‘beneficent act’ or concerned only ethnic Egyptians. Traces of the Greek semantic content of the epiclesis ‘Euergetes’ should be sought in the Alexandrian ‘synodal’ decree produced by the Egyptian priesthood. It contains a list of the king’s merciful acts during the first years of his reign, including the easing of fiscal policy and proclamation of a mass amnesty. Such actions were understood as euergetism in the Egyptian and Greek (especially Hellenistic) traditions. Either of them could become the reason for the official deification of the Hellenistic ruler. Responding with an apotheosis to a large-scale act of economic euergetism became everyday reality in the Hellenistic world. Amnesty for prisoners also directly brought the benefactor closer to the Olympian gods, led by Zeus himself.

An Odyssey without Homecoming

Abstract Recent scholarship has drawn attention to the impact of war, occupation, and the Holocaust on Stanisław Lem's literary work. This article attempts to further explore this subject. Its aim is to show how Lem in Powrót z gwiazd [Return from the stars, 1961] depicts the return from space travel as analogous to coming home from war. This analogy is based on a complex interplay between the science fiction narrative on the one hand and references to the Homeric epic poem The Odyssey on the other. The article highlights some peculiarities of this intertextual fabric of Return from the Stars. From this point of view, the science fiction work forms, in Adorno's term, a “constellation” with the epic tale. In this constellation the science fiction narrative exposes in its transtextual interplay with the Greek tradition the deheroization of the hero as well as the ambiguities of a biopolitically organized society in the future. With the transtextual reassessment of the mythical narrative and the emerging literary representation of an odyssey without homecoming, Lem's novel exemplifies a fundamental dismantling of positivity. Seen from this angle, the science fiction novel can be situated in the context of postwar Polish literature which in its attempts to come to terms with the traumatic experiences of war and occupation challenges or even rejects a cultural heritage of traditions and values that have—in the wake of World War II—lost their immanent value.

Anthony A. Long. Selfhood and Rationality in Ancient Greek Philosophy: From Heraclitus to Plotinus. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.

Anthony A. Long’s recent book, Selfhood and Rationality in Ancient Greek Philosophy: From Heraclitus to Plotinus (2022), is a collection of fourteen essays that explore the themes of selfhood and rationality in ancient Greek philosophy. Long’s book provides an illuminating account of the vast ancient Greek tradition and an engaging tour that begins with pre-Socratic thought and ends with Stoicism and Neoplatonism seeking answers to the multifaceted question of the rational self, its emergence and evolution within Greek antiquity.

Classical Foundation of Rhetorical Scholarship and its Contributions to Contemporary Rhetorics

Broadly, this article provides a three-fold synoptic sketch of rhetoric. A survey of the historical development of rhetoric that stretches as far back as the fifth century BC in Greece dominates the first part. The major issue, here, highlights the challenges and ambiguities that attend the attempt in defining the term rhetoric. Leading on from this historical survey, the second part casts light on how rhetorical practices advanced beyond the pale of Greek tradition. At the center of this part is a general description of the way rhetoric was practiced and applied in a diverse domain of academic disciplines. The last part focuses on the awareness that rhetoric should be reconstructed and theorized in a new light. Designed on qualitative methodology, especially as an attempt of library research, this paper draws on secondary sources. In addition to providing a general acquaintance, this article tries to carve out the changes that the scholarship of rhetoric has undergone, which might benefit the nascent researchers pursuing rhetorical scholarship in future.

The ancient roots of dentistry in the Mediterranean civilizations: between Etruscan and Greek traditions up to the time of imperial Rome.

Etruscans, people living in Etruria (Umbria and Tuscany, Italy), were the first to make dentures and false teeth, from 700 BCE onwards. The aim of this study was to investigate, through archaeological and anthropological records, the Etruscans ability in dental practice to understand better Greek's influence on their medical knowledge and, subsequently, the transmission of their medical expertise to Romans. We extensively searched literature to find out references in previous studies on Etruscan medical and dental practice by using keywords such as "Etruscan medicine" and "Etruscan dentistry." We selected various historical papers, from the ancient age texts of 5th century to 2020, which best focused on the review's purpose. Etruscan civilization was influenced by Greek's culture throughout Italian colonies and later "merge" into Greek-Roman culture. Their medical practice based on a mixture of mythology, religion, and technical abilities, especially regarding metalworking. Archaeological remains show a great competence in creating dental prosthesis and in treatment of oral diseases. The results of this paper provide an evident contribution to the knowledge of Etruscan culture, still largely unknown by an anthropological point of view, and their strong relationship with the Greeks colonies, in a profitable cultural exchange.

Causality and the Procession of the Holy Spirit in Manuel Kalekas’s De fide deque principiis catholicae fidei

AbstractThis article examines the way in which Manuel Kalekas describes the procession of the trinitarian persons in one of his earliest systematic treatises. As a member of so-called “Kydones circle,” Kalekas was part of a fourteenth-century group of Latinophrone Byzantine theologians who were interested in ecclesial union with the Latin West and in Latin theological sources. In addition to certain texts from Augustine, during the fourteenth century several works by Thomas Aquinas became available in Greek translation. Kalekas’s De fide is of interest because it integrates conceptual and structural insights from Aquinas even as it draws on Greek traditions from Cappadocia and Byzantium. Although the importance of Aquinas’s Summa contra gentiles for the work of the Kydones circle is often cited, this article argues that Aquinas’s Summa theologiae was also a significant influence for Kalekas.

Iron Age Terracotta Figurines from the Southern Levant in Context

Iron Age Terracotta Figurines from the Southern Levant in Context

The plant offerings from the necropolis of Medma between the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.: the archaeobotany and the Magna Graecia funerary cults

The grave offerings and the traces of ritual actions should prove a valuable source for speculation about views on death in antiquity. In the Classical necropolis of Medma the main features of grave’s goods reflect socio-religious believes about death and after death not completely explained yet. In this research suggestions could derive from the analysis of the vegetal charred offers discovered in some burials; they’re figs, olive stones, grapes, almond and, pheraphs, nuts laid inside the tombs, in most cases primary cremations, or in isolated cases above them. Their presence also in religious contexts like sanctuaries suggests ritual and votive actions more than luxury demonstrating, conclusion drawn from the analysis of the terracotta offers too. In Greek tradition the fruits considered are related to the meanings of civilisation, prosperity, wealth and nature renovation and for this holy to nether deities associated to burial rituals.

Assyrian history of Herodotus : the missing and the extant logos

Herodotus wrote down a very brief account of the history of Assyria in his Histories, but he promised to deliver a complete logos as well. We can find two remarks on this future project that (possibly) never materialized in the end. In the preserved text, there are only several mentions of Assyrian kings, history, and customs, but it seems he planned to expand the narrative further, potentially in a separate piece of work. The result was a mysterious Assyrian logos. In this article, I will explore the possible influence of Herodotus' account on the Greek tradition about this eastern land through either one of these logoi, if, in fact, he had any at all. In the first part, I will examine the sources, whether they refer to his more detailed treatise on Assyria, and what can be said about this work in general. In the second part, I will focus on his extant Assyrian logos, whether any later author (most notably Ctesias and Berossus) could have used his work as a source, and who became the authorities on the history of Assyria, considering the changes in the narratives.

Invitation to Syriac Christianity. An Anthology, ed. Michael Philip Penn, Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, Christine Shepardson, and Charles M. Stang. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2022, xxviii, 431 pp.

The fact that Christianity during late antiquity and the Middle Ages cannot be observed from a Western perspective alone is increasingly recognized in current research. The volume under review makes an important contribution to this change of perspective since it offers insights into the literary production of one of the oldest Christian traditions that has been often overlooked in Western historiography. The churches of the Syriac traditions constituted an important branch of Christianity besides the commonly more well-known Latin and Greek traditions. During the medieval period, Syriac Christians were not only present in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East but also in India and along the routes of the Silk Road extending as far as China. For the first time, this volume, edited by four experts in the field of Syriac Studies, provides a collection of excerpts from the whole range of Syriac literature in English translation which is easily accessible, thus creating a highly valuable sourcebook for the study of Syriac Christianity.

Myth of Makar — the First Founder of Lesbos or How to Become a Greek

Myth of Makar plays a special role in common Greek tradition about the foundation of Aiolian Lesbos, since the myth presents an alternative version of history of founding of Greek settlements in Lesbos, dating this event to the Late Bronze Age. However the most complete version of the myth presented by Diodorus Siculus contains very little that definitely indicates both the origin of Makar himself and his colonists as Greeks. On the contrary many of the details included in the myth testify to the non-Greek component of this myth. Accordingly, the ancient tradition tried in every possible way to rectify Makar’s genealogy and change the content of the holistic story to make it possible to incorporate myth of Makar into the common Hellenic tradition of founding Greek settlements outside the mainland Greece.

ΜΙΧΑΛΗΣ ΧΡΥΣΑΝΘΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ, Υπερρεαλιστικά εγκώμια υπερρεαλιστών: Ανταγωνισμός μεταξύ Διοσκούρων;

Surrealist “praises” (encomia) of surrealists: Empeirikos and Engonopoulos compete? The purpose of the paper is to explore the way the Greek surrealists, Andreas Empeirikos and Nikos Engonopoulos, use the form of the “praise” (encomium) in a fashion that relates to the Ancient Greek tradition and to its Renaissance revival (e.g. Erasmus, “Praise of Folly”), in order to establish the basic principles of their approaches, to deal with negative criticism of their work, to underscore the merits of the ideas and the work of their seniors, but, also, to playfully criticise them and, last but not least, to support and praise each other. The period examined in detail is that from 1935 to 1945, while emphasis is laid on Empeirikos’ long “praise” of Engonopoulos published in 1945, which redrew the rules. The surrealist “praise” is examined as a “agonistic” form, as a competition between poets and artists and as a defensive weapon against malevolent attacks from critics.

THE GREEK KAI BALKAN TRADITION FOCUSING ON THE DUPLE RHYTHMIC FORMATIONS OF “HORA” AND “MAKELARIKO” (KNOWN AS “HASAPOSERVIKO”)

One of the benefits of the folklore revival is the enrichment of information about the folk instruments andthe and dances of the Greek tradition and their evolution both morphologically and musically. Many times, thedefinition of the Greek tradition divided intellectual people who tried to detect the basic characteristics thatdifferentiate the Neo-Greek culture from the cultures of other peoples. Moreover, traditional dances are part of thespirit of observance, as one of its main means of expression..In this particular study, the aim is to demonstrate thecharacteristics of the Greek tradition and the tradition of the Balkan people with the traditional instrument santourias a reference point. The santouri plays an important role in the Greek tradition as well as in the tradition of theBalkans. It is remarkable that it is one of the few instruments where we find variations of the instrument that bringroots from other countries. Due to the significant influences during the Renaissance period, the study is focused onthe „Hora“ dance and how it was interpreted in the traditions of Greek and Balkan music. The “Hora” is mentionedto identify a Romanian dance and music genre that shows diversity according to the tempo and the timesignatures.This of course has an influence on Greek traditional dance music where influences from the culture ofother Balkan peoples and Eastern Europe are noticeable, such as "Μakelariko", what we know today ashasaposerviko.. The research is focused on two main aspects: a) the comparison of the two musical dance genres"Hora" and "makelariko" (known as hasaposerbiko) and b) is there a difference in the way of performance in thefield of Greek traditional dances and the corresponding Balkan dances of “two beats” time signatures focusing onthe two dances of the study? The method used is qualitative-bibliographic and the sample concerns archival materialrelated to Greek and Balkan traditional dances. Regarding the santouri, in both Greek and Balkan origin, althoughthere is not a wide range of literature on the santouri by academic historians who have dealt with the specificinstrument, the bibliographical sources come from important players or from specialized instrument makers.

With or without Candles? Manipulating Cyril of Alexandria's Third Homily In Lucam: Three Versions for One Text

The 156 homilies that Cyril of Alexandria dedicated to Luke's Gospel have experienced a turbulent textual history. In this corpus, the third homily, commenting on Luke 2.21–24, enjoys a special position. Indeed, we can read some fragments of it in the catenae; like two other of the 156 homilies, the third homily is transmitted through a Greek liturgical tradition; and, since Joseph-Marie Sauget discovered the Damascus Patr. 12/20, we have access to a Syriac translation. These three different forms sustain complex relationships with the original text, but all of them are, in various ways, vestigia, manipulations, and rewritings of it. This article thus proposes to focus on the phenomena of manipulating the text of Cyril's third homily, which depends on various needs, either exegetical in the catenae, or liturgical in the Greek tradition. This enables us to get a clearer view of the original text and its reception. The Syriac translation is the most faithful to the hypotext. The catenists, for sure, selected passages and rewrote them, but sometimes they preserved a more conservative text in comparison with the direct tradition. Finally, the liturgical tradition does not hesitate to add a liturgical incipit and to cut the explicit of the homily in the process of fusion with the fourth homily.

Порядок книг Соломоновой трипартиты согласно раннехристианским, ранневизантийским и средневековым армянским толкователям

Introduction. Traditionally, several books of the OT are ascribed to King Solomon, but, according to Jewish tradition, he wrote only three biblical books, viz.: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. According to early Christian, early Byzantine and medieval Armenian interpreters, this order of books in the Solomon trilogy is not accidental. Although in the Christian tradition, this order of books has been attested already from the first centuries, nevertheless, today there are discrepancies and not only about the order of the books in question. Each of these books brings forth a certain semantic and symbolic meaning. They are connected with each other, being, as they were, “steps of the stairs” on the way to knowledge, not to mention the fact that each of these books occupies its worthy place in the treasury of human thought. Methods and materials. These circumstances make the appeal to questions related to Solomon’s tripartite, which are worthy of research using a method of a comparative analysis of various sources. Such a conviction is supported by new data concerning the issues under discussion provided by Armenian sources. Among these testimonies аn important role will be assigned to the use of unpublished yet manuscripts on the topic. A special place is occupied by the codex, which contains an Armenian medieval isagogical collection of the late 12th – early 13th centuries. Analysis. It was compiled by the abbot of the Sanahin monastery Grigor, son of Abas, and is known under the provisional name Book of Causes. The full title of the book is attested only in one manuscript – the most important and earliest from all that have reached us, stored in the Mashtots’ Matenadaran under the number 1879. This medieval textbook includes isagogical questions or prolegomena (presented in Armenian manuscripts under different names, mainly “cause”, “beginning” – hence the Book of Causes) to the all canonical books of the Bible and to the so-called “subtle” writings. The “subtle writings” are certain works that include the writings of both “external” (in relation to Christianity) as well Christian (mainly – “church fathers”) authors. Being of a philosophical and religious character they serve sort of a connecting link, and not only between the OT and the NT. The “subtle writings” were irreplaceable when using philosophical ideas to prove or refute one or another dogmatic position or postulate. As far as can be judged today, this title of certain works has survived only in Armenian; there is no doubt, however, that it had its prototype, at least in the Greek tradition. From the above it follows that the Book of Causes is significant also by the fact that it contains mainly Armenian translations of the introductions to the Bible commentaries of the Church Fathers. Along with them, the Armenian original prolegomena to interpretations are presented here as well. In this manual, there are several prolegomena related to Solomon’s trilogy. Results. These chapters not only confirm the data of early Christian and early Byzantine authors, but also provide some interesting evidence that has not come down to us from other sources (as far as I know). I hope that suggested here analysis of Armenian sources, especially the testimonies from the unpublished isagogical textbook called the Book of Causes will contribute to the international knowledge concerning the discussed questions.

Intertext and allusion in Jewish-Greek literature: An introduction

In the introduction to this special volume, Dhont reflects on Jewish literature in Greek as a research topic and contextualizes the primary research question that lies at the heart of the volume, namely, how did Greek-speaking Jews in the Hellenistic period navigate the multicultural encounter between Jewish and Greek traditions? The study of intertextuality and allusion provides a philological entry point into looking at the ways in which Jewish-Greek authors expressed their position in the cultural matrix of the ancient Mediterranean.

LYRIC IN THE SECOND DEGREE: ARCHAIC AND EARLY CLASSICAL POETRY IN HIMERIUS OF ATHENS

AbstractThis article reconsiders the methodological issues posed by the reception of archaic and classical poetry in imperial rhetorical texts. It argues that references to ancient poems and poets in the works of imperial sophists are always already the product of appropriation and rewriting, and that the study of sophists’ engagement with poetry should go beyond Quellenforschung to explore how and why poetic models were transformed in light of their new rhetorical and imperial contexts. To illustrate this approach and its contribution to our understanding of both ancient-reception phenomena and imperial rhetorical culture, the article focusses on Himerius of Athens, a fourth-century c.e. sophist and teacher of rhetoric whose fondness for lyric poetry has caused his Orations to be used as a quarry for lyric fragments and testimonia. Himerius’ treatment of carefully chosen lyric models is here discussed with attention to his self-presentation and rhetorical agenda to show how the sophist appropriated the voices of diverse lyric icons to promote his school and negotiate his position in relation to the imperial administration. This analysis restores Himerius’ intellectual significance within late imperial culture and society, but it also demonstrates how a more in-depth study of the reception of ancient poetry in imperial sophistic literature has the potential to illuminate the strategies of cultural politics used by imperial authors to (re)construct Greek tradition.