The ancient Greeks, being superstitious people, like other people, worshiped the forces of nature. They always strived to live in harmony with nature. The most popular tree, associated by the Greeks with the supreme god Zeus, was the oak. One of the most ancient and authoritative sanctuaries of ancient Greece was the oracle of Dodona, on whose grounds grew a sacred oak tree, the fame and authority of which dates back to Homeric times. Despite the assertions of some scholars, the sacred oak tree was not the "home" of Zeus–the ruler of all the gods resided high on Olympus. At a certain stage in the functioning of the Dodona oracle–a role also once played by the sacred spring and copper cauldrons–the sacred oak tree acted as a relay for Zeus's will, which was heard through the rustling of leaves, the creaking of branches, and so on. Thus, a connection was established: the questioner–the sacred oak tree–the god Zeus. The sacred oak survived until the reign of Theodosius, when it was destroyed by order of the emperor.
The paper examines the problem of discrepancies between the Septuagint and the primary Hebrew text of the Old Testament, supplements and contractions, which have emerged in the Greek translation, in the history of Christian Biblical exegesis. The quantitative distinctions and semantic mismatches of separate readings in the overall corpus of versions of the Biblical text inevitably raised questions among Christians when they compared the two Scriptures that had acquired the sacred status: the Holy Scripture of Jews and the Septuagint – the Holy Scripture of Christians, the original and its translation having become the original in terms of ultimate authorship. The presence of another original should have been clarified to the community of Christians, in order not to diminish the divine inspiration of the Septuagint. This issue has become particularly apparent as tied to Origen’s project for the rectification of the Septuagint, based on the synoptic edition in parallel columns of the Hebrew original of the Old Testament together with its Greek transliteration and several Greek translations. Addressing varied readings of different translations with reference to the Hebrew original has been a distinctive feature of Origen’s Biblical commentaries and sermons, and thence firmly entered the practice of Old Testament interpretation. Within the paper, the mentioned issue is studied based on the example of the texts of Origenes and John Philoponus, which allow making it ostensible through an analysis of the transformations that the textual criticism and exegesis methods to handling the classical texts proper to the Late Antiquity grammar and rhetoric have undergone in the works of these Christian theologians. As a basic text commented on, the paper has the 4th chapter of Book IV of Philoponus’ treatise “On the Creation of the World”, where he, leaning on the criticism of Origen’s textological commentary on the supplement to the text of Gen. 1:9–10 in the Septuagint, answers the question of the validity of this insertion.
An analysis of astronomical data from the Zij-i Sultani reveals that the Samarkand Observatory represented the pinnacle of pre-telescopic astronomy. This study shows that Ulugh Beg built the 40-meter meridian instrument primarily to determine the moments of equinoxes and calculate the length of the tropical year. Given the instrument's limitations, its one-arcminute margin of error was an outstanding achievement for its time. The excessive significant figures in some results stem from subsequent calculations rather than direct observational accuracy. Furthermore, the astronomers derived their highly precise sidereal year from tropical year measurements and the then-accepted precession rate of 1° per 70 years. Ultimately, the work of Ulugh Beg and his team demonstrates a rigorous application of geometry and precursors data, with its deviations from modern values remaining well within the rational error bounds of 15th-century science
This article examines the problem of the eternity of the cosmos and celestial bodies in Plotinus’ treatise II 1 “On the Heavens”. The question of the world’s eternity was widely debated among Platonists and Peripatetics before Plotinus. In the Timaeus (41 a7 – 8), Plato maintained that although the cosmos came into being, by virtue of the divine will it would not be destroyed. This position drew criticism from Aristotle (On the Heavens, 280 a25 – 30), who held the opinion that nothing that has come into being could be eternal. Later, Peripatetics, notably Alexander of Aphrodisias, challenged Plato’s doctrine of the divine will as a guarantee of the world’s eternity (Quaestiones, I 18). Within the Platonic tradition–with the exception of Plutarch and Atticus–the prevailing view was that the world had no beginning in time. This approach resolved the contradiction between coming-to-be and eternity of the world: if the world did not come into being, nothing prevents it from existing forever. A more complex issue for Platonists was the eternity of celestial bodies. The focus of this article is an analysis of Plotinus’ arguments in the treatise II1, where he raises three main questions: 1. If the cosmos is homogeneous, why do some bodies (celestial) possess individual eternity, while others (sublunary) are eternal only by form? 2. If matter as the substrate of all bodies imparts to them its nature of changeability, why do some bodies nevertheless remain changeless? 3. How can the divine will ensure the eternal existence of a part of the corporeal cosmos? The article demonstrates that Plotinus develops an original doctrine concerning the eternity of celestial bodies, based on their special nature and the role of the World Soul in cosmos’ composition.
The publication presents a commented Russian translation of the first five chapters of the third book of Marsilio Ficino’s (1433–1499) treatise De vita, or De triplici vita, pertaining to the later works of the Florentine, which was composed in the 1480s and first published in 1489. This is one of the most important testimonies of the Renaissance natural philosophy, or rather natural magic (magia naturalis) – a world-view developed out of Neoplatonic and Hermetic traditions whose major texts had been translated into Latin and commented upon by Ficino himself. As his kindred spirit Pico della Mirandola puts it, magic is “the practical part of natural science” (Concl. 2.9.3) or even “the absolute consummation of natural philosophy” (Dign. 148). Perceived as such, magic was leading to science in the contemporary understanding of the term. In contrast to the first two books of the treatise, De vita sana and De vita longa, which may be characterized as a medico-magical research, the third book, arisen from a commentary on Plotinus, delves into the medico-astrological field, and besides “Platonics” Ficino makes extensive usage of the works of “Arabian astrologers”, accessible to him in Latin translations, to begin with the Abbreviated Introduction to Astrology by Abū Maʿšar (787–886), a Persian by birth, the treatise De radiis by al‑Kindī (c. 801–873), as well as the book Picatrix, falsely attributed to the Andalusian scholar al-Maǧrīṭī (c. 950– 1007). The practice of “obtaining life from the heavens” is based on the correspondence between micro- and macrocosmos and on sympathetic magic. The operational medium of the magical attraction of heavenly “favors” is the world spirit (the same as ether, the same as quintessence) interacting with the individual spirit of a human subject and embracing the spirits of stars and demons. Health and well-being are ensured by a carefully elaborated way of life that takes into consideration the influences of stars and is oriented towards the usage of things and entities which are in accord with these stars, from minerals and plants to animals and human beings of a particular mould.
The article is devoted to the analysis of Hecataeus' views on Jews and Judaism in the context of Hellenistic culture. The works of Hecataeus, first of all "Egyptian History" and the treatise "On the Jews" attributed to him, will be considered, with an emphasis on their authenticity. The author examines the origin of Hecataeus' information about Jews, the possible influence of Egyptian priests and Alexandrian Jews, as well as the connection of his descriptions with the Greek ethnographic tradition. It is shown that Hecateus' image of Jews combines admiration for their laws and religion with traditional accusations of xenophobia and insularity. The author concludes that Hecateus sought to create a political and cultural model reflecting the ideology of early Hellenism and the politics of the Ptolemies, combining Egyptian, Greek and Jewish elements in a single historical and philosophical narrative. Special attention is paid to the historicity of the high priest Hezekiah.
This article examines the education of Epaminondas, the most famous Theban military and political figure. However, in antiquity, Epaminondas was also renowned for his education and philosophical authority. The study demonstrates that Epaminondas' education encompassed a complex set of local teachings, which Pausanias describes as ἐπιχώρια διδάγματα. However, Epaminondas' education differed from that of most members of the Theban elite because of his Pythagorean background. The dissemination of the Pythagorean teachings of Philolaus and Lysis in Thebes may have influenced not only Epaminondas' philosophical education but also had practical implications for his implementation of new tactics during the battle of Leuctra. Thus, a direct connection between Epaminondas' military and philosophical education is suggested. The article also reveals echoes of what appears to have been a significant ancient literary tradition that reported on the spread of Pythagoreanism in Thebes and directly linked Epaminondas's achievements in paideia and philosophy with his role as military commander.
With this publication, we continue the first Russian translation of Book II of Proclus' Commentary on Plato’s “Timaeus”. In the translated section (In Tim. I, 227-240) Proclus comments on the distinction drawn by Plato in Tim. 27d 6–28a 1 between “eternally being” (τὸ ὄν ἀεί) and “becoming” (τὸ γιγνόμενον), asking whether this distinction encompasses all of reality, from the One-existent down to matter, or not.
Odysseus, traditionally considered as the archetypal hero of cunning, reveals through close textual analysis, a pattern of moral ambiguity, deceit, hybris and cruelty that challenges the Homeric ideal of heroic virtue. Far from embodying the pure honor and loyalty of earlier epic figures, Odysseus exploits strategic falsehoods, disregards communal ethics and indulges in ruthless violence, particularly in his vengeance against the suitors and disloyal servants, for instance. Drawing on ancient sources and critical modern readings, this research paper examines the Odyssean worldview through the lens of fractured heroism and post-heroic survivalism. By comparing Odysseus’ leadership failures with models of shame culture outlined, the study underlines Odysseus as cynic survivor and ethically compromised agent whose legacy invites profound rethinking of the values embedded in early Greek epic regarding this type of human beings. This paper is about a guide within archaeological tourism within the context of philosophical Ithaca.
The article examines those aspects of the intellectual life of Ancient Greece, which somehow manifest elements of what can be described as rational thinking. In this context, rationality is understood as a way of understanding reality based on specially developed concepts and appropriate actions. The condition for the emergence of rational discourse is the formation of a responsible individual who has a pronounced personality and is able to present it in behavior and creativity. One of the most important requirement and the result of the manifestation of the individual principle is the civil policy consciousness, which has been developing for several centuries. Different policies develop their own system of necessary legal norms, which requires an understanding of social relations from the point of view of justice. At the same time, individual responsibility plays a significant role both in the formation and in the enforcement of laws. Extensive colonization plays a role, because it requires a clear justification of the legal status of the settlers. At the same time, which is very important, the pan-Hellenic consciousness is preserved due to religious festivals and pan-Hellenic games. A rethinking of local mythological images begins and a series of theo-cosmogonies is being built, starting with Homer and especially with Hesiod. Poets and thinkers paint pictures of the origin of the world and the gods based on their own ideas, trying to organize them in a certain way, and the very question of the beginning of existence was born within the framework of mythological consciousness. The desire to build these pictures implies the simple fact that an increasingly critical attitude towards existing mythological concepts and traditions in general is gaining strength. Concepts and ideas are emerging that have no direct connection with traditional mythological images. Legal practice helps to bring speech to the level of a language game, and an idea of contradiction arises that is alien to mythological consciousness. Finally, by the fourth century BC, we find a completely rational approach to myth, developed forms of logical reasoning based on concepts freed from mythological imagery and defined by purely semantic structures.
The article raises the problem of prerequisites for the formation of the doctrine of non-being in Plato’s philosophy. One possible source is mythology. Ate is a negative image in ancient mythology that is used to describe and structure negative epistemological states (delusion, obscuration). Two key characteristics of Ate are presented in the works of Homer and Hesiod. In early Greek philosophy (Empedocles), Ate is not an independent image, but a «place» («Ate Meadow»), which is endowed with exclusively negative characteristics. The dynamics of Ate's representations find their expression in the formation of the concept of non-being in Plato's philosophy. The expulsion of Ate serves as a precursor to Plato’s «prohibition» of the existence of «negative ideas». Additionally, the myth of Ate is linked to the concept of the chorus and the idea of the other in the dialogue Sophist.
This article examines Protagoras' views on democracy. It establishes that two opposing tendencies are discernible in Protagoras's statements. The first tendency can be called democratic. Protagoras delivers a speech defending the proposition that all people are subject to shame and justice, making them equal participants in political life. In this way, Protagoras defends one of the fundamental characteristics of ancient Greek democracy: political equality. His close association with the leader of Athenian democracy, Pericles, and his possible participation in the legislation of the Thurii also support this democratic tendency in Protagoras's views. The second tendency is anti-democratic. This tendency is supported by a number of Protagoras' arrogant statements about the people, characteristic of opponents of democracy. Furthermore, Protagoras's professional activity, aimed at training influential politicians, was ill-suited to the principle of democratic equality. Under democracy, the people, envying and resenting all politicians who rose above them, subjected them to repression through various procedures (ostracism).
Theophrastus wrote many works devoted to the study of nature. Some of the texts have survived, others are known from brief quotations and retellings, mainly in Neoplatonic commentaries. The loss of his Physics is particularly significant; like the Metaphysics that has come down to us, it was likely aporetic in nature and covered a wide range of topics, from the methodological foundations of natural science to the psychology of sensory perception. In this publication, I first translate several pieces of evidence regarding the role Theophrastus assigned to natural science as a whole within the system of sciences, and then present fragments of his teachings on place, time, and motion. We see how Theophrastus refines the Peripatetic conception of time as a quantitative characteristic of motion, reflects on the paradoxes of defining place as the boundary of a body, and redefines it in terms of the mutual relations of bodies. It becomes clear that for Theophrastus is also important to distinguish between actual spatial movements and imaginary pseudo-movements of a relative nature, and to understand the specifics of qualitative transitions and instantaneous changes. Furthermore, he addresses the question posed by Aristotle regarding the irreversibility of physical processes over time. The excerpts are taken from the FHSG (1992) edition, retaining the original numbering. In the commentary, I place our brief excerpts in their proper context, provide important parallels, and include bibliographic references.
This article offers a comparative analysis of conceptions of the universe, time, and eternity in ancient Jews and ancient Greek intellectual traditions, with particular attention to their role in shaping distinct forms of civilizational identity. The discussion begins with the semantic range of the Hebrew term ʿōlām, which may denote duration, a world-age, universal infinity, and, in later contexts, the world as a spatiotemporal whole. In the Hebrew Bible, God is presented as transcending both the spatial-material universe and the created duration of the world. Against this background, the article examines the Tetragrammaton, the Septuagint rendering of Exodus 3:14, and Philo of Alexandria’s philosophical interpretation of the formula ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν. Special attention is given to Ecclesiastes 3:11: the possible meanings of hā-ʿōlām are considered together with the anthropological semantics of lēḇ, “heart,” understood as mind and consciousness, and with the possibility that the verse attributes to human beings a capacity to apprehend reality sub specie aeternitatis. Biblical accounts of creation through divine Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Word, and Plan are also reconstructed and compared with Greek cosmological models. The analysis then turns to Heraclitus’ ever-living cosmos, Aristotle’s definition of time as the number of motion, the Stoic understanding of time as the extension of motion and of worlds as cyclically recurring, and Plato’s distinction between immutable eternity and time as its moving numerical image. The comparison suggests that Greek thought predominantly organizes being in spatial terms and associates perfection with immobility, symmetry, and cyclical recurrence. The Hebrew tradition, by contrast, conceives the world as irreversible duration and history, extending from creation toward eschatological fulfilment and beyond it into infinity. A chariot wheel that simultaneously rotates and moves forward is proposed as a model for the relative cyclicity and absolute linearity of ancient Hebrew time. These contrasting temporal ontologies inform anthropology, ethics, historiography, and aesthetics: the contemplative and plastic orientation of Hellenic culture is set against the literary, ethical, and action-centred character of biblical culture. The article concludes that conceptions of universe, time, and eternity are not secondary abstractions but constitutive structures of civilizational self-understanding.
This study examines two key concepts in John Scottus Eriugena’s poem Aulae sidereae — theoremata and armonia rerum — in the context of the author’s Greek and Latin sources. It argues that the vocabulary and conceptual structure of the poem are closely connected with Eriugena’s later works, above all the Periphyseon, the Expositions on the Celestial Hierarchy of Dionysius the Areopagite, and the Homily on the Prologue to the Gospel of John. Particular attention is paid to the influence of Maximus the Confessor: to his understanding of θεωρήματα as contemplative contents through which the mind ascends toward truth, and to his images of the fabric of creation and the garments of the Logos. The concept of armonia rerum is analysed against the background of Maximus’ harmony of the logoi, Dionysian angelology, and Eriugena’s mathematical interpretation of the celestial hierarchy. The final section considers the formulas remota domus and candida vestis Scripturae, which bring together Christology, sophiology, the seven liberal arts, and the hermeneutics of Scripture and creation. It is argued that Aulae sidereae is not a marginal poetic exercise, but a cosmo-poetic condensation of Eriugena’s mature thought, in which the Nativity theme unfolds as an architecture of the manifestation of the Logos in the cosmos, in Scripture, and in the celestial hierarchy.
In the treatise ‘On the Eternity of the World’ Philo appears not only as a key figure in the history of the interpretation of the biblical books, but also as a crucial witness to the development of Platonism in the first century BCE. This philosophic work of the Alexandrian exegete can be subdivided into two unequal parts. In an introductory part (sec. 1-19) Philo speaks for the most part on his own behalf, making comparison between Aristotelian, Stoic, Epicurean, and Platonic approaches to the problem of the elemental status of the world and the question of its everlasting existence; the reader will find it published in a previous issue of the journal (Schole 19.2 (2025) 1243-1257). A section of the doxographic part of the treatise (sec. 20–73), translated in Schole 20.1, 461–476, systematically presents the positions of other philosophers, most notably arguments of the Peripatetic Critolaus and the Stoic Chrysippus for whom Philo is a unique witness. He also discusses the original Platonic arguments based on the idea of the closed nature of the world and its immunity to disease, the integrity of its composition, its transformation and the impossibility of its complete disintegration. In the part of the treatise presented in this publication (sec. 74–116), Philo develops his critique of the Stoic theory of the cosmic cycle approaching it from various angles. The treatise not only provides a wealth of important information about the philosophical discussions on the eternity of the world that preceded Philo, but also allows us to better understand his own theological position, which is not always clearly stated in his exegetical works.
This article attempts to investigate the way in which Gregory Palamas utilizes Platonic and, mostly, Aristotelian Philosophy which relates to Gnoseology and formal Logic in his attempt to prove the distinction between affirmative and apophatic Theology. In particular, it will focus on terms that capture the way in which human beings attempt to describe both metaphysical and natural-empirical Ontology. The most important conclusion we draw is that Gregory Palamas shows a preference for Aristotelian Logic, which he transforms in a Christian way. This insight arises mainly from the way he makes use of the argument about “qualities”, which, on the one hand, determine the essence of created beings-states and, on the other hand, reflect the manifestations of the divine energy of the Holy Trinity. It is an approach which highlights affirmative theology, without affecting the apophatism of the divine essence.
The article presents a case study in the stylometric analysis to Middle Byzantine texts, focusing on the attribution of the "Catechetical Homilies" to Patriarch Antony III Studites (10th century). Confirmation or refutation of this hypothesis could make an important contribution to research on the intellectual history of Studite monasticism. The primary aim is to evaluate the efficacy of various Delta metric modifications (classic Burrows's, Eder's, and Cosine) for a corpus of homiletic, hagiographic, and epistolary works, and to apply a calibrated method to this contested attribution. A representative corpus of key Studite tradition authors and their contemporaries was compiled. Through a series of experiments, optimal analysis parameters–including metric choice, the number of most frequent words, and the necessity of lemmatization–were determined by calibrating the method against control samples: 14th-century texts with undisputed authorship and the corpus of St. Symeon the New Theologian. The study assesses the stylistic proximity between Antony Studites' undisputed and disputed texts. The results confirm the general applicability of the Delta method to Middle Greek material, while highlighting its parameter dependence. For longer texts (>10,000 words), classic Delta with lemmatization and a set of 500–750 most frequent words yielded the best outcomes. For shorter texts (~5,000 words), Eder's Delta or Cosine Delta applied to raw word forms with 250 most frequent words proved more effective. The method exhibited high sensitivity to textual genre. The findings support the attribution of the "Catechetical Homilies" to Antony Studites. Additionally, the analysis revealed a strong stylistic affinity between the corpora of Symeon the New Theologian and his disciple Niketas Stethatos and suggested a hypothesis of common authorship for two 10th-century hagiographical works. These results position stylometry as a viable auxiliary tool for investigating intellectual and literary networks within the Byzantine monastic tradition.
In his treatise On the Division of the Quadrant, Omar Khayyam examines two interconnected geometric problems leading to cubic equations. This paper provides a detailed mathematical commentary on Khayyam’s text, translating his verbal geometric operations into the language of symbolic algebra. By analyzing the internal logic of Khayyam’s constructions–including his unsuccessful attempts in the main text and their subsequent corrections in the appendix–the author restores the sequence of reasoning that led to his algebraic findings. Furthermore, the study examines these problems in the light of Alpay Özdural’s hypothesis, which links Khayyam’s geometry to practical architectural ornamentation found in an anonymous Persian manual. The analysis demonstrates how Khayyam’s “pure” mathematics, while presented in a closed and abstract style, is intrinsically embedded in the applied tradition of medieval Islamic design.
The article addresses one of the central issues in Late Antique and Byzantine metaphysics: the relationship between the simple and transcendent First Principle (or God) and the multiple and complex world. A typological comparison is undertaken of four models proposed to resolve this aporia. Two Neoplatonic models are analyzed: the doctrine of the two Ones and the teaching on “henads” in Iamblichus, as well as the systematic development of the theory of henads in the metaphysics of Proclus. Two Christian models are also examined: the doctrine of the “Divine processions” in the corpus of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and the teaching on the “Divine Activities”in Maximus the Confessor. The article concludes that while Dionysius and Maximus adopt the structural function of the henads as a way of addressing The First-Principle Aporia, they radically reinterpret it, eliminating from their metaphysical systems any ontologically independent mediating entities between God and the world.
