This article examines the Homeric conception of the mind in relation to the notion of intentionality - the mental capacity to represent objects and states of affairs, often conceptualized as the mind's directedness toward its objects. Drawing on the tenets of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the paper systematically investigates the extent to which Homeric descriptions of intentional states - such as perception, imagination, desire, and intention - employ this type of conceptualization and depict a metaphorical relation between the mind and its objects. A parallel analysis is conducted on the narrative parts of the ancient Indian epic poems Mah & amacr;bh & amacr;rata and R & amacr;m & amacr;yana.I am grateful to Prof. Sven Sellmer (Pozna & nacute;) for his invaluable help in the preparation and interpretation of the Sanskrit material used in this study. The study identifies over thirty distinct metaphorical conceptualizations of intentionality across both traditions. By comparing the Homeric and Indian conceptualizations from various perspectives, the article highlights the specificity of Homeric descriptions and assesses the role intentionality plays in the Homeric vision of the mind.
The paper discusses the attack waged against Egyptians and Jews in the inscription of Diogenes of Oenoanda. It focuses on epigraphic evidence revealing the existence of Roman-era Lycians adhering to Egyptian cults and Judaism. The paper contends that through this attack Diogenes was trying to discredit the Egyptian and Jewish cults in Lycia. It supports the view that the false beliefs spreading 'like a plague' [cf. fr.2 Smith (=HK fr. 59), cols. II.4 - III.4, and fr.3 Smith (=HK 57 + 58), cols. IV.3 - V.8] are not only Platonism, Stoicism, or theistic trends in Greek and local religion, but also the foreign cults in Lycia (Isis, Osiris, Anoubis, Jahwe). The paper adds to the equation the cult of Theta epsilon omicron sigma "Upsilon psi iota sigma tau omicron sigma, a syncretistic (monotheistic?) blend of Zeus and Jahwe, whose presence is well attested at Oenoanda. It is argued that there is a possibility that Diogenes might also attack the Christians when referring to 'Jews', since he could well regard them as a Jewish sect.
This study examines the tears of Diomedes in the Iliad as a richly layered narrative device that functions across intratextual, intertextual, and metaleptic dimensions. On the intratextual plane, Diomedes' emotional outburst reactivates resonances with Books 1, 10, and 22, subtly reinforcing his thematic kinship with Achilles. Intertextually, his unexpected triumph in the chariot race reconfigures an earlier epic tradition - one in which Diomedes suffers defeat in the funeral games held in Achilles' honor - thus staging a quiet act of narrative revision. At the metaleptic level, the scene destabilizes the boundary between narrative and poetic agency, evoking an awareness of alternate epic trajectories and foregrounding the Iliad's self-reflexive engagement with its literary inheritance. In the end, Diomedes' tears crystallize the poem's meditation on heroic legacy, while simultaneously illuminating its profound consciousness of epic tradition and the artifice of storytelling itself.
This paper sheds light on the hostile criticism leveled against Pericles by Plato, who, with few exceptions, is averse to competent orators throughout his works. To this end, I have chosen to examine the Gorgias, since the views expressed about the famous political leader in this philosophical dialogue remain to this day inadequately explored. The passages to be analyzed include references to Pericles, as well as a conversation between Socrates and Callicles regarding the edification of the citizens' souls. I will attempt to flesh out the causes of Plato's negative attitude towards Pericles by examining in detail the deeper philosophical meaning of Plato's way of thinking. This can only be done, if the ethical purpose of the whole dialogue is taken into account, as Socrates urges politicians to master philosophical knowledge before entering politics. In addition, I will try to prove that Plato demands that a politician be able to guarantee a future of hope and moral righteousness not by coercing the allies of Athens and imposing its hegemony over them, but by making his fellow citizens more virtuous. In support of this perspective, the term & laquo;mellontotropic & raquo; (i.e. & laquo;future-oriented & raquo;), describing Platonic philosophy, is introduced for the first time in a Platonic study. Finally, I will argue that Plato deliberately ignores arguments that can be used to defend Pericles, because he wants to lessen the value of rhetoric and to encourage his readers to be involved in the dialectical process.
This work looks at the notion of xi epsilon nu iota tau epsilon iota alpha in early hesychastic tradition, standardly analysed as a metaphorical extension of "exile" into the notion of "alienation" of the self from the material circumstances that lurk along the way of ascetics towards divination. It is argued that xi epsilon nu iota tau epsilon iota alpha can only be understood as a relational network of conceptual elements, otherwise a cognitive model, which includes "silence" and "self-sufficiency" against the conceptual backdrop of CITY. The present analysis, tracing the origins of this complex model, detects a conceptual blueprint that also underlies the very first attestation of the term, found in Democritus. It shows that, beyond their superficial referential disparity, the two uses represent the two ends of a diachronic continuum along which the model evolved. In the latter, STILLNESS as a natural state of self-contained development runs against random MOVEMENT within a space of multiplicity and fragmentation. The latter in the monastic writing is instantiated as the mundane noise to be avoided. In Democritus, it is argued, this model configures both the physical and ethical plane, whereby the atomic world of unknowable randomness is paralleled to the multiple chances of material fortune. Further nuances of self-substitution found in the use of the term in the early Christian era are shown to stem from the highly schematic configuration of SUBSTITUTION, diachronically present in the conceptualisation of the term xi epsilon nu omicron sigma.
Scholia to Euripides' Medea have been transmitted to us in two different recensions, carried by the manuscripts B (Par. gr. 2713) and V (Vat. gr. 909). This paper offers a detailed analysis of these two recensions.
Drawing its inspiration from the burgeoning field of multidisciplinary enquiry known as animal studies, this paper looks at elephants in Plutarch for the first time from a zoocentric point of view, i.e. as deliberate, subjective and embodied agents acting in ways that suggest a degree of autonomy and that contributed to the shaping of human history. The main argument falls into three parts. First, it is shown that Plutarch's use of the war elephant in the historical narratives of the Parallel Lives is more subtle than mere factual documentation or rhetorical embellishment. Rather, war elephants feature in incidents where the animal is shown to be a protagonist with intelligence, emotions and purpose. Then, the focus is on selected cases from the Lives and the Moralia where elephants are used as semiotic actors, shedding light on the human world while still showing that they can be appreciated for their distinctive qualities as actualised in the natural environment over and above their literary and symbolic function. In the third section, the paper discusses Plutarch's collection of elephant lore in the treatise On the Intelligence of Animals (968B-F), and how it highlights the species' outstanding qualities in their interactions with humans and indicates their active contribution to human society and social ethics. Plutarch shows notable "attentiveness" to elephant specificity in persistently endowing elephants with skills, capacities and agencies that may or may not be explicitly signalled in the texts, but still await detection and close analysis so as to unearth hidden zoohistories and uncover this uncharted strand of his thinking on animals and its rich afterlife in the medieval period.
The papers gathered in this Special Issue explore the networking function of ancient proems across a wide range of literary traditions throughout antiquity, spanning from philosophical, scientific, and hagiographical works to historiographical and poetic ones. The focus is on how ancient authors used proems to situate themselves and their works within larger networks that included literary predecessors and models, but also friends, rivals, dedicatees, and readers, as well as commissioners, patrons, rulers, and even gods and cosmic principles.
In the proem to his Platonic Theology, Proclus appropriates the language of mystery rites to cast Plato as a divinely inspired hierophant to whom absolute epistemic authority should be accorded. He thus elevates Plato's philosophical teachings to the status of revealed truth and legitimises his own exegetical endeavour as a divine concern. Proclus further extends such authority to a carefully curated network of like-minded Platonist exegetes, among whom he subtly positions himself and his teacher Syrianus. Through a detailed analysis of the proem, this study explores how Proclus construes the history of Platonic succession by embedding it within a broader account of both the history of theological truth and divine revelation.
This paper surveys the extant proems of Greek historiography from Hecataeus to Dionysius of Halicarnassus. It considers the proems through the lens of intellectual networking, arguing that each author through his proem inscribes himself into two distinct intellectual networks: a diachronic network of the authors he wants to be considered his predecessors, both historiographical and otherwise, and a synchronic network of his readers or audience, with whom he attempts to create a bond, and in whose eyes he wants to claim authority. A fundamental principle of the diachronic intellectual network is agonistic intertextuality, that is polemics against predecessors which at the same time acknowledges their importance for one's own work. A number of tropes are found to be typical of the extant proems, and it is argued that their function is likewise to signal the specific intellectual network to which the author wants to be seen as belonging.
This article analyses the preface to Valerius Maximus' Facta et Dicta Memorabilia, dedicated to the Emperor Tiberius. It examines the literary and rhetorical motifs typical of Latin historiographical prose and explores the intertextual networking within the preface. The study highlights the relationships between Valerius Maximus' text and other authors (Horace) and literary works, focusing on both explicit and implicit references. Additionally, it addresses the patronage relationship with Tiberius, placing the preface within the social, literary, and political context of the Principate. This analysis provides insights into the historiographical and rhetorical practices of the time, emphasising the critical role of prefaces in shaping reader expectations and engagement.
This paper aims to provide a reflective understanding of what proems are, and what they can achieve, by advancing beyond the literary and agonistic elements of proems, often understood to reflect the social or cultural aspects of literary form. Instead, it seeks to expand the possibilities for understanding proems as distinct avenues for new ways of talking about the content of reality. It does so chiefly through analysis of two major cosmogonic works from Ancient Greece: Hesiod's Theogony, and the treatise On Nature by the Pythagorean philosopher Philolaus of Croton. This paper argues that both Hesiod and Philolaus designate the proems of their works as places to outline the primordium of reality, and that their cosmogonic accounts have much more in common than scholars have typically recognized. These 'biomorphic' accounts of the birth of the ordered universe stand especially in contrast to accounts based on other cosmogonic modes, such as the 'stochazomorphic' and 'technomorphic' modes (the latter of which is deployed in the proem to Ovid's Metamorphoses, which stands in contrast especially to Hesiod's account of the generation of reality).
Hagiographical proems emerge as crucial sources for contextualising authors and their intended audiences. In Byzantine hagiographical works produced from the late eighth to early eleventh centuries, proems are highly rhetorical and standardised in their language. This standardisation makes it difficult for scholars to situate hagiographers within their social and intellectual networks. I argue that when facing this challenge we can benefit from the study of biblical intertextuality, and select the proem of the Life of Patriarch Nikephoros by Ignatius the Deacon as a case study.
This article discusses the possibility that Dionysius of Halicarnassus' Roman Antiquities were Flavius Josephus' direct model for his Jewish Antiquities, a theory that has faced both support and criticism. Following K & ouml;nig and Wiater's framework of literary dialogue, this study identifies various layers of interaction, from biographical and paratextual elements to lexical and conceptual similarities. Josephus' Jewish War is also considered: while in this case his main models were historians like Thucydides and Polybius, his use of Dionysius can also be identified through a close reading of Josephus' proem. Both authors shared a similar standpoint towards Rome and its empire, not least because of their personal experiences. Despite their different perspectives, both used antiquarianism as a political instrument for their respective historiographical agendas. Josephus' numerous references to Dionysius indicate him as a significant, though unacknowledged, model.
This article explores various possible roles played by personal names in prefaces to Ancient Greek and Latin literature and their contribution to creating or manipulating literary, social, or intellectual networks. After briefly discussing the well-known figure of the dedicatee, it turns to two groups of people which can be mentioned in the preface, contemporary and historical figures respectively. The case studies explored (Apollonius of Perga, Xenophon, Strabo, Columella, Statius, and Martial) demonstrate the breadth of functions that inclusion of names in the prefatory material could have and their importance for the reception of the work by the potential reader.
This paper showcases the importance of networking between exegeses for the theme of alpha pi rho alpha xi iota alpha in Philo of Alexandria. De providentia 1.6-7 and De aeternitate mundi 13-19, on the proemial chapter of Genesis, are examined to better understand the case of De opificio mundi 7-12. In Opif. 7-12, Philo adopts Stoic apologetic strategies, positing a pre-cosmos without disorder. He preserves God's otherness from the cosmos while incorporating active divine agency within creation. In De opificio mundi 7-12, Philo's reworking of Stoic concepts does not indicate a critical attitude towards the Stoa. This paper also considers the problem of Philo's opponents in light of the development of the theme of alpha pi rho alpha xi iota alpha between the end of the Hellenistic era and the early Imperial age. It seeks to identify his opponents, arguing that it is unlikely that Philo meant Aristotle, whom he perhaps perceived more favourably than commonly assumed. The hypothesis is put forward that his opponents instead may be suspected to be a group of Pseudo-Pythagoreans or pythagorising Platonists.
In the proem of Longus' Daphnis and Chloe, an anonymous hunter gazes in wonder at the images painted on a gamma rho alpha phi eta: the iota sigma tau omicron rho iota alpha epsilon rho omega tau omicron sigma depicted on the painting stimulates the writing of the four books of the novel. In the phrase iota delta omicron nu tau alpha mu epsilon kappa alpha iota theta alpha upsilon mu alpha sigma alpha nu tau alpha, which describes the marveling vision of the anonymous observer, scholars recognize a textual allusion to the profile of Gyges that Plato illustrates in the Republic (2.359c7-360b3). This paper aims to investigate the possible allusion and examine, with a narratological approach, the profile of some amazed observers in the plot of Daphnis and Chloe.
Many ancient healing and medical techniques involved ritual interactions with divinities, such as the creation and use of amulets, the use of natural (often bodily) substances and other drugs associated with specific humours and elements, visits to temples and shrines, incubation practices, and engaging with flora and fauna associated with divine figures. How can we understand these kinds of ancient healing practices and medical treatments that relied upon and engaged with entities which, according to the dominant epistemological frameworks of modernity, do not exist? And how can we do so without too hastily resorting to etic explanations that would categorize all such beliefs and practices as irrational? In response to these questions, this paper offers a thought experiment designed to demonstrate the rationality of ancient beliefs in divine healing. I situate such beliefs in the ancient classificatory system of elemental theory, a kind of totalizing system that explained natural processes and phenomena in terms of their correspondence to the four fundamental elements (earth, water, air, and fire). Focusing specifically on the healing properties associated with water, I show how certain waters and the mixtures of elements they contained would have been understood by ancient medical practitioners, philosophers, and natural scientists as especially salubrious because of their sympathetic connections to certain deities. In doing so, I provide a scientific, rather than purely theological, explanation for divine healing and argue that the apparent ‘irrationality’ of ancient epistemology – and specifically the ways in which it seems to violate the boundaries between science and religion – is a result of our (modern historians and academics) classificatory systems, and not a reflection of their (ancient intellectuals) category errors. This paper thus contributes to efforts by scholars such as Darren Lehoux, Thomas Kuhn, and Anthnoy Grafton to consider the kinds of work that systems of classification perform in any historical time period, including our own.
This introduction sets out the basic premises for the special issue on diagnosis and taxonomy in late antique healing. Drawing on recent insights from history of medicine, we consider health and healing as broader, sociocultural phenomena and argue that to understand late antique healing practices we must understand late antiquity. Throughout the issue we see that medical taxonomies and diagnostics rely not only on (ancient) biology, but also include cosmology, mythology and sociocultural traditions. These come together in three overarching principles: causality, categorisation, and discourse, which run through the different articles and the different material they present. We offer some preliminary observations here to the seven articles that follow.
Headaches, including those that conform to disorders identified today as migraines, have been attested in magical texts as early as three millennia ago. Ritual practitioners from different traditions and periods have attempted to treat them by using spells, magical materials, and appeals to supernatural entities. This article explores the attestations of migraines in the corpus of late antique Mesopotamian incantation bowls. It begins with the modern medical classifications of migraines and their symptoms. It then outlines some of the terminology, symptoms and treatments for migraines in antiquity, followed by a description of migraine attestations in the rabbinic corpus and in the Jewish ritual/ magical traditions. The article then surveys and analyzes the attestations of migraines in the Mesopotamian magic bowls, placing them in a historical medico-ritual context. Lastly, the article puts forward a new interpretation of the Aramaic term baruqta , which is frequently found in association with migraine terminology.
