Historiography and Mythography in the Aristotelian Mirabilia

Historiography and Mythography in the Aristotelian Mirabilia
Author: Stefan Schorn
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2023-10-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000986101

This is the first full-length volume in English that focuses on the historiographical section of the Mirabilia or De mirabilibus auscultationibus (On Marvelous Things Heard), attributed to Aristotle but not in fact by him. The central section of the Mirabilia, namely §§ 78–151, for the most part deals with historiographical material, with many of its entries having some relationship to ancient Greek historians of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. The chapters in this volume discuss various aspects of this portion of the text, including textual issues involving toponyms; possible structural principles behind the organization of this section; the passages on Theopompus and Timaeus; mythography; the philosopher Heracleides of Pontos; Homeric exegesis; and the interrelationship between pseudo-Plutarch’s On Rivers, a section of the historian Stobaeus’ Geography, and the Mirabilia. Historiography and Mythography in the Aristotelian Mirabilia is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of this text, and of Greek philosophy, historiography, and literature more broadly.

A History of Pythagoreanism

A History of Pythagoreanism
Author: Carl A. Huffman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 659
Release: 2014-04-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139915983

This is a comprehensive, authoritative and innovative account of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism, one of the most enigmatic and influential philosophies in the West. In twenty-one chapters covering a timespan from the sixth century BC to the seventeenth century AD, leading scholars construct a number of different images of Pythagoras and his community, assessing current scholarship and offering new answers to central problems. Chapters are devoted to the early Pythagoreans, and the full breadth of Pythagorean thought is explored including politics, religion, music theory, science, mathematics and magic. Separate chapters consider Pythagoreanism in Plato, Aristotle, the Peripatetics and the later Academic tradition, while others describe Pythagoreanism in the historical tradition, in Rome and in the pseudo-Pythagorean writings. The three great lives of Pythagoras by Diogenes Laertius, Porphyry and Iamblichus are also discussed in detail, as is the significance of Pythagoras for the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The Art of Biography in Antiquity

The Art of Biography in Antiquity
Author: Tomas Hägg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 513
Release: 2012-04-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 110701669X

Examines the whole spectrum of Greek and Roman biography, which explores the virtues and vices of philosophers, statesmen and poets.

Pythagoras

Pythagoras
Author: Christoph Riedweg
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2012-03-27
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0801464846

One of the most important mathematical theorems is named after Pythagoras of Samos, but this semi-mythical Greek sage has more to offer than formulas. He is said to have discovered the numerical nature of the basic consonances and transposed the musical proportions to the cosmos, postulating a "harmony of the spheres." He may have coined the words "cosmos" and "philosophy." He is also believed to have taught the doctrine of transmigration of souls and therefore to have advised a vegetarian diet. Ancient legends have Pythagoras conversing with dogs, bears, and bulls. A distinctly Pythagorean way of life, including detailed ritual regulations, was observed by his disciples, who were organized as a secret society. Later, Pythagorean and Platonic teachings became fused. In this Platonized form, Pythagoreanism has remained influential through medieval Christianity and the Renaissance down to the present. Christoph Riedweg's book is an engaging introduction to the fundamental contributions of Pythagoras to the establishment of European culture. To penetrate the intricate maze of lore and ascertain what history can tell us about the philosopher, Riedweg not only examines the written record but also considers Pythagoras within the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual context of his times. The result is a vivid overview of the life and teachings of a crucial Greek thinker and his most important followers.

Poems in Context

Poems in Context
Author: Laura Miguélez-Cavero
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 455
Release: 2008-11-06
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 311021041X

Examining carefully the Egyptian epic hexameter production from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD, especially that of the southern region (Thebaid), this study provides an image of three centuries in the history of the Graeco-Egyptian literature, in which authors and poetry are related directly to the social-economic, cultural and literary contexts from which they come. The training they could get and the books and authors they came in touch with explain that we know so many names and works, written in a language and metrics that enjoyed the greatest esteem, being considered proofs of the highest culture. Laura Miguélez Cavero demonstrates that the traditional image of a “school of Nonnos” is not justified ‐ rather, Triphiodorus, Nonnus, Musaeus, Colluthus, Cyrus of Panopolis and Christodorus of Coptos are just the tip of a literary iceberg we know only to some extent through the texts that papyri offer us.

Greek Dialogue in Antiquity

Greek Dialogue in Antiquity
Author: Katarzyna Ja:zd:zewska
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2022
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0192893351

Greek Dialogue in Antiquity reexamines evidence for Greek dialogue between the mid-fourth century BCE and the mid-first century CE - that is, roughly from Plato's death to the death of Philo of Alexandria. Although the genre of dialogue in antiquity has attracted a growing interest in the past two decades, the time covered in this book has remained overlooked and unresearched, with scholars believing that for much of this period the dialogue genre went through a period of decline and was revived only in the Roman times. The book carefully reassesses Post-Platonic and Hellenistic evidence, including papyri fragments, which have never been discussed in this context, and challenges the narrative of the dialogue's decline and subsequent revival, postulating, instead, the genre's unbroken continuity from the Classical period to the Roman Empire. It argues that dialogues and texts creatively interacting with dialogic conventions were composed throughout Hellenistic times, and proposes to reconceptualize the imperial period dialogue as evidence not of a resurgence, but of continuity in this literary tradition.

Aristoxenus of Tarentum

Aristoxenus of Tarentum
Author: Carl Huffman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2017-09-08
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1351531255

Aristoxenus of Tarentum was reported to have been bitterly disappointed when Theophrastus was chosen instead of him to succeed Aristotle as the head of the Peripatetic School. He had a truly phenomenal output of some 453 volumes, most of which survive only in fragments. He was the most famous music theorist in antiquity and came to be referred to simply as "the musician." In addition, he was a founder of Greek biography and wrote the life histories of Pythagoras, Archytas, Socrates, and Plato among others. This volume includes eleven selections, which are almost evenly divided between his work in music theory and biography. There is a chapter on his general biographical method as well as chapters on his specific treatments of the Pythagoreans, Socrates, and Plato. There are chapters evaluating the extent to which Aristoxenus was a historian of music, his account of music therapy, his views on musical "character," the use of instruments and empiricism in his harmonic theory, and his relation to the "Neoclassical" Greek composers of the fourth century. This volume includes: "Did Aristoxenus Write Musical History?, " Andrew Barker; "Instruments and Empiricism in Aristoxenus' Elementa harmonica," David Creese; "Aristoxenus and Musical Ethos," Eleonora Rocconi; "Aristoxenus and Music Therapy: Fr. 26 Wehrli Within the Tradition on Music and Catharsis," Antonella Provenza; "Aristoxenus and the "Neoclassicists," Timothy Power; "Apollonius on Theophrastus on Aristoxenus," William W. Fortenbaugh; "Aristoxenus' Biographical Method," Stefan Schorn; "Aristoxenus and the Pythagoreans," Leonid Zhmud; "Aristoxenus' Life of Socrates," Carl A. Huffman; "Aristoxenus' Life of Plato," John Dillon; and "Aristoxenus and the Early Academy," Andrew Barker. Spanning close to three full decades, Transaction's Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities Series continues to pioneer in the field of classical studies.

The Second Jewish Revolt

The Second Jewish Revolt
Author: Menahem Mor
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 618
Release: 2016-04-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004314636

In The Second Jewish Revolt: The Bar Kokhba War, 132-136 C.E., Menahem Mor offers a detailed account on the Bar Kokhba Revolt in an attempt to understand the second revolt against the Romans. Since the Bar Kokhba Revolt did not have a historian who devoted a comprehensive book to the event, Mor used a variety of historical materials including literary sources (Jewish, Christian, Greek and Latin) and archaeological sources (inscriptions, coins, military diplomas, hideouts, and refuge complexes). The book reviews the causes for the outbreak while explaining the complexity of the territorial expansion of the Revolt. Mor portrays the participants and opponents as well as the attitudes of the non-Jewish population in Palestine. He exposes the Roman Army’s part in Judaea, the Jewish leadership and the implications of the Revolt.

Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great

Brill's Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 879
Release: 2018-09-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004359931

Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Alexander the Great offers a considerable range of topics, of interest to students and academics alike, in the long tradition of this subject’s significant impact, across a sometimes surprising and comprehensive variety of areas. Arguably no other historical figure has cast such a long shadow for so long a time. Every civilisation touched by the Macedonian Conqueror, along with many more that he never imagined, has scrambled to “own” some part of his legacy. This volume canvasses a comprehensive array of these receptions, beginning from Alexander’s own era and journeying up to the present, in order to come to grips with the impact left by this influential but elusive figure.