Pub Date : 2023-10-19DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-bja10199
Dariusz Brodka
Abstract This article seeks to answer several questions about Procopius’ account of the causes for the Gothic war. The fundamental question is who was responsible for Amalasuintha’s death. Another issue under scrutiny relates to Procopius’ sources. The figure of Peter the Patrician sketched by Procopius is another point of interest. In the light of a comparative analysis of the sources, the accusation of Peter the Patrician and Theodora of complicity in the murder of Amalasuintha does not appear to have a firm basis. However, it is very likely that Procopius may indeed have had access to specific information about the secret negotiations—either directly from senator Alexander; or, more likely, via Marcellus. Contrary to what is generally assumed, it was probably not Peter the Patrician who provided Procopius with the most interesting details relating to the dramatic events in Italy in 534-536. The figure of Peter the Patrician fulfils an important literary function, serving primarily to explain the ‘real’ causes of the Gothic War.
{"title":"Procopius of Caesarea, Peter the Patrician, and the Outbreak of the Gothic War","authors":"Dariusz Brodka","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-bja10199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-bja10199","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article seeks to answer several questions about Procopius’ account of the causes for the Gothic war. The fundamental question is who was responsible for Amalasuintha’s death. Another issue under scrutiny relates to Procopius’ sources. The figure of Peter the Patrician sketched by Procopius is another point of interest. In the light of a comparative analysis of the sources, the accusation of Peter the Patrician and Theodora of complicity in the murder of Amalasuintha does not appear to have a firm basis. However, it is very likely that Procopius may indeed have had access to specific information about the secret negotiations—either directly from senator Alexander; or, more likely, via Marcellus. Contrary to what is generally assumed, it was probably not Peter the Patrician who provided Procopius with the most interesting details relating to the dramatic events in Italy in 534-536. The figure of Peter the Patrician fulfils an important literary function, serving primarily to explain the ‘real’ causes of the Gothic War.","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135821523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-10DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-12347346
Erynn Kim
Abstract This article studies the usage of the particle μέν as a discourse marker in the speech of Antigone and of Ismene in Sophocles’ Antigone , focusing on the prologue and the final dialogue between the two sisters. By demonstrating how the discursive practices of the sisters reflect their respective styles of reasoning, particularly through their differing usages of the particle μέν , this article explores how the construction of μέν solitarium can reveal what is left unsaid in order to show how the sisters engage in a coded conversation before Creon in their final dialogue, ultimately working in solidarity to resolve their fates, however tragic.
{"title":"Ismene, Interrupted","authors":"Erynn Kim","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-12347346","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-12347346","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article studies the usage of the particle μέν as a discourse marker in the speech of Antigone and of Ismene in Sophocles’ Antigone , focusing on the prologue and the final dialogue between the two sisters. By demonstrating how the discursive practices of the sisters reflect their respective styles of reasoning, particularly through their differing usages of the particle μέν , this article explores how the construction of μέν solitarium can reveal what is left unsaid in order to show how the sisters engage in a coded conversation before Creon in their final dialogue, ultimately working in solidarity to resolve their fates, however tragic.","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136359896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-04DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-bja10178
José Miguel Jiménez Delgado, Patricia García Zamora
Abstract The imperfect ἐβίβασκεν ( h . Ap . 133) has generally been considered an Ionic imperfect of βίβημι / βιβάω . However, its morphosemantic characteristics instead suggest an imperfect of βιβάσκω , a derivative of the former with the suffix - σκω . This present is used in the classical period with a causative value, but in the archaic period was documented in an inchoative sense. This evolution forms part of the development of a causative present corresponding to the sigmatic aorist of βαίνω that involved different formations until the creation of βιβάζω .
{"title":"On the Imperfect ἐβίβασκεν (Homeric Hymn to Apollo 133) and the Causative Forms of the Paradigm of βαίνω","authors":"José Miguel Jiménez Delgado, Patricia García Zamora","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-bja10178","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-bja10178","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The imperfect ἐβίβασκεν ( h . Ap . 133) has generally been considered an Ionic imperfect of βίβημι / βιβάω . However, its morphosemantic characteristics instead suggest an imperfect of βιβάσκω , a derivative of the former with the suffix - σκω . This present is used in the classical period with a causative value, but in the archaic period was documented in an inchoative sense. This evolution forms part of the development of a causative present corresponding to the sigmatic aorist of βαίνω that involved different formations until the creation of βιβάζω .","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135646397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-04DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-12347345
Chrysanthos S. Chrysanthou
Abstract The present article adopts a cognitive approach to examine the representation of group minds in ancient narrative and show the specific purposes to which they are put. Herodian’s History of the Roman Empire , a work that illustrates the social and collective dimension of mental functioning, is chosen as a case study. After a brief exposition of the state of research on collective minds in narratology and literature, the present study first discusses the formation of group minds and their stability or mutability over the course of Herodian’s narrative. The next section explores the internal dynamics of group minds, focusing especially on instances of splitting which helpfully illuminate the problematic nature of the Roman principate after Marcus’ death. The final section draws on contemporary theories of philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences and examines the way and extent that Herodian’s groups can be considered as ‘intentional agents’. In this regard, it is proposed that Herodian represents an approach to group agency that prefigures modern theory of ‘interpretivism’. Overall, the article suggests a novel way of studying ancient narrative, one that reconciles narratological and cognitive analysis with historical and political considerations by revealing the constitutive role of group minds in various aspects of the ancient social world.
{"title":"Group Minds in Ancient Narrative","authors":"Chrysanthos S. Chrysanthou","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-12347345","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-12347345","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present article adopts a cognitive approach to examine the representation of group minds in ancient narrative and show the specific purposes to which they are put. Herodian’s History of the Roman Empire , a work that illustrates the social and collective dimension of mental functioning, is chosen as a case study. After a brief exposition of the state of research on collective minds in narratology and literature, the present study first discusses the formation of group minds and their stability or mutability over the course of Herodian’s narrative. The next section explores the internal dynamics of group minds, focusing especially on instances of splitting which helpfully illuminate the problematic nature of the Roman principate after Marcus’ death. The final section draws on contemporary theories of philosophy of mind and the cognitive sciences and examines the way and extent that Herodian’s groups can be considered as ‘intentional agents’. In this regard, it is proposed that Herodian represents an approach to group agency that prefigures modern theory of ‘interpretivism’. Overall, the article suggests a novel way of studying ancient narrative, one that reconciles narratological and cognitive analysis with historical and political considerations by revealing the constitutive role of group minds in various aspects of the ancient social world.","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135645378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-28DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-bja10181
José B. Torres Guerra
Abstract This contribution highlights the importance of the Arabic version of the Poetics in establishing the text of this work. This is a well-known fact, expressly considered in the most recent editio maior of the Poetics . Nonetheless, the latter edition does not discuss all the evidence relating to the Arabic translation. This article examines two much-discussed passages of the Poetics (1454b30-32, 1448a25-28). In the first case, the Arabic testimony, despite not transmitting the text that should be edited, helps to elucidate which variant is preferred. In the second case, the text of the Arabic translation raises the question of whether its variant reading should replace the text accepted in all the editions published over the last two centuries.
{"title":"The Text of Aristotle’s Poetics and its Arabic Translation","authors":"José B. Torres Guerra","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-bja10181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-bja10181","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This contribution highlights the importance of the Arabic version of the Poetics in establishing the text of this work. This is a well-known fact, expressly considered in the most recent editio maior of the Poetics . Nonetheless, the latter edition does not discuss all the evidence relating to the Arabic translation. This article examines two much-discussed passages of the Poetics (1454b30-32, 1448a25-28). In the first case, the Arabic testimony, despite not transmitting the text that should be edited, helps to elucidate which variant is preferred. In the second case, the text of the Arabic translation raises the question of whether its variant reading should replace the text accepted in all the editions published over the last two centuries.","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135425657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-27DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-bja10219
Vasileios Liotsakis
Abstract This study examines three patterns of religious content in Arrian’s Anabasis of Alexander : (a) ritual reports, (b) religious material culture, and (c) omens. Although ritual reports and omens mainly mark turning points of the expedition and certain qualities of Alexander’s character, the passages pertaining to religious material culture also transfer our focal point of interest to the author’s religious beliefs and his literary and cultural tastes. Most importantly, Arrian uses ritual reports and omens in compliance with (a) the dynamic portrait he wished to delineate for Alexander and (b) his opinion about Alexander’s relationship with religion on three different levels (alleged divine origins, stories about the divine favor Alexander enjoyed, and his rivalry with Dionysus and Heracles). A comparative reading of these three religious patterns reveals how Arrian, as a narrator, achieved a creative compromise between his own assessment of Alexander and the historical material he drew from his sources.
{"title":"Patterns of Religious Content and Narrative Arrangement in Arrian’s Anabasis of Alexander","authors":"Vasileios Liotsakis","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-bja10219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-bja10219","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study examines three patterns of religious content in Arrian’s Anabasis of Alexander : (a) ritual reports, (b) religious material culture, and (c) omens. Although ritual reports and omens mainly mark turning points of the expedition and certain qualities of Alexander’s character, the passages pertaining to religious material culture also transfer our focal point of interest to the author’s religious beliefs and his literary and cultural tastes. Most importantly, Arrian uses ritual reports and omens in compliance with (a) the dynamic portrait he wished to delineate for Alexander and (b) his opinion about Alexander’s relationship with religion on three different levels (alleged divine origins, stories about the divine favor Alexander enjoyed, and his rivalry with Dionysus and Heracles). A comparative reading of these three religious patterns reveals how Arrian, as a narrator, achieved a creative compromise between his own assessment of Alexander and the historical material he drew from his sources.","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135585828","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-bja10186
Simon Varga
Abstract This article focusses on an examination of Epicurus’ understanding of self-sufficiency, which is only marginally addressed within research. But many traditions suggest paying more attention to the concept of self-sufficiency. The scarcity of available sources must be regarded as problematic; therefore here an attempt is made to reconstruct this concept. The thesis is that Epicurus discusses human striving for self-sufficiency in two different ways and thus more comprehensively than previously assumed: extrinsic (physical or external autarky) and intrinsic (psychic or internal autarky). As so often, Epicurus is not talking about a theory, but about an immediate practice: human striving for self-sufficiency, an indispensable prerequisite for ataraxia, is made possible by living (hiddenly) in the garden in friendship—far from the politics of the polis. These connections lead to the conclusion that the individual self-sufficiency of the human being does not aim at ‘not needing anybody else anymore’, but requires a form of community that should allow the human being the greatest possible freedom within the framework of the Epicurean teachings.
{"title":"Leben im Verborgenen","authors":"Simon Varga","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-bja10186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-bja10186","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article focusses on an examination of Epicurus’ understanding of self-sufficiency, which is only marginally addressed within research. But many traditions suggest paying more attention to the concept of self-sufficiency. The scarcity of available sources must be regarded as problematic; therefore here an attempt is made to reconstruct this concept. The thesis is that Epicurus discusses human striving for self-sufficiency in two different ways and thus more comprehensively than previously assumed: extrinsic (physical or external autarky) and intrinsic (psychic or internal autarky). As so often, Epicurus is not talking about a theory, but about an immediate practice: human striving for self-sufficiency, an indispensable prerequisite for ataraxia, is made possible by living (hiddenly) in the garden in friendship—far from the politics of the polis. These connections lead to the conclusion that the individual self-sufficiency of the human being does not aim at ‘not needing anybody else anymore’, but requires a form of community that should allow the human being the greatest possible freedom within the framework of the Epicurean teachings.","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136377579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-bja10191
Heiko Westphal
Abstract In chapter 8.15 of his Facta et dicta memorabilia , the Tiberian author Valerius Maximus offers his readers a series of historical exempla which depict the grant of extraordinary honours to deserving individuals. Surprisingly, however, Valerius explains that he has no intention of engaging with any of the honours granted to the imperial family. While, so far, Valerius’ claim has not been called into question by modern scholars, this paper seeks to draw attention to the fact that the exemplary material collected by him shows clear parallels to a number of very specific honours granted to Octavian/Augustus. Although it is true that Valerius does not include the members of the domus Augusta among his exemplars in 8.15, the extraordinary honours he chooses to discuss are to be seen as clear precedents of honours granted to Octavian/Augustus and thus also serve to vindicate the creation of the Principate.
{"title":"Valerius Maximus on Exceptional Honours—and the Augustan Principate (V. Max. 8.15)","authors":"Heiko Westphal","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-bja10191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-bja10191","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In chapter 8.15 of his Facta et dicta memorabilia , the Tiberian author Valerius Maximus offers his readers a series of historical exempla which depict the grant of extraordinary honours to deserving individuals. Surprisingly, however, Valerius explains that he has no intention of engaging with any of the honours granted to the imperial family. While, so far, Valerius’ claim has not been called into question by modern scholars, this paper seeks to draw attention to the fact that the exemplary material collected by him shows clear parallels to a number of very specific honours granted to Octavian/Augustus. Although it is true that Valerius does not include the members of the domus Augusta among his exemplars in 8.15, the extraordinary honours he chooses to discuss are to be seen as clear precedents of honours granted to Octavian/Augustus and thus also serve to vindicate the creation of the Principate.","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136377447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-20DOI: 10.1163/1568525x-bja10184
Alastair Daly
Abstract This article argues that Apollonius was aware of the foul smell of the Lemnian women and its mythological variants. While Apollonius does not mention the δυσοσμία , he builds a complex allusion to it and its omission around the rare verb ἀμαλδύνω . Its deployment to cap Hypsipyle’s speech to Jason (A.R. 1.834) draws a parallel between her erasure of the Lemnian crime and the obliteration of the Achaean wall in the Iliad , but with a witty sting in its tail. The verb first occurs at Iliad 7.463 where Zeus grants Poseidon permission to annihilate the wall, followed by the arrival of Euneus (the son of Jason and Hypsipyle) bringing wine from Lemnos to the Achaean camp. Apollonius uses the verb once more to describe the sun wiping out the scent of prey (4.112) thus making a meta-reference to his own omission of the Lemnian odour in Book 1.
{"title":"Throwing Jason off the Scent","authors":"Alastair Daly","doi":"10.1163/1568525x-bja10184","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525x-bja10184","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article argues that Apollonius was aware of the foul smell of the Lemnian women and its mythological variants. While Apollonius does not mention the δυσοσμία , he builds a complex allusion to it and its omission around the rare verb ἀμαλδύνω . Its deployment to cap Hypsipyle’s speech to Jason (A.R. 1.834) draws a parallel between her erasure of the Lemnian crime and the obliteration of the Achaean wall in the Iliad , but with a witty sting in its tail. The verb first occurs at Iliad 7.463 where Zeus grants Poseidon permission to annihilate the wall, followed by the arrival of Euneus (the son of Jason and Hypsipyle) bringing wine from Lemnos to the Achaean camp. Apollonius uses the verb once more to describe the sun wiping out the scent of prey (4.112) thus making a meta-reference to his own omission of the Lemnian odour in Book 1.","PeriodicalId":46134,"journal":{"name":"MNEMOSYNE","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136377444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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