Journal Phasis - Greek and Roman Studies
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On the Greek Chiromantic Fragment: An Update
Full text linkThis paper provides an update to Roger Pack’s 1972 article “On the Greek Chiromantic Fragment” (TAPA 103: 367-380). The discovery of several new witnesses to the text warrants a reconsideration of the scholarly questions about Greek chiromancy. This paper presents the results of recent scholarship on the Greek chiromantic fragment, alongside a new edition of the text and a survey of its reception
The Late Antique Church at Napurvala Hill (Pichvnari, Western Georgia) and Its Associated Cemetery. A Reappraisal Based on Surviving Evidence at the Batumi Archaeological Museum
Full text linkThis article presents the artefacts found during the excavation of a building at Napurvala Hill, Pichvnari, in the 1960s and 1970s and now at the Batumi Archaeological Museum (BAM). Besides discussing the bulk finds, some of which were already published in 1980 by Chkhaidze, this contribution provides, for the first time, a study of a small white marble cross found during the excavation and now on display at the BAM. It will conclude that, although the interpretation of the building as a church remains sound, the chronology of the artefacts is problematic as their dating ranges from the Hellenistic to the Medieval periods
The Biblical Quotations in the Old Georgian Translations of The Hexaemeron of Basil of Caesarea
Full text linkThis article addresses the issue of the provenance of the Biblical passages cited in two Georgian translations of the Hexaemeron of St. Basil the Great. Specifically, it focuses on procedures adopted by the translators of Basil’s work, namely whether they used any of the surviving Georgian versions of the Holy Scriptures, provided their own rendering, or if the quotations of their translations were taken from a hitherto unknown Georgian recension of the Bible. Finally, this article emphasizes the importance of studying the Biblical passages cited in the Old Georgian translations of the Hexaemeron for a better understanding of the history of the Georgian translation of the Holy Scriptures
The Locating of Paradise in Philostorgius’s Ecclesiastical History: Greek Science and Christian Geography
Full text linkOne of the important questions of Christian geography was the location of Paradise on the inhabited Earth. Among the various theories provided by Christian authorities, none is as sophisticated as that of Philostorgius. Philostorgius put forward the proposition that Paradise was located in the eastern part of the inhabited world, on the equator, with a demonstration that was largely based on the classical non-Christian paideia
Der Inbegriff des Kinetischen im Menschen bei Gregor von Nyssa
Full text linkThis paper explores the notion of movement as expressed by the generic term kinesis and its grammatical and conceptual derivatives, which regularly occur in Gregory of Nyssa’s anthropology. Despite some investigations into the issue within the framework of careful research on Gregory’s thought, a more systematic examination of the concept in his anthropological doctrine remains a considerable desideratum. I would like to contribute a general sketch of such analysis. The doctrine as presented by Nyssen implies numerous elements of syncretic doctrine about man’s nature that were widely accepted in Late Antiquity. Nevertheless, through three structured topics for this research – 1) The cosmic motion in its relation to man; 2) The motion of body and soul in man; and 3) Spiritual ascent as a type of motion – I argue that the concept of motion in Nyssen’s anthropology has an authentic character as he rethinks the inherited philosophical ideas according to the biblical model of the relation between universe, man and God. The concept of man as the central creation and image of God results in Nyssen’s shifting the sensible universe with its rotation as an ideal form of motion in Greek philosophy from the central position it had to the background, replacing it by the phenomenon of man. Although the sensible cosmos ruled by the wisdom of God remains a paradigm for the ideal constellation of mind, affects and body in man, the highest type of motion – as St. Gregory recognizes in line with Platonic metaphysics – is spiritual motion. The distinctive feature fundamentally different from the Platonic stance is that St. Gregory (a) highlights the motif of the mystical movement to God, independent from and opposed to the cosmic cyclical harmony, and (b) interprets this spiritual process as an infinite qualitative ascent to the infinite God. Expressed in geometrical terms the concept in Nyssen’s epistemology can be traced by his giving precedence to straight line vertical motion before cyclical motion
Unmasking Hercules: Tracing Comedy in Propertius’ Fourth Book
Full text linkThis paper centers on the ninth elegy of Propertius’ fourth book, remaking a neglected case for a reading as paraclausithyron and establishing a further case for siting it in a comic dramatic frame. The aim is to reveal the importance of the comic background to elegy 4.9, particularly in the paraclausithyron topos and the use of a cross-dressed Hercules. The analysis emphasizes the elegy’s sources in stage comedy and contradicts the more typical claim that 4.9 absorbs Hercules into a specifically elegiac framework. Propertius 4.9, altogether, with its myth of Hercules, serves to acclimate an epic figure into the elegiac world, to explore the fluidity of gender in elegy as well as to access the specifics of comedy and mime as a genre important to Propertian poetics. The survey on paraclausithyron and gender play of transvestism in ancient poetry, shall indicate the relation of theatre with Propertius, who draws elegiac settings within the frame of a theatrical scene, veiling Hercules in the appearance of a comic lover
Cogidubnus – ein König ohne Königreich in der britannischen Provinz? Die Dekonstruktion eines Klientelkönigreiches im römischen Britannien
Full text linkThe article examines the status of king Cogidubnus and the existence of the kingdom, which various historians attributed to him hitherto. After a short description of the sources and research approaches to this issue, it will reveal that there are no evidences or strong indices for his kingdom and many points even contradict this research postulate. On this basis, the existence of a client kingdom in Julio-Claudian Britain will be deconstructed. Associated with this, also new approaches on the position of king Cogidubnus and the use of client kings by the Roman provincial administration will be discussed
Pygmalionismus. Über Narzissmus, Gender und Kunst: Pygmalionism. On Narcissism, Gender and Art
Full text linkOn the basis of Ovid’s story of Pygmalion in the tenth book of the Metamorphoses, the contribution at hand aims to demonstrate that the production of art cannot be traced back to a pure, ideal or august source: to a divine inspiration, for example, as postulated since Homer’s Iliad by the motif of the invocations of the muses; or to the autonomous creative subject of the modern aesthetics of the genius and aestheticism. Ovid, with his figure of the paradigmatic and tradition forming artist, illustrates that, on the contrary, art is based on something inferior and abject, namely on a narcissist misalliance of the artist towards his work, which, in the case of Pygmalion, grows into an incestuous structure of desire. Since Pygmalion’s narcissism is related to a, or rather his, simulacrum of the ideal woman, it is furthermore important to reconstruct the distortions pertaining to gender policies that can be connected to the creation of art
