Winiarczyk The "Sacred History" of Euhemerus of Messene

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-3-11-029488-0
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 312, 293 Seiten

Reihe: Beiträge zur AltertumskundeISSN

In his utopian novel () Euhemerus of Messene (ca. 300 B.C.) describes his travel to the island Panchaia in the Indian Ocean where he discovered an inscribed stele in the temple of Zeus Triphylius. It turned out that the Olympian gods (Uranos, Kronos, Zeus) were deified kings. The travels of Zeus allowed to describe peoples and places all over the world.

Winiarczyk investigates the sources of the theological views of Euhemerus. He proves that Euhemerus’ religious views were rooted in old Greek tradition (the worship of heroes, gods as founders of their own cult, tombs of gods, euergetism, rationalistic interpretation of myths, the explanations of the origin of religion by the sophists, the ruler cult). The description of the Panchaian society is intended to suggest an archaic and closed culture, in which the stele recording of the deified kings might have been preserved.

The translation of Ennius’ (ca. 200 - ca. 194) is a free prose rendering, which Lactantius knew only indirectly. The book is concluded by a short history of Euhemerism in the pagan, Christian and Jewish literature.

Zielgruppe

Academics, Institutes, Libraries

Autoren/Hrsg.

Winiarczyk, Marek

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Rezeption, literarische Einflüsse und Beziehungen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Einzelne Autoren: Monographien & Biographien
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Griechische & Byzantinische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Antike Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Abbreviations;13
2;I. The life of Euhemerus;19
2.1;1. Dating Euhemerus;19
2.2;2. Place of birth;23
2.3;3. Place of activity;25
2.4;4. Euhemerus in ancient tradition;26
2.4.1;A. Geographer;26
2.4.2;B. Historian;27
2.4.3;C. Atheist Philosopher;27
2.4.4;D. Poet;28
3;II. Euhemerus’ .e.. ..a..af.;31
3.1;1. The state of preservation of the work;31
3.2;2. Interpretation of the title;32
3.3;3. When the work was written;33
3.4;4. Literary form;34
3.4.1;A. Ideal island;34
3.4.2;B. Locus amoenus;36
3.4.3;C. Utopian novel;37
3.5;5. Applied method;39
4;III. The theological views of Euhemerus of Messene;45
4.1;1. The reliability of Diodorus’ account of the theologia dipertita in Euhemerus’ .e.. ..a..af.;45
4.2;2. Sources regarding Euhemerus’ theological views;46
4.2.1;A. Old Greek concepts;47
4.2.1.1;a. The hero cult;47
4.2.1.2;b. Gods as the founders of cults;50
4.2.1.3;c. The tombs of the gods;51
4.2.2;B. Euergetism;59
4.2.3;C. Rationalistic interpretation of myths;64
4.2.4;D. The Sophistic movement;65
4.2.5;E. The origins of the commander and ruler cult in the 5th and 4th centuries BC;66
4.2.5.1;a. Lysander, Spartan commander (d. 395 r.);66
4.2.5.2;b. Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse (405–367);68
4.2.5.3;c. Dion of Syracuse;69
4.2.5.4;d. Clearchus, tyrant of Heraclea Pontica (364/363–353/352);69
4.2.5.5;e. Nicagoras, tyrant of Zeleia (to 334);70
4.2.5.6;f. Philip II, king of Macedonia (359–336);71
4.2.5.7;g. Alexander III the Great (336–323);74
4.2.5.8;h. Summary;76
4.2.6;F. The ruler cult at the start of the Hellenistic period (up to 270);77
4.2.6.1;a. The Antigonids;77
4.2.6.2;b. The Lagids;78
4.2.6.3;c. The Seleucids;81
4.2.6.4;d. Summary;81
4.2.7;G. Hecataeus of Abdera;82
4.2.8;H. Leon of Pella;84
4.2.9;I. Summary;86
5;IV. Society and economy in the .e.. ..a..af.;89
5.1;1. The island of Hiera;89
5.2;2. The island of Panchaea;90
5.3;3. Why Hiera should not be identified as Panchaea;97
5.4;4. The ‘sources’ of the socio-economic description;99
5.5;5. Summary;104
6;V. The Zeus Sanctuary on the Island of Panchaea;105
6.1;1. The temple and temenos;105
6.2;2. The stele in the temple;108
6.2.1;A. The account on the stele;108
6.2.2;B. .e... ..... on the stele;111
6.3;3. The priests of Zeus Triphylius;114
6.4;4. Summary;115
7;VI. An attempt to interpret the .e.. ..a..af.;117
7.1;1. Destruction of belief in the Olympian gods;117
7.2;2. Satire on the ruler cult;118
7.3;3. A justification or promotion of the ruler cult;119
7.4;4. A description of an ideal state system;121
7.5;5. An explanation of the origins of belief in gods;122
7.6;6. Promoting the idea of unity and brotherhood of all people;123
7.7;7. Reinterpretation of Greek mythology;124
7.8;8. Summary;126
8;VII. Ennius’ Euhemerus sive sacra historia;127
8.1;1. The history of its genesis;127
8.1.1;A. Scipio Africanus;128
8.1.2;B. Ennius’ Scipio;130
8.1.3;C. Dating Ennius’ Euhemerus;132
8.2;2. The translation title;132
8.3;3. The translation form;133
8.4;4. A close translation or free version?;136
8.5;5. Ennius’ translation in the works of Latin authors;137
8.6;6. Summary;140
9;VIII. Euhemerism in the ancient world;141
9.1;1. Pagan literature;141
9.1.1;A. Euhemerus and Euhemerism;141
9.1.2;B. Euhemerism and the ruler cult;142
9.1.3;C. Euhemerism in mythological novels;143
9.1.3.1;a. Dionysius Scytobrachion;143
9.1.3.2;b. Dinarchus of Delos;146
9.1.3.3;c. The ‘Phrygian Literature’;146
9.1.4;D. Stoic Euhemerism;147
9.1.5;E. Euhemerism in historiography;149
9.1.5.1;a. Leon of Pella;149
9.1.5.2;b. Mnaseas of Patara in Lycia;150
9.1.5.3;c. Nicagoras of Cyprus;150
9.1.5.4;d. Polybius;151
9.1.5.5;e. Apollodorus of Athens;152
9.1.5.6;f. Castor of Rhodes;152
9.1.5.7;g. Diodorus Siculus;152
9.1.5.8;h. Thallus;154
9.1.5.9;i. Philo of Byblos;155
9.1.5.10;j. Sisyphus of Cos;158
9.1.6;F. Latin Euhemerists;158
9.1.7;G. Index deorum cognominum;160
9.1.8;H. Pseudo-Euhemerists;162
9.1.8.1;a. Diagoras of Melos;162
9.1.8.2;b. Palaephatus;163
9.1.8.3;c. Megasthenes;163
9.1.8.4;d. Philochorus of Athens;164
9.1.8.5;e. Res gestae Divi Augusti;164
9.1.8.6;f. Lucian of Samosata;165
9.2;2. Patristic literature;166
9.2.1;A. Rejection of Euhemerism;166
9.2.2;B. Acceptance of Euhemerism;167
9.2.3;C. Summary and medieval Euhemerism;170
9.3;3. Jewish literature;172
9.3.1;A. Eupolemus;172
9.3.2;B. Pseudo-Eupolemus;173
9.3.3;C. Artapanus;174
9.3.4;D. Theodotus;174
9.3.5;E. The Sibylline Oracles;174
9.3.6;F. Summary;176
10;IX. Conclusions;179
11;Appendix I: Homines pro diis culti;185
12;Appendix II: Deos homines fuisse;189
13;Appendix III: The tombs of the gods;195
14;Bibliography;201
14.1;1. Editions;201
14.1.1;A. Editions of fragments from Euhemerus’ work;201
14.1.1.1;a. Greek and Latin testimonia;201
14.1.1.2;b. Latin testimonia;201
14.1.2;B. Editions of authors cited in this book;202
14.2;2. Secondary works;215
15;Indexes;265
15.1;1. Indexes of names;265
15.2;2. Index of geographical and ethnic names;270
15.3;3. Index of subjects;273
15.4;4. Greek and Latin words and expressions;276
15.4.1;A. Greek words and expressions;276
15.4.2;B. Latin expressions;277
15.5;5. Index of passages;277

Über Autor(innen)

Winiarczyk, Marek
Marek Winiarczyk, University of Wroclaw, Poland.