| Homepage | Syllabus | Schedule | Instructor | Resources |
Greek and Roman Religions, Fall 1999
November 11, 1999
| WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT DUE TODAY: | Copies of primary readings for November 11 (Berossus, Manetho, Megasthenes) will be available in Rosengarten Reserve Room in photocopied form before class today. We will discuss this material next week along with the Euripides reading assigned originally for today. |
| SESSION LEADER: | n/a |
| LECTURE NOTES: |
Hellenistic History Overview
|
|
| Book 2 of Herodotus' History of the Persian Wars is a detailed
discussion of Egypt: its geography, history, culture, etc.
This is presented as a long digression in the work, but there are other,
similar discussions of other peoples throughout the work: Book 1
contains discussions of Greeks and Persians; Book 4 Scythia; etc.
These discussions are now viewed as falling within a genre of Greek literature,
of which our only surviving, intact example is Herodotus, the so-called
ethnographic logos. Herodotus becomes the mark against which later
scholars conceived of their work.
|
| Life: says he was a contemporary of Alexander the Great; priest of
Bel, perhaps connected to the Seleucid court; we might assume that his
work was somehow commissioned by the temple at Babylon or by the Seleucid
king, or both. Also, astronomical fragments by a Berossus are attributed
to this figure, along with story that he moved to island of Cos (then in
Ptolemaic hands); there is bebate whether these were the same people, and
whether the astronomical fragments fit into the history of Babylon, or
a separate work.
Work: Babyloniaca, composed c. 281 in Greek. Book 1: Geography of Babylonia, origins of world, origins of civilization Book 2: History of Babylon to reign of Nabu-Nasir (c. 747-734) Book 3: History of Babylon from reign of Nabu-Nasir (c. 747-734) to present There is little in the way of extended narrative in the work, although more information about particular kings occurs in Book 3 than in Book 2. It appears that Berossus is working within the genres of traditional (cuneiform) literature, although with some influences from the Greek tradition (Verbrugghe-Wickersham, pp. 25-6): the work is in Greek; Berossus gives his name at the start of the work, along with a short vita, whereas Mesopotamian literature is, essentially, anonymous; the Babyloniaca mixes myth with political history, in a rather Greek way; the geography of Babylonia would presumably be unnecessary for natives. In other words, this is the work of a Babylonian with access to native archives, for a Greek audience but with only marginal accomodation to the tastes of a Greek readership. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that it was not a popular work: our evidence comes several remove from his work, through the references in later authors. Sources: king-lists, which existed in Mesopotamia since the Sumerian King List (c. 2200-2000 BC); chronicles, or more detailed discussions of particular reigns; other comparable sources (there are not firm divides between genres in early Mesopotamian historical works).
|
| Life: priest of Ra at Heliopolis, and perhaps associated with cult
of Sarapis, a syncretistic, Hellenistic cult that originated in Egypt and
spread around the Mediterranean (combination of Osiris, Apis, Isis).
He was a contemporary of Berossus, and wrote like Berossus in Greek (and
presumably for the new Greek aristocracy) about native history and culture.
Works attributed to him: History of Egypt, Sacred Book, On Antiquity and Religion, On Festivals, On the Preparation of Kyphi, Digest of Physics, Book of Sothis. Only fragments of his work survive, in later authors, although we have more than from Berossus, and much better evidence for his king lists. Book 1: predynastic period, gods, myths, Dynasties I-XI (Manetho seems to be the first to divide Egyptian history into dynasties) Book 2: Dynasties XII-XIX Book 3: Dynasties XX-XXX or XXXI (i.e., until the start of the Ptolemies)
|
| Life: ambassador from Arachosia to Indian court at Pataliputra;
the traditional view is that he visited the court of Chandragupta Maurya
c. 302-291, as a representative of Seleucus; but recent scholarship challenges
some details of this view. In any case, he was a Greek visitor to
northeast India, and he relied on observation as well as hearsay for his
book.
Work: Indica, which is no longer extant, although some of its content can be reconstructed from authors who used it, esp. Arrian, Strabo, Diodorus, and Pliny the Elder. Especially notable (for us) are his discussions of Indian gods. Most people assume Heracles = Krishna and Dionysus = Shiva.
|
| Philo Judaeus (fl. AD 39) of Alexandria, philosopher and inspiration
for Neoplatonists
Flavius Josephus (b. AD 37)
|
| Mithraism
Isis cult Christianity and varieties of Judaism 'Gnosticism' For a brief overview, see Luther Martin, Hellenistic Religions: An Introduction, Oxford 1987.. |