Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late Antiquity
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2019 |
Outros Autores: | |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Revista Archai (Online) |
Texto Completo: | https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/article/view/26566 |
Resumo: | Our purpose on the present occasion is to evaluate some ideas the biographers of late antiquity held about the origins of European thought. Speaking about this period we are no longer dealing with the question of transferring of the archaic practices: these practices are indeed long dead. What we encounter can be better defined as the import of ideas. Equally important is a study of the changing attitudes of our authors: rather than passive witnesses, they became active participants of this import. The process is truly fascinating and we hope that the following examples, mostly from Hippolytus, will elucidate this. The best, almost a paradigmatic example is Pythagoras, who in late antiquity had many faces. His biography is an interesting instance of general change of attitude to ancient wisdom, typical for the source utilized by Hippolytus. Looking at a number of peculiar features of Hippolytus’ report which, we hope, will help us to see why the image of Pythagoras and his philosophy, formed by Hippolytus, is somewhat untypical for the period. We will see that Hippolytus’ biographic report, however garbled, shows no signs of so-called ‘Neopythagorean’ biographic development. Admittedly, the later authors frequently combine their sources to make them suitable to their needs, polemical or apologetic. Do we still have a reason to believe that these stories, however doubtful from the historical point of view, may contain the germs of truth? |
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Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late AntiquityPhilosophic biographyOrientalizing motives in Greek thoughtreincarnationsecret knowledgeOur purpose on the present occasion is to evaluate some ideas the biographers of late antiquity held about the origins of European thought. Speaking about this period we are no longer dealing with the question of transferring of the archaic practices: these practices are indeed long dead. What we encounter can be better defined as the import of ideas. Equally important is a study of the changing attitudes of our authors: rather than passive witnesses, they became active participants of this import. The process is truly fascinating and we hope that the following examples, mostly from Hippolytus, will elucidate this. The best, almost a paradigmatic example is Pythagoras, who in late antiquity had many faces. His biography is an interesting instance of general change of attitude to ancient wisdom, typical for the source utilized by Hippolytus. Looking at a number of peculiar features of Hippolytus’ report which, we hope, will help us to see why the image of Pythagoras and his philosophy, formed by Hippolytus, is somewhat untypical for the period. We will see that Hippolytus’ biographic report, however garbled, shows no signs of so-called ‘Neopythagorean’ biographic development. Admittedly, the later authors frequently combine their sources to make them suitable to their needs, polemical or apologetic. Do we still have a reason to believe that these stories, however doubtful from the historical point of view, may contain the germs of truth?Cátedra UNESCO Archai (Universidade de Brasília); Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal; Annablume Editora, São Paulo, Brasil2019-08-07info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticlesArtigosapplication/pdfhttps://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/article/view/26566Revista Archai; No. 27 (2019): Archai 27 (2019 [3]); e02709Archai Journal; n. 27 (2019): Archai 27 (2019 [3]); e027091984-249X2179-496010.14195/1984-249X_27reponame:Revista Archai (Online)instname:Universidade de Brasília (UnB)instacron:UNBenghttps://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/article/view/26566/23229Copyright (c) 2019 Eugene Afonasin, Anna Afonasinainfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessAfonasin, EugeneAfonasina, Anna2019-08-28T18:38:41Zoai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/26566Revistahttps://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archaiPUBhttps://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/oai||archaijournal@unb.br|| cornelli@unb.br1984-249X1984-249Xopendoar:2019-08-28T18:38:41Revista Archai (Online) - Universidade de Brasília (UnB)false |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late Antiquity |
title |
Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late Antiquity |
spellingShingle |
Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late Antiquity Afonasin, Eugene Philosophic biography Orientalizing motives in Greek thought reincarnation secret knowledge |
title_short |
Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late Antiquity |
title_full |
Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late Antiquity |
title_fullStr |
Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late Antiquity |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late Antiquity |
title_sort |
Pythagoras Traveling East: An Image of a Sage in Late Antiquity |
author |
Afonasin, Eugene |
author_facet |
Afonasin, Eugene Afonasina, Anna |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Afonasina, Anna |
author2_role |
author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Afonasin, Eugene Afonasina, Anna |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Philosophic biography Orientalizing motives in Greek thought reincarnation secret knowledge |
topic |
Philosophic biography Orientalizing motives in Greek thought reincarnation secret knowledge |
description |
Our purpose on the present occasion is to evaluate some ideas the biographers of late antiquity held about the origins of European thought. Speaking about this period we are no longer dealing with the question of transferring of the archaic practices: these practices are indeed long dead. What we encounter can be better defined as the import of ideas. Equally important is a study of the changing attitudes of our authors: rather than passive witnesses, they became active participants of this import. The process is truly fascinating and we hope that the following examples, mostly from Hippolytus, will elucidate this. The best, almost a paradigmatic example is Pythagoras, who in late antiquity had many faces. His biography is an interesting instance of general change of attitude to ancient wisdom, typical for the source utilized by Hippolytus. Looking at a number of peculiar features of Hippolytus’ report which, we hope, will help us to see why the image of Pythagoras and his philosophy, formed by Hippolytus, is somewhat untypical for the period. We will see that Hippolytus’ biographic report, however garbled, shows no signs of so-called ‘Neopythagorean’ biographic development. Admittedly, the later authors frequently combine their sources to make them suitable to their needs, polemical or apologetic. Do we still have a reason to believe that these stories, however doubtful from the historical point of view, may contain the germs of truth? |
publishDate |
2019 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2019-08-07 |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Articles Artigos |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/article/view/26566 |
url |
https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/article/view/26566 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/archai/article/view/26566/23229 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2019 Eugene Afonasin, Anna Afonasina info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
rights_invalid_str_mv |
Copyright (c) 2019 Eugene Afonasin, Anna Afonasina |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cátedra UNESCO Archai (Universidade de Brasília); Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal; Annablume Editora, São Paulo, Brasil |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Cátedra UNESCO Archai (Universidade de Brasília); Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal; Annablume Editora, São Paulo, Brasil |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
Revista Archai; No. 27 (2019): Archai 27 (2019 [3]); e02709 Archai Journal; n. 27 (2019): Archai 27 (2019 [3]); e02709 1984-249X 2179-4960 10.14195/1984-249X_27 reponame:Revista Archai (Online) instname:Universidade de Brasília (UnB) instacron:UNB |
instname_str |
Universidade de Brasília (UnB) |
instacron_str |
UNB |
institution |
UNB |
reponame_str |
Revista Archai (Online) |
collection |
Revista Archai (Online) |
repository.name.fl_str_mv |
Revista Archai (Online) - Universidade de Brasília (UnB) |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
||archaijournal@unb.br|| cornelli@unb.br |
_version_ |
1798319945450258432 |