Bibliography Primary Literature ʿAbdišōʿ. Catalog. Ed.: Assemmani, J. S. 1725. Ebediesu, Enumeratio librorum omnium ecclesiasticorum. BO 3.1:1–362. Rome. Acts of the Council of Chalcedon. Ed.: Schwartz, E. 1932–1938. Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum 2.1–6. Berlin. Trans.: Price, R. and Gaddis, M. 2005. The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon. 3 vols. TTH 45. Liverpool. Acts of the Council of… Read more
To Anastasia, Lampros, and Sofia-Melanthia Acknowledgments It is my pleasant duty to acknowledge the help of a number of people whose support and encouragement sustained me throughout the time during which this project, first as a thesis and now as a book, took shape. My gratitude goes to my former supervisor Professor Peter Brown and to Professors John Gager and Kathleen McVey. I have also profited… Read more
Preface: An Introduction to Theodoret’s Life and Writings [In this on-line version, the page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For example, “{69|70}” indicates where p. 69 of the printed version ends and p. 70 begins. These indications will be useful to readers who need to look up references made elsewhere to the printed version of this book.] Εἰς τοὺς… Read more
Introduction. Theodoret and the Fifth Century Earth and sea are freed from their ancient ignorance; the error of idols is no longer to be seen; the darkness of ignorance has been dispersed, and the light of knowledge fills with its rays the whole inhabited world. Greeks, Romans, and Barbarians recognize the divinity of the crucified and venerate the sign of the cross. The Trinity is… Read more
Chapter 1. The Notion of Therapeia in Theodoret: The Apologetic Use and Role of Greek Medicine and Philosophy against the Greeks As demonstrated both in particular comments scattered throughout his corpus of writings and more generally in the Therapeutikê, [1] Theodoret displays a thorough knowledge of Greek medicine. [2] While the use of insights from Greek medicine… Read more
Chapter 2. God, Gods, Angels, Heroes, and Demons: Parallel Notions of the Intermediaries In Dialexeis III, VII, and X, Theodoret sets out to contrast Christianity with Greek religious attitudes concerning the gods, angels, daemons, and the associated phenomena of divination, oracles, and sacrifices. Although these concepts are treated in separate dialexeis, each with a distinct thematic emphasis, their interrelatedness is hard to ignore. This accords well with… Read more
Chapter 2. Men and Worms: Permanence and Organic Decay Time leaves indelible traces. All organic material, like a ship’s timber, eventually rots. The Greek verb used to describe this process, σήπεσθαι, occurs twice in the context of the decay of mortal flesh. Like the ship wood, heroes’ bodies mark time through their own internal cycles of growth and deterioration. Not all bodies are equal, however. The… Read more
Chapter 3. Permanence and Non-Organic Structures: Walls in the Iliad In the last chapter, we investigated the theme of the decomposition of human remains and the special preservation of the bodies of certain figures. The corpses of Sarpedon, Patroklos, and Hektor are all in danger of suffering unseemly decay or worse; yet, the process of decomposition, though ultimately inevitable, is held in reserve until each hero can… Read more
Chapter 4. Memorials, Tombs, and the γέρας θανόντων: The (Im)Permanence of Mortuary Architecture in the Iliad What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter? … say a “grave-maker”: the house that he makes lasts till doomsday. —Shakespeare Hamlet V, i.41–59 Physical objects play an important role in determining the narrative temporality of… Read more
Chapter 5. The Impermanence of the Permanent: The Death of the Gods? Philology, like philosophy, begins in wonder. Surprise should be taken seriously, for it has an important hermeneutic function: it signals a lack of correspondence between our horizon of expectations and some new object and thus suggests that, if we have not radically misunderstood that object, then our prior expectations must be significantly revised. Read more
