Chapter 1. Did Christians “Do Dialogue”? The attraction of Plato was felt powerfully in late antiquity, and is still felt today. As one illustration, the novelist Iris Murdoch was also a teacher of philosophy in Oxford, and deeply interested in Plato. [1] She even composed two Platonic dialogues, on the themes of art and religion, in which she introduced the figure of… Read more
Chapter 2. Dialogue and Debate in Late Antiquity If, in the words of the late Keith Hopkins, the Roman empire was a world full of gods, [1] late antiquity was a world full of talk. The known religious debates and discussions ranged from the discussions in major church councils and local synods, through public debates between Chalcedonians and Syrian Orthodox, against Manichaeans,… Read more
Chapter 3. Writing Dialogue In my final chapter I will discuss three very different examples of Greek Christian dialogue-writing, two of them from the late antique period, the third composed later, but with a dramatic date in late antiquity. The first has attracted attention already, but is so unusual that it deserves its place here. The second also seems unusual, but was followed by other examples of… Read more
Conclusion. The Byzantine Future I have made a case here for Christian dialogues in late antiquity and beyond as a large and fruitful field of research, over and above comparisons with Socratic or Ciceronian dialogues, and at the same time indicated something of the richness of the available material. Many more dialogues were composed than I have had the space to consider here. Dialogue and debate were… Read more
Bibliography Editions and Translations of Primary Sources Allen, P. 2009. Sophronius of Jerusalem and Seventh-Century Heresy: The Synodical Letter and Other Documents; Introduction, Texts, Translations and Commentary. Oxford. Allen, P., and B. Neil. 1999. Scripta Saeculi VII Vitam Maximi Confessoris Illustrantia. Corpus Christianorum, Series Graeca 39. Turnhout. ———. 2002. Maximus the Confessor and his Companions: Documents from… Read more
Foreword Leonard Muellner Brandeis University Center for Hellenic Studies This volume has both a history and a future. The conference in July 2008 that produced the papers appearing here was a consequence of the permission granted to the Center for Hellenic Studies in 2006 by Leo S. Olschki Editore in Florence to publish online the text of the Derveni Papyrus as presented in its… Read more
Introduction [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.] Testing Our Tools: Open Questions on the… Read more
Chapter 1. Some Desiderata in the Study of the Derveni Papyrus Kyriakos Tsantsanoglou Aristotle University of Thessaloniki In the present paper, which I hope will be my last on this subject, I do not intend to deal with the reconstruction of the first three columns of the papyrus, the joining of whose fragments has provoked so many rows among scholars. I accept some of the… Read more
Chapter 2. On the Rites Described and Commented Upon in the Derveni Papyrus, Columns I–VI Alberto Bernabé Universidad Complutense 1. Introduction In this paper, I intend to discuss a number of issues concerning the rituals described and commented upon in the first six columns of the Derveni Papyrus, and to propose a few suggestions regarding two specific aspects: first, the nature of the rituals… Read more
Bibliography Classical Sources Greek Aelian Dilts, Mervin R., ed. 1974. Claudii Aeliani Varia Historia. Leipzig. Herodotus Hude, Karl, ed. 1927. Herodoti Historiae. 3rd ed. 2 vols. Oxford. Hesiod West, M. L., ed. 1966. Hesiod. Theogony. Oxford. Repr., 1997. Homer Allen, Thomas W., ed. 1917–1919. Odyssey. 2nd ed. Vols. Read more
