Chapters

Chapter 3. Franco Ferrari, Democritus, Heraclitus, and the Dead Souls: Reconstructing Columns I–VI of the Derveni Papyrus

Chapter 3. Democritus, Heraclitus, and the Dead Souls: Reconstructing Columns I–VI of the Derveni Papyrus [*] Franco Ferrari Università dell’Aquila On January 15, 1962, the remains of the Derveni Papyrus were unearthed from a cist grave in northern Greece. Anton Fackelmann, curator of the papyrus collection of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna and the world’s leading expert in the handling… Read more

Chapter 2. Alberto Bernabé, On the Rites Described and Commented Upon in the Derveni Papyrus, Columns I–VI

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

Introduction. Ioanna Papadopoulou, Testing Our Tools: Open Questions on the Derveni Papyrus

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

Foreword. Leonard Muellner

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

Bibliography

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

Conclusion. The Byzantine Future

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

Chapter 3. Writing Dialogue

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

Chapter 2. Dialogue and Debate in Late Antiquity

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 1. Did Christians “Do Dialogue”?

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