Cet article propose une hypothèse au sujet des Oracles Chaldaïques en les abordant sous l’angle de l’histoire de leur réception. L’objectif de l’A. est de replacer l’origine de ces oracles dans le contexte immédiat de la spiritualité néoplatonicienne. L’hypothèse proposée est illustrée par quelques vers de Proclus qui nous sont rapportés par son disciple Marinus dans son traité Proclus ou sur le bonheur ainsi que par quelques témoignages littéraires sur la conception de la prière chez les néoplatoniciens. L’article se termine (...) sur un exemple de réception moderne des Oracles Chaldaïques. This paper proposes a hypothesis on the Chaldean Oracles by an approach under the angle of the history of their reception. The objective of the A. is to replace the origin of these oracles in the immediate context of Neoplatonician’s spirituality. The hypothesis suggested is illustrated by some verses of Proclus which are brought back to us by his disciple Marinus in his Proclus or on happiness as well as by some literary testimonies on the conception of prayer among Neoplatonicians. The paper finishes on a modern example of reception of the Chaldean Oracles. (shrink)

Adélard de Bath est d’abord connu comme un des premiers traducteurs arabo-latins de textes scientifiques. On lui attribue en particulier la première traduction des Éléments d’Euclide. Étant donné l’importance de ces traductions dans l’histoire de la pensée occidentale, la connaissance de son itinéraire intellectuel est a priori intéressante. Or deux de ses œuvres, le De Eodem et diverso et les Questiones naturales, antérieures à ses traductions, fournissent des éléments qui permettent de reco...

Adélard de Bath est d’abord connu comme un des premiers traducteurs arabo-latins de textes scientifiques. On lui attribue en particulier la première traduction des Éléments d’Euclide. Étant donné l’importance de ces traductions dans l’histoire de la pensée occidentale, la connaissance de son itinéraire intellectuel est a priori intéressante. Or deux de ses œuvres, le De Eodem et diverso et les Questiones naturales, antérieures à ses traductions, fournissent des éléments qui permettent de reco...

The treatise On the Nature of the Universe, attributed to the Pythagorean Ocellus, has frequently been the subject of scholarly attention due to its engagement with Aristotle’s theory of elemental transformation or its role in the late Hellenistic debate on the eternity of the universe. In this paper, I argue that its author endorses a peculiar conception of matter: prime matter is an unqualified body, only potentially perceptible. Ps.-Ocellus draws this doctrine from Stoicism but reworks it for his purposes outside (...) the framework of Stoic corporealism. The author presents it as an antecedent to both Plato’s receptacle and Aristotle’s prime matter. As it turns out, the doctrine was meant to address some of the challenges posed by an incorporeal material principle. (shrink)

Pherecydes’ pseudepigraphic letter to Thales (Diog. Laert. I 122) is of uncertain date. It revolves around the idea that the book of Pherecydes should be interpreted allegorically. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, to contextualise the composition of the epistle through the examination of ancient witnesses who focus on Pherecydes’ obscurity; on the other hand, it shows to what extent Numenius, Celsus and Porphyry’s allegoric interpretation has misled some authoritative modern reconstruction of Pherecydes’ doctrines, as (...) it is today generally agreed that he taught the immortality of the human soul and cycle of reincarnation. (shrink)

The article first discusses the presence among Christians in Roman Africa of "biblical" writings that are not found in the current canon of Scripture. This is followed by a review of what is known of the Manichaean use of extra-canonical material in general, particularly within the Roman Empire, and especially of the pseudepigraphical Acts of the Apostles. Finally, the article focuses on the use among Manichaeans in Roman Africa of this pseudepigraphic literature, especially the Acts of the Apostles. In all (...) cases, the article focuses on cases of a confirmed pseudepigraphic presence, rather than on mere conjectures about it. (shrink)

This article is the first of three on the relationship between the Sayings Gospel Q and the ancient concept of 'psychostasia,' which is the ancient notion that a divine or supernatural figure weighed people's souls when judging them. The ultimate goal of all three articles is to enhance our understanding of Q 6:37-38, as well as of the Q document as a whole. In the current article, attention is focused on intertexts from the Old Testament, and the occurrences therein of (...) the word 'measure' and the concept of 'psychostasia'. The implications of these results for our interpretation of Q 6:37-38 are briefly noted. A second (future) article will focus on intertexts in apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings from Second Temple Judaism dealing with 'psychostasia'. A third study will ultimately spell out in more comprehensive detail the implications of the foregoing intertextual investigations on both our understanding of Q 6:37-38 and our understanding of the Sayings Gospel Q as a whole. (shrink)

This article first presents a codicological and paleographical analysis of the Bibliotheca Medicea Laurenziana's manuscript Plut. 57.12, a codex containing the Epistolographi Graeci that was owned and annotated by Francesco Filelfo. The original nucleus of this composite was produced in Constantinople in the third decade of the 15th century. Afterwards, Filelfo himself had two copyists -one of whom is identifiable as Gerard of Patras - transcribe supplements to be added to the codex. Filelfo's ownership is proved not only by autograph (...) marginal notes, but also by the use of this manuscript as the source of Filelfo's Latin translation of several of these pseudepigraphic letters that were incorporated in his Commentationes Florentinae de Exilio, and by the correspondences between the marginalia accompanying the Commentationes and those in the Laur. Plut. 57.12. (shrink)

This volume explores the early Jewish understanding of divine knowledge as divine presence, which is embodied in major biblical exemplars, such as Adam, Enoch, Jacob, and Moses. The study treats the concept of divine knowledge as the embodied divine presence in its full historical and interpretive complexity by tracing the theme through a broad variety of ancient Near Eastern and Jewish sources, including Mesopotamian traditions of cultic statues, creational narratives of the Hebrew Bible, and later Jewish mystical testimonies. Orlov demonstrates (...) that some biblical and pseudepigraphical accounts postulate that the theophany expresses the unique, corporeal nature of the deity that cannot be fully grasped or conveyed in some other non-corporeal symbolism, medium, or language. The divine presence requires another presence in order to be transmitted. To be communicated properly and in its full measure, the divine iconic knowledge must be "written" on a new living "body" which can hold the ineffable presence of God through a newly acquired ontology. Embodiment of Divine Knowledge in Early Judaism will provide an invaluable research to students and scholars in a wide range of areas within Jewish, Near Eastern, and Biblical Studies, as well as those studying religious elements of anthropology, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and gender studies. Through the study of Jewish mediatorial figures, this book also elucidates the roots of early Christological developments, making it attractive to Christian audiences. (shrink)

Dans les traditions juives et chrétiennes, on trouve, à côté d�un ensemble d�écrits canoniques (ensemble dont la définition précise varie d�ailleurs selon les communautés), toute une littérature «deutéro-canonique» (ou «apocryphe») et pseudépigraphe. Depuis longtemps, les spécialistes � en particulier dans le monde anglo-saxon � ont pris l�habitude d�analyser cette littérature sous l�angle de la «réécriture» des traditions bibliques. Cette approche soulève toutefois plusieurs difficultés, en particulier parce qu�elle tient pour acquise la fixation des traditions bibliques au moment où se constitue (...) ce qui deviendra la littérature «apocryphe». Au contraire, en dialogue avec plusieurs travaux récents, l�étude suivante défend et illustre l�idée qu�il convient d�approcher le problème du point de vue de la mise en place progressive de «traditions mémoriales» dans le judaïsme et le christianisme anciens. Dans ce processus complexe, le phénomène de la réécriture ne reflète pas nécessairement la soumission à un original considéré comme «autoritaire» ou normatif, mais témoigne bien plutôt de la très grande fluidité des traditions «scripturaires» recueillies par les communautés à cette époque. (shrink)

Recent scholarship has argued that Simon Peter is not the author of 1 Peter, whilst maintaining that the addressees in 1:1 are the real recipients of the letter. We contend that both the stated author and the stated audience are part of the author’s deception. We propose instead that the author may have simply argued that this text was an older letter from Peter. This proposal is consistent with the widely‐held view that pseudepigraphical letters were not knowingly accepted in early (...) Christian circles, as well as the ancient tradition that Peter was believed to be the real author of the text and offers a simple solution as to how the letter escaped the scrutiny that came with pseudepigraphical works. If this thesis is followed, scholarship concerned with uncovering the socio‐economic status of the Christians in Asia Minor based on this text is therefore misguided. (shrink)

In the spring of 1956, a comprehensive inventory of the manuscripts from Qumran Cave 4 was prepared which established the manuscript assignments for each of the members of the first editorial team. The manuscripts numbered 4Q521-4Q579 were assigned to Jean Starcky. Unfortunately Père Starcky died before publishing his allotment, which included primarily parabiblical and pseudepigraphic compositions in Hebrew or Aramaic. Though quite amorphous in character, the group reflects the interest in biblical themes and liturgy characteristic of Second Temple period Judaism. (...) In this volume, Émile Puech presents a critical text edition of the Hebrew manuscripts from this corpus. His edition of the Aramaic texts is scheduled to appear as Discoveries in the Judaean Desert Volume XXXI. (shrink)

In the authoritative new collection of the Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta , a five-trimeter passage appears as No. 624 in the second volume which contains the ‘Fragmenta adespota’. Whereas Nauck placed the lines among the ‘Fragmenta dubia et spuria’ of Euripides , Kannicht and Snell separate them totally from the Euripidean fragments and associate them with various pseudepigraphical pieces of tragic poetry which are commonly thought to have originated in the ‘workshop of a Jewish forger’. The purpose of my article is (...) to challenge this decision and to show that TrGF 2.624 may well be genuine poetry by Euripides if we restore the lines to their probable original form. An attempt to reconstruct the original context of the fragment will also be added. (shrink)

This article deals with Slavic pseudo-mythology, comprising myths and deities that do not exist in authentic mythology and folklore or whose existence is doubtful or refuted. It is typically an artificial construct and may be created by scholars who freely interpret scarce sources. This pseudo-mythology, as we will see, has created a false reality. The image we have of Slavic paganism is in fact very vague for lack of sources. On the contrary, today we are used to talking about a (...) well-constructed mythology which in fact rests on the construction based on assumptions and pseudo-theories of the 18th, mainly of the 19th and 20th centuries. This phenomenon is also related to Rodnovery or Rodnovery, which is a Slavic neo-pagan reconstructionist movement. (shrink)