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This study analyzes how two recent productions of the Bacchae in the USA—by the SITI Company and the Classical Theatre of Harlem—activated Euripidean themes that confront the politics and rhetoric of Donald Trump. Through various interventions and adaptations, the ancient tragedy yields contemporary resonances: patriarchal control and authoritarianism are constructed and sustained by manufacturing threats posed by marauding bands of foreigners, even as the haunting denouement reveals that the most destructive perils reside within. In the drama as in Trump's ascendency, political domination is pursued through performances that reorient illusion and reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In depicting an apocalyptic expectation of the revelation of God's children (Rom 8.19–23), Paul personifies ‘creation’: awaiting the revelation of these children, she ‘groans and suffers pains of childbirth’. While Paul's vision is framed with scriptural allusions, Greek and Roman images of Earth Mother also provide a relevant juxtaposition. This study recovers such a context by surveying sources ranging from Hesiod's Gaia to the Roman Terra Mater. Philo provides an especially relevant comparative model, as he relates biblical cosmology to Greek mythological sources and asserts that earth's role as mother is also attested in Genesis. In light of these comparisons, fresh insights emerge: maternal creation gives birth to a new divine era, yet for Paul this remains a future hope rather than a past (mythological) or present (political) occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Old Greek of 1 Sam. 1:11 includes a component of Hannah's vow lacking in the MT: 'wine and strong drink [Samuel] shall not drink'. The status of this phrase in the translator's Vorlage is ultimately inconclusive: on the one hand, it is plausible that the translator inserted it under the influence of Hannah's later assertion of her own sobriety (1:15) or in conformity to the Nazirite vow (e.g. Num. 6:2-5); on the other, its probable attestation in 4QSam provides an early Hebrew witness. This essay explores the implications of this 'plus' as it relates to the moral and religious entailments of alcohol in ancient Judaism and Christianity, with particular attention to Philo of Alexandria and the Gospel of Luke. The former takes this text as a test case in treating the ethical question of whether the sage will get drunk. In the latter, it provides a model for the asceticism of John the Baptist. In both, however, abstinence from alcohol is subordinated to a higher spiritual ideal: 'sober inebriation' for Philo and the messianic banquet in Luke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The divergence between the MT and LXX in Hannah's response to Eli's accusation of drunkenness (1 Sam 1:15) has long puzzled scholars. The Greek phrase, "I am a woman who has a hard day (σκληρα ημερα)", is an improbable rendering of the Hebrew ("hard of spirit"). This is commonly explained by way of a hypothetical Vorlage, (lit., "hard of day"), which consequently becomes the preferred reading over against the MT. The central argument is that would mean "obstinate" or "stubborn", which is not fitting for Hannah's speech. This brief study problematizes this prevailing view, arguing instead that the MT appropriately characterizes a misfortune perceived by Hannah to be the result of God's action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In De ebrietate 150, Philo quotes Hesiod's Works and Days (287,289-292) in his interpretation of Hannah's alleged drunkenness in 1 Samuel. These poetic verses contrast the difficulty of the road to virtue with the ease of acquiring wickedness. On Philo's reading, the misperception of Hannah's "hard day" by her accuser illustrates the moral lesson of Hesiod, namely, that fools consider virtue to be beyond attainment. In the context of recent interest in the ways in which Philo's literary methods converge with those of other ancient readers, especially Alexandrian scholars, this study situates Philo's application of Hesiod's didactic poetry within its wider history of interpretation. As early as Plato and continuing through Philo's time, Hesiod's "two roads" was frequently cited in philosophical discourse and debate. Moreover, analogously to Philo, Alexandrian critics employed this passage in explaining the morality of literary characters. Philo's use of Hesiod is consistent with this interpretive tradition. At the same time, his originality consists in his creation of a dialogue between Hesiod and biblical narrative in which both voices converge around the same ethical lesson. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A relationship between Achilles Tatius and Christianity has been imagined from at least as early as the tenth century when the Suda claimed that he had converted to Christianity and been ordained as a bishop. Modern scholarship has found this highly improbable; nevertheless, attempts to explore connections between his late second-century c.e. novel, Leucippe and Clitophon, and early Christianity continue. In recent decades, within a context of renewed interest in the ancient novel, scholars of early Christianity have found a wealth of material in the novels to illuminate the generic development and meaning of Christian narratives in the New Testament and beyond. Less attention, however, has been given to the ways in which the novels respond to and incorporate themes from Christianity. Achilles Tatius's etiological myth of wine and its associated harvest festival in Leuc. Clit. 2.2 represent a particularly striking point of contact between Christianity and the Greek novel. In the first section below, I systematically review the narrative and ritual parallels between Leuc. Clit. 2.2 and the Christian Eucharist and conclude that they are too striking to be accidental or to have gone unnoticed by an ancient reader with knowledge of Christianity. Although these similarities have been pointed out, their meaning and consequences have received comparatively little attention from scholars either of the novel or of early Christianity. Thus, in the subsequent sections of this study I contextualize these parallels within second-century Christian and non-Christian literary and religious culture. My contention is that an exploration of the relationship between Leuc. Clit. 2.2 and the Christian Eucharist will provide valuable insight both into the larger project of Achilles Tatius and into the relationship between early Christianity and its contemporary context, particularly the Second Sophistic. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]