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The present paper highlights some crucial aspects of Philo's Legatio ad Gaium, a work of the Alexandrian Platonist that grants some interesting clues into his life at the time of Gaius Caligula's reign, especially concerning his attempt to stop Gaius' plan to install a statue into the Jewish Temple and his claim to be worshiped as a god in the East. The paper argues that the Legatio shares some important features both with Platonic political philosophy and the portrayal of the tyrant in particular (that we find, for instance, in the Republic), and also with the works of the Latin authors Seneca and Lucan, who depicted the Emperors Claudius and Nero as devious and dangerous rulers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses "polemical triangulation," a common rhetorical and polemical device in Antiquity, through which an author attacks a person or a group of persons who are not the explicit addressees of a text or speech. It looks at its use and diversity with examples from Melito of Sardis and Ignatius, in the context of polemics against the Jews and the Docetists. In all cases, these models imply the existence of a marked anti-Judaism in Ignatius and his addressees. Some well-known methodological questions are addressed, such as the author's knowledge of the persons attacked, his or her relations with them, and other more or less consciously used sources of information. Finally, the paper draws conclusions about the relevance of the concerned statements for a historical study of the adversaries, their thinking or the arguments attributed to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to offer a fresh look at Philo' s theme of the two kinds of wisdom, the perfect one (represented by Sarah) and the intermediate, or encyclical culture (represented by Hagar), considering analogous images in Greek philosophy. The paper does not aim to sketch once again the history of the notion of enkyklios paideia, either in general terms or in Philo' s perspective, as this history has been sufficiently reconstructed from both a philological and a conceptual point of view. More modestly, I intend to re-define some original traits appearing in Philo' s exegesis of Gen 16,1-6, as developed in the first part of De congressu eruditionis gratia. As a result of this survey, I propose to read Philo' s interpretation as building not only upon the 'canonical' comparison with Penelope and her servants, but also, first and foremost, upon the Platonic metaphors of knowledge as 'eros' and 'childbirth' experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period of the Crusades has often been considered as an epoch of eschatological fervor for the Christians who participated to this enterprise, a mission that aimed to reconquer the holy places from the Muslims. Such a zeal, however, did not affect only Christians, but also the Jewish communities that lived in Europe, in the Byzantine empire and in the Holy Land. This paper focuses on the Jewish literary production during the Crusades, aiming to demonstrate that the eschatological texts were functional in order to explain persecutions, battles, clash of civilizations and religions. These happenings were interpreted as events anticipating the final era, the time of the advent of the Messiah(s) who would gather the exiles, redeem the Jewish people, reconquer Jerusalem and restore the supremacy of Israel. In other words, this period of crisis was understood as a sequence of events that were part of a divine plan leading to the redemption of Israel. The texts that are taken in consideration are Aggadat Mašiah, The Prayer of R. Šim'on b. Yoh'ai and 'Otot ha- Mašiah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the early reception of the famous story from bGiṭṭin 68b by Slavic re-tellers in the Palaea Interpretata, which preserves elements of early understanding of the story and sheds light on the processes of transmission and the reception of Talmudic tales. The Palaea Interpretata is an original Slavonic composition, which includes apocryphal, exegetical, and anti-Jewish polemical material, compiled around the thirteenth century. The story of Solomon and his demonic helper is part of a long cycle of the so-called Courts of Solomon, preserved in Slavonic in the Palaea Interpretata and presumably created in the Balkans in the time when Old Slavonian culture was flourishing. Comparing the Talmudic and the Slavic versions of the story, I conclude that the transmitter of our story from its Mesopotamian context to the Slavic came from the Mesopotamian cultural realm, where the story was told and retold. There is no proof of an intermediary version of the story between the Talmudic version and the Slavic one. Thus, I presume that the narrator of the story in the Slavonic literary work got it directly from some Jewish informant, probably from one of the Jewish communities in the Balkan lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nativity narrative of the first two chapters of the Gospel of Matthew contains stories about a newborn king of old lineage, but humble origins, the cruelty of a declining ruler and client king of Rome, court intrigues and foreign dignitaries. As such, it can offer an ideal vantage point for investigating Matthew's portrayal of political power. A number of modern commentators read these stories as Matthew's attempt to sympathise with the marginalised and oppressed provincial masses, and as evidence of a wider anti-Roman and anti-imperial purpose of the Gospel, seen as a work of resistance and a political counter-narrative. Moving beyond an interpretation of the Matthean infancy narrative as a mere rejection of Rome's imperial ideology and its power structures, this paper argues that references to marginality and the marginalised in Matthew's nativity do not necessarily imply resistance to Roman imperialism and its rhetoric. They can in fact be construed as an attempt to replicate discourses about marginality that characterised the language of imperial rhetoric between the age of Augustus and the emergence of the rule of the Flavians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first two books of Maccabees and Flavius Josephus dedicate several pages to King Antiochus Epiphanes and they constitute the sources for a reconstruction of the history of the relationships between Antiochus and the Jews, but they are marked by a pronounced ideological perspective. The death of the king is recounted in three different ways in the two books of Maccabees. Those who are intent on historical reconstruction limit themselves to considering as worthy of trust only the elements shared by all three accounts. Those who are interested in the message examine, rather, the differences among these texts that claim to report the same event. In this paper the three accounts are first compared with extra-biblical sources. The identification of a conventional model to account for the king's death raises a question: What is the story's function in the overall narrative? The death of Antiochus has a strategic placement in the narrative. The literary and ideological aspect of the story emerges from this analysis. Finally, it is emphasized that even modern interpretations are conditioned by ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Life of Nikephoros i, patriarch of Constantinople, is a long and rhetorically elaborate text written by Ignatios the Deacon. This paper reconsiders the interpretation of the education excursus contextualizing the section within a longer textual segment. It shows that N. studied at a monastery on the Asian side of the Bosporos and that Ignatios was not underlining the fact that his curriculum comprised secular and sacred topics, but rather that it included both Jewish Classical tradition and Christian perspectives. I argue for this revised interpretation through close readings that reveal several significant intertexts, principally Themistius's Oration to the Nicomedians. I conclude that the education excursus was designed to portray the background of the future patriarch beyond the topics of his studies, delineating his lineage as a 'Nazarene', i.e. a person following traditional Jewish and Christian customs. More research is required in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on Leo the Great's sermons that allow to glimpse the intertwining between anti-Judaic and anti-heretical controversies. As part of the formulation of his doctrine, both Trinitarian and Christological, Leo strongly aimed to contrast both Judaism and the different heretical currents circulating at his time. In his dialectical procedure Judaism is often combined to other heresies (in particular, Manicheism), considered in a progressive removal from orthodoxy: Leo contested several heresies, for which the controversy against the Jews is proposed as an origin and as a model. He mixes pagans, Jews, and heretics according to polemical strategies functional to his ideological and religious conceptions. In particular, Jews are considered as a potentially dangerous enemy as Manichaeans. Although, in fact, the devil has exercised his dominion over all heretical doctrines, he has mainly caused the madness of the Manichaeans, in which the worst distortions of the true faith have flowed: the profanity of pagans, the blindness of Jews, the illegal practices of magic and, moreover, sacrilegious and blasphemous elements shared with other heresies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper focuses on the historically inaccurate characterization of Queen Zenobia as a Judaizer in ancient Christian sources, in relation to the heresy of Paul of Samosata. After surveying different presentations of the relationship between Paul and Zenobia and interrogating their significance, it argues that by weaving together Paul's xenophilia, Judeophilia, heresy, and appreciation for powerful women, a series of authors - Athanasius; Philastrius of Brescia; John Chrysostom; Theodoret; the author of a fragment attributed by Athanasius; those responsible for the invention of a work To Zenobia (or for attributing spurious excerpts of Paul to a lost work with this title); Photius; Michael the Great; Barhebraeus; and Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos - labored at painting the reversed image of the Christian intellectual tradition they knew and cherished: fully identified with the Roman Empire, ruled by a male emperor; separated from the scholarly practices of Jewish literate elites; and entrenched behind the wordy barricades of orthodoxy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the several religious phenomena in light of which scholars have suggested viewing the origins of Manichaeism (usually Christianity and Zoroastrianism), Judaism has been too often excluded from the discussion. Nevertheless, there are reasons to think that Jewish traditions and ideas had an influence on the emergence of this religion in the 3rd century CE. In the light of some research recently conducted by a growing number of scholars, the modest aim of this paper is to carry out a reassessment and update aimed at clarifying the relationship between two phenomena (Judaism and Manichaeism) which played such a crucial role in the discourses on heresy in Late Antiquity and the Middle Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from a brief summary of the history of Klostermann' s edition, the paper focuses on the relationship between Origen' s Commentary on Matthew and the analogue commentary, characterized by a high level of compilation, attributed to the so-called Peter of Laodicea. Beyond a recapitulation of the attempts of identification of this mysterious author, the paper offers specimina of comparisons between correspondent sections of Origen' s and Peter' s texts, in order to highlight similarities and differences, and thus to discuss if Peter' s text can be rightly taken into consideration as a useful witness in a new edition of Origen' s text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to continue the discussion begun at the end of the 19th century comparing the reliability of both the 'indirect tradition' of Contra Celsum (represented by the Philocalia) and the 'direct tradition' (preserved only in the manuscript Vaticanus graecus 386 = A). In the first part of this paper, important conclusions resulting from the above discussion are recalled. Since some readings of Manuscript A are still considered problematic to this day, the second part of this paper deals with the question of whether the reliability of the 'indirect tradition' text has been underestimated in specific cases. Based on recent research on the Alethes Logos and a new analysis of Origen' s reply to Celsus' polemic, it is shown that in three selected fragments (fr. I 9, fr. VI 3 and fr. VI 1) the original words used by Celsus are to be found in the Philocalia instead of Manuscript A, i.e. the source that the modern editors of Contra Celsum followed. In part three of this paper it is shown that by preferring the words of the Philocalia for fr. VI 1, a door opens for a reinterpretation of the larger context of the passage for both the Alethes Logos as well as Contra Celsum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asks why the Greek translator decided to interpret the expression םירפא ירכש in Isa 28,1.3 differently than the Masoretes and all the other ancient versions. It shows that the different vocalisation of the Hebrew Vorlage does not provide a sufficient answer. The paper tries to ponder various possibilities for translator's thinking, including the option that the Septuagint translation could echo the events of the 2nd century B.C. It finds that the translator had to have a reason to choose his rather surprising translation, considering the context of Isa 28. The choice of «hirelings» instead of «drunkards», was probably led by desire to express all possible motifs in the opening verses of Isa 28 and not to suppress the motif of hiring next to the already present motif of drunkenness. The option that the translator wanted to allude to events of the 2nd century B.C remains hypothetical, but it is not excluded. Jerome's approach to the same prophetic utterance betrays the fact that the ancient authors were used to see and exploit the richness of interpretation possible in unvocalized Hebrew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to describe various features of the Septuagint Psalter. First of all, it is a translation of a Hebrew source text. A thorough comparison of the consonantal text preserved in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint shows that the word order and the syntax of these two versions of the Psalter diverge only slightly. However, the Septuagint Psalter is much more than a mere translation. At times, the translator does not shrink from correcting the Hebrew Psalter text, e.g. for theological reasons. Moreover, the Egyptian context leaves its traces in the Greek translation. In this paper, I present various examples illustrating not only elements of translation technique but also the theological and cultural background of the translator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper wants to examine what Clement has to say about the language of religion. In order to cover the broader scope of the item five aspects must be regarded. The first section deals with Clement' s cultural approach about Greek and barbarian languages stressing in the end the preeminence of the Hebrew language on religious grounds. The second section shows how he makes use of the universal spread symbolic genre in favour of religious concealment. The next section has to do with his philosophic approach using Aristotle to understand language as a system of signs, and correspondingly religious language as a system of religious codes. The fourth section applies this conception to the Christian revealed religion in its elementary points. It is his decisive insight, that the Christian sign language must be interpreted e.g. by allegorizing, but cannot be abolished. Finally his ideas about Christian prayer are considered under linguistic aspects, displaying his special contribution of the intelligible, silent prayer as a symbol of pure thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents Clement of Alexandria as a witness to epistemological debates in Greek philosophy and as a creative appropriator of Greek epistemological language. Focusing on three concepts discussed in the second book of the Stromateis - πίστις, πρόληψις, and ἀπόδειξις - it analyses Clement's engagement with them against the background of their Peripatetic, Epicurean, and Galenic sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts from an analysis of the role of astronomy in the De congressu and De opificio by Philo of Alexandria. As a 'queen' among the encyclical disciplines, astronomy represents the vehicle which allows the attainment of philosophy and the aspiration to the knowledge of God. Centuries later, again in Alexandria, in another homonymous De opificio preserved in the same manuscript as that of Philo, John Philoponus seems to put into practice what was theorised by Philo. More mature from a scientific point of view, he will make astronomy his exegetical tool to interpret the cosmogony of Genesis while maintaining the interweaving of exegesis and philosophy already visible in Philo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines how medieval Hebrew translators, scribes, and scholars engaged with the Arabic term ilhām (divine inspiration) in different contexts. The launching point for discussion is the term's perplexing appearance in the Arabic translation of Themistius's paraphrase of Aristotle's Metaphysics 12, in which it marks the actualization of form in the process of biological generation. The occurrence confused the Hebrew scholars, who rendered it into Hebrew by several terms. An examination of other texts and manuscripts reveals that over twenty terms were used to translate ilhām, effectively eliminating its original semantic field and infusing it with various new meanings. This complex case study enables us to retrace various practices of translation, copying, and interpretation, which are emblematic of medieval Hebrew philosophical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Greek verb deî appears several times in Luke-Acts and in different contexts of 'necessity': the necessity of the mission and the passion of Jesus and Paul; the necessity of the fulfilment of the Scripture; the necessity of moral or religious obligations as well as other necessary actions. The Peshitta does not translate all of occurrences of deî in Luke-Acts in the same way but chooses various verbs and expressions. The most frequent translation is the verb wāle ("to be right", "to be convenient", "one must"), which translates deî in different contexts. Another word used with a certain frequency is the passive participle ʻatid ("one must", "to be necessary", "to be destined"). However, the usage of this word, rich in theological content, is restricted to particular contexts. This paper seeks to give a precise explanation for how the Peshitta deals with the translation of deî in Luke-Acts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper will focus on the paradigmatic profile of exile Filippo Pistrucci (1782-1859) as director and teacher at the Free Italian School from 1841 to 1848, linking this pedagogic role to his performances of Improvisatore [sic] both in public and private venues in London; to his journalistic writings published in proletarian and protestant journals and foreign language papers addressing foreign workers and immigrants (such as Apostolato Popolare, Il Pellegrino, L’Educatore, L’Eco di Savonarola); to philanthropic actions, organised by reformist’s circle, for all continental refugees and marginalised childhood. Promoting and supporting civil engagement within the context of Victorian democratic thought, nationalism and Protestantism, collecting some lessons given to poor Italian boys and workers in the self-anthology of Letture (1842) or enhancing militant impulse in all his literary works (tragedies, extemporaneous verses, letters, pedagogical sketches, memoir), Pistrucci’s artistic path testify – both in its empirical and theoretical manifestations – a special devotion to Mazzini’s cause on national education. Through the analysis of his biographical profile, the study of his political engagement with Young Italy, together with religious adherence to Reformated Church, the paper shows how Pistrucci produces a critique of catholic pedagogical model, prospecting a new one based on active citizenship, community ethics and social contract between different classes and generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper intends to examine the importance of the medieval Armenian versions from Greek texts: the versions of the so-called Hellenistic School (Yunaban dprocʽ) have a very characteristic feature because they translate the texts in a strictly literal manner: for these characteristics they often allow the philologist to go back to the original Greek text. In particular, the paper investigates and discusses several passages of the translations from Nemesius’ De natura hominis and from Dionysius Areopagites. In the case of pseudo-Dionysius, we can remark that the Armenian version in some passages agrees with the ancient Syriac version, in opposition to all the Greek manuscript of the direct tradition [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a first insight into Jesus' trial as it is reported in the Latin translation of the Talmud, known as Extractiones de Talmud and appointed by Christian authorities after the Paris disputation in 1240. The paper specifically examines a famous passage from tractate Sanhedrin, offering a philological and trans-cultural comparison between the Latin translation, the corresponding censored passage from the Vilna edition, and the uncensored (or partially censored) manuscripts Munich and Florence. The Latin translation provides not only a precise rendering of manuscript material from the 13th century but also additional pieces of information - such as the arrangement of similar material in parallel tractates and some glosses that have eventually been removed from the Vilna edition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at reconstructing the history of the canvas representing Origen painted by Jusepe de Ribera. Such an atypical iconographic motif was allegedly commissioned by Benedetto Giustiniani because Origen matched the interests of the 17th cent. baroque culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a first explorative analysis of the sermon De Paradiso (CPG 3127), transmitted under the names of both Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa. The text has been critically edited by Hörner but has for the rest largely escaped scholarly attention. After shortly dealing with the complex problem of authorship through manuscripts and attribution, this paper focusses on several other aspects of the sermon, shedding light on the text, content and structure of the sermon itself. It approaches the sermon from different points of view, exploring the genre of the text (including its structure and content), the way in which exegesis is done (rewriting Genesis), the style and rhetoric (sermons and style and the relation between preacher and audience), and the way in which traces of other texts are found in the sermon (intertextuality and the function of Bible references). The focus of this approach lies on providing an overall picture of the text, although the results of this research lead to better insights regarding the question of authorship as well, without coming to definitive conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A careful study of the two prologues to Origen's collection of texts and of Gregory of Nazianzus' letter to Theodore of Tyana (ep. 115) indicates that the collection was originally an anonymus compilation (συλλογή or ἐκλογή). Gregory writes that the book he gives to Theodore contains «extracts from the φιλοκαλία of Origen». He uses the word φιλοκαλία to refer to the whole of Origen's work in favorable terms, just as Eusebius of Caesarea writes «φιλοκαλία of Irenaeus» (kephalaion H.e. V 26) to designate the entire work of lrenaeus. Basil and Gregory are not the authors of a collection called Φιλοκαλία, but the readers of an anonymous compilation of texts which Gregory presents as extracts from «the work of great beauty (φιλοκαλία) of Origen». The paper also examines the origin, dating, place of composition, structure, and aims of this anonymous compilation as well as the reasons for its attribution to the two Cappadocians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to interpret the liturgical role of a rare form of horizontal scrolls found in the Cairo Genizah. These liturgical fragments all share a unique combination of features: the scrolls follow the Palestinian textual and codicological tradition, focus exclusively on holiday prayer services, and incorporate a very narrow selection of liturgies based entirely on biblical passages and psalms. It is suggested that these liturgical scrolls may represent an early form of prayer books -- an intermediate phase between Scriptural scrolls used in liturgical context and standard prayerbooks, emerged at times when only biblical liturgy was recorded in writing. Alternatively, the scrolls may be counted among other biblical scrolls used publicly for liturgical purposes (such as Haftarah and Targum scrolls), and might have served for the ceremonial reading of liturgical passages of special significance to the Palestinian prayer tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a transcription, and discusses material and textual aspects of a Hebrew fragment from the Cairo Genizah, kept today in the British Library under the shelfmark MS Or 5558A.6. This fragment comes from an anthology of Rabbinic texts, including a version of the Derekh Erets, a concise essay on simple rules of religious, ethical, social and sexual etiquette which was later included into the corpus of the Babylonian Talmud, as one of its 'minor tractates'. This fragment is of a special interest for book historians for two reasons: it conveys variant versions of the Derekh Erets and other rabbinic text and it stems from a book in the shape of a horizontal scroll. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article addresses a famous passage from Tractate Gittin of the Babylonian Talmud that depicts Jesus' punishment in hell in boiling excrements. First, the paper offers a close reading of the original Hebrew-Aramaic version. Then, it offers an innovative interpretation of the text elaborating on some glosses to be found in the Latin translation of the passage extant in the Extractiones de Talmud. Finally, the paper discusses Peter Schäfer's well-known explanation for Jesus' bizarre form of punishment, emphasizing the legal-theological implications of the passage that are often neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the thought of Adele Costa Gnocchi, pupil and assistant of Maria Montessori. She spread in the world the Montessori pedagogical model of “support to a new life”. In addition to her more popular projects, as Montessori Children’s Pre-school Assistant and Montessori Birth Center, in Rome, the paper describes the model of cosmic religiosity of Costa Gnocchi, at the base of her insights on “sacredness” of the birth and care of the child 0 -3 years. The biographical and religious path of Costa Gnocchi, in some ways still obscure, is reconstructed through various correspondence with people close to her, including those, unpublished, with the Montessori, mother and son. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues for the identification of an indeterminate biblical quotation in Augustine' s De consensu evangelistarum III 48 as the second part of Jb 37,10 cited according to Jerome' s first version, a revision indeed of the book of Job based on the hexaplar Greek text. A comparison with Augustine' s Adnotationes in Iob, relying upon the same version of the book of Job, makes the identification sure. The paper also provides a comparison of Jerome' s two versions of Job 37,10, as the second one (based on the Hebrew text) notably differs from the first one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on Gregory of Nyssa' s anthropological work De opificio hominis. Gregory refuses here some previous interpretations of the doctrine of 'double creation' of man because in his eyes they presuppose a close connection to pagan neoplatonic doctrines, namely the existence of intermediate principles between the first divine principle and the world as well as the transmigration of souls. The last section of the paper examines Gregory' s interpretation of Genesis 1,26-27 on the simultaneous creation of man both as image of God and sexually differentiated, as developed in De opificio hominis 16,185b-d. This compresence of universal and individual features of human nature in God' s foreknowledge is to be understood in the light of Basil of Caesarea' s Epistle 38 on the trinitarian concepts of substance and hypostasis. A parallel reading of the two texts suggests that Gregory is employing a theological framework for the development of his anthropological theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of textual fluidity, albeit most helpful to underline the existence of an important aspect of the textual history of the Hebrew Bible, does not enable us to assess its scope or its manifold manifestations. While it is often noted that some scribes were conservative and others were creative, this paper takes a passage in the Books of Kings as an illustration of the fact that the situation is still more complex than that. Even in the framework of the creative approach, various degrees of creativity should be distinguished. Similarly, in the framework of the conservative approach, inadvertant changes led to meaningful, creative rewriting. As a result, a variegated understanding to scribal activity is suggested. We should think in terms of a spectrum and go beyond the simple opposition between conservative and creative scribal approaches, to recognize that there were various shades of creative activity. Textual fluidity was itself a fluid phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hebrew manuscripts of Ben Sira from Qumran, Masada and the Cairo Genizah present numerous variants between the different Hebrew witnesses, as well as in the marginal readings of manuscript B. One salient feature of these variants is that most represent "synonymous readings." In this paper, we would like to examine this phenomenon more closely by looking at the different textual Hebrew witnesses of Ben Sira, while focusing on three main points: (1) In what way these synonymous variants may be comprehended from an historical-linguistic point of view; (2) How this typical feature may inform us about scribal practices from antiquity to the medieval period; (3) Whether a comparison of this phenomenon with similar features in the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, which Shemaryahu Talmon highlighted in his "Synonymous Readings" article, might show that these textual variations can serve as a paradigm highlighting scribal practices in textual transmission in antiquity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to give an outline of the scribal activity in the Second Temple period, this paper will begin by delineating the figure of the scribes, that is to say those who were mainly in charge of the scribal activity. From a number of sources we may assume that the soferim covered a wide spectrum of functions. Subsequently some examples of scribal activity within and outside what is today the Hebrew Bible will be given, highlighting how and to what extent this scribal acritivity is responsible of the textual fluidity that characterizes the Second Temple literature. Moreover a possible link between Enochic and Qumran literature will be investigated through the shared interest in the scribal activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In my paper I seek to trace the long and varied processes by which the earliest Homeric epic poems gradually took shape in the mouths of singers as they were performed and reperformed, all the while increasing in complexity and scope. At some point the knowledge of writing came to have an impact on the transmission, leading to multiple transcribed versions of parts of the "text." Subsequently those whom we might call scholarly editors began their work of comparing and collating and commenting upon these differing versions, leading eventually to magnificent manuscripts such as the tenth-century Venetus A, containing as it does one version of the Homeric text along with copious marginal notes (scholia), which include discussions of variant readings and the reasons for preferring one over another. Modern editions frequently draw upon such manuscripts as a basis for their own printed texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipographies (accidental omissions of signs) are, it has several times been observed, legion in Babylonian and Assyrian writings. But signs could also be omitted intentionally, to abbreviate the spelling of words. This latter phenomenon has again been remarked on (usually in ad hoc comments by editors), but never subjected to wide-ranging scrutiny and systematisation. Such is the aim of this paper. Drawing on examples from multiple periods and textual typologies ('genres'), we will distinguish abbreviation at the level of spelling from other forms of abbreviation, and enquire after the rationales and practices attaching to abbreviations in spelling. The resulting picture, which both challenges and refines previous statements on the subject, is a first attempt at systematising a phenomenon which offers great potential for the detailed study of individual text corpora. As studies of abbreviation in the Hebrew Bible demonstrate, there may well ultimately be significant implications for textual criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper shows some events related to the disciplines of artes reales and artes sermocinales in the first half of the fifteenth century in schools which were mainly devoted to the study of Greek and Latin classic authors in their original form and with new methodologies. The main focus is on some authors who were studied deeply and in a unique way in Vittorino da Feltre’s school, in Mantua: Euclid, Aristotle’s Poetics, the texts of Greek musicographers, Livy. They prove that the persuasive function of a sermo cannot be separated from scientific and philosophical knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is on the one hand to point out the importance of Psalm 118 in the setting of the Book of Psalms and its use in Judaism and on the other hand to deal with its usage in the Synoptic Gospels in connection with the presentation of the person of Jesus and his significance. The Psalm 118 (117 LXX), which is the magnificent closing psalm of the group of Ps 113-118 called 'the Hallel', that praises God for various aspects of his saving power, is the most frequently referred to psalm in the New Testament with eleven direct quotations and nine allusions. The Synoptic Gospels contain eight explicit quotations from Psalm 118 (117 LXX) including the parallels. Psalm 118 (117 LXX) is found in the context of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, where the quotation serves to disclose Jesus's identity and status as the Messiah: Ps 118,25-26 (117 LXX) in Mark 11,9b // Matt 21,9 and Ps 118,26 (117 LXX) in Luke 19,38. Furthermore Psalm 118 is quoted in the parable of wicked tenants where Jesus is presented as a 'beloved son', who, in spite of the fact that he was rejected by the builders, i.e. killed by the chief representatives of Judaism, became a key figure in the new building of God, in a re-established Israel, through his resurrection: Ps 118,23-24 (117 LXX) in Mark 12,10-11 // Matt 21,42; Ps 118,22 (117 LXX) in Luke 20,17. Finally the quotation from Psalm 118 (117 LXX) serves to describe Jesus' coming at his Parousia as the ultimate Messiah of Israel: Ps 118,26 (117 LXX) is quoted in Matt 23,39 // Luke 13,35. It is possible to state that the eight explicit quotations of the Psalm 118 (117 LXX) in the Synoptic Gospels contribute to a better understanding of Jesus as the rejected and exalted Messiah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Shepherd of Hermas, a Christian apocalypse from the 2nd century, the narrator sees his first two visions after departing from Rome «unto villages» (εἰς κώμας: 1,3; 5,1). For a long time, a number of scholars have regarded that phrase as a textual corruption for εἰς Κούμας, meaning that Hermas was travelling to Cume, a small town in Campania. The latter phrase is not attested as such by any witness of the Shepherd, but it can be inferred from both ancient Latin translations of the work. Scholars are still divided on this issue. The present paper aims at showing that the conjecture εἰς Κούμας should be retained, despite the sound general rule that attested readings have to be preferred as far as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars of late antique art commonly and uncritically accept that the Revelation provided the source for late antique church decoration. They rarely discuss the extent to which this text served as a basis for the vivid iconographies typical of late antique ecclesiastical décor. This paper explores how the imagery of Revelation impacted on late antique mosaic programs, considering as a crucial case study the triumphal arch of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome and, particularly, the motif of precious stones and jewels so frequent on several elements of the decoration. The latter also appears on a cornice, a jeweled band which later spread in the art of the whole empire, both in church and -- what is less known -- secular contexts. This motif will be explored first in a visual perspective and then defining its value in the culture of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of this paper is to analyse some passages taken from the writings of Evagrius Ponticus and Cassian where, for the one who chooses the ascetic form of life, there is an insistence on the necessity to see things, material and immaterial, in a different way than the one who does not live ascetically. More precisely, the set of texts mentioned here would like to show how the act of seeing the things we see through the eye and the things we imagine with the mind are matters of capital importance for ascetics in late antiquity. The ascetic must, in fact, put aside the habitus of being in the world, because only in this way -- that is, by becoming aware of the limitation imposed by what he considers external -- can he devote himself fully to prayer. To do this, the ascetic must avoid not intentional perception, which means letting the mind create conceptual descriptions (νοήματα) and mental representations (φαντασίαι). By interrupting this process, the ascetic achieves a different way of seeing, which we can call non-representative, and consequently true knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of sight in the last homily of Ambrose's Exameron, considered as an attempt to elaborate a Christian pedagogy of vision. In the first part, dedicated to an in-depth analysis of the prologue of the sixth book (Ambr. Hex. VI 1, 2), I will analyse the rhetorical and exegetical background underlying Ambrose's description of his own homily as an 'ekphrastic periegesis' of the cosmos; the second part is devoted to the analysis of Ambrose's reflections on the physiology of sight and its gnoseological value, focusing in particular on the relationship between corporeal and spiritual senses and the mobility of the inner man's noetic vision (Ambr. Hex. VI 8, 45). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the episodes inspired by the biblical imagery, in the Early Christian repertoire is possible to detect a group of scenes that draw also on alternative sources, like the so-called Apocryphal Literature. In this paper are analysed the representations of the Old Testament dramatic story of Job, the devout and righteous man deprived of all his possessions and then affected by a horrible disease. In the two iconographical schemes used in Early Christian art -- the first showing Job alone sitting on a dunghill and the second one with the Patriarch feed by his wife or visited by his friends -- it is clearly recognizable the influence of the 'intertestamental literature', and in particular of the socalled Testament of Job, an amplification and retelling of Job's tradition, well known and used by the Early Christian interpreters in their comments on the Patriarch story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focusses on the diversity of proverbs that originate in practical and everyday life and convey ideas of philosophical or religious value. However, of more importance is the performativity of these short sayings that are easy to remember, so that they are a major instrument of transmission and encounter of cultures. As such, proverbs contribute to an universal scope of wisdom. For early Church Fathers and even earlier in the Greek Translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint), the question arises of to what extent this classical sapiential Literature could have been helpful for the knowledge of God and for conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sudden expansion of Muslim troops was initially perceived by many Eastern Christians as an apocalyptic trial, a sign of the End of Time. In the same way, the prolonged struggles and the fear of a Byzantine reconquista led on the Muslim side to the development of a vital apocalyptic production which rose in correspondence to times of internal and external strife. In the process of formation of Muslim eschatological aādīth corpus a central role was played by the (re)discovery of earlier judaeo-christian traditions. These newly achieved histories and prophecies were generally called "Isra'iliyyat"(Israelitic stuff), and were looked in a mix of interest and concern by Muslim scholars. The ancient knowledge of Christians and Jews was eagerly sought for its purported ability in foretelling the future, but at the same time the other two monotheisms represented a polemical adversary and often a perilous enemy for Islam. Apocalyptic discourse had the fundamental role of defusing the threat of religious alterity, by relativizing it in a positively- oriented history. Thus, the adversaries were identified as prophesied anti-messianic figures and their threat was considered a temporary one. This apocalyptic worldview was actually shared by the rivaling religions, in a peculiar use of the very same images, topoi and narrations against each other. This paper will focus on the Muslim production, mainly by analysing the traditions collected in the Kitāb al-Fitan (Book of Tribulations) by Nu'aym b. ammād (d. 842) and by confronting its description and production of religious alterity with those of the coeval Christian apocalyptic texts. This paper hopefully will highlight the role of Apocalyptic as a key moment in the process of Islamic tradition-building, which looked at the previous monotheistic heritage between a will of continuity and a need for scriptural independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The semantic investigation of the figurative usage of... within the Hebrew Bible has shown a transition from the positive meaning of protection to the negative meaning of transitoriness. The analysis of the Septuagint renderings has disclosed a special approach in handling such imagery: the translators refrained from using the obvious equivalent ... in those contexts involving the idea of protection as a social relation. The semantic variance registered both within the Ancient Hebrew texts and cross-linguistically in the Septuagint shows how language mirrors contrasting cultural speculations about the same natural phenomenon, which may overlap and replace one another over time and across different discourse traditions. The paper aims at setting these different cultural ideas in a larger framework; at inquiring how they could come about within the Ancient Hebrew literature; at investigating why the usage of ... may have caused semantic clash in Greek in the Septuagint translators' mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]