Michael Schramm

This paper argues that Synesios’ De regno is a mirror for princes and a splendid example of Neoplatonic political philosophy. It is based on Plato’s Politeia and its model of philosopher-kingship. Synesios makes his audience compare the current political reality with the ideal of the philosopher-kings, who are the image of the transcendent god in the political realm. In doing so he recommends political virtue in general, especially phronesis and sophrosyne. Particularly he argues for reforming the recruitment of military and civil officials with reference to Plato’s concept of friendship in the Politeia.

The paper presents a subjectivist interpretation of Protagoras’ man-measure fragment, by explaining some key terms (‘all things’, ‘measure’, ‘man’) and reconstructing his ontological, epistemological and anthropological views. The argument uses other fragments and testimonies of Protagoras as well as intertextual allusions to previous
authors (especially Anaxagoras) and instances of reception of Protagoras by Plato, Aristotle and Isocrates which are particularly used here for the first time in order to interpret the man-measure fragment. It is argued that Protagoras denied metaphysical speculation and preferred human knowledge based on subjective perception and
made plausible by intersubjective discourse.

In his Dionysiaca (44-46), partly a paraphrase of Euripides’ Bacchae
in hexameters, Nonnus presents an un-Euripidean reading of Euripides’
play. A detailed comparison of motives and an analysis of allusions and intertextual references show that some of Nonnus’ alterations of Euripides’ model are caused by the transposition of drama into epos. Others are due to his intention to smooth down some of the typical ambivalences of the Bacchae, e.g. the role and behaviour of the god Dionysus or the guilt of the ‘theomachos’ Pentheus, and leave room for associations with Christianity and an interpretatio Christiana.

Book 11 of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses is very important for the question of whether
the work as a whole has a serious intention or not. In this paper, I argue against the satirical interpretation of this book by showing that Lucius’ threefold initiation is a sign that he has been chosen by the gods; at every step he learns something new about religion and life. Furthermore the first person narrator is interpreted as Lucius. But at the end of Book 11, the transformed and religiously advanced Lucius is identified with Apuleius. Accordingly, I see the Metamorphoses as a didactic novel about the right and wrong ways of life.

In diesem Beitrag wird dafllr argumentiert, dass die
beiden Definitionen von σύνδεσμος und ἄρθρον in Aristoteles'
Poetik (1456 b 38-1457 a 10) jeweils nur eine Wortklasse meinen und
diese nach zwei Arten der Verwendung bestimmen. Σύνδεσμος meint
demnach die Konjunktion und ἄρθρον Artikel und Proposition, wobei
die beiden Definitionen des σύνδεσμος den beiden Arten der λέξις in
Aristoteles' Rhetorik und die beiden Definitionen des ἄρθρον parallel dazu
eher dem Gebrauch in Prosa und Dichtung zugeordnet sind.

Euripides-Rezeption in Kaiserzeit und Spätantike
Euripides-Rezeption in Kaiserzeit und Spätantike
The Reception of Euripides in the Imperial Roman Age and Late Antiquity
Series: Millennium-Studien / Millennium Studies, 83
Edited by: Michael Schramm

    De Gruyter  |
    2020

DOI:
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110677072

 
During the Imperial Rome Age and late antiquity, Euripides was considered a tragic dramatist par excellence, and, alongside Homer, was the most frequently cited poet. This book examines the reception of complete and partially transmitted Euripidean tragedies into the Greek language vis-à-vis key authors and literary genres of the Imperial Rome Age and late antiquity, situating them in the cultural and literary-historical context of the times.