Beatrice Wyss
Université de Fribourg, Département d'Etudes Bibliques, Faculty Member
- Geboren in Thun in der Schweiz 1974, Matura Typus A (Schwerpunkt Latein und Griechisch), Studium der Philosophie und ... moreGeboren in Thun in der Schweiz 1974, Matura Typus A (Schwerpunkt Latein und Griechisch), Studium der Philosophie und klassischen Philologie in Bern (Lizentiat 2001), Promotion in Fribourg (2008). Seit 2001 Arbeit in verschiedenen interdisziplinären Projekten im Bereich Editionsphilologie und Philosophie der Kaiserzeit, pagan, jüdisch und christlich. Forschungsschwerpunkte: 1. Philon aus Alexandreia. 2. Sophist! Literarische Strategien zur Diffamierung des Gegners 3. die Akademie, die Schule Platons und die radikale Skepsis sowie das Weiterwirken dieses Gedankengutes in Texten jüdischer und christlicher Autoren.
Sie ist Mutter dreier Kinder (2003, 2005, 2008) und wohnt in Bern.edit
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The bible speaks of humans as the image of God despite their mortal and fallible nature. We spoke to Professor Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, Professor Georgiana Huian, Dr. Beatrice Wyss, and Ilya Kaplan about their research into how this paradox... more
The bible speaks of humans as the image of God despite their mortal and fallible nature. We spoke to Professor Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, Professor Georgiana Huian, Dr. Beatrice Wyss, and Ilya Kaplan about their research into how this paradox is addressed in different religious and philosophical traditions. Apl. Prof. Athanasios Despotis also contributed as a team member to this research.
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Research Interests: Philosophy and Art
Research Interests: Art and Mohr Siebeck
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Philosophy and Art
Research Interests: Art and Mohr Siebeck
Lukian presents Jesus of Nazareth as a "crucified Sophist". As far as we know, Jesus has not been a sophist at all. Not only Jesus, but also Apollo, the devil, egyptian sacred scribes, gnostics and Christian heretics are... more
Lukian presents Jesus of Nazareth as a "crucified Sophist". As far as we know, Jesus has not been a sophist at all. Not only Jesus, but also Apollo, the devil, egyptian sacred scribes, gnostics and Christian heretics are called "sophists". So I argued that the term "Sophist" is used as a term of abuse against people who confess - in the eyes of the critical outsider - a non valid form of religion.
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I show how Lucian of Samosathe in his dialog Fugitivi (the run-away slaves) is depicting the cynic philosophers as sophists, and that means as the contrary of true philosophers.
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Philo of Alexandria is influenced by three different traditions: (1) Judaism, (2) Greek philosophy, and (3) the Egyptian environment. In his account of the fifth day of creation (Opif. 62–68), he follows the Stoic view on animals as... more
Philo of Alexandria is influenced by three different traditions: (1) Judaism, (2) Greek
philosophy, and (3) the Egyptian environment. In his account of the fifth day of
creation (Opif. 62–68), he follows the Stoic view on animals as non-rational beings; in
his De animalibus he discusses the question of the rationality of animals with the same
arguments one finds in contemporary pagan literature. Living in Alexandria, Philo was
an eye-witness to the Egyptian worship of animals as manifestations of the divine. In
denying animals’ rationality, he separates them from the divine because in his view,
the human mind bears exclusive likeness to God (Opif. 69).
philosophy, and (3) the Egyptian environment. In his account of the fifth day of
creation (Opif. 62–68), he follows the Stoic view on animals as non-rational beings; in
his De animalibus he discusses the question of the rationality of animals with the same
arguments one finds in contemporary pagan literature. Living in Alexandria, Philo was
an eye-witness to the Egyptian worship of animals as manifestations of the divine. In
denying animals’ rationality, he separates them from the divine because in his view,
the human mind bears exclusive likeness to God (Opif. 69).
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In this paper, I show how Philo presents himself as a true philosopher in the manner of Socrates.
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Philo of Alexandria is influenced by three different traditions: 1) judaism, 2) greek philosophy, 3) the egyptian environment. In his account of the 5th day of Creation (Opif. 62-68), he follows the stoic’s view on animals as non-rational... more
Philo of Alexandria is influenced by three different traditions: 1) judaism, 2) greek philosophy, 3) the egyptian environment. In his account of the 5th day of Creation (Opif. 62-68), he follows the stoic’s view on animals as non-rational beeings; in his De animalibus he discusses the question of the rationality of animals with the same arguments one finds in contemporary pagan literature. Living in Alexandria, Philo was eye-witness of the egyptian worship of animals as manifestations of the divine. In denying animals rationality, he separates them from the divine, because in Philo’s view the likenness to god is in the mind (Opif. 69).
I show how Lucian of Samosathe in his dialog Fugitivi (the run-away slaves) is depicting the cynic philosophers as sophists, and that means as the contrary of true philosophers.
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In comparing the three different exegesies Philo of Alexandria gives of Gen 2:7 I show how he transforms landscape in mindscape.
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Arithmology has been a scientific method as strange as that seem to be for us now. In this paper I show how Philo uses the arithmological qualities of the pentas and the 50 in his exegesis of the Pentateuch.
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In this paper I show how Philo of Alexandria talks with ease of God as father of sons (e.g. Logos and Kosmos) and daughters (e.g. arete and wisdom) and as a husband of e.g. the divine wisdom. In talking of a family in heaven, it is... more
In this paper I show how Philo of Alexandria talks with ease of God as father of sons (e.g. Logos and Kosmos) and daughters (e.g. arete and wisdom) and as a husband of e.g. the divine wisdom. In talking of a family in heaven, it is important to see that Philo uses the concept of family as a metaphor to show a close connection between different items in the cognitive realm and to link them to the narrative of the Pentateuch.
I also show how Philo includes thought-patterns of his intellectual environment in his exegesis: the image of Wisdom as daughter and wife of God is from jewish wisdom literature, Philo's concept of the divine logos is close to the stoics explanation of Hermes as Logos and Philo's divine family consisting of God father, mother Wisdom and Kosmos the son is in close connection to the egyptian Isis as Wisdom and mother of the Kosmos.
I also show how Philo includes thought-patterns of his intellectual environment in his exegesis: the image of Wisdom as daughter and wife of God is from jewish wisdom literature, Philo's concept of the divine logos is close to the stoics explanation of Hermes as Logos and Philo's divine family consisting of God father, mother Wisdom and Kosmos the son is in close connection to the egyptian Isis as Wisdom and mother of the Kosmos.
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Philo of Alexandria’s (ca. 20 B. C. E. – 50 C. E.) work De vita contemplativa (40-55) contains a graphic account of a symposium resembling those symposia we know from Petronius’ Satyricon (and from Fellinis movie about it), but also from... more
Philo of Alexandria’s (ca. 20 B. C. E. – 50 C. E.) work De vita contemplativa (40-55) contains a graphic account of a symposium resembling those symposia we know from Petronius’ Satyricon (and from Fellinis movie about it), but also from symposiastic scenes described by Juvenal, Martial or Seneca, who all lived in the 1st c. C. E. Yet Philo had a nephew, Marcus Julius Alexander (ca. 10 C. E. – 37 C. E.) who was a business man in the import-export trade with India and East Africa. In the paper I will brievly sketch the literary context of Philo’s symposium as well as the economic and topographic background of the trade with India and East Africa that began to florish in this time. Philo stays, so to speak, at the intersection point of literature and reality, philosophy and economy: The considerable wealth of his familiy was founded on trade and customs duties, at the same time Philo depicts himself in his oeuvre as dispising luxury, adapting a well-known literary topos of criticism of luxury.
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Since Glen Bowersocks "Greek sophists in the Roman Empire" (1969) one is accustomed to see in a sophist of the 1st-2nd c. a famous orator, a member of the elite of a greek polis as Flavius Philostratus depicts them in his Vitae... more
Since Glen Bowersocks "Greek sophists in the Roman Empire" (1969) one is accustomed to see in a sophist of the 1st-2nd c. a famous orator, a member of the elite of a greek polis as Flavius Philostratus depicts them in his Vitae sophistarum. But in the literature of the time the term "sophist" very often has a negative connotation. In examining key texts of Dio of Prusa, Seneca and Musonius Rufus I show that the polemic against bad teachers (in greek called "sophists") is linked with the social background of these teachers, being slaves or freed slaves or otherwise not belonging to upper class families to which belonged Dio of Prusa or Seneca.
A second area of polemic concerns the methods of teaching or the content of the teaching. This becomes clear in examining texts of Maximus of Tyrus and Epictetus. Based on the account of literacy in ancient world given by William Harris 1989, I argue that there must have been teachers otherwise unknown to us who where the target of the heavy polemic one reads in the texts of the imperial period.
A second area of polemic concerns the methods of teaching or the content of the teaching. This becomes clear in examining texts of Maximus of Tyrus and Epictetus. Based on the account of literacy in ancient world given by William Harris 1989, I argue that there must have been teachers otherwise unknown to us who where the target of the heavy polemic one reads in the texts of the imperial period.
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Philo of Alexandria often speaks of sophists but not in a positive way. In comparing Philo's polemic against sophists with Seneca's and Aulus Gellius' polemic against grammarians (teachers in greek literature) I argue that Philo, in... more
Philo of Alexandria often speaks of sophists but not in a positive way. In comparing Philo's polemic against sophists with Seneca's and Aulus Gellius' polemic against grammarians (teachers in greek literature) I argue that Philo, in criticizing sophists, criticizes teachers of grammar and rhetoric.
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Academy, Academics and Skeptics. Studies on the Reception of fundamental skepticism in greek and latin literature of the second century CE, both of pagan and Christian authors. Although fundamental skepticism is of minor interest to the... more
Academy, Academics and Skeptics. Studies on the Reception of fundamental skepticism in greek and latin literature of the second century CE, both of pagan and Christian authors. Although fundamental skepticism is of minor interest to the authors of the 2nd c. CE, there are some valuable contributions to the discussion of skepticism both positive and negative and both by pagan and Christian authors (e.g. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Numenius and Aulus Gellius).
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This is an Edition of the Ethnica Alpha - Gamma, written by Stephanos of Byzantium in the 6th c. CE.