Foreword

Summary

The papers collected in the present volume were originally delivered at the conference “Divine Men and Women in the History and Society of Late Hellenism”, organised at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków on the 24th–25th June, 2010. The conference was a unique gathering of international scholars, who cherish the tradition of Hellenism in Late Antiquity and venerate its “divine” representatives (theioi andres), and who deeply identify with the moral values and philosophical concepts of those times and the Neoplatonic doctrine in general. The conference gathered many eminent scholars, who brought with them new perspectives on ancient sources, presenting divine men and women of Neoplatonic era, their multifaceted activities and the entire range of their scientific pursuits and virtues.

The starting point of the reflection course we embarked upon was Pythagoras — a philosopher of superhuman perfection and a model for the divine men in late Hellenism and, particularly, Apollonius of Tyana — his 1^st c. AD “embodiment”. We investigated the means of the philosopher's divine ascent and — contrary to the idealised model of theios aner — we also focused on his social and reformative role. We did not, however, gloss over some of the philosopher's personal imperfections, despite his holiness. Other conference papers discussed various figures of divine women, such as the high priestess Ispatale, Sosipatra, Hypatia and Empress Eudocia.