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Persecution and response in late paganism: the evidence of Damascius*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2013

Polymnia Athanassiadi
Polymnia Athanassiadi
Affiliation:
University of Athens
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Extract

The theme of this paper is intolerance: its manifestation in late antiquity towards the pagans of the Eastern Mediterranean, and the immediate reactions and long-term attitudes that it provoked in them. The reasons why, in spite of copious evidence, the persecution of the traditional cults and of their adepts in the Roman empire has never been viewed as such are obvious: on the one hand no pagan church emerged out of the turmoil to canonise its dead and expound a theology of martyrdom, and on the other, whatever their conscious religious beliefs, late antique scholars in their overwhelming majority were formed in societies whose ethical foundations and logic are irreversibly Christian. Admittedly a few facets of this complex subject, such as the closing of the Athenian Academy and the demolition of temples or their conversion into churches, have occasionally been touched upon; but pagan persecution in itself, in all its physical, artistic, social, political, intellectual and psychological dimensions, has not as yet formed the object of scholarly research.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 113 , November 1993 , pp. 1 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1993

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References

1 Recent bibliography on the closing of the Academy in Blumenthal, H.J., ‘529 and its sequel: what happened to the Academy?’, Byzantion xlviii (1978) 369–85Google Scholar; Hadot, I., ‘La vie et l'œuvre de Simplicius d'après les sources grecques et arabes’; Id., Simplicius: sa vie, son oeuvre, sa survie (Berlin 1987) 3–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Frantz, A., The Athenian Agora: results of excavations conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens XXIV: Late Antiquity A.D. 267–700 (Princeton 1988) 44–47, 84–92Google Scholar, together with Ward-Perkins, B., JRS lxxx (1990) 251.Google Scholar On temples, see Spieser, J.M., ‘La christianisation des sanctuaires païens en Grèce’, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Athens, Neue Forschungen in griechischen Heiligtümern (Tübingen 1976) 309–20Google Scholar; Fowden, G., ‘Bishops and temples in the Eastern Roman Empire, A.D. 320–435’, JTS n.s. xxix (1978) 53–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 For the date of Damascius' birth, see Westerink, L.G., Damascius, Traité des premiers principes I (Paris 1986) pp. x-xi.Google Scholar

3 Suda, s.v. ‘Δαμάσκιος’ and Photius, Bibl. 181 (125b).

4 Damascius, , Vita Isidori, ed. Zintzen, C. (Hildesheim 1967)Google ScholarEpitoma Photiana (henceforth EP) 17; for an extreme case along these lines, see EP 62 on Damascius' own master of rhetoric, Theon.

5 EP 17.

6 EP 126.

7 See EP 201 together with Westerink (n. 2) pp. xiii-xiv; cf. Damascius, Vita Isidori (n. A) fr. (henceforth fr.) 325.

8 The phrase is used by Hierocles, On providence, ap. Photius, Bibl. 214 (173a ad fin.) to describe Neoplatonism.

9 For a brief and clear analysis of the importance of the Chaldaean Oracles within the context of Neoplatonism, see Matthews, J.F., The Roman Empire of Ammianus (London 1989) 119–122.Google Scholar On Iamblichus, see my articles, ‘Philosophers and oracles: shifts of authority in late paganism’, Byzantion lxii (1992) 48–49 and ‘Dreams, theurgy and freelance divination: the testimony of Iamblichus’, JRS lxxxiii (1993) 115–130. A good description of the aims of Iamblichan syncretism is given by Marinus with reference to Proclus: πᾶσαν μὲν θεολογίαν έλληνικήν τε καὶ βαρβαρικὴν καὶ τὴν μυθικοῖς πλάσμασιν ὲπισκιαζομένην (…) εὶς φῶς ἥγαγεν, έξηγούμενός τε πάντα ὲνθουσιαστικώτερον καὶ εὶς συμφων ίαν ἄγων: Vita Procli (henceforth VP) 22; for a slightly different emphasis, cf. fr. 134. For Asclepiades as an adept of the Iamblichan school of thought, see fr. 164.

10 On the Iamblichan canon, see Westerink, L.G., Anonymous, Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy (Amsterdam 1962) p. xxxviiGoogle Scholar, as complemented by Festugière, A.J., ‘L'ordre de lecture des dialogues de Platon aux Ve/VIe siècles’, MH xxvi (Paris 1969) 281–96Google Scholar and esp. 283 [= Etudes de philosophie grecque (1971) 535–550].

11 See Julian's Edict on Education, ep. 61 (Bidez) and my Julian: an intellectual biography 2 (London 1992) 1–12.

12 Marinus, VP 38. That this attitude was becoming standard among Neoplatonists is illustrated by the Alexandrian ascetic Serapio, who not only spent his life reading just Orpheus (fr. 41), but also made a point of bequeathing to Isidore ‘the two or three books’ that he possessed (fr. 287).

13 For which, see Butler, A.J. (ed. Fraser, P.M.), The Arab conquest of Egypt 2 (Oxford 1978) 401–403.Google Scholar

14 Marinus, VP 10; Hierocles, On providence, ap. Photius, Bibl. 214 (173a, 34 ff.; 172a, 1–9); cf. the important EP 150, where Iamblichus and Plutarch are pronounced in one breath.

15 Evidence for the existence of a municipal chair in Alexandria is provided by Damascius who says that, after her husband's death, Aedesia succeeded in ensuring for her sons the revenues of the chair ἕως ὲφιλοσόφησαν, fr. 124. On the metaphysical importance of the Athenian succession, EP 151. For a general appraisal, Hadot, I., Le problème du néoplatonisme alexandrin; Hiéroclès et Simplicius (Paris 1978) 10–12Google Scholar and, more recently, id. (n. 1) 7.

16 See Roueché, C., Aphrodisias in late antiquity (London 1989) pp xxv–xxvi, 85–87.Google Scholar On the issue of an ‘Academy’ at Aphrodisias, see the cautious analysis of the building complex which housed the philosophers' portraits by Smith, R.R.R., ‘Late Roman philosopher portraits from Aphrodisias’, JRS lxxx (1990) 130Google Scholar; cf. id. ‘Late Roman Philosophers’, Smith, R.R.R.-Erim, K.T. (eds), Aphrodisias Papers ii (1991) 144–6.Google Scholar

17 EP: καί ὲψηφίσθη διάδοχος ὲπ᾿ αξιώματι μᾶλλον ἥ πράγματι τῆς πλατωνικῆς ὲξηγήσεως.

18 This point becomes even clearer in the light of the first half of Section IV.3.

19 For a good presentation of the relevant material, see Lévêque, P., Aurea catena Homeri: une étude sur l'allégorie grecque (Paris 1959)CrossRefGoogle Scholarpassim.

20 Theodora, the pupil of Isidore and of Damascius and the inspirator and dedicatee of the Philosophical history, is presented as the linear descendant of Iamblichus and, beyond him, of Sampsigeramus and Moninus, priestly kings of Emesa, Photius, Bibl. 181 (125b): cf. JHS cii (1982) 49 n. 128, to which add the evidence of Strabo xiv 2.10; for the evolving ethos of the royal house of Emesa and its increasing connection with philosophical mysticism, see K. Buraselis, ‘Syria, Emesa and the Severans. Political ambitions and Hellenistic tradition in the Roman East’, Ο Ελληνισμός στην Ανατολή: Acts of the First International Archaeological Congress at Delphi, 6–9 November 1986 (Athens 1991) 23–39. Theagenes of Athens, who was connected through marriage with Nestorius and Plutarch, appears as the descendant not only of a score of Homeric heroes but also of the victor of Marathon, Miltiades, ?Pamprepius, Panegyric, Heitsch, E., Die griechische Dichterfragmente der römischen Kaiserzeit (Göttingen 1961) 119, 30 ff.Google Scholar See also the Stemma at the end of the article.

21 Fr. 34 (for Sarapio); fr. 124 (for Proclus); not unlike Plotinus, Proclus chose to remain unmarried and look after other people's families ώς κοινός τις πατὴρ: Marinus, VP 17.

22 Olympiodorus offers to his star pupil, Proclus, the hand of his daughter, who was brought up φιλοσόφως (VP 9); Aedesia, a close relative of Syrianus and a saint, marries Hermias, after Proclus declines her (fr. 124).

23 Chrysanthius of Sardis called his son Aedesius, after his master: Eunapius VS xxiii 5.1; Proclus refers to Syrianus as ‘father’: In Tim. ii 253, 31; iii 35, 26; In Remp. ii 318, 4; In Parm. vii col. 1142, 11; cf. ibid. iv col. 1058, 22: Πλούταρχος, ό ήμέτερος προπάτωρ, and VP 29. Isidore named his son Proclus (EP 301). In the generation after Proclus there is a philosopher called Syrianus, who may well be a brother of Hegias (EP 230); Isidore is called by Damascius θεῖος πατὴρ (fr. 1). For a schematisation of the dual linkage that connected men in our circle, see the attached Stemma.

24 The orthodoxy of Asclepiodotus was put beyond contest when Proclus dedicated to him his Commentary on the Parmenides (In Parm. I, col. 618, 18); Sarapio left his possessions to Isidore to whom he was not related (fr. 287); at a very young age Damascius recited a laudatio in verse at Aedesia's funeral (fr. 125); at Proclus' funeral Isidore was the censer-bearer (EP 187). After her husband's death, Aedesia expected her sons to enjoy philosophy καθάπερ κλῆρόν τινα πατρῴας οὺσίας (fr. 124).

25 Fr. 121: on Hermeias' dullness of mind; fr. 115: on Theon, a teacher of Damascius!

26 In Met. (Kroll), 91, 8 ff. The frequent experience of law-courts (cf. Eunapius VS vi 10.2) naturally exacerbated the manner of the Neoplatonists: Isidore is a litigious man (frs 62, 65); fr. 66 describes him as ένστατικός, EP 30 as φιλαίτιος. Christian aggression had contaminated the pagan psyche to such an extent that by Damascius' day the philosophers were expected to write only for polemical purposes or in defence: EP 8.

27 Fr. 317.

28 Fr. 30a; cf. the language of Proclus, In Remp. i 75, 15–16: άφίστασθαι μὲν τῶν θεῶν καὶ τῆς ὄντως ίερᾶς θρησκείας, φέρεσθαι δὲ είς τὴν ἐμπαθῆ καὶ ἀλόγιστον ζωήν. On the κρόνιος βίος, see EP 22, frs 33, 287 etc.

29 Fr. 32.

30 See e.g. Proclus, , In Remp. i 74Google Scholar, 12–16; ii 176, 14.

31 On the Palace of the Giants, see Frantz (n. 1) 95–116; for the plausible assumption that it was built by Eudocia, Fowden, G., ‘The Athenian Agora and the progress of Christianity’, JRA iii (1990) 497–8.Google Scholar

32 Eunapius VS vi 11.2 and Odyssey vii 59–60.

33 The conviction that divine providence cannot allow the Christians to destroy this universe forms a major theme of Neoplatonic literature, cf. Salutius, De diis et mundo xviii; Hierocles (n. 1), 214 (172b).

34 EP 95.

35 See the surviving hymns, edited with commentary by E. Vogt (Wiesbaden 1957).

36 For what follows, Marinus, VP 19; for the importance of Gaza for the Neoplatonists, fr. 186; for the destruction of the Marneion, Mark the Deacon, V. Porph. 69.

37 On the Syrian Theandrites/Theandrios, EP 198; cf. Bowersock, G. W., Hellenism in late antiquity (Cambridge 1990) 18CrossRefGoogle Scholar; on the conversion of the temple at Ezra into a church of St. George, OGIS 610.

38 For Isis and Philae, see below, n. 189.

39 EP 61; literature in general bored Isidore, EP 35, 85—a regard in which Asclepiodotus was more successful, fr. 209; cf. fr. 164 (on Asclepiades); fr. 348 (Damascius on the Phoenician Asclepius).

40 Marinus, VP 19.

41 Βαίτυλος (= meteorite, ensouled stone) is a word possibly coined by Damascius (fr. 203, cf. EP 94 for βαιτύλιον) as a phonetic rendering of the Hebrew byt'l, house of God.

42 This practice was initiated by Porphyry and taken to its logical conclusion by the Emperor Julian (see my Julian [n. 11] 132 ff.); cf. EP 213 for Isidore. For a theoretical justification of this position, see Proclus, In Remp. i 75, 16 ff. In his recent book (n. 37) Bowersock presents Hellenism as a cultural koine, which allowed the voice of local traditions to become fully articulate in the Roman empire. By using iconographical evidence and philological argumentation, the author shows how Greek culture delivered the ethnic cults, especially in Syria, from their parochialism — religious, cultural and linguistic — without adulterating their essence.

43 For Damascius' programmatic declaration, EP 2: εἵσω δὲ ή τοιαύτη σοφία κρυπτομένη ὲν τῷ άδύτῳ τῆς μυθολόγου ταύτης ἀληθείας, οὕτως ήρέμα παραγυμνοὔται κατὰ βραχὺ τῷ δυναμένῳ πρὸς θεὸν άνακλῖναι τὴν ίερὰν αύγὴν τῆς ψυχῆς. Cf. EP 213.

44 Photius, Bibi. 130 (96b–97a).

45 EP 63, 68, 69, 87, 88, 93 (for the popular Egyptian background, cf. Lefebvre, G., ‘Le conte des deux frères’, Romans et contes égyptiens de l'époque pharaonique (Paris 1949) 139)Google Scholar, EP 140, 203.

46 Fr. 186 (on Antonius); fr. 273 (on Theagenes and Archiadas); fr. 351 (on Hegias); it was in the course of the fifth century (κατὰ τοὺς νεωτέρους χρόνους) that the Academy acquired its huge fortune through donations; fr. 265 and EP 158.

47 Fr. 189.

48 Fr. 202.

49 Fr. 204.

50 On spiritual tourism, see fr. 38 (= EP 239) in connection with Serapio: προθυμότατος εὶς ἀποδημίαν ού τὴν μάταιον καὶ τρυφῶσαν, εἰς ἀνθρώπινα οἰκοδομήματα καὶ μεγέθη καὶ κάλλη πόλεων διαχαίουσαν. Cf. fr. 94 (Asclepiades visiting Baalbek).

51 Marinus, , VP 15, 29, 32, 36.Google Scholar

52 EP 206–220. I agree only partly with the reconstruction of the journey proposed by Tardieu, M. (Les paysages reliques: routes et haltes syriennes d'Isidore à Simplicius (Louvain 1990))Google Scholar, who inexplicably excludes Asia Minor from the itinerary of the two men. My description of their journey (which I have recently attempted myself) is to appear in my forthcoming translation of Damascius' Philosophical history, partly in the Introduction and partly as Commentary.

53 EP 131.

54 For the identification of the site, see Robert, L., BCH ci (1977) 86.Google Scholar

55 EP 116–117. For Neoplatonic miracles, see i.a. Eunapius VS v.2 (Iamblichus); Libanius, or. xviii 177 (Julian); Marinus, VP 29 and fr. 271 (Proclus).

56 Frs 91–97; cf. below, 22–25. The defence of temples against Christian attack was not an uncommon feature among the “έλληνισταί”; cf. Sozomen vit 15.11; John Chrysostom, ep. 123.

57 On this theme, see my ‘Dreams, theurgy and freelance divination: the testimony of Iamblichus’ (n. 9).

58 The practice of communal life at the Academy had been Plutarch's wish, cf. Marinus VP 12, 29.

59 EP 150.

60 Fr. 135.

61 ibid..

62 On individualistic tendencies, EP 150: μηδ᾿ αὖ μεῖζον φρονεῖν τῆς κοινωφελοῦς προαιρέσεως. On eating taboos, EP 125, frs 218, 227, 228. Hilarius was rejected by Proclus as a pupil on account of his appreciation of the pleasures of sex, EP 266.

63 Cf. EP 59, on Theosebius; EP 262, on Asclepiodotus. For the circle's theoretical attitude to sex, EP 167, fr. 12 (on Isidore), fr. 102 (on Hypatia), fr. 174 (on Heraiscus). Faithful to the ideal of virginity, Proclus turned down two excellent brides, as Marinus approvingly reports (VP 9, 17).

64 Fr. 134. Both Proclus and his followers misunderstood Iamblichus: cf. my ‘Dreams’ etc. (n. 9) passim.

65 Fr. 227. For a different view on Domninus, see fr. 221.

66 ibid., and fr. 228. On the School's Iamblichanism, EP 33, 36. On contemporary abuse of Iamblichus, EP 34.

67 EP 42 (= fr. 90).

68 Frs 244, 245.

69 EP 141.

70 Fr. 100; pace PRLE ii, s.v. Epiphanius 2, ἀρχαιοπρεπὴς πολιτεία in this context can only mean paganism.

71 See Scholasticus, Zacharias, Vie de Sévère (ed. trans. Kugener, M.-A.), Patrologia Orientalis ii (1907) 32.Google Scholar

72 Id. De mund. op., PG 85, 1012: ἠρέμα πρὸς έλληνισμὸν ἀποκλίνας.

73 Fr. 239.

74 EP 1; fr. 3.

75 Rémondon, R., ‘l'Egypte et la suprême résistance au christianisme (Ve - Vile siècles)’, BIFAO li (1952) 63–78Google Scholar; cf. fr. 80 (= EP 243). On Egyptian ‘nationalism’ and the slow Hellenisation of Egypt as a reaction to Rome, see the pertinent remarks of Sartre, M., L'Orient romain (Paris 1991) 454–8.Google Scholar

76 ‘Ὁ ᾿Αλεξανδρέων δῆμος πλέον τῶν ἄλλων δήμων χαίρει ταῖς στάσεσιν εί δέ ποτε καὶ προφάσεως ἐπιλάβηται, εἰς ἀφόρητα καταστρέφει κακά’: Socrates vii 13.2.

77 On George's personality, see Stein, E.-Palanque, J.R., Histoire du Bas-Empire i (Paris 1959) 153Google Scholar and my Julian (n. 11) 23–4. Cf. Sozomen v.7; τῶν περὶ τὰ ξόανα καὶ τοὺς ναοὺς ὕβριν καὶ τὴν τῶν θυσιῶν καὶ πατρίων κώλυσιν.

78 Socrates iii 2; Ammianus xxii 11.7; Julian ep. 60, 379a: εἰσήγαγεν εἰς τὴν ίερὰν πόλιν στρατόπεδον, καὶ κατέλαβεν ό στρατηγὸς τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὸ άγιώτατον τοῦ θεοῦ τέμενος.

79 Libanius ep. 171; Julian ep. 58.

80 Stein-Palanque (n. 77) 164–5.

81 Julian ep. 60; cf. Julien, L'empereur, Lettres, ed. Bidez, J. (Paris 1924) 43Google Scholar; Julian epp. 106, 107.

82 Eunapius VS vi 10.8.

83 Strabo, xvii 1.17, talks of a string of inns, and of masses of tourists who grossly misbehaved themselves (μετὰ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀκολασίας).

84 Eunapius VS vi 9.15–17; vi 10.6–10.

85 Eunapius VS vi 9.17.

86 For the date of Cynegius' arrival in Egypt and the reliability of Zosimus' information, see Zosimus iv 37 with Paschoud's note ad loc.

87 For the bishop's personality and politics, see Favale, A., Teofilo d'Alessandria (Turin 1958)Google Scholarpassim.

88 Apophthegmata Patrum, PG 65, 200A; ἦλθον ποτε πατέρες εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν, κληθέντες ὑπὸ Θεοφίλου τοῦ ἀρχιεπισκόπου, ἵνα ποιήσῃ εύχὴν καὶ καθέλῃ τὰ ίερά.

89 Socrates v 16: ὁ Θεόφιλος παντοῖος ὲγένετο καθυβρίσαι τὰ τῶν Ἐλλήνων μυστήρια. Sozomen vii 15: ὲπί τηδες σπουδάζων ἐνυβρίσαι τοῖς ἑλληνικοῖς μυστηρίοις, ὲξεπόμπευεν ταῦτα.

90 This may be the occasion which prompted C.Th. xvi 10.11, and Sozomen's words (loc. cit in n. 89) may be a free rendering of the spirit of the law.

91 Fr. 91; fr. 97: Olympius held the presumably formal post of ίεροδιδάσκαλος. Possible evidence for dedicating oneself to a god as a common attitude among philosophers is provided by EP 252.

92 Echoes of this famous speech reached both Sozomen (vii 15) and Damascius (frs 93–94).

93 The literary, papyrological and epigraphic evidence for and from Canopus-Menuthis is collected by Bernand, André, Le Delta égyptien d'après les textes grecs i 1 (Cairo 1970) 164–257.Google Scholar For a lively description of the events, see Eunapius VS vi 11.2–6.

94 That was at Menuthis, less than a mile's distance from Canopus; the temple of Isis may have been totally destroyed by the Christians (cf. EP 71–73 and Zacharias, V.Sev. 19).

95 Cf. Sophronius, Laudes in SS Cyrum et Johannem 27, PG 87.3, 3413.

96 PG,77 110–1105.

97 See Marcos, N.F., Los Thaumata de Sofronio: contribución al estudio de la incubatio cristiana (Madrid 1975) 22 n. 25.Google Scholar

98 Though the relics of the martyrs were translated after the coming of the Arabs, first to Cònstantinople and then to Rome, Menuthis remained a centre of pilgrimage, and underground Christian worship may never have ceased: cf. Maraval, P., Lieux saints et pèlerinages d'Orient (Paris, 1985) 318–9.Google Scholar

99 C.Th. vi 21.1.

100 Socrates v 16.

101 EP 49, fr. 92.

102 Sozomen vii 15.

103 Augustine div. daem. i 6.11.

104 Cf. Asclepius 24, 25 with Eunapius' and Sozomen's respective accounts of Antoninus'; and Olympius' views on ritual: ὲπεδείκνυτο μὲν γὰρ οὺδὲν θεουργὸν καὶ παράλογον είς τὴν φαινομένην αἵσθησιν (Eunapius VS vi 9.7); ὕλην φθαρτὴν καὶ ἰνδάλματα λέγων εἶναι τὰ ἀγάλματα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀφανισμὸν ύπομένειν δυνάμεις δέ τινας ένοικῆσαι αὺτοῖς, καὶ είς οὺρανὸν ἀποπτῆναι (Sozomen vii 15).

105 Asclepius 24: tunc terra ista sanctissima, sedes delubrorum atque templorum, sepulchrorum erit mortuorumque pienissima.

106 Ibid.: quod est durius, quasi de legibus a religione, pietate, cultuque divino statuetur praescripta poena prohibitio; Asclepius 25: ‘et capitale periculum constituetur in eum qui se mentis religioni dederit, nova constituentur iura, lex nova’ can be seen as a specific reference to C.Th. xvi 10.6 (20.2.356). It is worth pointing out that C.Th. xvi 10.11 (16.6.391) was addressed to the Count of Egypt. On common-sense criticism of recent attempts to understand the Apocalyptic passages of the Asclepius in the light of reports on Unambal cultural despair, see Lane-Fox, R., JRS lxxx (1990) 238.Google Scholar

107 Asclepius 24 ad fin.

108 Fr. 97: οὕτω δὲ ἦν ὁ Ὀλύμπιος πλήρης τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὥστε καὶ προεῖπε τοῖς ἑταίροις, ὅτι ὁ Σάραπις ἀφίησι τὸν νεών.

109 EP 164: ὁ Ἰσίδωρος πολὺ διαφέρων ἧν τῆς ᾿Υπατίας, ού μόνον οἶα γυναικὸς άνὴρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἶα γεωμετρικῆς τῷ ὅντι φιλόσοφος.

110 See Socrates vii 15 and frs 104–105; Rist, J.M., ‘Hypatia’, Phoenix xix (1965) 214–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar, reaches rather strange conclusions as regards the causes of Hypatia's murder.

111 Fr. 276.

112 PG 76, 504–1058.

113 EP 77.

114 For some rabidly anti-Greek feelings, see the Oracle of the Potter, Koenen, L., ZPE ii (1968) 178–209Google Scholar; for the eventual change in attitude, Rémondon (n. 75) passim.

115 Fr. 276.

116 Fr. 286.

117 EP 290.

118 Fr. 282.

119 Fr. 304.

120 Fr. 278.

121 Fr. 305.

122 EP 108.

123 Ibid.

124 Frs 157–159.

125 Fr. 145 together with fr. 159.

126 See the classic article by Matthews, J.F., ‘Olympiodorus of Thebes and the history of the West (AD 407–425)’, JRS lx (1970) 79–97.Google Scholar For an account of the traditional and intimate link between the pagans and the Blemmyes and for the myth of the noble savage, to which the Blemmyes gave rise among Neoplatonists, see Rémondon (n. 75) 73–77.

127 On this important theme, see von Haeling, R., ‘Damascius und die heidnische Opposition im 5. Jahrhundert nach Christus’, JAC xxiii (1980) 82–95.Google Scholar

128 Fr. 106 and Odyssey ix 347.

129 EP 54.

130 Frs 288–289 and Malchus fr. 20, Müller FHG iv 131–132 (= Blockley fr. 23).

131 Frs 178–179 (on Pamprepius); Stein-Palanque (n. 77) ii (1949) 9, 28–31 (on Illus and his revolt); EP 172.

132 Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum viii (ed. Cumont) (1922) iv, 224: μετὰ πολλῆς δορυφορίας καὶ πολλοῦ τύφου.

133 Fr. 287; τυφώνειος (cf. EP 110). In Egypt Typhon was the very personification of evil, whether within the soul or without; for evidence see Corpus Hermeticum iv (Paris 1954) 77 n. 23.

134 Zacharias V. Sev. 40 and frs. 294–295.

135 Fr. 286; cf. fr. 178 ad fin.: ή μὲν οὖν εύδαιμονία τούτου (…) πολλῶν αίτία άτυχημάτων γέγονε τῇ πολιτείᾳ. Despite his political importance (μέγιστον ἤδη δυναμένῳ), Pamprepius is treated as a social inferior by Salustius, as Damascius delightedly reports: fr. 148; cf. fr. 300.

136 EP 190.

137 Frs 330, 331, 277.

138 EP 190: ἀλλ᾿ ὅμως οἱ φιλόσοφοι καρτερεῖν ᾥοντο δεῖν καὶ τὰ συμβαίνοντα φέρειν εύλόφως.

139 For the above and most of what follows, Zacharias V.Sev. 19–35 and Herzog, R., ‘Der Kampf um den Kult von Menuthis’, Pisciculi: Studien zur Religion und Kultur des Altertums, Franz Joseph Dölger … dargeboten (Münster 1939) 117–124.Google Scholar

140 EP 170; cf. EP 178.

141 Frs 314–315.

142 Sophronius, Mir. Cyr. et Jo. 30.2 (on his crypto-paganism). Gessius was so important a figure on the late antique intellectual scene that his academic witticisms were repeated by his students' students (Stephanus of Athens, Commentary on Hippocrates' Aphorisms (Westerink) 11.53, CMG xi 1.3.1 (1985) 256)Google Scholar, while more than a hundred years after his floruit Sophronius felt the need to invent an exemplary story of Christian conversion on his behalf (mir. 30), cf. fr. 335.

143 Fr. 334.

144 Fr. 174.

145 Frs 319–320; EP 185.

146 EP 38; 177.

147 Fr. 321; EP 187.

148 Fr. 314.

149 EP 181, 186.

150 Fr. 19.

151 See the text of Horapollo's prosecution as edited and commented upon by Maspero, M.J., ‘Horapollon et la fin du paganisme égyptien’, BIFAO xi (1914) 163–194.Google Scholar

152 I owe this suggestion to the Anonymous Reader of my paper for the JHS.

153 Fr. 317.

154 Ibid.

155 A palm on a body in late antique tombs in Saqqara was a sign of crypto-paganism (Schwartz, J., Qasr-Qārūn/Dionysias (Cairo 1948) 28Google Scholar n. 7). See also Guignebert, Ch., ‘Les demi-chrétiens et leur place dans l'église antique’, Revue de l'histoire des religions lxxxviii (1923) 65–102.Google Scholar

156 See EP 184 together with EP 179.

157 Fr. 316.

158 Fr. 325; cf. EP 29.

159 Fr. 25; EP 29.

160 Fr. 336.

161 Marinus, VP 15.

162 Fr. 266.

163 Proclus In Parm. i col. 692. 27–28: ὁ ὅντως γιγαντικὸς πόλεμος ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐστί. In Tim. iii 346. 30–347.2: καὶ οὗτος ὄντως ἐστὶν ὁ γιγαντικὸς πόλεμος, τὰ ἐν ήμῖν γηγενῆ τῶν Ὀλυμπίων έντιμότερα ποιῶν καὶ ούχ ὥσπερ ὲν τοῖς ὅλοις ὑποτάττων τὰ χείρονα τοῖς ἀμείνοσιν. Cf. In Alc. 44. 4; 104. 22. Victory in this battle results in a state of perfect freedom: EP 255.

164 EP 227, a standard Neoplatonic witticism, cf. Hierocles In aur. cat. (Kohler) Proem. 4, p.6.

165 EP 228–229.

166 See Smith 1990 and 1991 (n. 16).

167 Damascius goes to a lot of trouble to demolish Asclepiodotus' fame as an all-round intellectual and holyman (cf. p. 3), a claim which is indeed splendidly reflected in the newly discovered ‘Pantokrator’ medallion (cf. Smith 1991 [n. 16] portrait No. 8 fig. 9), which shows a truly conceited man posing as a God.

168 See above, pp. 4–5.

169 As is clear from fr. 265.

170 Agathias ii 30.3: τό ἄκρον ἄωτον (…) τῶν ἐν τῷ καθ᾿ ήμᾶς χρόνῳ φιλοσοφησάντων.

171 See Hesperia xlii (1973) 156–164 (T.L. Shear Jr.); A. Frantz (n. 1) 37–48; Camp, J.McK., ‘The philosophical schools of Roman Athens’, Walker-Averil Cameron, S. (eds), The Greek renaissance in the Roman empire (BICS Suppl. lv (1989)) 50–55.Google Scholar

172 A task to which a section in the Introduction to my forthcoming translation of the Philosophical history is devoted.

173 E.g. Theodoret, , HE iii 26.1Google Scholar: Κάρραι γὰρ πόλις ἐστὶν καὶ νῦν ἔχουσα τῆς άσεβείας τὰ λείψανα. Cf. ibid. iv 18.14, v 4.6; HR xvii 5 (Abraham III): πόλις δὲ αὕτη τῆς δυσσεβείας περικειμένη τὴν μέθην καὶ τῇ τῶν δαιμόνων έαυτὴν ἐκδεδωκυῖα βακχεία. For ᾿Ελλήνων πόλις, ‘Acts of the Council of Chalcedon’, Schwartz, E., Acta Consiliorum Oecumenicorum ii 1 (1933–1955), p. 384, 3–4.Google Scholar

174 Julian is in a great hurry (Ammianus xxiii 2.6; Sozomen vi 1.1), yet he stops for a few days at Carrhae (Ammianus xxiii 3.21: moratus aliquot dies), where he makes a point of visiting all the great temples and of offering sacrifices ritu locorum (Ammianus loc. cit.). It is typical of Libanius' cultural provincialism that he only mentions ‘a great and ancient temple of Zeus’ (or. xviii 214).

175 Ammianus xxiii 3.2.

176 Malalas Chron. (Bonn) 451: θεσπίσας πρόσταξιν ἔπεμψεν ἐν Ἀθήναις, κελεύσας μηδένα διδάσκειν φιλοσοφ ίαν. Cf. n. 1.

177 The edict seems to have hit the philosophers both professionally as academics and personally as pagans (cf. Agathias ii 30.4). That they never returned to Athens is convincingly argued by H. Blumenthal (n. 1); the point is further supported by archaeological evidence (p. 23).

178 Plato, Alc. i 121e–122a.

179 That there was nothing naive in the philosophers' choice of Persia as a new home is shown by I. Hadot, who argues the point with reference to Nisibis, ‘université nestorienne autrefois installée à Édesse en Syrie. Elle jouissait déjà avant 532 sous les rois perses d'une liberté de pensée considérable qui contrastait favorablement avec l'intolérance byzantine, à cause de laquelle cette école théologique avait dû fuir en Perse’, art. cit. (n. 1) 9.

180 The story is told by Agathias ii 30–31.

181 See above, pp 9–10.

182 That late antique Harran must have had important libraries is convincingly argued by I. Hadot, art. cit. (n. 1), 20–21.

183 Tardieu, M., ‘Sabiens coraniques et “sabiens” de Harran’, Journal asiatique cclxxiv (1986) n. 102 (pp. 22–3), 28.Google Scholar

184 Cf. Agathias ii 31.4 (οὐδὲ ότιοῦν πέρα τῶν δοκούντων φρονεῖν) with EP 150 (μηδ᾿ αὔ μείζον φρονεῖν τῆς κοινωφελοῦς προαιρέσεως). In his recently published book (n. 52) 128–132, M. Tardieu dismisses the Agathias story about the philosophers' journey to Persia and back, and postulates that only Damascius visited Ctesiphon with the specific mission to persuade the Persian king to negotiate with Justinian's ambassadors the inclusion in the peace treaty of a clause ruling that the philosophers should be allowed to lead in the Roman empire ‘the life of their choice’. Such a hypothesis is unsupported by the evidence, and I would add that the story of the incestuous Persian whose exposed corpse was buried by the philosophers in their ignorance of the Persian custom, is a detail which cannot have been invented by Agathias.

185 Agathias ii 31.4. On the meaning of “ἐφ᾿ έαυτοις” I agree with Foulkes, P. (JHS cxii (1992) 143)CrossRefGoogle Scholarcontra I. Hadot.

186 Agathias ii 31.3; that this phrase is richer in meaning than it appears is pointed out by I. Hadot (n. 1) 8.

187 As argued by M. Tardieu (n. 183) and endorsed by I. Hadot (n. 1) 9, 17.

188 I. Hadot (n. 1) 23 advances the legitimate assumption that the work must have been written at Harran.

189 Procopius, Bell. i 19. 36–37. For the political importance of the cult of Isis at Philae, see Priscus fr. 21, FHG iv 100 (= Blockley fr. 27); cf. the pertinent remarks of Trombley, F.R., ‘Paganism in the Greek world at the end of antiquity: the case of rural Anatolia and Greece’, HTR lxxviii (1985) 342 n. 93.Google Scholar On the conversion of the temple into a church of St. Stephen, see Bernand, E., Les inscriptions grecques et latines de Philae ii (Paris 1969) Nos. 200–201Google Scholar with their commentaries; for missionary activity in the area in the 540s and 550s, Adams, W.Y., Nubia: corridor to Africa 2 (Princeton 1984) 441–2.Google Scholar In 552, however, a pagan from Kom-Ombo in collaboration with the Blemmyes ούκ ὤκνησεν (…) καὶ δαίμοσιν καὶ ξοάνοις ὰφιερῶσαι σηκούς: Pap. Maspero 67004 1. 7.

190 Procopius, Aed. vi 2. 14–20.

191 See the arguments presented by I. Hadot in support of Simplicius' teaching career at Harran (all references to the article cited in n. 1 ), 20. Whether a Neoplatonic School as such already existed in Harran and received the philosophers on their return from Persia is what I doubt; for the rest I espouse Hadot's hypothesis that the philsophers lived and taught together at Harran forming ‘a school of thought’, 21, 24. For Simplicius composing at Harran both his Commentary on the Manual of Epictetus, 18, 20, 28, and his Aristotelian Commentaries, 27–28, id. (n. 15) 51–65, 67, 168–187, 200–201. For Priscianus' Iamblichanism, see Steel, C.G., The changing self: a study on the soul in later Neoplatonism: lamblichus, Damascius and Priscianus (Brussels 1978) 9.Google Scholar

192 M. Tardieu, ‘Les calendriers en usage à Harran d'après les sources arabes et le commentaire de Simplicius à la Physique d'Aristote’; cf. I. Hadot, Simplicius (n. 1) 40–57.

193 Tardieu (n. 183) 28, 39.

194 For Philoponus' attacks on Proclus and Simplicius, see Blumenthal (n. 1) 372 n. 21, to which add the evidence from Cod. Coisl. 387 f. 153–4 (Athos, Magna Laura): Ἰωάννης ο Φιλόπονος, ὅστις καὶ κατὰ Πρισκιανοῦ ἠγωνίσατο, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ κατὰ Ἀριστοτέλους.

195 Michael the Syrian, Chronicle (trans. Chabot) ii 375.

196 For an edition, translation and commentary on the text, see Brock, S., ‘A Syriac collection of prophecies of the pagan philosophers’, OLP xiv (1983) 203–246.Google Scholar

197 Cf. the testimony of Abu Yusuf Isha ‘al Qatiy’i ap. al-Nadim, Fihrist (trans. Dodge) ii 751–753.

198 Harnaniyah al-Kaldaniyin: (n. 197) 745 n. 2.

199 On the Sabeans, see the more recent work by Hjärpe, J., Analyse critique des traditions arabes sur les Sabéens harraniens (Uppsala 1972).Google Scholar

200 Michael the Syrian, Chronicon (trans. Chabot) iii 36.

201 Massignon, L., ‘Inventaire de la littérature arabe’, Festugière, A. J., La révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste i (Paris 1944) 385.Google Scholar

202 One of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of imperial policies in frontier areas like Harran was their very remoteness from the centres of power, which meant that local governors could afford to ignore the orders of the ruler. A case in point is provided by the behaviour of the Emir of Harran, Ibrahim, under the caliph al-Ma'mun, who encouraged the pagans in the exercise of their religious practices rather than persecuting them: Michael the Syrian (n. 200) 34.

203 Cf. Gregory Abû'l Faraj Bar Hebraeus, Chronography (trans. Budge) i 152–153.

204 On the reasons dictating Tabit b. Kurra's emigration from Harran, see Tardieu (n. 183) 19–20, who modifies Schwolson's and Hjärpe's views on the subject in a sensible way.

205 A few fragments of this History are preserved by Bar Hebraeus in his Chronography.

206 Bar Hebraeus (n. 203) 153; I thank Dr S. Brock for checking the translation of this passage for me. Significantly the word for ‘paganism’ in the passage is hanputa, a descriptive rather than pejorative term for non-Christian/Jewish religion.

207 Mas'udi, , Les prairies d'or (ed., trans. de Meynard, B.—de Courtelle, P., Pellat, C.) ii 741, 278Google Scholar (with adjustments to the translation).

208 Mas'udi (n. 207) 1395, 536. Tardieu (n. 183) 14, was the first to identify this quotation with Plato Alc. i 133c, and trace its Neoplatonic descendance, 16. On the existence of a formal Academy at Harran in the tenth century, Tardieu (n. 183) 16–17, whose argument appears to me conclusive.

209 Mas'udi (n. 207) 1396, 537.

210 Mas'udi (n. 207) 1397, 537–8.

211 The evidence, from Mas'udi, Kitah al-tambih wa-l-israf, is presented and commented upon by Tardieu (n. 183) 14–16.

212 Al-Nadim, Fihrist ii (n. 197) 745–750. For a recent consideration of the authors discussed here, see Green, T. M., The city of the moon god: religious traditions of Harran (Leiden 1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholarpassim.

213 In the history of this transmission there were vaguer paths, such as those which seem to have led from Athens and Alcxandria to Panopolis, and from Panopolis/Ikhmim to Damascus and Baghdad through figures of such crucial importance as the great mystic of the ninth century Dhû'l Nun; cf. 'Arabî, Ibn, La vie merveilleuse de Dhû-I-Nun l'Égyptien (trans. Deladrière, R.) (Paris 1988) 15–16.Google Scholar