2011. Rethinking the Gods. Philosophical Readings of Religion in the Post-Hellenistic Period, Cambridge University Press

Trim: mm × mm Top: . mm CUUK-FM CUUK/Van Nuffelen Gutter: . mm ISBN:      R E T HI N KI N G TH E GO D S Ancient philosophers had always been fascinated by religion. From the first century bc onwards, the traditionally more hostile attitude of Greek and Roman philosophy was abandoned in favour of the view that religion was a source of philosophical knowledge. This book does not study this change from the perspective of the history of religion, as is usual, but understands it as part of the wider tendency of Post-Hellenistic philosophy to open up to external, nonphilosophical sources of knowledge and authority. It situates two key themes, ancient wisdom and cosmic hierarchy, in the context of Post-Hellenistic philosophy and traces their reconfigurations in contemporary literature and in the polemic between Jews, Christians and pagans. Overall, Post-Hellenistic philosophy can be seen to have a relatively high degree of unity in its ideas on religion, which should not be reduced to a preparation for Neoplatonism. p e t e r va n n u f f e l e n is Professor of History at the University of Ghent, Belgium. His interests cover Hellenistic history, ancient historiography, ancient religion and philosophy and late antique history and literature, including in oriental languages. He has published widely in these fields, including the monograph Un héritage de paix et de piété. Étude sur les Histoires ecclésiastiques de Socrate et de Sozomène () and the edited volumes Faces of Hellenism (), Monotheism in Late Antiquity between Christians and Pagans (, with S. Mitchell) and One God. Pagan Monotheism in the Roman Empire (1–4th cent. AD) (, with S. Mitchell). He is currently working on projects on late antique historiography and on ritual communication in Late Antiquity. i July ,  : Trim: mm × mm Top: . mm CUUK-FM CUUK/Van Nuffelen Gutter: . mm ISBN:      July ,  : G R E E K C UL T U RE I N T H E RO M A N WO RLD Editors s u s a n e . a l c o c k , Brown University ja ś elsne r , Corpus Christi College, Oxford s imon g old hi ll, University of Cambridge The Greek culture of the Roman Empire offers a rich field of study. Extraordinary insights can be gained into processes of multicultural contact and exchange, political and ideological conflict, and the creativity of a changing, polyglot empire. During this period, many fundamental elements of Western society were being set in place: from the rise of Christianity, to an influential system of education, to long-lived artistic canons. This series is the first to focus on the response of Greek culture to its Roman imperial setting as a significant phenomenon in its own right. To this end, it will publish original and innovative research in the art, archaeology, epigraphy, history, philosophy, religion, and literature of the empire, with an emphasis on Greek material. Titles in series: Philostratus Edited by Ewen Bowie and Jaś Elsner The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire: Citizens, Elites and Benefactors in Asia Minor Arjan Zuiderhoek Saints and Church Spaces in the Late Antique Mediterranean: Architecture, Cult, and Community Ann Marie Yasin Galen and the World of Knowledge Edited by Christopher Gill, Tim Whitmarsh and John Wilkins Local Knowledge and Microidentities in the Imperial Greek World Edited by Tim Whitmarsh Homer Between History and Fiction in Imperial Greek Literature Laurence Kim Facing the Gods: Epiphany and Representation in Graeco-Roman Art, Literature and Religion Verity Platt Narrative, Identity and the Ancient Greek Novel Tim Whitmarsh Women and Visual Replication in Roman Imperial Art and Culture Jennifer Trimble The Maeander Valley: A Historical Geography from Antiquity to Byzantium Peter Thonemann Greece and the Augustan Cultural Revolution J. S. Spawforth Rethinking the Gods: Philosophical Readings of Religion in the Post-Hellenistic Period Peter Van Nuffelen ii Trim: mm × mm Top: . mm CUUK-FM CUUK/Van Nuffelen Gutter: . mm ISBN:      RETHINKING THE GODS Philosophical Readings of Religion in the Post-Hellenistic Period PE TER VAN NUFFELEN iii July ,  : Trim: mm × mm Top: . mm CUUK-FM CUUK/Van Nuffelen Gutter: . mm ISBN:      cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/ c Peter Van Nuffelen   This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published  Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data isbn ---- Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. iv July ,  : Trim: mm × mm Top: . mm CUUK-FM CUUK/Van Nuffelen Gutter: . mm ISBN:      July ,  : Contents Acknowledgements Note on abbreviations page vii viii Introduction  part i ancient wisdom  Tracing the origins: ancients, philosophers and mystery cults   Plutarch of Chaeronea: ‘History as a basis for a philosophy that has theology as its end’   Numenius: philosophy as a hidden mystery   Dio Chrysostom, Apuleius and the rhetoric of ancient wisdom  part ii cosmic hierarchy  Towards the pantheon as the paradigm of order   The Great King of Persia and his satraps: ideal and ideology   Dio Chrysostom: virtue and structure in the kingship orations   Plutarch: a benevolent hierarchy of gods and men  v Trim: mm × mm Top: . mm CUUK-FM CUUK/Van Nuffelen Gutter: . mm ISBN:      July ,  : Contents vi part iii polemic and prejudice: challenging the discourse  Lucian, Epicureanism and strategies of satire   Philo of Alexandria: challenging Graeco-Roman culture   Celsus and Christian superstition  Epilogue Bibliography Index    Trim: mm × mm Top: . mm CUUK-FM CUUK/Van Nuffelen Gutter: . mm ISBN:      Acknowledgements The present book is the product of my ‘Exeter years’. I came to Exeter in  to work as a post-doctoral research fellow on the pagan monotheism project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and directed by Stephen Mitchell. The book was finished whilst holding a lectureship in the same department. The Department of Classics and Ancient History in Exeter was, and continues to be, a warm, inspiring and intellectually challenging community of scholars, to which I owe a great deal personally and professionally. Final revisions to the manuscript were made in Cincinnati, when holding a Margo Tytus Fellowship (summer of ), and in Oxford, as a Visiting Member of the Corpus Christi Classics Centre (–). Some of the ideas of this book were first tested on audiences in Krakow, Leuven, Münster, Bristol and Cardiff; sections of it were read by Hans Hauben, Alfons Fürst and Josef Lössl. I here wish to express my sincere gratitude for the stimulating feedback I received. I am also grateful for the suggestions of the readers and series editors, which have substantially improved the book. I wish to thank three persons in particular. Stephen Mitchell not only read and commented on the entire book, but was a source of encouragement and inspiration throughout my years in Exeter. With his warm personality and intellectual rigour, he has set very high personal and academic standards. Notwithstanding high demands on his own time, Chris Gill has commented on the entire manuscript and even read some chapters twice, providing crucial suggestions and stimulation for the lay-out of the argument. Finally, my wife, Lieve Van Hoof, commented thoroughly and critically on the manuscript and helped me rethink the material. I dedicated my first book to her gratuitously (as it should be) because she is the love of my life. She continues to be, but in this case she has also earned the dedication by hard labour. vii July ,  : Trim: mm × mm Top: . mm CUUK-FM CUUK/Van Nuffelen Gutter: . mm ISBN:      July ,  : Abbreviations Abbreviations of ancient sources follow S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth (), The Oxford Classical Dictionary, rd edn, Oxford. Journal titles follow the list of L’Année philologique (www.annee-philologique.com/aph/). viii