Divine Powers in Late Antiquity

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Divine Power ◽  
Divine Essence ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
Canonical Texts ◽  
Strong Claim

What are divine powers? What is their relation to divine nature? Is power the essence of divinity, or are divine powers distinct from divine essence? Are they divine hypostases or are they divine attributes? How are they manifested? In what do their differ from the physical powers we find instantiated in nature? In which way, if at all, can they be apprehended by our limited cognitive capacities? The twelve chapters in this volume examine the way in which such and suchlike questions were addressed in the philosophical and theological debates that took place in a broad geographical spectrum, extending from Syria to Italy and from Greece to Egypt and North Africa, over a span of four centuries, from the first down to the fifth century CE. The first part of the volume deals with the treatment of divine power in the work of the four major figures of Neoplatonism, Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus, as well as in the Orphic Rhapsodies, the Neoplatonic ‘Sacred Discourse’ par excellence. The second part of the volume investigates the Christian doctrines of divine power from the beginnings to the Cappadocian Fathers. Special importance is attached to the canonical texts of early Christianity. Thus, through the close and careful analysis of the shared but disputed notion of divine power, the volume as a whole makes a strong claim that pagan Platonic and Christian thought of that period should be examined comparatively.

Melania the Younger

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Clark
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Greek Version ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Roman Provinces ◽  
Late Nineteenth

Melania the Younger: From Rome to Jerusalem analyzes one of the most richly detailed stories of a woman of late antiquity. Melania, an early fifth-century Roman Christian aristocrat, renounced her many possessions and staggering wealth to lead a life of ascetic renunciation. Hers is a tale of “riches to rags.” Born to high Roman aristocracy in the late fourth century, Melania encountered numerous difficulties posed by family members, Roman officials, and historical circumstances themselves in disposing of her wealth, property spread across at least eight Roman provinces, and thousands of slaves. Leaving Rome with her entourage a few years before Gothic sack of Rome in 410, she journeyed to Sicily, then to North Africa (where she had estates upon which she founded monasteries), before settling in Jerusalem. There, after some years of semi-solitary existence, she founded more monastic complexes. Toward the end of her life, she traveled to Constantinople in an attempt to convert to Christianity her still-pagan uncle, who was on a state mission to the eastern Roman court. Throughout her life, she frequently met and assisted emperors and empresses, bishops, and other high dignitaries. Embracing an extreme asceticism, Melania died in Jerusalem in 439. Her Life, two versions of which (Greek and Latin) were discovered in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, was composed by a longtime assistant who succeeded her in directing the male and female monasteries in Jerusalem. An English translation of the Greek version of her Life accompanies the text of this book.

The Date and Circumstances of Olympiodorus of Thebes

Traditio ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Gillett
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Western Half

Olympiodorus of Thebes is an important figure for the history of late antiquity. The few details of his life preserved as anecdotes in hisHistorygive glimpses of a career which embraced the skills of poet, philosopher, and diplomat. A native of Egypt, he had influence at the imperial court of Constantinople, among the sophists of Athens, and even outside the borders of the empire. HisHistory(more correctly, his “materials for history”) is lost, surviving only as fragments in the narratives of Zosimus, Sozomen, and Philostorgius, and in the rich summary given by the ninth-century Byzantine patriarch Photius. These remains comprise the most substantial narrative sources for events in the western Roman Empire in the early fifth century. Besides its value as a source, theHistoryis important as a monument to the vitality of the belief in the unity of the Roman Empire under the Theodosian dynasty. Olympiodorus wrote in Greek, and knowledge of his work is attested only in Constantinople, yet his political narrative, from 407 to 425, concerns only events in the western half of the empire. To understand the significance of these facts, it is necessary to set the composition of Olympiodorus's work in its proper context. Clarifying the date of publication is the first step toward this goal. Internal and external evidence suggests that the work was written in 440 or soon after, more than a decade later than the date of composition usually accepted. Taken with thematic emphases evident in the structure of theHistory, this revised dating explains why an eastern writer should have written a detailed account of western events in the early part of the century. Olympiodorus's account is a characteristic product of the highly literate class of eastern imperial civil servants, and of their genuine preoccupation with the relationship between the eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire at a time when both were threatened by the rise of the new Carthaginian power of the Vandals.

Leadership for the Christian Empire: Emperors and Bishops in theEcclesiastical Historyof Philostorgius

2018 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 684-717
Author(s):  
Anna Lankina
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Raw Data ◽  
Ecclesiastical History ◽  
Theory Of History ◽  
The Relationship

The fifth-centuryEcclesiastical Historyof Philostorgius is an unusual example of a surviving minority source. Although scholars have mined his work for raw data on events between 320 and 425c.e., in contrast to other contemporary ecclesiastical historians, Philostorgius has received little attention. His work has suffered derision, being seen as nothing more than “Arian” polemic and thus as more partisan than its pro-Nicene counterparts. This essay analyzes Philostorgius's role as one of many competitive voices participating in the composition of historical works for the elite readership of Constantinople in the fifth century. Philostorgius'sEcclesiastical Historyconstituted an integral part of the historiography of late antiquity and early Christianity. His representation of the relationship between bishops and emperors reveals a distinctive theory of history which informs his entire work.

scholarly journals Pluralidade em tempo de cristianização: a concepção das identidades cristãs no Norte da África (200-450 d.C.)

2018 ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Ludimila Caliman Campos
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Cornell University

Resenha de: REBILLARD, É. Christians and their many identities in Late Antiquity, North Africa, 200-450 CE. London: Cornell University Press, 2017. 144 p.

Coin Circulation in the Balkans in Late Antiquity

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. GUEST
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Notable Feature ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The World ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Archaeological Excavations ◽  
Early Byzantine

The archaeological excavations carried out on late Roman and early Byzantine sites in the Balkans has revolutionized our knowledge of this part of the world in Late Antiquity. How these sites are dated is obviously important as, without accurate and reliable dating, it is difficult to understand how they fit into the wider historical narrative. This chapter takes the coins excavated at Dichin as its starting point and, by careful analysis, proposes a general dating scheme for the two phases of occupation at the settlement. The lack of coins struck during the years 474–518 is a notable feature of the assemblage from Dichin, a pattern that is repeated at most sites in the region where coins of the emperor Zeno are particularly rare. By looking at both site finds and hoards from the region, however, these explanations need to be revised as they are based on a numismatic mirage rather than archaeological fact.

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