The Gnostic Sethians and Middle Platonism: Interpretations of the Timaeus and Parmenides

2006 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Turner
Keyword(s):  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
Platonic Dialogue ◽  
Book Of Genesis ◽  
The Ideal

AbstractOne may construe the Sethian Gnostic picture of the world and its origins as an interpretation of the biblical protology of the book of Genesis in the light of the Platonic distinction between an ideal, exemplary realm of eternal stable being and its more or less deficient earthly and changeable copy, in which the principal Platonic dialogues of reference are the Timaeus and the Parmenides. Various Sethian treatises offer us accounts of the origin and generation of both these realms; while their portrayal of the origin and deployment of the earthly realm is unmistakably influenced by their readings of Plato's Timaeus, their account of the origin and deployment of the ideal realm is noticeably influenced by readings of Plato's Parmenides. This article attempts to show that the shift from the Timaeus as the primary Platonic dialogue of reference for the Middle Platonic thought of the first two centuries to the Parmenides as the primary dialogue of reference for the emerging Neoplatonism of the third century is also visible in the Sethian treatises. In mid- to later second-century Sethian treatises, the cosmology of the Timaeus serves as an exegetical template to interpret the Genesis protology, but with the turn to the third century, the Sethian trestises that circulated in Plotinus' circle have abandoned all interest in the Genesis protology in favor of a theology of transcendental ascent.

Danebury, Hampshire: Second Interim Report on the Excavations 1971–5

1976 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Cunliffe
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Interim Report ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Hill ◽  
Religious Nature ◽  
Continuous Strip

SummaryThe results of five seasons of excavation (1971–5) are summarized. A continuous strip 30–40 m. wide extending across the centre of the fort from one side to the other was completely excavated revealing pits, gullies, circular stake-built houses, rectangular buildings, and 2-, 4-, and 6-post structures, belonging to the period from the sixth to the end of the second century B.C. The types of structures are discussed. A sequence of development, based largely upon the stratification preserved behind the ramparts, is presented: in the sixth–fifth century the hill was occupied by small four-post ‘granaries’ possibly enclosed by a palisade. The first hill-fort rampart was built in the fifth century protecting houses, an area of storage pits, and a zone of 4-and 6-post buildings laid out in rows along streets. The rampart was heightened in the third century, after which pits continued to be dug and rows of circular houses were built. About 100 B.C. rectangular buildings, possibly of a religious nature, were erected, after which the site was virtually abandoned. Social and economic matters are considered. The excavation will continue.

scholarly journals PERSEPSI TEOLOG MASA KINI DI INDONESIA TERHADAP PIKIRAN TEOLOGI BAPAK-BAPAK GEREJA ABAD PERTAMA SAMPAI KETIGA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Detty Manongko
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Church History ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Church

The research of exploring the Church History have not been many studies done in Indonesia. Though this field is related to the theology, especially the development of Christian Theology for centuries. One area of Church History that needs to be examined are the Christian Thought of the Church Fathers from first to third centuries. The field is often called “Patrology” which is the study of Church Fathers from first to third centuries. Who are they, what are the results of their work, why they have produced such theological thoughts, and what they thoughts are still influencing to the contemporary theologians in Indonesia?The main problem in this research is how does the perception of contemporary theologians in Indonesia to the Chruch Father’ s theological thoughts? Through a literature review of Soteriology, Christology, and Eschatology, then this research has yielded important principles concerning to the Church Fathers’s theological thoughts at the Early Church period. And then through the field research has proven that the majority of contemporary theologians in Indonesia have a positive perception to the Church Fathers’s theological thought from first to the third centuries. Therefore, the reasons of why this research is conducted and how it is done are described in the first chapter of these book. The second chapter of this writing contains a literature review of the theological thoughts of the church fathers from the first century to the third. There are four groups of Church Fathers from the first century to the third. There are four groups of Church Fathers that are described in this chapter, i.e., The Apostolic Fathers (from the first to the middle of second century), The Aplogists (second century), The Anti-Gnostic Fathers (second and third century), and The Alexandrian Fathers (third century). The third chapter discusses the quantitative methods used in this research including statistical models to prove the validity and reliability of the data acquisition method that is used in the field of this research. It desperately needs accuracy and diligence in order to display a quality and useful research reports for the development of Church History studies. Discussion of the results of this study, along with the evidence that reinforces the result of this research is presented in the fourth chapter. Finally, the fifth chapter of this study elaborates the main thoughts that are generated in this study, which also expected to be important principles in conducting futher research.The results obtained in this study are not yet maximal on account of various constraints, such as limited time, facilities, funding, and so forth. However, the writer wishes that the results achieved in this study will give a valuable contribution to all readers of this writing and that it will be a motivation for a further research in the field of Church History in the future.

Taoism

1995 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 322-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franciscus Verellen
Keyword(s):  
Human Condition ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Lao Tzu ◽  
Chuang Tzu ◽  
Court Politics ◽  
The Ideal

Circumscribing the place of taoists in Chinese society is not straightforward for any period: honored by emperors and members of the nobility, they were scorned, as a rule, by literati-officials and treated with a mixture of reverence and familiarity by ordinary people. The paradoxical strength of passivity, the power of compliance, and the endurance of the peripheral already form a central theme in the mystical writings gathered in the fourth and third centuryb.c.Lao-tzuandChuang-tzu. The Taoism of these ancient texts advanced a doctrine of liberation through submission, of control by means of noninterference, and of transcendence as a result of physiological and mental regimens. The ideal of liberation from the physical, epistemological, and social constraints of the human condition in time translated into a quest for immortality which, by the Ch'in unification of the empire, became quite explicit. Huang-Lao thought, named for the Yellow Emperor and patron of the immortals (Huang-ti) and Lao-tzu, dominated court politics from this period through the middle of the second centuryb.c.

The Apostolicity of Gallic Churches

1975 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank D. Gilliard
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Church

At the end of the nineteenth century Louis Duchesne's Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule decisively undermined the foundation for maintaining the apostolicity of Gallic sees. This epochal study proved that, of the twenty-five lists of Gallic bishops which were credible and could be verified, only that of the church at Lyon reached back as far as the second century, and only four others as far as the third century. Thus it effectively discredited the pious medieval myths which had been created to prove that the Gallic episcopal traditions derived from the apostles, and led Duchesne confidently to conclude that, except for the “mother-church” at Lyon, established probably in the middle of the second century, no other church was founded in the Gallic provinces of Belgica, Lugdunensis, Aquitania, and Germania much before A.D. 230.

Numenius (fl. c. mid 2nd century AD)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dillon
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Level ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
The Third ◽  
Strong Interest ◽  
The World

Numenius was a Platonist philosopher. He came from Apamea (Syria) and wrote in Greek. His work – now lost – is usually considered Neo-Pythagorean in tendency, and exercised a major influence on the emergence of Neoplatonism in the third century. A radical dualist, he postulated the twin principles of god – a transcendent and changeless intellect, equated with the Good of Plato’s Republic – and matter, identified as the Pythagorean Indefinite Dyad: god is good, matter evil. In addition to this supreme god, he added at a secondary level a creator-god, one of whose aspects is the world-soul, itself further distinguished into a good and an evil world-soul. He had a strong interest in Oriental wisdom, especially Judaic, and famously called Plato ‘Moses speaking Attic’.

What's in a hump? Re-examining the hunchback in the Villa-Albani-Torlonia

2009 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 130-156
Author(s):  
Lisa Trentin
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
Drilling Technique ◽  
And Shifts

The private collection of the Villa Albani-Torlonia in Rome holds the only surviving large-scale sculpture of a hunchback [fig. i]. Although this hunchback has been intensely studied, it remains enigmatic. The hunchback is generally agreed to be Roman and dated to the second century CE on the basis of its portrait head, particularly in the drilling technique of its hairstyle, though the realism of its misshapen and ugly body is in the direct tradition of works of the third century BCE.Whether this hunchback is an original of its time or a copy of a now lost Greek work is still contentious. Since its discovery in the Baths of Caracalla, the figure has been identified as the famous Greek fabulist Aesop, who, according to literary tradition, may have been a hunchback. Although several scholars have suggested new possibilities for the identity of this hunchback, including the proposition that it is a Roman original representing a jester of the imperial court, its association with Aesop has remained. But is its identity necessarily key to understanding its significance? This article intends to move away from the identification of this figure to consider the hunchback primarily as a type, rather than a person, and shifts the emphasis to its context within a bathhouse.

The so-called “Magazzini Repubblicani” near the Porta Romana at Ostia

1935 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 77-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick H. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Considerable Importance ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Building Activity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City ◽  
Region Ii ◽  
Eastern Half

The building with which this study is concerned occupies the eastern half of Region ii, 2, just inside the city gate at Ostia. Two specific statements have been made concerning it, that it commenced as magazzini or horrea in the republican era, and that it was converted into baths in the late third century A.D.; these were the suggestions of the excavators, and have never yet been questioned. They are points of considerable importance, because this building would thus be the only example of republican horrea yet discovered in Ostia, and the conversion of horrea into baths or shops, which the theory implies, would be important for the economic history of Ostia, whether the reason for the change was the concentration of horrea elsewhere or merely the decline of the city. The second statement, too, would point to building activity in Ostia at a time when no other big building was being put up. This paper is an attempt to prove that at no time was the building used as horrea, and that the conversion to baths is to be placed not in the third, but in the late first, or very early second century A.D. Five main periods will be distinguished, of which the appended table gives a summary.

Polybius' other view of Aetolia

1975 ◽  
Vol 95 ◽  
pp. 92-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Sacks
Keyword(s):  
Second Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Specific Event

The discovery and publication two decades ago of the Roman-Aetolian treaty of 212/11 has helped to place Polybius' reliability as a source under close scrutiny. As a result, his account of the confrontation between the Aetolians and Flamininus at Tempe, in 197, may not stand the test of a comparison. Yet in order to use the preserved inscription as a control for this specific event, Polybius' general feelings concerning Aetolian responsibility for the consequent Syrian War must also be considered. Historians have hitherto assumed that if Polybius is demonstrably antagonistic towards his northern neighbours when recording affairs of the third century, he must be equally so for those of the second century. A close examination of Polybius, however, will reveal substantial reasons for doubting such an assumption.For events of the third century, where he is most completely preserved, Polybius is indeed prejudiced against the Aetolians. He unleashes his venom both when following Aratus' Ὑπομνήματα to 220 and afterwards when employing various sources. To Polybius, the Aetolians are violent and aggressive in spirit (iv 3.5), cruel (iv 18.7–9), impious (iv 62.2), haughty (iv 64.8), inhuman (iv 67.3–4), and cowardly (iv 79.1). They are also natural revolutionaries (xiii 1.2), spendthrifts (xiii 1.1), and liars (iv 29.4–5). Though at times Polybius considers their behaviour scandalous (iv 27.1–8), he admits that the Greeks have become quite inured to it (iv 16.1–2). The most grievous faults of the Aetolians, however, are their desire for aggrandizement and lust for booty.

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