ON GILGAMESH AND HOMER: ISHTAR, APHRODITE AND THE MEANING OF A PARALLEL

This article reconsiders the similarities between Aphrodite's ascent to Olympus and Ishtar's ascent to heaven in Iliad Book 5 and the Standard Babylonian Gilgamesh Tablet VI respectively. The widely accepted hypothesis of an Iliadic reception of the Mesopotamian poem is questioned, and the consonance explained as part of a vast stream of tradition encompassing ancient Near Eastern and early Greek narrative poetry. Compositional and conceptual patterns common to the two scenes are first analyzed in a broader early Greek context, and then across further Sumerian, Akkadian, Ugaritic and Hurro-Hittite sources. The shared compositional techniques at work in Mesopotamia and the Eastern Mediterranean can be seen as a function of the largely performative nature of narrative poetry. This contributes to explaining literary transmission within the Near East and onto Greece.

The Syncretic Revelation of John of Gaza

This paper suggests that John of Gaza’s poem Tabula Mundi which is in general considered to be an ekphrasis of a real picture that had once adorned winter baths in Gaza or Antioch, actually reflects the author’s personal cosmological beliefs and is an ekphrasis in form only. In the poem there are parallels both with the mystical narratives of the ascent to heaven, and with Christian apocalyptic teachings. However, John of Gaza’s ʻrevelationʼ is not about the end of the world, but about its infinity and wise structure. The form of ekphrasis may have been chosen for the sake of disguise, since in the time when John lived, the views reflected in his poem may have been considered heretical.

A HEAVENLY SON OF ZEUS (DIOG. LAERT. 6.76 = CERCIDAS, FR. 54 LIVREA)

In hisLives of Eminent Philosophers(6.75–6) Diogenes Laertius mentions, among the various traditions of how Diogenes the Cynic met his end, the belief that he committed suicide by retention of the breath. He cites as his authority for this the poet Cercidas of Megalopolis (c.290–post 215b.c.e.), who, between some fifty and a hundred years after the death of the Cynic, celebrated his ascent to heaven in the following verses.

Plato's spirituality (The Eternal Soul and the "Real" World)

Mixture of philosophy and religion defines Plato's tradition of spirituality known as Platonism. The view of God as a First Principle or Supreme Good rather than a person is based on platonistic doctrine that anything that have personality is changeable and belongs to Lower Realm, while God is an eternal principle who emanates unchangeable untelligible Forms in the Upper Realm. According to Plato, ascent to heaven from the„cave“ or world of shadows could happen only after the conversion of inverted soul through "intellectual vision" or "ascetic paradigm". The very concept of spirituality in the West as we know it today comes from Plato and it is still an integral part of all three monotheistic religions today. In the „Republic“ we learn about Allegory of the Cave; in „Meno“ Theory of the Recollection; in „Phaedo“ Theory of the Immortality of the Soul; in „Phaedrus“ Theory of Division and the Fall of the Soul; and finally in „Symposium“ we learn about doctrine of Platonic Love.

Paul's Mosaic Ascent: An Interpretation of 2 Corinthians 12.7–9

This essay offers a reading of 2 Cor 12.7–9 in light of a rabbinic story of Moses' ascent to heaven (b. Šabb.88b-89a). After an exploration of Moses in 2 Corinthians the author argues that vv. 7–9, like vv. 2–4, constitute an ascent report (vv. 2–4). This ascent report, it is maintained, is structurally parallel to Moses' heavenly ascent inb. Šabb.88b-89a. Early traditions of Moses' ascent to heaven and dominance over angels suggest that Paul knew a form of the Mosaic ascent, and parodied it to highlight his weakness and paradoxical authority in vv. 7–9.