In antiquity, some substances were considered to be susceptible to heal any human disease. They were defined as panacea (universal remedy). Many of them were associated with mythological creatures, heroes, or gods. We find similar accounts for the πάνακες Χειρώνιον, the πάνακες Ἡράκλειον, and the πάνακες Ἀσκληπίειον. Examining a few prominent case studies, this paper intends to highlight the connections between pharmacotherapeutics and mythology. This would lead to a re-evaluation of ancient panaceas and their mythological background.
The first part summarises the historical context of the discovery of miniature theatrical masks in the necropolis of Diana on Lipari between 1950 and 2000, their classification and the organisation of the museum by the archaeologists Luigi Bernabò Brea and Madeleine Cavalier. All this took place in parallel with the first editions of Menander’s recently discovered papyrus texts, for which the Onomasticon of Pollux IV.133-154 was immediately established as a guide to their classification, offering a method. The interpretations of the miniatures as ‘theatrocentric’ and ‘dionysocentric’ have been partly refuted by Agnes Schwarzmaier’s monograph and much of the subsequent bibliography, which insists rather on their symbolic value in funerary rituals. In the second part, the question of the method of recognising the value of small theatrical masks is reopened. If, on the one hand, we accept as undeniable the connection of these finds with the theatrical life of the 4th-3rd centuries B.C. in relation to the numerous Apulian, Lucanian, Sicilian and Paestan vase paintings that reveal the wealth of theatrical imagery of the same period even in funeral contexts, on the other hand, we intend to re-examine the method of classification by means of a case study represented by five masks of elderly men attributed to the type of ‘Pappos Protos’ of the New Comedy by Bernabò Brea. The conclusion reached is that these miniatures represent an expressive mask type of the tragic genre, which is also attested elsewhere in Greece.
This article has a twofold objective. On the one hand, it will be analyzed the reception that the Greco-Roman intelligentsia and high culture gave both to the ancient and legendary Sparta and to its small, select and idiosyncratic civic body (the homoioi) during the first century of the Principate, namely from its foundation under Augustus until the dawn of the Second Sophistic, which, because of its importance for our subject, requires specific work that we have already undertaken. The second objective, complementary to the previous one but already using sources from the Principate period as a whole, will consist of an approach to the more mundane reality of the ancient hegemonic polis integrated into the Roman orb, that is to say, the daily life of Roman Sparta, equally marked by its glorious past.
Based on the passage Macr. Sat. 5,19,1-4, which transmits the fr. 29 Mazzarino, Annaeus Cornutus is routinely thought to be the source of a variety of attacks against Virgil’s mythological innovations (e.g. Serv. [Dan.] ad Aen. 3,46, 11,554, 12,83). This paper argues that Macrobius, who considers the Virgilian poems the peak of the Graeco-Roman literary tradition, misrepresents the original meaning of Cornutus’ claim about the novelty of the cutting of Dido’s lock (Aen. 4,693-705) and of the Golden Bough (Aen. 6,124-211). In fact, there is no overt criticism of Virgil in fr. 29 Mazzarino even though, in other instances, Cornutus is not shy of voicing his disappointment in Virgil’s poetic solutions: the phrase poetico more, which features in the fragment, is typically used to assert the rights of poetic creativity. Furthermore, in his theologiae Graecae compendium Cornutus concedes that altering traditional myths is part of the art of poetry, and philosophers/allegorisers must be aware of this. Finally, the article argues that there is no reason to ascribe to Cornutus the criticism against the Trojan ships’ and Polydorus’ metamorphoses attested by Serv. ad Aen. 3,46, which are not mentioned in fr. 29 Mazzarino, and that the same applies to the notes Serv. Dan. ad Aen. 11,554 and Serv. ad Aen. 12,83, which, unlike fr. 29 Mazzarino, do not address alleged inventions ex nihilo but that of details that impair the narrative consistency of traditional myths.
The Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum is characterised by a rich yet complex textual tradition. Despite its significance, the work is only accessible in early editions, such as that of B. de Montfaucon (1714), subsequently reprinted by Migne in PG 56. The deficiencies of this text, based on manuscripts from one particular family, are well known. Pending the publication of the critical edition undertaken by J. van Banning in the 1980s, this article deals with some textual problems in “homily” 1 (on Matt 1), utilizing two manuscripts from another family. An appendix examines the problem of the division of the homily, raising the question of the existence of a primitive division of the commentary.
Additional evidence proving that Damascius and Dionysius the Areopagite are one and the same person. 1) The term ἐξαίφνης, scrutinised in the third Letter, has no biblical importance, being instead a crucial point of Plato’s Parmenides (156 d), subtly explained by Damascius. 2) Dionysius largely employs the adjective ἀρρενωπός, almost unknow to the ecclesiastical writers. It was a feature of the Arabic god experienced by Damascius, on whose name Dionysius moulded θεανδρικός. 3) The adjective ὑπέρθειος lacks occurrences before Damascius (in the superlative form ὑπερθειότατος); Dionysius employs it ten times, but in the form ὑπέρθεος, which overemphasizes the previous one. 4) Damascius proves to be acquainted with biblical texts (Siracides, Paul’s ad Corinthios), and Christian terms (ἀειζωΐα). 4) The Corpus Dionysiacum could be rightfully labelled as a paradoxical work, a kind of literature amply treated by Damascius. 5) Dionysius asserts that the blood of the martyrs assures the Christian doctrine he reveals, that is Damascius’ philosophy of the unknowable God.
A passage from Procopius’ Anecdota documents Justinian’s measure aimed at the almost total suppression of female dromedaries as beasts of burden used by the army. An in-depth analysis of contemporary literary evidence (Procopius’ Bella Vandalica, Iohannis of Corippus, Vita Sabae by Cyril of Scythopolis) and archaeozoological remains from Iustiniana Prima (present-day Serbia) on the one hand suggests that the drastic imperial decision was based on reasons of strategic opportunity and on the other confirms that the dromedary transport service remained unchanged in the civil field (secular and monastic)
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