Πλατώνειά τε καὶ Σωκράτεια
Identity and Communion in the Heart of Late Hellenism Platonic Communities
Abstract
In this article I aim at analysing the celebrations in honour of the anniversary of Plato and Socrates (Πλατώνειά καὶ Σωκράτεια) within the Platonic communities of late Hellenism. The literary evidence that we have can be dated between the 1st and 5th centuries CE and, as we show in this study, they stand out for its cultural, cultic and ritual character. Regarding the modus operandi, the school leader hosted the special meeting and summoned the inner circle of disciples or companions. They enjoyed altogether a banquet, as well as the literate activities typical of the symposium. In short, it was a celebration permeated by a deeply religious and spiritual atmosphere that became one of the last private pagan practices in Late Antiquity.
Downloads
References
Alikin, Valeriy (2009). The Reading of Texts at the Graeco-Roman Symposium and in the Christian Gathering. En Ferreira, 2009, pp. 103-112.
Álvarez Hoz, Jesús María y García Ruiz, Jesús Miguel (1999). Marino de Neápolis, Proclo o de la felicidad. Irún: Iralka.
Argetsinger, Kathryn (1992). Birthday Rituals: Friends and Patrons in Roman Poetry and Cult. Classical Antiquity, 11.2, pp. 175-193.
Barnes, Timothy D. (1981). Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge y London: Harvard University Press.
Beck, Mark (ed.) (2014). A Companion to Plutarch. Oxford: Blackwell.
Becker, Matthias (ed.) (2019). Über das Gluck. Marinos, Das Leben des Proklos. Tübingen: SAPERE.
Beihammer, Alexander D. (ed.) (2013). Court Ceremonies and Rituals of Power in Byzantium and the Medieval Mediterranean: Comparative Perspectives. Leiden y Boston: Brill.
Beutler, Roland (1953). s.v. “Porphyrios”. RE, 34, pp. 275-313.
Bidez, Joseph (1913). Vie de Porphyre. Gante: Universidad de Gante [reimpr. Hildesheim, 1964].
Bieler, Ludwig (1967). ΘEIOS ANHP: das Bild des Göttlichen Menschen in Spätantike und Frühchristentum. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Bremmer, Jan (2018). Transformations and Decline of Sacrifice in Imperial Rome and Late Antiquity. En Transformationen paganer Religion in der Kaiserzeit (pp. 2015-256). Berlin y Boston: de Gruyter.
Brisson, Luc (1982). Notices sur les noms propres. En Brisson et al., 1982, pp. 49-142.
Brisson, Luc et alii (eds.) (1982). Porphyre. La vie de Plotin, 2 vols. Paris: Vrin.
Cameron, Alan (2011). The Last Pagans of Rome. New York: Oxford University Press.
Caruso, Ada (2013). Akademia. Archeologia di una scuola filosófica ad Atene da Platone a Proclo (387 a.C.- 485 d.C.). Atenas y Paestum: Pandemos.
Casanova, Arnaldo (2012). Plutarch as Apollo’s Priest at Delphi. En Roig Lanzillotta, 2012, pp. 151-157.
Clinton, Kevin (1974). The Sacred Officials of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 64.3, pp. 1-143.
Cox Miller, Patricia (1983). Biography in Late Antiquity. A Quest for the Holy Man. Berkeley, Los Angeles y London: University of California Press.
Cox Miller, Patricia (2000). Strategies of Representation in Collective Biography. Constructing the Subject as Holy. En Hägg, 2000, pp. 209-254.
Dillon, John (1996). The Middle Platonists. 80 B.C. to A.D. 220. Ithaca y New York: Cornell University Press (1st ed. 1977).
Dillon, John (2003). The Heirs of Plato. A Study of the Old Academy (347-274 BC). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dillon, John (2006). Holy and Not So Holy. On the Interpretation of Late Antique Biography. En McGing y Mossman, 2006, pp. 155-167.
Dillon, John (2019). Proklos als Theios Aner. En Becker, 2019, pp. 231-246.
Dodds, Eric Robertson (1965). Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dörrie, Heinrich y Baltes, Mathias (1990). Der Platonismus in der Antike, II. Der Hellenistische Rahmen des kaiserzeitlichen Platonismus. Stuttgart: Steiner.
Dörrie, Heinrich y Baltes, Mathias (1996). Der Platonismus in der Antike, IV. Die philosphische Lehre des Platonismus. Stuttgart: Steiner.
Edwards, Mark (2000). Neoplatonic Saints. The Life of Plotinus and Proclus by their Students. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
Ferreira, José Ribeiro (ed.) (2009). Symposion and Philanthropia in Plutarch. Coimbra: Universidad de Coimbra.
Festugière, André-Jean (1956). Epicurus and his Gods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1st ed. Paris 1946).
Festugière, André-Jean (ed.) (1970). Commentaire sur la République I (diss. I-VI). Paris: Vrin.
Frazier, François y Sirinelli, Jean (1996). Plutarque. OEuvres morales. Tome IX, 3e partie: Traité 46, Propos de Table, Livres VII-IX. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
Fowden, Garth (1977). The Platonist Philosopher and his Circle in Late Antiquity. Philosophia, 7, pp. 359-383.
Gooch, Paul W. (1982). The Celebration of Plato’s Birthday. The Classical World, 75.4, pp. 239-240.
Goulet, Richard (ed.) (2012). Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
Goulet, Richard (2001). Études sur les Vies de philosophes de l’Antiquité tardive. Diogène Laërce, Porphyre de Tyr, Eunape de Sardes. Paris: Vrin (1ª ed. 1981).
Goulet-Cazé, Marie-Odile (1982). L’Arrière-plan scolaire de la Vie de Plotin. En Brisson et al., 1982, pp. 229–327.
Hägg, Tomas (ed.) (2000). Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity. Berkeley, Los Angeles y London: University of California Press.
Hägg, Tomas (2012). The Art of Biography in Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hernández de la Fuente, David (2014). Vidas de Pitágoras. Girona: Atalanta.
Hoine, Peter d’ (ed.) (2017). All From One: A Guide to Proclus. New York y Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Igal, Jesús (1982). Porfirio. Vida de Plotino. Plotino. Enéadas I-II. Madrid: Gredos.
Igal, Jesús (1972). La cronología de la “Vida de Plotino” de Porfirio. Madrid: Castalia.
Johnson, Aaron P. (2006). Ethnicity and Argument in Eusebius’ Praeparatio Evangelica. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, Aaron P. (2013). Religion and Identity in Porphyry of Tyre. The Limits of Hellenism in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jones, Christian P. (1966). Towards a Chronology of Plutarch’s Works. Journal of Roman Studies, 56, pp. 61-74 [repr. in Scardigli, Barbara (ed.) (1995). Essays on Plutarch’s Lives. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 95-123].
Kalligas, Paul (2014). The Enneads of Plotinus: A Commentary, vol. 1, trans. E. K. Fowden y N. Pilavachi. Princeton: Princeton University Press (1ª ed. en griego 1991).
Kantirea, Michael (2013). Imperial Birthday Rituals in Late Antiquity. En Beihammer, 2013, pp. 37-50.
Kechagia, Eric (2011). Philosophy in Plutarch’s Table Talk. In Jest or in Earnest? En Klotz, 2011, pp. 77-104.
Klotz, Frieda (ed.) (2011). The Philosopher’s Banquet Plutarch’s Table Talk in the Intellectual Culture of the Roman Empire. New York: Oxford University Press.
Klotz, Frieda (2014). The Sympotic Works. En Beck, 2014, pp. 207-222.
Klotz, Frieda y Oikonomopoulou, Kalos (2011). Introduction. En Klotz, 2011, pp. 1-34.
Kobusch, Theo (ed.) (2002). Metaphysik und Religion. Zur Signatur des spätantiken Denkens. München: Saur
König, Jason (2012). Saints and Symposiasts. The Literature of Food and the Symposium in Greco-Roman and Early Christian Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lamberton, Robert (2012). The Schools of Platonic Philosophy of the Roman Empire, The Evidence of the Biographies. En Too (ed.) 2012. Education in Greek and Roman Antiquity. Leiden, Boston y Köln: Brill, pp. 434-458.
Layne, Dean A. (2017). The Anonymous Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy. En Tarrant, 2017, pp. 533-554.
McGing, Brian y Mossman, Judith (eds.) (2006). The Limits of Ancient Biography. Swansea: Classical Press of Wales.
Männlein-Robert, Irmgard (2001). Longin, Philologe und Philosoph. Eine Interpretation der erhaltenen Zeugnisse. München y Leipzig: Saur.
Männlein-Robert, Irmgard (2002). Biographie, Hagiographie, Autobiographie: Die Vita Plotini des Porphyrios. En Kobusch, 2002, pp. 581-609.
Männlein-Robert, Irmgard (ed.) (2019). Über das Gluck. Marinos, Das Leben des Proklos. Tübingen: SAPERE.
Marrou, Henri-Irénée (1985). Historia de la educación en la Antigüedad, Madrid: Akal (1ª ed. 1948).
Martin, Jean (1931). Symposion: die Geschichte einer literarischen Form. Paderborn: F. Schöningh.
Martín García, Francisco (1987). Plutarco. Obras morales y de costumbres, IV. Moralia, Charlas de sobremesa. Madrid: Gredos.
Minar, Edwin L., Sandbach, Frances H. y Helmbold, Wingald C. (1961). Plutarch. Moralia, Volume IX: Table-Talk, Books 7-9. Dialogue on Love. Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library.
Penella, Robert (1984). Plato’s Birthday Again. The Classical World, 77.5, p. 295.
Pérez Jiménez, Antonio (1985). Plutarco. Vidas paralelas, I. Teseo-Rómulo, Licurgo-Numa. Madrid: Gredos.
Riginos, Alice S. (1976). Platonica. The Anecdotes Concerning the Life and Writing of Plato. Leiden: Brill.
Roig Lanzillotta, Lautaro (ed.) (2012). Plutarch in the Religious and Philosophical Discourse of Late Antiquity. Leiden: Brill.
Saffrey, Henri-Dominique y Segonds, Alain-Philip (2001). Marinus: Proclus ou Sur le bonheur. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
Saffrey, Henri-Dominique y Westerink, Leendert G. (1968). Proclus, Théologie Platonicienne I. Paris.
Schmidt, Wilhelm (1908). Geburstag im Altertum. Giessen: Töppelmann.
Schmidt, Wilhelm (1910). s.v. “Γενέθλιος ἡμέρα”. RE, 13, pp. 1135-1149.
Schroeder, Guy y des Places, Edouard (1991). Eusèbe de Césarée, La Préparation Évangélique, livres VIII, IX, X. Paris: Vrin.
Schwartz, Eward (1907). s.v. “Eusebios von Caesarea”. RE, 11, pp. 1370-1439.
Seoanes Rodríguez, Manuel Andrés et al. (2016). Eusebio de Cesarea. Preparación evangélica. II: Libros VII-XV. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos.
Sheppard, Anne (1980). Studies on the 5th and 6th Essays of Proclus’ Commentary on the Republic. Göttingen: Hypomnemata.
Simmons, Martin B. (2015). Universal Salvation in Late Antiquity. Porphyry of Tyre and the Pagan-Christian Debate. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stuiber, Alan (1976). s.v. “Geburtstag“. RAC, 9, pp. 217-243.
Tarrant, Harold (ed.) (2017). Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity. Leiden y Boston: Brill.
Teodorsson, Sven-Tage (1989). A Commentary on Plutarch’s Table Talk, books 1-3, vol. 1. Gothenburg: Studia graec. et lat. Gothoburg.
Titchener, Frances B. (2009). The Role of Reality in Plutarch’s Quaestiones convivales. En Ferreira, 2009, pp. 395-402.
Toom, Tarmo (ed.) (2017). Augustine in Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Urbano, Arthur P. (2017). Biography in Late Antiquity. En Toom, 2017, pp. 13-21.
Usener, Hans (1911). Das Weihnachtsfest, Kapitel I bis III. Bonn: Cohen (1ª ed. 1889).
Watts, Edward J. (2006). City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria. Berkeley y Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Wecowski, Marek (2014). The Rise of the Greek Aristocratic Banquet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Westerink, Leendert G. (1962). Anonymous Prolegomena Philosophiae Platonicae. Amsterdam: Brill.
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Ulrich Von (1893). Aristoteles Und Athen. Berlin: Weidemann.
Wildberg, Carl (2017). Proclus of Athens: A Life. En Hoine, 2017, pp. 1-26.
Ziegler, Konrat (1950). s.v. “Plagiat”. RE, 20, pp. 1956-1997.
Ziegler, Konrat (1951). s.v. “Plutarchos”. RE, 21, pp. 636-962.
Authors retain the copyright of their texts, and full publishing rights without restrictions.
Since 2021, the documents include the Creative Commons 4.0 license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Previous documents include the Creative Commons 3.0: Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works license (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
