Utopian Elements in Porphyry’s De abstinentia

Chiara Di Serio

doi:10.18778/2084-140X.10.03

Authors

Chiara Di Serio University of Rome La Sapienza https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3256-3129

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.10.03

Keywords:

golden age, abstinence from meat, sexual abstinence, remoteness from civilization, familiarity with the sacred, utopian lifestyle

Abstract

In the long passage of De abstinentia, IV, 2–18, Porphyry mentions a series of “groups” (ἔθνη) as examples of abstinence from animal food: the ancient Greeks of the “golden age”, the Lacedaemonians of Lycurgus’ era, the Egyptian priests, the Essenes among the Jews, the Magi among the Persians and the gymnosophists among the Indians. Such an association does not seem at all accidental, since Porphyry refers to a tradition in which these communities have similar habits of life, including the prohibition of eating meat and drinking wine, sexual abstinence, absence of diseases and wars, separation from the civil sphere, devotion to the sacred. All these elements constitute the specific connotation of a human existence that evokes the “time of the origins”, substantially a paradisiac dimension, far from history. It is a deliberate symbolic shift. This brief research will investigate the reasons and the deep meaning of the connection based on utopian life traits.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Alexander der Grosse und die “nackten Weisen” Indiens, praef. et trans. M. Steinmann, Berlin 2012.
Google Scholar

Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata. Buch I–VI, vol. I–II, ed. O. Stählin, Leipzig 1906 [= Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte, 15].
Google Scholar

Dicaearchus of Messana, Text, Translation and Discussion, ed. W. Fortenbaugh, E. Schütrumpf, New Brunswick N.J.–London 2001 [= Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities, 10].
Google Scholar

Diodori Bibliotheca Historica, vol. I, rec. L. Dindorf, F. Vogel, 3Stutgardiae 1964.
Google Scholar

Diogenis Laertii Vitae Philosophorum, vol. I, ed. M. Marcovich, Stuttgart–Leipzig 1999 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

Eusebius Werke, vol. VIII, Die Praeparatio Evangelica, p. 1, ed. K. Mras, Berlin 1982 [= Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte, 43.1].
Google Scholar

Flavii Arriani quae exstant omnia, vol. II, Scripta minora et addenda, ed. A.G. Roos, Lipsiae 1928 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

Flavius Josephus, De Bello Judaico. Der Jüdische Krieg, vol. I, ed. O. Michel, O. Bauernfeind, Darmstadt–München 1959.
Google Scholar

Fontes historiae religionum Indicarum, coll. B. Breloer, F. Bömer, Bonnae 1939 [= Fontes historiae religionum ex auctoribus graecis et latinis collectos, 7].
Google Scholar

Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, ed. F. Jacoby, Berlin–Leiden 1923–1958.
Google Scholar

Herodoti Historiae. Libri I–IV, rec. N.G. Wilson, Oxonii 2015 [= Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis / Oxford Classical Texts].
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00271221

Hesiodus, Opera et Dies, [in:] Hesiodi Theogonia, Opera et Dies, Scutum, ed. F. Solmsen, 3Oxonii 1990 [= Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis / Oxford Classical Texts].
Google Scholar

Palladius, De gentibus Indiae et Bragmanibus, ed. W. Berghoff, Meisenheim am Glan 1967 [= Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, 24].
Google Scholar

Plutarchi Moralia, vol. II, rec. W. Nachstädt, W. Sieveking, J.B. Titchener, Lipsiae 1935 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

Plutarch’s Lives, vol. I, trans. B. Perrin, Cambridge–London 1967 [= Loeb Classical Library, 46].
Google Scholar

Porfirio, Astinenza dagli animali, ed. G. Girgenti, A.R. Sodano, Milano 2005.
Google Scholar

Porphyrii philosophi Platonici Opuscula selecta, rec. A. Nauck, Hildesheim 1963 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

Porphyry, On Abstinence from Killing Animals, trans. G. Clark, London–New York 2000.
Google Scholar

Refutation of All Heresies, trans. et praef. D.M. Litwa, Atlanta 2016.
Google Scholar

Die Schule des Aristoteles. Texte und Kommentar, vol. I, Dikaiarchos, ed. F. Wehrli, Basel–Stuttgart 1967.
Google Scholar

Strabo, Geography. Books 15–16, vol. VII, trans. H.L. Jones, Cambridge Mass. 1930 [= Loeb Classical Library].
Google Scholar

Thucydides, Historiae, vol. I, ed. H. Stuart Jones, J.E. Powell, Oxonii 1963 [= Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis / Oxford Classical Texts].
Google Scholar

Van Der Horst P.W., Chaeremon, Egyptian Priest and Stoic Philosopher. The Fragments Collected and Translated with Explanatory Notes, Leiden 1987 [= Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l’empire romain, 101], https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004296541
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004296541

Beall T.S., Josephus’ Description of the Essenes Illustrated by the Dead Sea Scrolls, Cambridge 1988, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520297
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520297

Brelich A., Introduzione alla storia delle religioni, Roma 1966.
Google Scholar

Brelich A., Mitologia. Contributo a un problema di fenomenologia religiosa, [in:] Liber Amicorum. Studies in Honour of Professor Dr. C.J. Bleeker, Leiden 1969, p. 55–68, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004378087_008
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004378087_008

Brown A.S., From the Golden Age to the Isles of the Blest, “Mnemosyne” 51, 1998, p. 385–410, https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525981667821
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/1568525981667821

Cary G., The Medieval Alexander, Cambridge 1956.
Google Scholar

Catastini A., Flavio Giuseppe e la filosofia degli Esseni, [in:] Flores Florentino. Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Early Jewish Studies in Honour of Florentino García Martínez, ed. A. Hilhorst, É. Puech, E. Tigchelaar, Leiden–Boston 2007 [= Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 122], p. 53–62, https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004162921.i-836.19
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004162921.i-836.19

Christensen P., Luxury, Lost in Translation: tryfē in Plutarch’s Sparta, [in:] Luxury and Wealth in the Archaic to Hellenistic Peloponnese, ed. C. Gallou, S. Hodkinson, Swansea 2020 (forthcoming).
Google Scholar

Cosi D.M., Astensione alimentare e astinenza sessuale nel De abstinentia di Porfirio, [in:] La tradizione dell’Enkrateia. Motivazioni ontologiche e protologiche. Atti del colloquio internazionale, Milano, 20–23 aprile 1982, ed. U. Bianchi, Roma 1985, p. 698–701.
Google Scholar

De Jong A., Traditions of the Magi. Zoroastrianism in Greek and Latin Literature, Leiden 1997 [= Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, 133], https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004301467
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004301467

Dombrowsky D.A., Porphyry and the Vegetarianism: A Contemporary Philosophical Approach, [in:] Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung, vol. II.36.2, ed. H. Temporini, W. Haase, Berlin–New York 1987, p. 774–791.
Google Scholar

Drijvers J.W., Bardaiṣan of Edessa, trans. G.E. van Baaren-Pape, Groningen 1966, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004354791
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004354791

Eliade M., Traité d’histoire des religions, Paris 1949.
Google Scholar

Finn R., Asceticism in the Graeco-Roman World, Cambridge 2009 [= Key Themes in Ancient History], https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511609879
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511609879

Gamlath I., The Training of Porphyry’s ‘Athlete’: the Ascetic Philosopher in On the Abstinence from Eating Flesh, “Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium” 28, 2018, p. 49–66, https://doi.org/10.14746/sppgl.2018.XXVIII.1.3
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/sppgl.2018.XXVIII.1.3

Garnsey P., Food and Society in Classical Antiquity, Cambridge 1999 [= Key Themes in Ancient History], https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511612534
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511612534

Gruen E.S., Rethinking the Other in Antiquity, Princeton N.J.–Oxford 2011 [= Martin Classical Lectures], https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400836550
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400836550

Guastella G., Saturno, signore dell’età dell’oro, “Lares” 58, 1992, p. 163–182.
Google Scholar

Hadot P., Exercises spirituels et philosophie antique, Paris 1987.
Google Scholar

Halbfass W., Indien und Europa. Perspektiven ihrer geistigen Begegnung, Basel 1981.
Google Scholar

Hartog F., Les Grecs égyptologues, “Annales: histoire, sciences sociales” 41, 1986, p. 953–967, https://doi.org/10.3406/ahess.1986.283326
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/ahess.1986.283326

Hartog F., Le mirior d’Hérodote. Essai sur sur la représentation de l’autre, Paris 1980.
Google Scholar

Hartog F., Mémoire d’Ulysse. Récits sur la frontière en Grèce ancienne, Paris 1996.
Google Scholar

Johnson A.P., Religion and Identity in Porphyry of Tyre. The Limits of Hellenism in Late Antiquity, Cambridge 2013 [= Greek Culture in the Roman World], https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511998546
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511998546

Karttunen K., Greeks and Indian Wisdom, [in:] Beyond Orientalism. The Work of Wilhelm Halbfass and its Impact on Indian and Cross-Cultural Studies, ed. E. Franco, K. Peisendanz, Amsterdam–Atalanta 1997, p. 117–122.
Google Scholar

Karttunen K., India and the Hellenistic World, Helsinki 1997.
Google Scholar

Lévy I., La légende de Pythagore de Grèce en Palestine, Paris 1927.
Google Scholar

Lovejoy A.O., Boas G., Primitivism and Related Ideas in Antiquity, Baltimore–London 1935.
Google Scholar

Munson R.V., Telling Wonders. Ethnographic and Political Discourse in the Work of Herodotus, Ann Arbor Mich. 2001, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.17366
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.17366

Rajak T., Ciò che Giuseppe vide: Josephus and the Essenes, [in:] Josephus and the History of the Greco-Roman Period. Essays in Memory of Morton Smith, ed. F. Parente, J. Sievers, Leiden 1994, p. 141–160.
Google Scholar

Ramelli I.L.E., Bardaisan of Edessa. A Reassessment of the Evidence and a New Interpretation, Piscataway N.J. 2009 [= Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies], https://doi.org/10.31826/9781463216658
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.31826/9781463216658

Schott J.M., Porphyry on Christians and Others ‘Barbarian Wisdom’. Identity Politics and Anti-Christian Polemics on the Eve of the Great Persecution, “Journal of Early Christian Studies” 13, 2005, p. 277–314, https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2005.0045
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/earl.2005.0045

Smith A., Porphyry’s Place in the Neoplatonic Tradition. A Study in Post-Plotinian Neoplatonism, The Hague 1974.
Google Scholar

Stoneman R., Naked Philosophers: The Brahmans in the Alexander Historians and the Alexander Romance, “Journal of Hellenic Studies” 115, 1995, p. 99–114, https://doi.org/10.2307/631646
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/631646

Stoneman R., Who Are the Brahmans? Indian Lore and Cynic Doctrine in Palladius’ De Bragmanibus and its Models, “Classical Quarterly” 44, 1994, p. 500–510, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800043950
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009838800043950

Vermes G., Goodman M., The Essenes according to the Classical Sources, Sheffield 1989.
Google Scholar

Vernant J.P., Le mythe hésiodique des races. Essai d’analyse structurale, “Revue de l’histoire des religions” 157, 1960, p. 21–54, https://doi.org/10.3406/rhr.1960.8997
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/rhr.1960.8997

Vidal-Naquet P., Le mythe platonicien du Politique, les ambiguïtés de l’âge d’or et de l’histoire, [in:] Le chasseur noir. Formes de pensée et formes de société dans le monde grec, Paris 1981.
Google Scholar

Zambrini A., Gli Indiká di Megastene, “Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia” S. III, 12, 1982, p. 71–149.
Google Scholar

Zambrini A., Gli Indiká di Megastene. II, “Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia” S. III, 15, 1985, p. 781–853.
Google Scholar