The Indian River that Flows from Paradise

Chiara Di Serio

doi:10.18778/2084-140X.12.22

Authors

Chiara Di Serio University of Cyprus, Department of Classics and Philosophy, 1 Eressou Street, First Floor, P.O. Box 20537, CY-1678 Nicosia, Cyprus https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3256-3129

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.12.22

Keywords:

Eden, Evilat, India, Phison, Ganges, Indus, Hyphasis

Abstract

In the Jewish Antiquities (I, 1, 3), when paraphrasing the passage of Genesis 2, 10–15, Flavius Josephus notes that the four rivers springing in paradise are the Phison (Φεισὼν), which passes through India and is called Ganges by the Greeks, the Euphrates and Tigris, which flow into the Red Sea, and finally the Geon, which crosses Egypt and is called the Nile by the Greeks. Starting from Josephus’ comments, this research focuses on the various interpretations of the Genesis passage, and in particular on the references to the Phison in the writings of the hellenised Jewish and Christian authors. The contents of these texts show common traits with Greco-Roman sources that describe India as a utopian space outside of history. Therefore, the analysis of the documents reveals how a sequence of texts developed over the centuries, starting from a utopian image of India and reaching a definition of a land close to paradise.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Ambrose (St.), Exameron, Paradise and Cain and Abel, trans. J. J. Savage, New York 1961 [= The Fathers of the Church, 42].
Google Scholar

Augustin (St.), La Genèse au sens littéral in douze livres. De Genesi ad litteram libri duodecim, vol. II, trans., praef. et note P. Agaësse, A. Solignac, Paris 1972 [= Oeuvres de saint Augustin, 49].
Google Scholar

Augustinus, De Genesi ad litteram libri duodecim. De Genesi ad litteram liber imperfectus. Locutiones in Heptateuchum libri septem, ed. J. Zycha, Lipsiae 1894.
Google Scholar

Cicero, On Duties, trans. W. Miller, Cambridge Mass. 1913 [= Loeb Classical Library].
Google Scholar

Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography of Cosmas, an Egyptian Monk, ed. J. W. McCrindle, Cambridge 1897.
Google Scholar

Cosmas Indicopleustès, Topographie chrétienne, vol. I, ed. W. Wolska-Conus, Paris 1968 [= Sources chrétiennes, 141].
Google Scholar

Ctésias de Cnide, La Perse. L’Inde. Autres fragments, ed. D. Lenfant, Paris 2004 [= Collection des Universités de France. Série grecque, 435].
Google Scholar

Dio Chrysostom, Discourses, trans. J. W. Cohoon, H. Lamar Crosby, Cambridge Mass. 1940 [= Loeb Classical Library].
Google Scholar

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, vol. III; vol. XI, trans. C. H. Oldfather, F. R. Walton, Cambridge Mass. 1933–1967 [= Loeb Classical Library], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.diodorus_siculus-library_history.1933
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.diodorus_siculus-library_history.1933

Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, vol. II, trans. R. D. Hicks, Cambridge Mass. 1925 [= Loeb Classical Library], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.diogenes_laertius-lives_eminent_philosophers_book_vi_chapter_2_diogenes.1925
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.diogenes_laertius-lives_eminent_philosophers_book_x_epicurus.1925

Epiphanius, Ancoratus und Panarion haer. 1–33, ed. K. Holl, M. Bergermann, Ch.-F. Collatz, 2Berlin–Boston 2013 [= Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte, 25], https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110217988.1
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110217988.1

Epiphanius of Cyprus (St.), Ancoratus, trans. Y. R. Kim, Washington 2014 [= The Fathers of the Church, 128].
Google Scholar

Epistola Alexandri ad Aristotelem, ed. W. Walther Boer, Meisenheim am Glan 1973 [= Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, 50].
Google Scholar

Expositio totius mundi et gentium, ed. J. Rougé, Paris 1966.
Google Scholar

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

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

Herodoti Historiae, vol. I, ed. N. G. Wilson, Oxford 2015, https://doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00271219
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oseo/instance.00271219

Hesiod, Theogony, ed. M. L. West, Oxford 1966.
Google Scholar

Hesiodi Theogonia. Opera et dies. Scutum, ed. F. Solmsen, Oxonii 1970 [= Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis].
Google Scholar

L’Inde vue de Rome. Textes latins de l’Antiquité relatifs à l’Inde, ed. J. André, J. Filliozat, Paris 1986.
Google Scholar

Ioannis Stobaei Anthologium, vol. I, rec. C. Wachsmuth, Berolini 1884.
Google Scholar

Isidorus Hispalensis, Etimologiae, vol. XIII, trans. G. Gasparotto, Paris 2004.
Google Scholar

Jérôme (Saint), Correspondance. Lettres LIII–LXX, ed. J. Labourt, Paris 1953.
Google Scholar

Jerome, Select Letters, trans. F. A. Wright, London 1933 [= Loeb Classical Library, 262], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.jerome-letters.1933
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.jerome-letters.1933

Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, vol. I, trans. H.St.J. Thackeray, Cambridge Mass. 1930 [= Loeb Classical Library, 242], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.josephus-jewish_antiquities.1930
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.josephus-jewish_antiquities.1930

Lucian, The Lover of Lies, or the Doubter, vol. III, trans. H. Harmon, Cambridge Mass. 1921 [= Loeb Classical Library], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.lucian-lover_lies_doubter.1921
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.lucian-lover_lies_doubter.1921

Luciani opera, vol. I, ed. M. D. Macleod, Oxford 1972.
Google Scholar

A New English Translation of the Septuagint, ed. A. Pietersma, B. G. Wright, Oxford 2007.
Google Scholar

Onomastica sacra, ed. P. de Lagarde, Gottingae 1870.
Google Scholar

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

Philo, On the Creation. Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2 and 3, vol. I, trans. F. H. Colson,
Google Scholar

Cambridge Mass. 1929 [= Loeb Classical Library], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.philo_judaeus-allegorical_interpretation_genesis_i_ii.1929
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.philo_judaeus-allegorical_interpretation_genesis_i_ii.1929

Philo, Questions and Answers on Genesis, trans. R. Marcus, Cambridge Mass. 1953 [= Loeb Classical Library, 380], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.philo_judaeus-questions_answers_genesis.1953
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.philo_judaeus-questions_answers_genesis.1953

Philostorgius, Church History, trans. Ph.R. Amidon, Atalanta 2007 [= Writings from the Greco-Roman World, 23].
Google Scholar

Philostorgius, Kirchengeschichte, ed. J. Bidez, Berlin 1981 [= Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte].
Google Scholar

Philostratus of Athens, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, vol. I, trans. C. P. Jones, Cambridge Mass. 2005 [= Loeb Classical Library, 16], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.philostratus_athens-life_apollonius_tyana.2005
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.philostratus_athens-life_apollonius_tyana.2005

Plato, Republic, vol. I, trans. C. Emlyn-Jones, Cambridge Mass. 2013 [= Loeb Classical Library, 237], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.plato_philosopher-republic.2013
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.plato_philosopher-republic.2013

Pliny, Natural History, vol. II, Books 3–7, trans. H. Rackham, Cambridge Mass. 1942 [= Loeb Classical Library].
Google Scholar

Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, vol. VII, ed. G. N. Bernardakis, Lipsiae 1896.
Google Scholar

Porfirio, Sullo Stige, ed. C. Castelletti, Milano 2006.
Google Scholar

Porphyrii Philosophi fragmenta, ed. A. Smith, Stutgardiae 1993 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

(Pseudo-Callisthenes), Historia Alexandri Magni, vol. I, recensio vetusta, ed. G. Kroll, Berlin 1926.
Google Scholar

Pseudo-Kaisarios, Die Erotapokriseis, ed. R. Riedinger, Berlin 1989 [= Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte].
Google Scholar

S. Ambrosii Opera, pars I, Exameron, De Paradiso, De Cain et Abel, De Noe, ed. C. Schenkl, Lipsiae 1886.
Google Scholar

Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum. I Genesis, ed. J. W. Wevers, Göttingen 1974.
Google Scholar

Solinus, Wunder der Welt. Collectanea rerum mirabilium, ed. K. Brodersen, Darmstadt 2014.
Google Scholar

Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, vol. II, coll. I. ab Arnim, Stutgardiae 1903.
Google Scholar

Strabo, Geography, trans. H. L. Jones, Cambridge Mass. 1923–1932 [= Loeb Classical Library].
Google Scholar

Albaladejo Vivero M., La India en la literatura griega. Uno studio etnográfico, Alcalá 2005.
Google Scholar

Albaladejo Vivero M., Las Columnas de Heracles en el imaginario griego, [in:] Le Détroit de Gibraltar (Antiquité-Moyen Âge). I. Representations, perceptions, imaginaires, ed. F. Des Boscs, Y. Dejugnat, A. Haushalter, Madrid 2019, p. 39–57.
Google Scholar

Alexandre M., Entre ciel et terre: les premiers débats sur le site du Paradis, [in:] Peuples et Pays Mythiques. Actes du Ve colloque du centre de recherches mythologiques de l’Université de Paris X, ed. F. Jouan, B. Deforge, Paris 1988, p. 187–224.
Google Scholar

Almagor E., Josephus and Greek Imperial Literature, [in:] A Companion to Josephus, ed. H. H. Chapman, Z. Rodgers, Malden Mass.–Oxford–Chichester 2016 [= Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World], p. 108–122, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325162.ch6
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118325162.ch6

Begg C. T., Genesis in Josephus, [in:] The Book of Genesis. Composition, Reception, and Interpretation, ed. C. A. Evans, J. N. Lohr, D. L. Petersen, Leiden–Boston 2012 [= Supplements to Vetus Testamentum], p. 303–329.
Google Scholar

Bigwood J. M., Ctesias’ Indica and Photius, “Phoenix” 43, 1989, p. 302–316, https://doi.org/10.2307/1088298
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1088298

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

Campbell G. L., Strange Creatures. Anthropology in Antiquity, London 2006.
Google Scholar

Cazeaux J., Philon d’Alexandrie, exégète, [in:] Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Geschichte und Kultur Rams im Spiegel der neueren Forschung, T. II, Bd. 21.1, ed. H. Temporini, W. Haase, Berlin–New York 1984, p. 156–226.
Google Scholar

Dawson D., Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria, Berkeley 1992, https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520910386
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520910386

Delpech F., Remarques sur la légende du roi Gangès, fils du gange (Philostrate, Vie d’Apollonios de Tyane III, 20–21): imaginaire grec et mythes indiens, [in:] Fleuves d’Asie. Centres de civilisation, ed. P.-S. Filliozat, M. Zink, Paris 2020, p. 111–157.
Google Scholar

Derrett J. D.M., Thomas More and Joseph the Indian, “Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society” 94.1–2, 1962, p. 18–34, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00120520
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00120520

Di Serio C., The Brahmans’ Utopia from the Greek Sources to John of Salisbury’s Policraticus, “In Gremium”, 15, 2021, p. 97–113, https://doi.org/10.34768/ig.vi15.357.
Google Scholar

Di Serio C., The Naked Wise Men of India, “Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni” 87.2, 2021, p. 673–695.
Google Scholar

Feldman L. H., Josephus’s Interpretation of the Bible, Berkeley 1998 [= Hellenistic Culture and Society, 27].
Google Scholar

Fladerer L., Augustinus als Exeget. Zu seinen Kommentaren des Galaterbriefes und der Genesis, Wien 2010, https://doi.org/10.1553/0x002212ea
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1553/0x002212ea

Hengel M., The Septuagint as Christian Scripture. Its Prehistory and the Problem of its Canon, London–New York 2002 [= Old Testament Studies].
Google Scholar

van der Horst P. W., “India” in Early Jewish Literature, “Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period” 46.4, 2015, p. 574–579, https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12340443
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-12340443

Inglebert H., Interpretatio Christiana. Les mutations des savoirs (cosmographie, géographie, ethographie, histoire) dans l’Antiquité chré tienne (30–630 après J.-C.), Paris 2001.
Google Scholar

Janni P., Etnografia e mito. La storia dei Pigmei, Roma 1978.
Google Scholar

Jouanno C., Des Gymnosophistes aux Réchabites: une utopie antique et sa christianisation, “L’antiquité Classique” 79, 2010, p. 53–76, https://doi.org/10.3406/antiq.2010.3766
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/antiq.2010.3766

Karttunen K., India and the Hellenistic World, Helsinki 1997 [= Studia orientalia, 83].
Google Scholar

Karttunen K., India in Early Greek Literature, Helsinki 1989 [= Studia orientalia, 65].
Google Scholar

Li Causi P., Sulle tracce del manticora. La zoologia dei confini del mondo in Grecia e a Roma, Palermo 2003.
Google Scholar

Liddell H. G., Scott R., Jones H. S. et al., A Greek-English Lexicon, 9Oxford 1996.
Google Scholar

Mansfeld J., The Stoic Cardinal Virtues at Diog. Laert. VII 92, “Mnemosyne” 42, 1989, p. 88–89, https://doi.org/10.1163/156852589X00119
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/156852589X00119

Mayerson P., A Confusion of Indias: Asian India and African India in the Byzantine Sources, “Journal of the American Oriental Society” 113.2, 1993, p. 169–174, https://doi.org/10.2307/603021
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/603021

Meyer D., Débat cosmologique et discours historique dans l’Histoire ecclésiastique de Philostorge, in:] L’historiographie tardo-antique et la transmission des savoirs, ed. P. Bladeau, P. Van Nuffelen, Berlin–Boston 2015 [= Millennium-Studien. Studien zu Kultur und Geschichte des ersten Jahrtausends n. Chr., 55], p. 191–207, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110409239-012
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110409239-012

Nichols A., Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography, [in:] Recognizing Miracles in Antiquity and Beyond, ed. M. Gerolemou, Berlin–Boston 2018, p. 3–16, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110563559-003
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110563559-003

Parker G., The Making of Roman India, Cambridge 2008 [= Greek Culture in the Roman World].
Google Scholar

Patch H. R., The Other World According to Descriptions in Medieval Literature, Cambridge Mass. 1950, https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674183841
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674183841

Pépin J., Mythe et Allégorie. Les origines grecques et les contestations judéo-chrétiennes, Paris 1958.
Google Scholar

Perczel I., Finding a Place for the Erotapokriseis of Pseudo-Caesarius: A New Document of Sixth-Century Palestinian Origenism, “ARAM Periodical” 18, 2006, p. 49–83, https://doi.org/10.2143/ARAM.18.0.2020722
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2143/ARAM.18.0.2020722

Philonenko M., Camarines et Makarinoi. De la ‘Narratio’ de Zosime à l’‘Expositio totius mundi’, [in:] Perennitas. Studi in onore di Angelo Brelich, Roma 1980, p. 371–377.
Google Scholar

Radday Y. T., The Four Rivers of Paradise, “Hebrew Studies” 23, 1982, p. 23–31.
Google Scholar

Radice R., Allegoria e paradigmi etici in Filone di Alessandria. Commentario al «Legum allegoriae», Milano 2000.
Google Scholar

Radice R., Philo and Stoic Ethics. Reflections on the Idea of Freedom, [in:] Philo of Alexandria and Post-Aristotelian Philosophy, ed. F. Alesse, Leiden–Boston 2008, p. 141–167, https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004167483.I-296.28
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004167483.I-296.28

Riedinger R., Pseudo-Kaisarios. Überlieferungsgeschichte und Verfasserfrage, München 1969 [= Byzantinisches Archiv, 12].
Google Scholar

Romm J. S., The Edges of the Earth in Ancient Thought. Geography, Exploration, and Fiction, Princeton NJ 1992, https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691201702
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691201702

Runia D. T., Further Observations on the Structure of Philo’s Allegorical Treatises, “Vigiliae Christianae” 41.2, 1987, p. 105–138, https://doi.org/10.1163/157007287X00012
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/157007287X00012

Runia D. T., The Structure of Philo’s Allegorical Treatises: A Review of Two Recent Studies and Some Additional Comments, “Vigiliae Christianae” 38.3, 1984, p. 209–256, https://doi.org/10.1163/157007284X00015
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/157007284X00015

Scafi A., Il paradiso in terra. Mappe del giardino dell’Eden, Milano 2007.
Google Scholar

Schneider P., L’Ethiopie et l’Inde. Interférences et confusions aux extrémités du monde antique (VIIIe siècle avant J.-C. – VIe siècle de notre ère), Rome 2004.
Google Scholar

Schneider P., The So-called Confusion between India and Ethiopia: The Eastern and Southern Edges of the Inhabited World from the Greco-Roman Perspective, [in:] Brill’s Companion to Ancient Geography. The Inhabited World in Greek and Roman Tradition, ed. S. Bianchetti, M. Cataudella, H.-J. Gehrke, Leiden 2016 [= Brill’s Companions to Classical Studies], p. 184–202, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004284715_012
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004284715_012

Speiser E. A., The Rivers of Paradise, [in:] Oriental and Biblical Studies. Collected Studies of E. A. Speiser, ed. J. J. Finkelstein, M. Greenberg, Philadelpia 1967, p. 23–34, https://doi.org/10.9783/9781512818826-004
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.9783/9781512818826-004

Stoneman R., The Greek Experience of India. From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks, Princeton–Oxford 2019, https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691185385
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691185385

Stoneman R., Tales of Utopia: Alexander, Cynics and Christian Ascetics, [in:] Philosophy and the Ancient Novel, ed. M. P. Futre Pinheiro, S. Montiglio, Groningen 2015, p. 51–63, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt20d8712.8
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt20d8712.8

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

Sulimani I., All Over the World: The Utopian Idea in Diodorus Siculus, [in:] Utopias in Ancient Thought, ed. P. Destrée, J. Opsomer, G. Roskam, Berlin–Boston 2021 [= Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, 395], p. 231–254, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733129-013
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733129-013

Utopias in Ancient Thought, ed. P. Destrée, J. Opsomer, G. Roskam, Berlin–Boston 2021 [= Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, 395].
Google Scholar

Valtrová J., Beyond the Horizons of Legends: Traditional Imagery and Direct Experience in Medieval Accounts of Asia, “Numen” 57, 2010, p. 154–185, https://doi.org/10.1163/156852710X487574
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/156852710X487574

Winiarczyk M., Die hellenistischen Utopien, Berlin–Boston 2011 [= Beiträge zur Altertumskunde, 293], https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110263893
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110263893

Wittkower R., Marvels of the East. A Study in the History of Monsters, “Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes” 5, 1942, p. 159–197, https://doi.org/10.2307/750452
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/750452