SAPERE XIV: The Greek Gods - An Overview of Names, Images and Interpretations

The Greek Gods - An Overview of Names, Images and Interpretations, introduced, translated and provided with interpretative essays by Heinz-Günther Nesselrath / Fabio Berdozzo / George Boys-Stones / Hans-Josef Klauck / Ilaria Ramelli / Alexei V. Zadorozhnyy, Tübingen 2009.

Lucius Annaeus Cornutus came from Leptis Magna in Libya and lived as a Stoic philosopher in Rome at the time of Emperor Nero. Of his works (writings on rhetoric and philosophy; commentary on the poet Vergil), only the Epidromê tôn kata tên Hellênikên theologian paradedomenôn ('Survey of what has been handed down in the Greek doctrine of the gods'), presented here for the first time in a German translation, has survived in its entirety. This work is a unique and idiosyncratic handbook of Stoic allegorical interpretation of the gods, providing for each Greek deity, from Uranos to Hades, an etymological and allegorical interpretation of their names, epithets and attributes, as well as some aspects of the myths, rites and images associated with them. It thus forms a remarkable attempt to interpret classical ancient polytheism with the help of a developed philosophy.

Reviews:

• D. Pilz, Berliner Zeitung 4. Februar 2010, S. 32.
• International Review of Biblical Studies 56 (2009/10), S. 1389.
• Allg.Ministerialbl.d.Bay.Staatsreg. 2009, S. 518.
• Jacques Schamp, L’Antiquité Classique, 80 (2011), S. 275-276.
• Jahrbuch Heilige Kunst, 37 (2009-11), S. 254-255
• F. Schaffenrath, Anzeiger f. d. Altertumswissenschaft, 65 (2012), S. 165-168.

Zadorojnyi, Alexei V.; Berdozzo, Fabio; Boys-Stones, George; Klauck, Hans-Josef; Ramelli, Ilaria
Composite volume; German, Ancient Greek
Published: 2009
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck Verlag: Tübingen
ISBN: 987-3-16-150071-8