Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides | Macquarie University (original) (raw)

Books by Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides

In this book I explore metaphors about wine consumption in Plato, seeking to determine the cultur... more In this book I explore metaphors about wine consumption in Plato, seeking to determine the cultural influences that enabled the metaphor of Socratic inebriation, its parameters, and its civic implications. I also trace the reception of the metaphor among Plato’s heirs to the mid of the Roman Imperial period, outlining its persistent dynamic and its transformations. By engaging with the distinct categories of inebriation and drunkenness, I retrace the radical dichotomy in Greek culture between a negative evaluation of drunkenness as falling away from reason and losing self-control and the parallel development of a positive construal of inebriation as a way of altering human consciousness and transcending the limitations of human reason.

Brill, 2020

These papers explore the literature of Byzantine liturgical communities and provide a window into... more These papers explore the literature of Byzantine liturgical communities and provide a window into lived Christianity in this period. The liturgical performance of Christian hymns and sermons creatively engaged the faithful in biblical exegesis, invited them to experience theology in song, and shaped their identity. These sacred stories, affective scripts and salvific songs were the literature of a liturgical community – hymns and sermons were heard, and in some cases sung, by lay and monastic Christians throughout the life of Byzantium. In the field of Byzantine studies there is a growing appreciation of the importance of liturgical texts for understanding the many facets of Byzantine Christianity: we are in the midst of a liturgical turn. This book is a timely contribution to the emerging scholarship, illuminating the intersection between liturgical hymns, homiletics and hermeneutics.

Examining the evolution of kingship in the Ancient Near East from the time of the Sumerians to th... more Examining the evolution of kingship in the Ancient Near East from the time of the Sumerians to the rise of the Seleucids in Babylon, this book argues that the Sumerian emphasis on the divine favour that the fertility goddess and the Sun god bestowed upon the king should be understood metaphorically from the start and that these metaphors survived in later historical periods, through popular literature including
the Epic of Gilgameš and the Enuma Eliš. The author’s research shows that from the earliest times Near Eastern kings and their scribes adapted these metaphors to promote royal legitimacy in accordance with legendary exempla that highlighted the role of the king as the establisher of order and civilization. As another Gilgameš and, later, as a pious servant of Marduk, the king renewed divine favour for his subjects, enabling them to share the ‘Garden of the Gods’. Seleucus and Antiochus found these cultural ideas, as they had evolved in the first millennium BCE, extremely useful in their efforts to establish their dynasty at Babylon. Far from playing down cultural differences, the book considers the ideological agendas of ancient Near Eastern empires as having been shaped mainly by class — rather than race-minded
elites.

Articles/Chapters by Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides

The Papers: A Tapestry of Crises The issue begins with the contribution of Philip Bosman (Stellen... more The Papers: A Tapestry of Crises
The issue begins with the contribution of Philip Bosman (Stellenbosch University), on consolidation strategies in Julian. Aware of the expectations of the empire’s cultured elites, Julian advocates his legitimacy by presenting himself as a philosophically aware pepaideumenos. The way Julian came to power made it important to distinguish his rule from the direction taken by his dynasty; thus, in the Letter to Themistius he positions himself in court factions, while in the invented myth of the Oration against Heracleius he legitimises his rule by claiming divine backing and mustering support for his reforms.
Next, Phoebe Garrett (Australian National University) examines the selection criteria for a Caesar in Julian’s Caesares. Julian’s satire begins with a list of the emperors which nevertheless has some surprising inclusions and exclusions. The usual explanation for Julian’s selection—good emperors versus bad—does not hold up. Instead, Garrett suggests that Julian is guided in his selections by his dislike of dynastic succession, a point made more salient when it comes to emperors we would call ‘usurpers’. Accordingly, Julian’s Caesares should be understood as a literary catalogue less focused on accuracy than entertaining its readers.
The escalation in conflict between Rome and Iran following the Sasanian Persian overthrow of the Parthians in the 220s saw Roman imperial leadership challenged in significant ways across the third and fourth centuries. The third paper, by Peter Edwell (Macquarie University), discusses the accessions of Philip I and Jovian and crises in imperial succession and the war with Sasanian Persia. The deaths of Gordian III in 244 and Julian in 363 while on campaign in Persia sparked succession crises. Nevertheless, on their return to Roman territory Philip I and Jovian, the respective successors of Gordian and Julian, made claims of victory over the Persians. Using a comparative perspective, Edwell analyses the mechanisms that Philip and Jovian employed to promote stories of success over the Persians to internal populations, why they chose to do so, and the extent to which they were successful.
When the Sassanian dynasty (c.224–651) eventually fell to the forces of Islam, a different kind of crisis erupted: since Sassanian kings cast their rule as a continuation of Iranian sacred history, their demise forced the “Zoroastrian” priesthood to develop an apocalyptic of restoration, one that associated the rule of the Arabs with the millennial disasters of Zoroastrian apocalyptic. In his article Writing History in the Post-Apocalypse, Matt O’Farrell (Macquarie University) argues that another response can be recovered from later Zoroastrian literature: the reconstruction of the Sasanian period in an idealised light. Within a late medieval communication between the Zoroastrian communities of Iran and India we find a New Persian poem detailing the affair of the “heretic” Mazdak and king Kavad I (r.488–496 and 499–531). Here a heroic priestly figure and a pious prince save the king, and the empire, from an immoral grifter. The slant of this episode is echoed in a similarly ahistorical set piece involving the Sasanian court: the trial of the prophet Mani under Bahram I (r.271–274) as portrayed in the Perso-Arabic historical tradition. Both episodes suggest that the priests and scribes of the dwindling Zoroastrian community dealt with Sasanian history by emphasising their own role in it. Thus, the idea of Sasanian “orthodoxy” was largely built up in the late Sasanian and post-Sasanian period as a response to internal and external challenges to priestly legitimacy. Next, Ashley Bacchi (Starr King School for the Ministry of the Graduate Theological Union) diverts our attention to Christian apocalyptic traditions and the pseudepigraphal corpus of the Sibylline Oracles. Her article, Harbingers of Crisis: Greed, Exploitation, and Inequality in Book 8 of the Sibylline Oracles, introduces powerful imagery of political resistance in the context of which abuses of empire are condemned and interpreted as signs of the doom that awaits unjust systems, complete with visions of divinely sanctioned justice and retribution. In Book 8 of the Sibylline Oracles, greed, exploitation, and inequality are presented as the roots of all crises. Greed spreads like a disease, impacting everyone from the microcosm of the family to the macrocosm of the empire. Like the much earlier book 3, book 8 offers insight into how timeless issues of social justice were framed within the Jewish prophetic landscape of the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
The espousal of the Sibylline Oracles by the Christians and the way pagan authors utilized the merging of pagan and Judaeo-Christian traditions to widen their appeal is the focus of the sixth article. In Celestial Signs, Seers, and Sibyls: Claudian’s Eutropius and the Fourth-Century Poetics of Hate Speech, Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides (Macquarie University) and Michael B. Charles (Southern Cross University) examine Claudian’s portrayal of Eutropius, the eunuch consul of emperor Arcadius, as a dira, a monstrous omen that anticipates the final division of the Roman empire. According to traditional Roman superstitions, intersex births were portents of civil unrest. Equally, the presence of intersex people or eunuchs in imperial courts, especially when accompanied by rumours about emperors enjoying sexual affairs with such individuals, were condemned as a symptom of failed leadership and a sign of looming disaster. Furthermore, Eutropius’ effeminacy and old age allows Claudian to imagine him as a pseudo-prophet, a motif common in the Sibylline books but also the Revelation and the New Testament. Thus, Claudian seamlessly combines pagan and Christian apocalyptic imagery in line with Constantine’s ‘Christianisation’ of the pagan Sibyl.
Christian apocalyptic beliefs are also the focus of Bronwen Neil’s (Macquarie University) article, Antichrists of the Fourth Century? Apocalyptic Responses to Crisis in Cyril of Jerusalem’s Catechetical Homily 15. Jerusalem played a key role in apocalyptic expectations for both Christians and Jews in the mid-fourth century. Cyril of Jerusalem’s Catechetical Homily 15 dealt with these expectations in the context of an earthquake that threatened to destroy the holy city. By comparing this homily with contemporary apocalyptic texts of other genres, Neil reveals how scriptures were being reinterpreted to cope with the transition to a newly Christian empire and other changing circumstances for eastern Roman citizens and Jews in the turbulent mid-fourth century. She argues that the discussion of Antichrist in Cyril of Jerusalem’s Homily 15 refers specifically to the emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363), with specific reference to his attempt to rebuild the Jewish temple. If that is the case, then the homily is an important witness to developing attitudes to the apocalypse in the fourth century and provides useful background to the apocalyptic traditions that developed in the seventh.
Next, we move further east with Natasha Parnian (Macquarie University) and her article A World in Crisis: Reconstructing Identity in Late Antique Armenia. The adoption of Christianity and the development of the Armenian script in 405 dictated a new narrative focus for the Armenian intellectuals of Late Antiquity. Parnian explores the changes in historiographical writing in the Armenian literary sphere from the fifth to the eighth centuries amidst the sustained Sasanian-Byzantine wars and ecclesiastical disputes. Such dramatic events spurred an urgent attempt to reconstruct a distinct Christian identity. Armenian writers synthesised their ancient heritage in the face of a nascent Christianity and conceived of new political alliances with the Shahanshahs as they negotiated their position in a changing world.
In the ninth article, entitled All the Generalissimo’s Men? Delegating military authority in the Western Roman Empire, Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele (Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies) explores the powerful office of the military commanders known as generalissimos in the West. The significance of the fifth-century western Roman magistri utriusque militiae has long been recognized. Men such as Stilicho or Aëtius achieved positions of secular authority that often threatened to marginalise even the emperors they were serving. Yet throughout this era, no ‘generalissimo’ could tackle by himself the many crises plaguing the Hesperium Regnum. This article investigates the priorities of western magistri militum, both in terms of dealing with usurpation, revolts and invasions, the areas to which they were more likely to send subordinates to wage war in their stead, but also attempts by emperors to curb their powers.
In the next article, Hugh Elton (Trent University) explores the Basiliscus crisis (475–476) in the reign of Zeno. In Constantinople in early 475, Basiliscus seized imperial power from Zeno. Elton analyses the varying descriptions of Basiliscus’ seizure of power in the primary sources (especially John of Antioch, Candidus, Malalas, and The Life of Daniel the Stylite) in terms of disputes within the imperial family and within the army. He also discusses how our sources tended to focus on individuals, and that these character descriptions evolved over time, and finally suggests that this character-based focus is more appropriate for describing fast-moving political crises than daily government.
The issue concludes with two papers studying antithetical phenomena of religious extremism, in the East and the West respectively. Hence, in ‘Fools for Christ’ in Byzantium: Religious Extremism as a Response to Socio-Political Crisis, Vassilis Adrahtas (University of Western Sydney and New South Wales University) examines the period 500–1000 in Byzantium, which opens and closes with a monumental biography of a ‘fool for Christ:’ St Symeon in sixth-centu...

Plato’s inquiry into the normative underpinnings of political organization remains at the heart o... more Plato’s inquiry into the normative underpinnings of political organization remains at the heart of the European philosophical tradition which, as Whitehead famously remarked (1985, 39), “consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” However, his model of the Callipolis, as outlined in the Republic (Stevens 2011), and of Magnesia, as detailed in the Laws (Prauscello 2014), have been criticized as utopias (Laks 1991; Lane 1999) that promote dangerous ideas about community shared property (cf. Garnsey 2007), while endorsing class divisions, eugenics, and strict censorship (Popper 1957; cf. Vlastos 1977; Saunders 1992; Brown 1998). In my view, we ought to reassess Plato’s political thought acutely aware of two facts: first, his frightful experience of the failing Athenian Democracy, exposed in Plato’s earlier dialogues, notably the Apology and Crito which focus on the need to obey the laws, an exemplar Socrates upheld to his detriment (Benson 1998; Bobonich 2019, 312-321); second, Plato’s voice has been for centuries construed through his disciples, notably Aristotle (Zuckert 2009; Bloom 1991): while the Aristotelian emphasis on historical (rather than aspirational) polities presents an exceptional opportunity to observe contemporary objections to Platonic ideas (Cherry 2018), it can mislead us to the assumption that Plato’s civic model(s) lack(s) historicity. My inevitably sketchy analysis of Plato’s politics in this chapter focuses on the Republic, which represents the philosopher’s middle maturity, before considering the Statesman and the Laws, which belong to his late dialogues. My overall approach supports the unitary theory (Lewis 1998), according to which Plato’s political thought displays consistency across his dialogues, versus the developmental approach which insists on identifying discrepancies in his political views (Klosko 2006). Furthermore, I am keen to recognize the dramatic aspects of Plato’s dialectic method which aims to educate his audience in recognizing not just true knowledge but importantly the phenomenology of their errors (Klein 1965; cf. Manoff 2020), thus moving away from Vlastos’ analytic approach (1978) which systematically overlooks Plato’s penchant for literary expression. Following from these opening observations, I structure my examination of the Platonic dialogues mentioned above around three main themes: the challenge of turning political theory into political practice; the conflict between individual and collective interests in a polity; and finally, Plato’s use of rhetoric to engage his fellow-citizens intellectually, thereby aspiring to affect their cognitive horizon. For Plato, political change is pendant to the review of certain, fundamental concepts that underpin the way people decide their priorities in life; the purpose of challenging the mainstream understanding of these concepts through his dialectics is to achieve a new consciousness, individual and collective.

The impact of Platonism on theorizing and articulating the Christian dogma, whether Plato was rec... more The impact of Platonism on theorizing and articulating the Christian dogma, whether Plato was received as a pagan proponent of Christianity or the epitome of pagan fallacy, has been far-reaching and currently enjoying a resurgence of interest (see indicatively, Rist 1964 and 1985; O’Daly 2001; Dillon 2012; Sabo 2015; Miroshnikov 2018; Pavlos et al. 2019; Burns 2020; Hampton and Kenney 2021; Verheyden et al. 2022; Anagnostou-Laoutides and Parry 2020 and 2023). Despite risking a misperception of congruence, early Christian theologians, keen to revamp the intellectual pedigree of Christianity, engaged thoroughly with the prevalent Greek and Jewish traditions of the Hellenistic period, “an age of kings, political and philosophical, temporal and spiritual” (Long 2006, 10). In accordance with Alexander’s claims to divinity, the proximity of kings to God was debated in contemporary philosophical treatises (Goodenough 1928) and kings posed as embodiments of the divine law that rules the universe (Chesnut 1978). Plato’s philosopher king remained influential, although Aristotle regarded heroic virtue (not philosophy) as the key quality of the ideal king (EN 1145a153-30; Vander Waerdt 1985). By producing an edition and commentary of Plato’s dialogues (Schironi 2005), Aristophanes of Byzantium transplanted the centre of Platonic study from Athens to Alexandria, a city that claims a special role in the development of both Platonism (Niehoff 2010, 35) and Christianity (Pearson 1986 and 1997).
Philo of Alexandria, a member of the city’s large Jewish Diaspora, adopted Platonic allegory to harmonize scripture with philosophy (Novak 2019, 107-139; Ramelli 2011), cementing Platonism as the lingua franca of Alexandrian intellectuals. Between the second century BCE and CE, following Philo’s example, philosophers such as Antiochus of Ascalon (Dillon 1996, 78-9, 114–135), Eudorus (Bonazzi 2007a/b), and Numenius (Dillon 1996, 366-379), also adopted Plato’s penchant for allegory and his apophatic descriptions of god. Numenius explained Plato’s Demiurge, the Divine Craftsman of the universe (Tim. 28a6), as the second God in charge of the world and subject to the first God, whom he called the Father and the Intellect (fr. 21, des Places 1973, 60). While the first God is totally transcendent (Gaston 2009, 575), Numenius’ second God is divided: out “of his concern for the world” the lower aspect of the second God becomes the Third God (Dillon 1996, 374). The concept, perceived as anticipating Christian trinitarianism, appealed greatly to Christian Apologists (Edwards 2000, 160) who identified the Son of God with the Logos of the Father (His wisdom or incarnate utterance; Dillon 1989), and so with Numenius’ second God. Numenius’ doctrines, including our ascent to the first God through a mystical vision, influenced Ammonius Saccas (Stuck 2004, 102-103) who was born into a Christian family (Ramelli 2009; Dillon 1996, 381-383). Ammonius appreciated Platonic allegory (Stuck 2004, 102-103) and so did his students, including Plotinus (Dillon 1996, 366, 372) and Origen, likely to be identified with the namesake Christian theologian (Ramelli 2017, 7-8). Origen, who was also a student of Clement of Alexandria, compared Plato’s tendency to hide the truth from the many to the approach of Paul and the evangelists to divine revelation (CC 6.6).
In this milieu of cultural fermentation students of Plato and the Bible employed the metaphors of baccheia (drunken revelry) and theoria (contemplation) to debate their experiences of God and His kingdom and define its relationship to its earthly counterparts. Here, after offering an overview of Plato’s role in the development of these metaphors, mainly in his Middle dialogues (the Symposium, the Phaedrus and the Phaedo) but also the later Laws, I trace their employment by Christian theologians. In the East, baccheia and theoria are employed as major exegetical tools, underpinning the Christian mystical theology, while in the West they convey the civic duty of Christian philosophers, expected to bolster the divine mission of the emperor.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

The Underworld imagery developed by Lucan (BC 6.507–830), Statius (Th. 4.345–645), Valerius Flacc... more The Underworld imagery developed by Lucan (BC 6.507–830), Statius (Th. 4.345–645), Valerius Flaccus (Arg. 1.827–50), and Silius Italicus (Pun. 2 and 13) to reprove Rome’s power-hungry leaders, accused of the death of thousands in civil war battles, excited the imagination of Christian writers such as Lactantius, Ausonius, Jerome, and the Spanish Presbyter Iuvencus. The article explores the investment of this imagery with the Stoic notion of excess (luxury) and its impact on defining the Christian concept of sin as received and further developed by Dante and Boccaccio. So far, scholarly discussion has tended to focus on the Homeric overcoat of pietas and its opposite furor, which under the influence of Posidonius (135–51 BCE), came to be associated with traditional Roman virtues. Instead, I here focus on Erictho (Lucan) and Tisiphone (Statius) as symbols of sinful temptation and effeminizing excess (luxury), typically gripping its victims through the eyes. In response to these infernal female figures, Dante and Boccaccio attributed epic proportions to ethical life, turning it into a canvas on which they debated the Christian moral code of their times. The gendered principles underpinning sinful excess in both pagan and Christian authors are discussed, alongside the role of poetry in counter-proposing the figures of Piety and Clemency.

The anchor has been one of the most puzzling Seleukid symbols, introduced by the dynasty’s founde... more The anchor has been one of the most puzzling Seleukid symbols, introduced by the dynasty’s founder, Seleukos I. Historical sources of the Roman era refer to it in connection with certain oracles and divine omens designed to confirm Seleukos’ Apolline ancestry and his preordained rise to the throne. A less mythological explanation refers to Seleukos’ time as Ptolemy’s admiral: according to this interpretation, Seleukos’ naval victories during this time inspired him to employ the anchor as symbol of his naval superiority. After reviewing the extant textual and numismatic evidence, and summarizing the scholarly arguments on the issues arising from them, I explore an additional cultural paradigm regarding the Babylonian god Marduk and his safe mooring of the ship of state, celebrated during his New Year festival. Following Marduk’s divine example, earthly kings, including Nebuchadnezzar II whom the Seleukids admired, were able to halt the ships of their enemies and claim divinely sanctioned victories. In my view, this paradigm accords with Seleukos’ conciliatory cultural policies designed to appeal to both his Greek and non-Greek subjects, especially since the ship of state metaphor was ubiquitous in the Greek culture but also popular, as the evidence indicates, in Babylon and Kilikia, a region largely exposed to the cultural influence of Babylon during the Neo-Assyrian period. The concept of safe anchoring was amply promoted in Near Eastern royal inscriptions and advocated in the magnificent state boats which decorated the temples of Marduk and Nabû in Babylon and Borsippa. Seleukos and his son Antiochos I were known to have participated there in local cultic activities. Thus, Near Eastern lore about Marduk’s ship of state likely encouraged Seleukos’ choice of the anchor as a symbol of his royal legitimacy, a symbol employed more systematically after his final victory against Antigonos in 301 BCE.

The chapter expands on Dunkle’s discussion of Aeneas as a hunter by paying attention to similes o... more The chapter expands on Dunkle’s discussion of Aeneas as a hunter by paying attention to similes of hunting warriors as wild animals in the
Aeneid. I draw on Roman, mainly Propertian, as well as Greek elegiac and lyric poetry, to argue that Vergil associates the animalistic fury of hunting tyrants with the emotional exaggeration of elegiac mistresses, notably Dido and Camilla, destined to be killed as hunted prey. Thus, Vergil stages a battle of genders as much as a battle of genres.

The paper discusses the nature of meditative silence in Plato and its reception by Plotinus, the ... more The paper discusses the nature of meditative silence in Plato and its reception by Plotinus, the so-called father of Neoplatonism, as well as Clement of Alexandria, a very influential even if often overlooked early Christian father.

This article explores the sexual aesthetics of Cavafy’s poetry from a literary perspective; it dr... more This article explores the sexual aesthetics of Cavafy’s poetry from a literary perspective; it draws attention to two crucial but largely overlooked models which are instructive vis-à-vis Cavafy’s appreciation of the role of sex in literature beyond his personal sexual orientation. First, I argue that Cavafy reworks the motif of militant Eros, found amply in Straton’s anthology of epigrams known as the Musa paidike (which survives mainly in book 12 of the Greek Anthology), by glossing it with a distinctive Roman elegy twist. Cavafy interweaves the themes of militia and servitium amoris, so typical of Latin elegy and reinterprets servitium amoris as dutiful, determined service in the name of sensual pleasure rather than inevitable enslavement to the force of erotic passion which the poet cannot resist. Roman elegiac poets, especially Propertius, with whom Cavafy was thoroughly familiar, are typically understood to have employed the motif to convey the crushing weight of their amorous affliction and their inability to break free from their unworthy object of affection. This turn occurs characteristically in Cavafy’s prose poem The Regiment of Pleasure (or of the Senses, as often translated). The mature language of the poem has led Savidis to date it between 1894 and 1897; during this early period Cavafy embraced the model of the Parnassiens while also being influenced by the movement of symbolism. Savidis’ dating of the poem is also supported by the fact that Cavafy reworks numerous motifs introduced here in his later poems, dated from 1904 to 1917, as I will point out in my analysis of the Regiment. Second, I wish to explain the Regiment as Cavafy’s response to Baudelaire’s rejection of the avant garde in his Mon coeur mis à nu (My heart laid bare). Baudelaire composed the poem in Paris in the early 1860s, shortly before his death, and it was published posthumously in 1877. Although Cavafy’s appreciation and creative competition with Baudelaire has been thoroughly acknowledged in the bibliography, to my knowledge, this connection has not been identified to date. My reading of the Regiment and its models aims to review Cavafy’s sexual aesthetics which I perceive as homoerotic but not exclusively homosexual; thus, I ought to make a few methodological distinctions prior to my analysis of the poem.

The article argues that in the second half of the Aeneid Vergil debates different forms of violen... more The article argues that in the second half of the Aeneid Vergil debates different forms of violence drawing on Greek tragic plays. It maintains that episodes of rage/mania, inspired by Euripides’ Bacchae (bk 7: Amata; bk4: Dido) and Heracles (bk 8: Cacus) but also, by Aeschylus’ Eumenides (bk 8: Cacus), are designed to illustrate the downfall of tyrannical Turnus. In this context, his comparison to a lion (Aen. 10.454-6) evokes the bestial aspects of Bacchic frenzy, further identifying him with Pentheus. At the same time, Vergil introduces motifs of violence (and mercy) inspired by Aeschylus’ less discussed Suppliant Women (bks 7 and 12). Although Vergil’s adaptation of tragic motifs has been widely discussed in scholarship for some time, the interplay of Euripidean and Aeschylean modes of violence in the second half of the Aeneid and their contribution to the issues of mercy and revenge that dominate the end of the epic have not been fully appreciated. Here, I argue that Vergil eventually accepts Aeschylus’ mode of violence, according to which Turnus’ death is necessary for establishing a new order of things.

L'articolo sostiene che nella seconda metà dell'Eneide Virgilio rappresenta varie forme di violenza ispirandosi a modelli tragici greci. Episodi di collera/mania, ricavati dalle Bacchae (Amata, libro 7) e dall'Heracles (Caco, libro 8) di Euripide, ma anche dalle Eumenides di Eschilo (Caco, libro 8), anticipano la rovina di Turno, dovuta al suo carattere tirannico. In questo contesto, il suo accostamento a un leone (Aen. 10.454-6) sottolinea gli aspetti bestiali del furore bacchico e contribuisce a identificarlo con Penteo. Allo stesso tempo Virgilio introduce temi di violenza (e di clemenza) ispirati alle meno indagate Supplici di Eschilo (libri 7 e 12). Benché l'adattamento virgiliano di motivi tragici sia stato ampiamente discusso nella critica, l'intreccio di modelli ricavati da Euripide e da Eschilo per la rappresentazione della violenza nella seconda parte dell'Eneide e il suo contributo alla comprensione dei problemi riguardanti la clemenza e la vendetta che dominano nel finale del poema non è stato pienamente valutato. Qui sostengo che in conclusione Virgilio accoglie l'atteggiamento eschileo nei confronti della violenza, in base al quale la morte di Turno è necessaria per dar vita a rinnovato ordine del mondo.

Anagnostou-Laoutides, E. "Sócrates el sátiro sobrio y la posición de Platón respecto a la risa", en J. Lavilla de Lera & J. Aguirre Santos (eds) El humor en Platón. Humor y filosofía a través de los diálogos, Anthropos, Barcelona (forthcoming), 2021

The article explores Plato's use of humour in the Symposium. This is the English draft but the pa... more The article explores Plato's use of humour in the Symposium. This is the English draft but the paper will be published in Spanish.

The paper revisits Seneca’s endorsement of wine-drinking as a remedy for mental anxiety in De Tra... more The paper revisits Seneca’s endorsement of wine-drinking as a remedy for mental anxiety in De Tranquilitate Animi (17.4-12). Although this locus has been often interpreted as Seneca’s endorsement of Platonic enthusiasm, we argue that Seneca does not deviate from the Stoic rejection of drunkenness (e.g. Ep. 83.9). In fact, a closer reading of the relevant Platonic texts reveals that Plato opposed physical drunkenness as much as the Stoics did. According to Plato, especially in Alcibiades’ praise of Socrates in the Symposium (220a), the philosopher may appear drunk but can never be drunk. In his footsteps, Seneca, appreciates actual wine as a means of inducing or maintaining a higher state of consciousness, a state of hyper-reality that is crucial for achieving philosophical breakthroughs. Seneca’s De Otio offers additional evidence towards this understanding of the role of wine in achieving philosophical enthusiasm.

Brill, 2020

), the article argues that in the Symposium, but also the Phaedrus and the Protagoras, Plato inst... more ), the article argues that in the Symposium, but also the Phaedrus and the Protagoras, Plato instructs us on the correct way of engaging in discourse by adducing examples from the activities of drinking and singing (/performing poetry). By presenting Socrates as grappling with the use of wine, rhetoric and poetry, almost failing at times, but always able to recollect himself and identify the faults in his methods (as well as of others), Plato recognizes the difficulties of the process, while acknowledging Socrates’ extraordinary intellect.

This paper examines Plato’s use of wine-drinking as an underrated paradigm for discussing the te... more This paper examines Plato’s use of wine-drinking as an underrated paradigm for discussing the temperament of the tyrannical man in the Republic and the Symposium. I argue that Plato found in the Syracusan tyrants, with whom he had recurrent interaction from 388 BCE onwards, a striking example of the interplay between tyranny, philosophy, and drinking. Given the consensus on the composition date of the Republic around 380 BCE, and regardless of whether book 1 was originally written as a separate dialogue, my paper corroborates the view that Plato’s tyrannical man in book 9 was modelled on Dionysius I and his son, Dionysius II, whose penchant for heavy drinking was notorious.

: The paper revisits the anonymous Panegyricus Latinus XII(9) in praise of Constantine’s victory ... more : The paper revisits the anonymous Panegyricus Latinus XII(9) in praise of Constantine’s victory against Maxentius at the battle of the Milvian Bridge. Delivered in 313 CE, a year after the decisive battle during which Maxentius got drowned in the Tiber while trying to flee, the speech is known for its use of Virgilian motifs. Here I argue that the author draws systematically on the discussion on clemency and retribution which ancient commentators (Serv. ad Aen. 12.940) and modern scholars alike have long suspected as the focus of the second half of the Aeneid. Accordingly, the author of XII(9) draws on a specific reading of the Aeneid according to which Constantine, compared to Aeneas and Augustus, is justified for his excessive use of force, while Maxentius, compared to several tyrannical figures in the Aeneid, deserved his miserable death. Eusebius, who systematically engaged with the tradition of the Latin panegyrics, further developed the motifs introduced in XII(9) by casting Constantine as a God-sent freedom fighter against tyrants (Maxentius, but also Licinius and Maximinus). Thus, the author’s display of his rhetorical training contributes creatively to Constantine’s political agenda and inspires Eusebius to Christianize Virgil.

Page 1. Page 2. GORGIAS DISSERTATIONS 11 CLASSICS Volume 3 Page 3. Eros and Ritual in Ancient Lit... more Page 1. Page 2. GORGIAS DISSERTATIONS 11 CLASSICS Volume 3 Page 3. Eros and Ritual in Ancient Literature Singing of Atalanta, Daphnis and Orpheus Page 4. Page 5. Eros and Ritual in Ancient Literature Singing of Atalanta ...

The Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2004

Phenomenological reviews, Jun 19, 2019

Classical Review, Dec 12, 2016

authority of the latter, is suggested. In particular, S. addresses this issue by concentrating on... more authority of the latter, is suggested. In particular, S. addresses this issue by concentrating on the myth of Gaia, which sees the earth as a self-regulating system, developed by the English scientist James Lovelock and conceived by him as ‘outright scientific’ (p. 123). This final section is invaluable: it gives the reader a perception of how the debate on myth is always topical and how myth itself is neither dead nor limited to outdated knowledge. The reference section is exhaustive. S. provides various suggestions for further reading per chapter, which make up for the absence of footnotes, which are not missed, given the compendious nature of the volume. The book is on the whole very coherent and understandable. It is not a light read, since it is very dense and the array of theories and methodologies presented is broad. It is exceptional that S. has condensed in barely 142 pages a huge, complex and widely-debated subject and without having effectively limited the area of interest, avoiding the risk of being unsystematic and of indulging in an incomplete exposition. The volume, however, is suitable for all kinds of reader: while providing all the necessary information and references for more competent readers, it also deserves a wider audience. Knowledge of myth and of the classical world is not a prerequisite, nor is familiarity with the authors mentioned in the book. The text is on the whole an impressive example of an introductory guide.

Classicum, 2012

The article discusses the methodologies for the teaching and assessment of Latin in European, Bri... more The article discusses the methodologies for the teaching and assessment of Latin in European, British, and Australian universities. Latin pedagogy has either remained attached to the Grammar Translation model or adopted the communicative approach pioneered for the teaching of modern languages. While the first clung to an outdated tradition that cast Latin as a 'dead' language, the second diffused the teaching of grammar embracing instead the Roman culture. Consequently, concerns regarding our graduates' professional standing and research skills have arisen. Following the revival of Latin across the globe and the increased mobility of students and graduates, a revision of teaching approaches is imperative. The article supports the re-introduction of grammar in university language teaching based on Grammar Construction Theory and Radical Constructivism with encouragement from discoveries in cognitive neuroscience. My case-study highlights the challenges in redefining the teaching and assessment of university Latin allowing for student views to be sensed.

Viator, May 1, 2015

The article examines Virgil’s alleged interest in Platonic philosophy, sketched out in his Lives,... more The article examines Virgil’s alleged interest in Platonic philosophy, sketched out in his Lives, and its contribution to the image of the philosopher-poet as defined by Dante and Petrarch. Both poets read closely the Lives of Virgil and sought in them guidance for their own poetic missions. Here I argue that Petrarch tried to defend Dante’s misunderstood Divine Comedy by presenting him as a devotee of Platonic allegoresis of the same caliber as Virgil. His efforts were continued by Landino who wished to accommodate both poets to the intellectual background of Medicean Florence. In negotiating the tension between poetry and philosophy Landino-an accomplished poet himself-is willing to recognize the contribution of allegory to introducing philosophical enquiry to the masses, although he eventually decides to embrace the pursuit of philosophy per se.

Maia-rivista Di Letterature Classiche, 2014

The second book of the Aeneid, a familiar and favourite reading of a number of Latin stu-dents, f... more The second book of the Aeneid, a familiar and favourite reading of a number of Latin stu-dents, focuses on the drama that unfolded during the last night of Troy.1 Aeneas, grateful to the Carthaginian Queen for her hospitality and flattered by her admiration, cannot but agree ...

The Mediaeval Journal, Jul 1, 2015

The article discusses Suetonius and the Stoics as two independent yet converging paradigms which ... more The article discusses Suetonius and the Stoics as two independent yet converging paradigms which shaped notions of morality and vice in late antiquity and influenced Augustine and his understanding of the vitium sodomiticum as luxury. Aquinas followed his definition with the implication that on this occasion he parted ways with his usual Aristotelian model, which appears much more lenient in discussing the vice of homosexuality.

Amsterdam University Press eBooks, 2021

The essay discusses music and silence as two important paradigms for articulating spiritual progr... more The essay discusses music and silence as two important paradigms for articulating spiritual progress in the Platonic corpus and its reception by Neoplatonic and Christian thinkers. After examining the importance of music in Plato’s theory of the soul, mainly in the Republic and the Timaeus, I argue that he appreciated music as a spiritual awakening, as preparation for the truth which is always experienced in deafening silence. Proclus, a sensitive reader of Plato, and later thinkers such as Proclus and Boethius, provided a secure path for the survival of Platonic ideas in the West. Petrarch, a meticulous reader of Augustine, grappling with the same Platonic notions that frustrated the fourth-century theologian, experiments boldly with Platonic silence in the Secretum and his Rime Sparse.

Giornale italiano di filologia, 2020

Giornale italiano di filologia, 2018

The paper revisits the traditions associated with the fertility goddess worshipped in Sicilian Er... more The paper revisits the traditions associated with the fertility goddess worshipped in Sicilian Eryx at the time of Augustus’ ascent to power. I argue that Vergil, aware of these traditions and in accordance with Augustan public rhetoric, identified the goddess with Venus, Aeneas’ divine mother but, also, with Cybele whose cult, introduced in Rome in the third century bce, was greatly favoured by the princeps. The original cult of Erycine Astarte had chthonic aspects which the Greeks had associated with Persephone, honoured exceptionally in Magna Grecia and Sicily, and which survived in the festival of Anagogia and Katagogia when the Erycine goddess was believed to disappear while visiting her sister in Carthage. Elements of this archaic cultic tradition can be also observed in Boiotia and, especially, Crete which Vergil employs creatively in the Aeneid to achieve the integration of Phrygian/Erycine Venus with Roman Cybele. Vergil’s careful transformation of the goddess corresponds to the cultural and political challenges Augustus and the Romans faced at the time.