András Kraft | University of Vienna (original) (raw)

Papers by András Kraft

The article provides a critical edition of a hitherto unedited post-Byzantine prophecy that may b... more The article provides a critical edition of a hitherto unedited post-Byzantine prophecy that may be called the Vaticinium de restitutione Constantinopoleos. The text comes down in two recensions, which are contained in twelve manuscripts. The edition is supplemented with an English translation and a commentary that discusses the title, date of composition, content, main sources, and significance of the text. It is argued that the prophecy was originally composed in the early 1570s in response to the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus. Furthermore, it is shown that the motif of a saviour-emperor, which is central to the prophecy, responds to developments in sixteenth-century Mediterranean apocalypticism.

Apocalyptic literature is a genre replete with ambiguity. Its vague and symbolic language usually... more Apocalyptic literature is a genre replete with ambiguity. Its vague and symbolic language usually defies definite interpretation. This genre-specific ambiguity can be contained by a number of factors that ensure that equivocation does not turn into unintelligibility. This paper discusses three such factors with regard to Byzantine apocalypses, namely the aspects of genre, exegesis, and manuscript transmission. First, it is argued that the apocalyptic genre in Byzantium was marked by fuzzy boundaries, which can be best delineated with a non-essentializing prototype approach. Second, it is shown that exegetical traditions are important for comprehending specific passages and themes, such as the lion-whelp motif. Third, the significance of the manuscript transmission is highlighted through a case study of Last Vision of the Prophet Daniel (CAVT 255). When taken together, the three factors of genre, exegesis, and manuscript transmission allow us to contain and harness the ambiguity of mediaeval Greek apocalyptica.

The condemnation of John Italos by an ecclesiastical synod in 1082 has been seen as a watershed e... more The condemnation of John Italos by an ecclesiastical synod in 1082 has been seen as a watershed event in the history of Byzantine philosophy, marking the irreversible transition from independent scientific inquiry to religiously motivated repression. Scholars have attempted to exonerate Italos from the accusations, claiming that he was not a heterodox thinker but a victim of political intrigue. This article reevaluates Italos’ condemnation and argues that he did teach views that conservative circles were compelled to reject. His contested teachings pertained to personal eschatology, i.e., the fate of the soul after death. It is shown that Italos adhered to the Christian Platonist belief system (‘Origenism’) that teaches spiritual resurrection and universal salvation. This eschatology can mitigate the significance of the Last Judgment, which, in turn, has far-reaching social, political, and economic implications. It is furthermore argued that Italos’ condemnation was triggered by the regime change under Alexios I Komnēnos, who needed an apocalyptic frame of reference to legitimize his usurpation. Italos was ousted in 1082 and his teachings repressed because he held views on eschatology that inhibited the proleptic justification of the new emperor’s political and economic agenda.

The paper argues that the public execution of the dethroned emperor Alexios V Doukas Mourtzouphlo... more The paper argues that the public execution of the dethroned emperor Alexios V Doukas Mourtzouphlos in 1204 should be seen in an apocalyptic context. Mourtzouphlos’ death at the hands of the Latin conquerors of Constantinople reflects a competition for the prerogative of interpretation over how to interpret properly the capture of the Queen of Cities in 1204. Although no prophecy has come down to us that predicts the unprecedented form of Mourtzouphlos’ execution at the Column of Theodosios, its apocalyptic significance can be fathomed from indirect sources. It is argued that the death sentence was intended to nullify a preexisting Greek prophetic tradition and to replace it with a pro-Latin oracular context. Subsequent Byzantine apocalypses advanced counter-narratives that, in turn, contested the Latin ‘fabrication.’

Natural calamities form a standard theme in Byzantine apocalypses. This paper discusses their fun... more Natural calamities form a standard theme in Byzantine apocalypses. This paper discusses their function and meaning by surveying more than a dozen medieval Greek apocalyptic narratives from the sixth to the fifteenth century. It is shown that natural disasters were understood as ambiguous epiphenomena, whose ultimate meaning revolved around human agency and intentionality. Furthermore, it is argued that Byzantine apocalypses offered an intellectual strategy for coping with natural calamities by placing them into an eschatological context. This eschatologization restored epistemological control of the - seemingly uncontrollable - phenomena. Finally, it is suggested that the understanding of natural disasters as anthropogenic events is not only characteristic of medieval Greek apocalypticism but also of modern-day environmental alarmism. The paper closes with a preliminary comparison of these two hermeneutic paradigms.

The chapter presents a survey of medieval Greek apocalyptic literature and consists of three part... more The chapter presents a survey of medieval Greek apocalyptic literature and consists of three parts that outline typical characteristics of this literary genre, introduce a number of prominent Byzantine apocalyptic narratives, and sketch peculiarities of the manuscript transmission.

Medieval prophetic writings consist of various standard literary elements, such as motifs, oracle... more Medieval prophetic writings consist of various standard literary elements, such as motifs, oracles, canonical citations as well as scriptural exegesis. The latter not seldom serves to support the apocalyptist’s universal history, which is generally presented in a typological framework. Typologies are literary devices that pair long-gone Old and New Testament events and characters with more recent, contemporary counterparts. In this paper it is argued that typologies (biblical as well as extra-biblical) form an essential compositional method in medieval Greek apocalypticism. Moreover, this study investigates what kind of time perception apocalyptic typologies are prone to convey. The Last Vision of the Prophet Daniel has been chosen as the primary source of this study. This prophecy is a pseudonymous, historical apocalypse that can be viewed as a typical representative of medieval Greek apocalypticism. The paper consists of three parts: First, the Pseudo-Danielic prophecy is introduced with regard to its date, content and influence. Second, its most significant typological models are identified and briefly discussed. Third, a number of inferences are drawn from the foregoing analysis, which characterize the Byzantine perception of apocalyptic time.

This bibliographical inventory surveys 50 medieval Greek apocalyptic sources ranging from the tur... more This bibliographical inventory surveys 50 medieval Greek apocalyptic sources ranging from the turn of the sixth century until the late fifteenth century. The surveyed material consists of historical and moral apocalypses, oracular prophecies and end-time calculations. The survey enumerates the various appellations and dating attempts for each text as proposed in modern scholarship. Moreover, references to editions and translations of each source are provided; they are followed by a preliminary list of the known manuscript witnesses. The purpose of the inventory is twofold: (i) it presents a quantitative estimation of the respective manuscript distribution. Altogether 1024 textual witnesses in 688 manuscripts have been identified to contain the surveyed apocalyptic texts. It has been found that about 70% of all manuscript material dates to the fifteenth century or later. Consequently, it can be established that the period surrounding and following the halōsis of 1453 functions as a filter that, to a large extent, regulates our access to and conditions our understanding of medieval Greek apocalyptic thought. Moreover, the inventory (ii) provides a holistic yet concise overview of a large section of Byzantine apocalypticism, which appears necessary for any comprehensive research that engages in (or steps beyond) intertextual analysis.

The paper discusses John Italos’ (d. after 1082) position on the eternity of the world. Italos wa... more The paper discusses John Italos’ (d. after 1082) position on the eternity of the world. Italos was condemned for a series of heretical views including the thesis that the visible world was eternal. However, a treatise of Italos has been transmitted, in which he refutes the idea of an eternal kosmos and argues for its createdness in the beginning of time. The present study provides a critical edition of the Greek text of Italos’ treatise (Quaestio 71 of his Quaestiones quodlibetales), provided with a first English translation and followed by a commentary that develops Italos’ main arguments and identifies some of his sources. It is argued that Italos sincerely defended an anti-eternalist standpoint by adopting arguments, first and foremost, of the sixth-century philosopher John Philoponos. Moreover, Italos seems to react in Quaestio 71 to specific charges that had been brought up against him during his repeated synodal investigations in 1076/77 and 1082. His treatise against the eternity of the world appears to be a comprehensive apology of his orthodoxy.

Miracles present a central theme in Byzantine prophetic texts. They are associated with eschatolo... more Miracles present a central theme in Byzantine prophetic texts. They are associated with eschatological protagonists, most notably with the motifs of the Antichrist and the Savior-Emperor, who are the dominant narrative figures in historical apocalypses, upon which the present study lays its focus. By surveying more than a dozen Byzantine prophecies from the sixth to sixteenth century this study aims to excavate the meaning and implications of miraculous deeds in the longue durée of Byzantine apocalyptic thought. In particular, it is shown how specific miraculous actions and characterizations-attributed to the Savior-Emperor and the Antichrist respectively-are to be read as either homologous or inverted correspondences that emulate biblical precedences of divine beneficial acts. Apocalyptic miracles (and pseudo-miracles) are, first and foremost, constructed as Christocentric typologies that stress the continuation of the miracle accounts known from the Gospels and the Old Testament. Furthermore, it is shown which specific events carried miraculous as well as eschatological connotations for the Byzantines.

This paper investigates how Byzantine apocalypses convey the concept of time to their audience. F... more This paper investigates how Byzantine apocalypses convey the concept of time to their audience. For this study, I have chosen a threefold approach: First, I sketch the chronology of the end times, which consists of various presumed dates for the Last Judgement and of a sequence of expected events that were anticipated to take place beforehand. Second, I discuss the typological structure of apocalyptic time, which underlies much of the prophetic accounts, as is shown by a few selected examples. Third, I reflect upon the speed of apocalyptic time by arguing for the significance of fluctuations in the narrative speed and by discussing the apocalyptic phenomenon known as the shortening of days. When seen together, these three approaches help reconstruct a rather detailed picture of how the Byzantines conceptualized and articulated apocalyptic time.

In his 'The Deliverance from Error' al-Ghazālī describes error as a sickness. Adhering to this me... more In his 'The Deliverance from Error' al-Ghazālī describes error as a sickness. Adhering to this metaphor, al-Ghazālī prescribes certain intellectual strategies for regaining one’s health. This paper reconstructs the proposed remedy for the philosophy of his day, that is, Avicennism, which al-Ghazālī attacks on specific key issues in his 'The Incoherence of the Philosophers'. The paper focuses in particular on one refutation from the 'Incoherence’s' first discussion, which deals with the issue of the pre-eternity of the world. In it al-Ghazālī advances a nominalist interpretation of modality, which allows him to reject the conclusiveness of particular Avicennan proofs. Moreover, al-Ghazālī employs this nominalist approach when dealing with the issue of causality. Al-Ghazālī realized that there is no definite criterion to choose between the two viable options of occasionalism and secondary causality; both theories are equally possible. The fact that he defines possibility in a nominalist, that is, non-temporal framework, allows him to suspend his judgment and circumvent the pressing question: which theory is true now? In essence, by reading the 'Deliverance' and the 'Incoherence' synoptically and by building upon the scholarship of F. Griffel it becomes clear that al-Ghazālī’s modal nominalism proposes an “intellectual surgery” that delivers from sickening error in the domain of speculative philosophy.

The Arab conquest of the seventh century and continued Arab rule over the Near East gave rise to ... more The Arab conquest of the seventh century and continued Arab rule over the Near East gave rise to a wave of apocalyptic writings across confessional and denominational borders. In the context of this apocalyptic Zeitgeist, Christian circles promoted a new ideological figure which became one of the most influential literary topoi in medieval history, namely, the Last Roman Emperor. This Last Roman Emperor was said to be coming at a moment of great distress and to liberate Christians from the yoke of the Arabs, pacify the world, and establish the pax Christiana that would endure until the emperor's abdication at the end of times.

Conference Presentations by András Kraft

by Theodora Konstantellou, Kostas Paloukis, João Vicente de Medeiros Publio Dias, Pavla Drapelova, Dimitris Angelis-Dimakis, Giorgos Spentzos, Marilia Lykaki, Paolo Daniele Scirpo, Nikos Kapodistrias, Dr Vasilis Nedos, Themistoklis Pagoudis, Αντώνης Αμπούτης, Panagiotis G . M . Stamatopoulos, Kleanthis Zouboulakis, Nafsika Vassilopoulou, Koukouna Anastasia, Dora Contogeorgi, Vasiliki Boura, András Kraft, Jérôme Verdoot, Manolis Pagkalos, and Maria-Konstantina (Maritina) G . LEONTSINI

Book Reviews by András Kraft

Eschatological thought is closely associated with revealed monotheistic religions. But eschatolog... more Eschatological thought is closely associated with revealed monotheistic religions. But eschatology, or thinking about the end times, appeared far and wide also outside the Abrahamic religions. The book under review is a welcome addition to the ever-expanding library on non-Abrahamic eschatological traditions. It offers a chronological survey of Greco-Roman eschatology from Hesiod to Marcus Aurelius. The book is divided into two roughly equal parts. Part one, consisting of the first three chapters, surveys authors from ancient Greece until the age of Augustus. The second part, comprising chapters three through six, discusses pagan authors from the early Roman Empire. C. Star sets the stage with a quote from Marcus Aurelius, who gives a sort of "mini-apocalypse" in his Meditations 6.4 (p. 1). Marcus Aurelius succinctly predicts the eventual destruction of the natural world, either through a cosmic fire, as taught by the Stoics, or through the dissolution of its constituent elements, as held by the Epicureans. These two options marked the dominant conceptual paradigms not only for Marcus Aurelius but also for most of the pagan Roman authors surveyed in the book. Philosophers and poets subscribed to either one of them, or to a hybrid of both. This review begins with an appraisal of Star's terminology, proceeds with a synopsis of each chapter, and closes with some key insights of the book.

The article provides a critical edition of a hitherto unedited post-Byzantine prophecy that may b... more The article provides a critical edition of a hitherto unedited post-Byzantine prophecy that may be called the Vaticinium de restitutione Constantinopoleos. The text comes down in two recensions, which are contained in twelve manuscripts. The edition is supplemented with an English translation and a commentary that discusses the title, date of composition, content, main sources, and significance of the text. It is argued that the prophecy was originally composed in the early 1570s in response to the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus. Furthermore, it is shown that the motif of a saviour-emperor, which is central to the prophecy, responds to developments in sixteenth-century Mediterranean apocalypticism.

Apocalyptic literature is a genre replete with ambiguity. Its vague and symbolic language usually... more Apocalyptic literature is a genre replete with ambiguity. Its vague and symbolic language usually defies definite interpretation. This genre-specific ambiguity can be contained by a number of factors that ensure that equivocation does not turn into unintelligibility. This paper discusses three such factors with regard to Byzantine apocalypses, namely the aspects of genre, exegesis, and manuscript transmission. First, it is argued that the apocalyptic genre in Byzantium was marked by fuzzy boundaries, which can be best delineated with a non-essentializing prototype approach. Second, it is shown that exegetical traditions are important for comprehending specific passages and themes, such as the lion-whelp motif. Third, the significance of the manuscript transmission is highlighted through a case study of Last Vision of the Prophet Daniel (CAVT 255). When taken together, the three factors of genre, exegesis, and manuscript transmission allow us to contain and harness the ambiguity of mediaeval Greek apocalyptica.

The condemnation of John Italos by an ecclesiastical synod in 1082 has been seen as a watershed e... more The condemnation of John Italos by an ecclesiastical synod in 1082 has been seen as a watershed event in the history of Byzantine philosophy, marking the irreversible transition from independent scientific inquiry to religiously motivated repression. Scholars have attempted to exonerate Italos from the accusations, claiming that he was not a heterodox thinker but a victim of political intrigue. This article reevaluates Italos’ condemnation and argues that he did teach views that conservative circles were compelled to reject. His contested teachings pertained to personal eschatology, i.e., the fate of the soul after death. It is shown that Italos adhered to the Christian Platonist belief system (‘Origenism’) that teaches spiritual resurrection and universal salvation. This eschatology can mitigate the significance of the Last Judgment, which, in turn, has far-reaching social, political, and economic implications. It is furthermore argued that Italos’ condemnation was triggered by the regime change under Alexios I Komnēnos, who needed an apocalyptic frame of reference to legitimize his usurpation. Italos was ousted in 1082 and his teachings repressed because he held views on eschatology that inhibited the proleptic justification of the new emperor’s political and economic agenda.

The paper argues that the public execution of the dethroned emperor Alexios V Doukas Mourtzouphlo... more The paper argues that the public execution of the dethroned emperor Alexios V Doukas Mourtzouphlos in 1204 should be seen in an apocalyptic context. Mourtzouphlos’ death at the hands of the Latin conquerors of Constantinople reflects a competition for the prerogative of interpretation over how to interpret properly the capture of the Queen of Cities in 1204. Although no prophecy has come down to us that predicts the unprecedented form of Mourtzouphlos’ execution at the Column of Theodosios, its apocalyptic significance can be fathomed from indirect sources. It is argued that the death sentence was intended to nullify a preexisting Greek prophetic tradition and to replace it with a pro-Latin oracular context. Subsequent Byzantine apocalypses advanced counter-narratives that, in turn, contested the Latin ‘fabrication.’

Natural calamities form a standard theme in Byzantine apocalypses. This paper discusses their fun... more Natural calamities form a standard theme in Byzantine apocalypses. This paper discusses their function and meaning by surveying more than a dozen medieval Greek apocalyptic narratives from the sixth to the fifteenth century. It is shown that natural disasters were understood as ambiguous epiphenomena, whose ultimate meaning revolved around human agency and intentionality. Furthermore, it is argued that Byzantine apocalypses offered an intellectual strategy for coping with natural calamities by placing them into an eschatological context. This eschatologization restored epistemological control of the - seemingly uncontrollable - phenomena. Finally, it is suggested that the understanding of natural disasters as anthropogenic events is not only characteristic of medieval Greek apocalypticism but also of modern-day environmental alarmism. The paper closes with a preliminary comparison of these two hermeneutic paradigms.

The chapter presents a survey of medieval Greek apocalyptic literature and consists of three part... more The chapter presents a survey of medieval Greek apocalyptic literature and consists of three parts that outline typical characteristics of this literary genre, introduce a number of prominent Byzantine apocalyptic narratives, and sketch peculiarities of the manuscript transmission.

Medieval prophetic writings consist of various standard literary elements, such as motifs, oracle... more Medieval prophetic writings consist of various standard literary elements, such as motifs, oracles, canonical citations as well as scriptural exegesis. The latter not seldom serves to support the apocalyptist’s universal history, which is generally presented in a typological framework. Typologies are literary devices that pair long-gone Old and New Testament events and characters with more recent, contemporary counterparts. In this paper it is argued that typologies (biblical as well as extra-biblical) form an essential compositional method in medieval Greek apocalypticism. Moreover, this study investigates what kind of time perception apocalyptic typologies are prone to convey. The Last Vision of the Prophet Daniel has been chosen as the primary source of this study. This prophecy is a pseudonymous, historical apocalypse that can be viewed as a typical representative of medieval Greek apocalypticism. The paper consists of three parts: First, the Pseudo-Danielic prophecy is introduced with regard to its date, content and influence. Second, its most significant typological models are identified and briefly discussed. Third, a number of inferences are drawn from the foregoing analysis, which characterize the Byzantine perception of apocalyptic time.

This bibliographical inventory surveys 50 medieval Greek apocalyptic sources ranging from the tur... more This bibliographical inventory surveys 50 medieval Greek apocalyptic sources ranging from the turn of the sixth century until the late fifteenth century. The surveyed material consists of historical and moral apocalypses, oracular prophecies and end-time calculations. The survey enumerates the various appellations and dating attempts for each text as proposed in modern scholarship. Moreover, references to editions and translations of each source are provided; they are followed by a preliminary list of the known manuscript witnesses. The purpose of the inventory is twofold: (i) it presents a quantitative estimation of the respective manuscript distribution. Altogether 1024 textual witnesses in 688 manuscripts have been identified to contain the surveyed apocalyptic texts. It has been found that about 70% of all manuscript material dates to the fifteenth century or later. Consequently, it can be established that the period surrounding and following the halōsis of 1453 functions as a filter that, to a large extent, regulates our access to and conditions our understanding of medieval Greek apocalyptic thought. Moreover, the inventory (ii) provides a holistic yet concise overview of a large section of Byzantine apocalypticism, which appears necessary for any comprehensive research that engages in (or steps beyond) intertextual analysis.

The paper discusses John Italos’ (d. after 1082) position on the eternity of the world. Italos wa... more The paper discusses John Italos’ (d. after 1082) position on the eternity of the world. Italos was condemned for a series of heretical views including the thesis that the visible world was eternal. However, a treatise of Italos has been transmitted, in which he refutes the idea of an eternal kosmos and argues for its createdness in the beginning of time. The present study provides a critical edition of the Greek text of Italos’ treatise (Quaestio 71 of his Quaestiones quodlibetales), provided with a first English translation and followed by a commentary that develops Italos’ main arguments and identifies some of his sources. It is argued that Italos sincerely defended an anti-eternalist standpoint by adopting arguments, first and foremost, of the sixth-century philosopher John Philoponos. Moreover, Italos seems to react in Quaestio 71 to specific charges that had been brought up against him during his repeated synodal investigations in 1076/77 and 1082. His treatise against the eternity of the world appears to be a comprehensive apology of his orthodoxy.

Miracles present a central theme in Byzantine prophetic texts. They are associated with eschatolo... more Miracles present a central theme in Byzantine prophetic texts. They are associated with eschatological protagonists, most notably with the motifs of the Antichrist and the Savior-Emperor, who are the dominant narrative figures in historical apocalypses, upon which the present study lays its focus. By surveying more than a dozen Byzantine prophecies from the sixth to sixteenth century this study aims to excavate the meaning and implications of miraculous deeds in the longue durée of Byzantine apocalyptic thought. In particular, it is shown how specific miraculous actions and characterizations-attributed to the Savior-Emperor and the Antichrist respectively-are to be read as either homologous or inverted correspondences that emulate biblical precedences of divine beneficial acts. Apocalyptic miracles (and pseudo-miracles) are, first and foremost, constructed as Christocentric typologies that stress the continuation of the miracle accounts known from the Gospels and the Old Testament. Furthermore, it is shown which specific events carried miraculous as well as eschatological connotations for the Byzantines.

This paper investigates how Byzantine apocalypses convey the concept of time to their audience. F... more This paper investigates how Byzantine apocalypses convey the concept of time to their audience. For this study, I have chosen a threefold approach: First, I sketch the chronology of the end times, which consists of various presumed dates for the Last Judgement and of a sequence of expected events that were anticipated to take place beforehand. Second, I discuss the typological structure of apocalyptic time, which underlies much of the prophetic accounts, as is shown by a few selected examples. Third, I reflect upon the speed of apocalyptic time by arguing for the significance of fluctuations in the narrative speed and by discussing the apocalyptic phenomenon known as the shortening of days. When seen together, these three approaches help reconstruct a rather detailed picture of how the Byzantines conceptualized and articulated apocalyptic time.

In his 'The Deliverance from Error' al-Ghazālī describes error as a sickness. Adhering to this me... more In his 'The Deliverance from Error' al-Ghazālī describes error as a sickness. Adhering to this metaphor, al-Ghazālī prescribes certain intellectual strategies for regaining one’s health. This paper reconstructs the proposed remedy for the philosophy of his day, that is, Avicennism, which al-Ghazālī attacks on specific key issues in his 'The Incoherence of the Philosophers'. The paper focuses in particular on one refutation from the 'Incoherence’s' first discussion, which deals with the issue of the pre-eternity of the world. In it al-Ghazālī advances a nominalist interpretation of modality, which allows him to reject the conclusiveness of particular Avicennan proofs. Moreover, al-Ghazālī employs this nominalist approach when dealing with the issue of causality. Al-Ghazālī realized that there is no definite criterion to choose between the two viable options of occasionalism and secondary causality; both theories are equally possible. The fact that he defines possibility in a nominalist, that is, non-temporal framework, allows him to suspend his judgment and circumvent the pressing question: which theory is true now? In essence, by reading the 'Deliverance' and the 'Incoherence' synoptically and by building upon the scholarship of F. Griffel it becomes clear that al-Ghazālī’s modal nominalism proposes an “intellectual surgery” that delivers from sickening error in the domain of speculative philosophy.

The Arab conquest of the seventh century and continued Arab rule over the Near East gave rise to ... more The Arab conquest of the seventh century and continued Arab rule over the Near East gave rise to a wave of apocalyptic writings across confessional and denominational borders. In the context of this apocalyptic Zeitgeist, Christian circles promoted a new ideological figure which became one of the most influential literary topoi in medieval history, namely, the Last Roman Emperor. This Last Roman Emperor was said to be coming at a moment of great distress and to liberate Christians from the yoke of the Arabs, pacify the world, and establish the pax Christiana that would endure until the emperor's abdication at the end of times.

Eschatological thought is closely associated with revealed monotheistic religions. But eschatolog... more Eschatological thought is closely associated with revealed monotheistic religions. But eschatology, or thinking about the end times, appeared far and wide also outside the Abrahamic religions. The book under review is a welcome addition to the ever-expanding library on non-Abrahamic eschatological traditions. It offers a chronological survey of Greco-Roman eschatology from Hesiod to Marcus Aurelius. The book is divided into two roughly equal parts. Part one, consisting of the first three chapters, surveys authors from ancient Greece until the age of Augustus. The second part, comprising chapters three through six, discusses pagan authors from the early Roman Empire. C. Star sets the stage with a quote from Marcus Aurelius, who gives a sort of "mini-apocalypse" in his Meditations 6.4 (p. 1). Marcus Aurelius succinctly predicts the eventual destruction of the natural world, either through a cosmic fire, as taught by the Stoics, or through the dissolution of its constituent elements, as held by the Epicureans. These two options marked the dominant conceptual paradigms not only for Marcus Aurelius but also for most of the pagan Roman authors surveyed in the book. Philosophers and poets subscribed to either one of them, or to a hybrid of both. This review begins with an appraisal of Star's terminology, proceeds with a synopsis of each chapter, and closes with some key insights of the book.

41 Sergei Mariev (Hrsg.): Byzantine Perspectives on Neoplatonism. Boston/Berlin: de Gruyter 2017 ... more 41 Sergei Mariev (Hrsg.): Byzantine Perspectives on Neoplatonism. Boston/Berlin: de Gruyter 2017 (Byzantinisches Archiv. Series Philosophica 1). VII, 289 S. € 99.95/ $ 140.00/ £ 90.99. ISBN: 978-1-5015-1167-7. Der vorliegende Band ist die erste Veröffentlichung in einer neuen Reihe des ‚Byzantinischen Archivs' mit dem Titel ‚Series Philosophica', die der byzantinischen Philosophiegeschichte gewidmet ist. Dabei kommt diese neue Reihe dem Desideratum nach, der in den letzten Jahrzehnten stark an Popularität gewonnenen Forschung der Philosophiegeschichte Ostroms ein Forum zu bieten. Bei dieser ersten Veröffentlichung handelt es sich um einen Tagungsband mit zehn Beiträgen in englischer, italienischer und deutscher Sprache. 1 Die Beiträge stellen eine Auswahl der 2013er und 2014er Jahreskonferenz der International Society of Neoplatonic Studies dar und wurden unter der Obhut Sergei Marievs ediert. Ein großer Teil des Bandes befasst sich mit der Rezeptionsgeschichte des Proklos und bietet damit eine Sammlung von Forschungsergebnissen, welche sich in vielerlei Hinsicht mit den jüngst erschienenen -von Stephen Gersh sowie von Danielle Layne und David Butorac herausgegebenen -Bänden überschneidet. 2

Zum standardmäßigen Inventar von mittelalterlichen Endzeiterzählungen gehören neben individuellen... more Zum standardmäßigen Inventar von mittelalterlichen Endzeiterzählungen gehören neben individuellen Protagonisten (wie dem Antichristen oder dem Endkaiser) auch kollektive Akteure, die oft in unheilvoller (aber gegebenenfalls auch in heilvoller) Weise den Endkampf zwischen Gut und Böse beeinflussen. In erster Linie denkt man hierbei an die Endzeitvölker Gog und Magog im christlichen (Ez 38-39, Offb 20,8) und deren strukturelle Pendants Yājūj und Mājūj im islamischen Kontext (Sure 18,94 und 21,96). Doch finden sich in den Quellen auch andere prominente Endzeitvölker, wie etwa die Ismaeliten, das "Blonde Volk" (ξανθὸν γένος, banū al-aṣfar), die zehn verlorenen Stämme Israels und andere. Diese kollektiven Endzeitakteure standen im Oktober 2011 im Zentrum einer dreitägigen internationalen Tagung in Frankfurt am Main. Hierzu wurden vor allem Nachwuchswissenschaftler aus verschiedenen Disziplinen eingeladen, ihre Forschungen bezüglich apokalyptischer Völker vorzustellen. Die meisten dieser Vorträge enthält der vorliegende Tagungsband, der von Wolfram Brandes, Felicitas Schmieder und Rebekka Voß -alle Spezialisten für die apokalyptische Forschung -herausgegeben wurde. Dieser Band schließt damit die jüngste Endzeitkonferenz ab, welche an frühere Tagungen von 2005 und 2007 anknüpft, die sich ihrerseits anderen apokalyptischen Themen gewidmet hatten. 1 Die Aufsätze sind -wie die Vorträge der Konferenz -auf Deutsch oder Englisch verfasst.