J.J. (Jaap-Jan) Flinterman | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (original) (raw)
Books by J.J. (Jaap-Jan) Flinterman
The original Dutch language version of my doctoral thesis, which was supervised by Professor Luka... more The original Dutch language version of my doctoral thesis, which was supervised by Professor Lukas de Blois. For an extended English summary, see pp. 307-321.
Een digitale heruitgave (pdf) van de eerste monografie over de Nederlanders die tijdens de Spaans... more Een digitale heruitgave (pdf) van de eerste monografie over de Nederlanders die tijdens de Spaanse burgeroorlog in de Internationale Brigades aan de kant van de Spaanse republiek aan de strijd deelnamen.
Articles & chapters by J.J. (Jaap-Jan) Flinterman
Lampas 56.4: Themanummer Tabula Lugdunensis, 2023
Lampas 56.1, 2023
The city of Messene was re-founded as the central polis of Messenia after the region’s liberation... more The city of Messene was re-founded as the central polis of Messenia after
the region’s liberation from Spartan domination in 369 BC. At the end of
the third or during the first half of the second century BC, an impressive
sanctuary for the healing god Asclepius was built in the city centre. This
contribution focuses on the question why the city built such a magnificent
Asclepieum at this point in its history. Part of the answer lies in local and
regional tradition. The Messenians claimed Asclepius and his sons as
their compatriots, a claim dating back to the Late Archaic period, and
part of the site of the Hellenistic Asclepieum had been a place of worship
for the healing god since the Classical period. But in trying to explain
the sanctuary’s grandiose rebuilding in the Hellenistic period, it is also
useful to look into the political situation of the city in the early second
century, a time when its independence and its dominant position in the
region were eroding.
Lampas 52.3: Themanummer Res gestae Divi Augusti, 2019
The present article compares Augustus’ portrayal of the beginning of his political career, in Res... more The present article compares Augustus’ portrayal of the beginning of his political career, in Res Gestae 1-2, with what is otherwise known of the events mentioned or suppressed by the princeps in these chapters. He rewrote the story of his remarkable political acrobatics in 44-43 BCE so as to fit in with the ideology of the principate: a leadership embedded in constitutional legality and based on a consensus rooted in recognition of his extraordinary merits as alleged saviour of the res publica. In turning history into ideology, he profited in no small measure from the support he had received from Cicero during the earliest stage of his career.
Lampas 52.3: Themanummer Res Gestae Divi Augusti, 2019
This paper, self-published on the internet in September 2019 as a rejoinder to Afrocentric critic... more This paper, self-published on the internet in September 2019 as a rejoinder to Afrocentric criticism of my articles in Lampas 2017, examines, among other things, how James‘ thesis (’Stolen legacy') was understood in Afrocentric circles before Mary Lefkowitz's critique in the 1990s. Contrary to what is sometimes suggested, it was assumed that Alexandria not only existed before Alexander the Great, but was also called Alexandria. Only after Lefkowitz's critique did people come up with the idea that the ‘theft’ of Egyptian intellectual heritage had taken place in an Egyptian settlement, Rakote, on the site where Alexander founded his city.
Lampas 50.2, 2017
In the present article, a sequel to a contribution published elsewhere in this issue of Lampas, I... more In the present article, a sequel to a contribution published elsewhere in this issue of Lampas, I discuss afrocentric attempts to amend James’ story of the plundering of the Royal Library at Alexandria by Alexander and Aristotle. The aim of these attempts is to salvage from its critics the fiction of a palpable theft of Egyptian wisdom by the Greeks. Rakote, the original Egyptian settlement on the location of the city founded by Alexander, is substituted for Alexandria, a temple library for the Ptolemaic institute, and Callisthenes for Aristotle. While James’ apologists pretend that they are defending the main thesis of Stolen Legacy, they are actually coming up with a new story to replace James’ untenable invention. The amended story may look superficially less implausible than the original one, it still is an unfounded contention, unsupported by any evidence, and hard to combine with what we know about Alexander’s policies in Egypt and elsewhere. Rather than rescuing James’ ‘hypothesis’ from its critics, the amendments demonstrate the indispensability of fiction for afrocentric discourse.
Lampas 50.2, 2017
The present contribution, the first panel of a diptych, discusses a claim put forward by George G... more The present contribution, the first panel of a diptych, discusses a claim put forward by George G.M. James in his book Stolen Legacy (1954). According to James, the Macedonian king Alexander III in association with the philosopher Aristotle plundered the Royal Library at Alexandria – a crucial episode in what Afrocentric thinkers consider the theft of African philosophy by the Greeks. The article presents and analyses the evidence for the founding of Alexandria, for Aristotle’s whereabouts during Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire, and for the establishment of the Alexandrian library. James’ contention turns out to be unsupported by any evidence. In addition, it is at odds with the results of historical research into events of the late fourth and early third century BCE relevant to the matter at hand. The alleged theft must have taken place in a city not yet founded, by a philosopher with an alibi, and in an institution that would not be established until at least a quarter of a century after the death of the Macedonian conqueror. Afrocentric responses to such criticisms will be discussed in a sequel to this contribution,
published elsewhere in this issue of Lampas.
Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 129.2, 2016
Why we do not tell our students that Greek culture originates in 'Black Africa'. The present cont... more Why we do not tell our students that Greek culture originates in 'Black Africa'. The present contribution is an offshoot of a public debate on Afrocentric criticisms of the teaching of Ancient History, held at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in June 2015. We argue that the central tenets of the Afrocentric view of Ancient History, viz. that the 'Greek miracle' was a derivative of Egyptian culture, and that pharaonic Egypt was a black civilization, are edifying myths rather than serious contributions to our understanding of the history of the Eastern Mediterranean in Antiquity and that they should not be taught in public educational institutions.
G. Weber (ed.), Artemidor von Daldis und die antike Traumdeutung. Texte - Kontexte - Lektüren (Berlin/New York), 2015
Carl. A. Huffman (ed.), A History of Pythagoreanism (Cambridge), 2014
ZPE 181, 2012
This pdf contains the text of the article as it was published (except for a correction of a mispl... more This pdf contains the text of the article as it was published (except for a correction of a misplaced square bracket). The page numbers of the original publication are given in bold between brackets..
Ewen Bowie, Jaś Elsner (eds), Philostratus (Cambridge), 2009
Kristoffel Demoen, Danny Praet (eds), THEIOS SOPHISTĒS. Essays on Philostratus’ Vita Apollonii (Leiden & Boston), 2009
Th eios Sophistes : essays on Flavius Philostratus' Vita Apollonii / edited by Kristoff el Demoen... more Th eios Sophistes : essays on Flavius Philostratus' Vita Apollonii / edited by Kristoff el Demoen and Danny Praet. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Mnemosyne 60.4, 2007
In two passages of the Oneirocritica, Artemidorus discusses the practice of asking the gods for a... more In two passages of the Oneirocritica, Artemidorus discusses the practice of asking the gods for a dream containing a prediction or an advice. The prevailing opinion among scholars is that Artemidorus rejects this type of dreams categorically. In this article it is argued that, on the contrary, Artemidorus does accept the validity of petitionary dreams, provided that some rules are taken into account. Further, a couple of proposals for improvement of the text are made for a pivotal passage on petitionary dreams, namely 246.15-8 Pack.
Lampas 40.1, 2007
The present article, a sequel to our contribution in Lampas 39 3, deals with the different role... more The present article, a sequel to our contribution in Lampas 39 3, deals
with the different roles played by the gods in Artemidorus' Oneirocritica. After an
introduction (§ i), we discuss Artemidorus' treatment of dreams received by
people who have approached the gods, either in a private context or in the frame-
work of an incubation ritual. Artemidorus takes an agnostical position with regard
to the provenance of predictive dreams Nevertheless, he leaves room for the pos-
sibility that people who have asked the gods for a prediction or an advice, will in
fact receive a mantic dream, and he obviously thinks that oneirocritics should be
prepared to offer their services in interpreting such 'petitionary dreams'; the same
IS true of dreams resulting from incubation. He sternly warns, however, against the
disrespectful attitude towards the gods implied in magical dream-divination and
against the fraudulence of books allegedly containing collections of divine pre-
scriptions (§ 2). In the following two sections we focus on gods as dream-symbols
in the Onetrocnttca, successively discussing Artemidorus' classification of the gods
(§ 3) and the methods he employs in interpreting dreams about them (§ 4). In the
final section (§ 5), we raise the question of the extent to which the ideas about the
gods implied in Artemidorus' interpretations are representative of contemporary
pagan religiousness and of his own opinions We argue that adducing such ideas as
evidence of the vitality of traditional polytheism is questionable procedure, and
that what Artemidorus presents as his own beliefs is a rather uncomfortable com-
bination of syncretism verging on monotheism on the one hand and traditional po-
lytheistic conceptions on the other.
Lampas 39.3, 2006
Artemidorus' Oneirocritica, a manual for the interpretation of dreams, was composed in the seco... more Artemidorus' Oneirocritica, a manual for the interpretation of dreams,
was composed in the second century A D by a Greek from Asia Minor. The author
presents his readers with an impressive number of dream-symbols and their possi-
ble interpretations. He also repeatedly defines, explains, and defends his profession
and its underlying principles, on a couple of occasions confronting oneiromancy
with competing divinatory practices. Thus, the Oneirocritica contains fascinating
evidence on the interpretation of dreams as well as on other forms of divination
practised for private purposes in the Mediterranean world under the Early Empire.
The present article surveys this evidence. After introducing the work and its
author (§ 2), it discusses Artemidorus' classification of dreams, the interpretative
methods he employs (§ 3), and his ideas about the provenance of predictive dreams
(§ 4). The last section (§ 5) focuses on Oneirocritica 2.69, where Artemidorus
lashes out at disreputable rivals, positioning the interpretation of dreams among
the intellectually and socially respectable forms of divination. The chapter is o b -
viously inspired by professional jealousy. For Artemidorus, obtaining a larger
share of the market prevailed over correspondence between theory and practice.
This is especially apparent from the fact that he smuggled oracular dreams, which
actually fell outside the scope of his professional expertise, into the dream-inter-
preter's realm.
B. Borg (ed.), Paideia. The World of the Second Sophistic (Berlin/New York), 2004
The original Dutch language version of my doctoral thesis, which was supervised by Professor Luka... more The original Dutch language version of my doctoral thesis, which was supervised by Professor Lukas de Blois. For an extended English summary, see pp. 307-321.
Een digitale heruitgave (pdf) van de eerste monografie over de Nederlanders die tijdens de Spaans... more Een digitale heruitgave (pdf) van de eerste monografie over de Nederlanders die tijdens de Spaanse burgeroorlog in de Internationale Brigades aan de kant van de Spaanse republiek aan de strijd deelnamen.
Lampas 56.4: Themanummer Tabula Lugdunensis, 2023
Lampas 56.1, 2023
The city of Messene was re-founded as the central polis of Messenia after the region’s liberation... more The city of Messene was re-founded as the central polis of Messenia after
the region’s liberation from Spartan domination in 369 BC. At the end of
the third or during the first half of the second century BC, an impressive
sanctuary for the healing god Asclepius was built in the city centre. This
contribution focuses on the question why the city built such a magnificent
Asclepieum at this point in its history. Part of the answer lies in local and
regional tradition. The Messenians claimed Asclepius and his sons as
their compatriots, a claim dating back to the Late Archaic period, and
part of the site of the Hellenistic Asclepieum had been a place of worship
for the healing god since the Classical period. But in trying to explain
the sanctuary’s grandiose rebuilding in the Hellenistic period, it is also
useful to look into the political situation of the city in the early second
century, a time when its independence and its dominant position in the
region were eroding.
Lampas 52.3: Themanummer Res gestae Divi Augusti, 2019
The present article compares Augustus’ portrayal of the beginning of his political career, in Res... more The present article compares Augustus’ portrayal of the beginning of his political career, in Res Gestae 1-2, with what is otherwise known of the events mentioned or suppressed by the princeps in these chapters. He rewrote the story of his remarkable political acrobatics in 44-43 BCE so as to fit in with the ideology of the principate: a leadership embedded in constitutional legality and based on a consensus rooted in recognition of his extraordinary merits as alleged saviour of the res publica. In turning history into ideology, he profited in no small measure from the support he had received from Cicero during the earliest stage of his career.
Lampas 52.3: Themanummer Res Gestae Divi Augusti, 2019
This paper, self-published on the internet in September 2019 as a rejoinder to Afrocentric critic... more This paper, self-published on the internet in September 2019 as a rejoinder to Afrocentric criticism of my articles in Lampas 2017, examines, among other things, how James‘ thesis (’Stolen legacy') was understood in Afrocentric circles before Mary Lefkowitz's critique in the 1990s. Contrary to what is sometimes suggested, it was assumed that Alexandria not only existed before Alexander the Great, but was also called Alexandria. Only after Lefkowitz's critique did people come up with the idea that the ‘theft’ of Egyptian intellectual heritage had taken place in an Egyptian settlement, Rakote, on the site where Alexander founded his city.
Lampas 50.2, 2017
In the present article, a sequel to a contribution published elsewhere in this issue of Lampas, I... more In the present article, a sequel to a contribution published elsewhere in this issue of Lampas, I discuss afrocentric attempts to amend James’ story of the plundering of the Royal Library at Alexandria by Alexander and Aristotle. The aim of these attempts is to salvage from its critics the fiction of a palpable theft of Egyptian wisdom by the Greeks. Rakote, the original Egyptian settlement on the location of the city founded by Alexander, is substituted for Alexandria, a temple library for the Ptolemaic institute, and Callisthenes for Aristotle. While James’ apologists pretend that they are defending the main thesis of Stolen Legacy, they are actually coming up with a new story to replace James’ untenable invention. The amended story may look superficially less implausible than the original one, it still is an unfounded contention, unsupported by any evidence, and hard to combine with what we know about Alexander’s policies in Egypt and elsewhere. Rather than rescuing James’ ‘hypothesis’ from its critics, the amendments demonstrate the indispensability of fiction for afrocentric discourse.
Lampas 50.2, 2017
The present contribution, the first panel of a diptych, discusses a claim put forward by George G... more The present contribution, the first panel of a diptych, discusses a claim put forward by George G.M. James in his book Stolen Legacy (1954). According to James, the Macedonian king Alexander III in association with the philosopher Aristotle plundered the Royal Library at Alexandria – a crucial episode in what Afrocentric thinkers consider the theft of African philosophy by the Greeks. The article presents and analyses the evidence for the founding of Alexandria, for Aristotle’s whereabouts during Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire, and for the establishment of the Alexandrian library. James’ contention turns out to be unsupported by any evidence. In addition, it is at odds with the results of historical research into events of the late fourth and early third century BCE relevant to the matter at hand. The alleged theft must have taken place in a city not yet founded, by a philosopher with an alibi, and in an institution that would not be established until at least a quarter of a century after the death of the Macedonian conqueror. Afrocentric responses to such criticisms will be discussed in a sequel to this contribution,
published elsewhere in this issue of Lampas.
Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 129.2, 2016
Why we do not tell our students that Greek culture originates in 'Black Africa'. The present cont... more Why we do not tell our students that Greek culture originates in 'Black Africa'. The present contribution is an offshoot of a public debate on Afrocentric criticisms of the teaching of Ancient History, held at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in June 2015. We argue that the central tenets of the Afrocentric view of Ancient History, viz. that the 'Greek miracle' was a derivative of Egyptian culture, and that pharaonic Egypt was a black civilization, are edifying myths rather than serious contributions to our understanding of the history of the Eastern Mediterranean in Antiquity and that they should not be taught in public educational institutions.
G. Weber (ed.), Artemidor von Daldis und die antike Traumdeutung. Texte - Kontexte - Lektüren (Berlin/New York), 2015
Carl. A. Huffman (ed.), A History of Pythagoreanism (Cambridge), 2014
ZPE 181, 2012
This pdf contains the text of the article as it was published (except for a correction of a mispl... more This pdf contains the text of the article as it was published (except for a correction of a misplaced square bracket). The page numbers of the original publication are given in bold between brackets..
Ewen Bowie, Jaś Elsner (eds), Philostratus (Cambridge), 2009
Kristoffel Demoen, Danny Praet (eds), THEIOS SOPHISTĒS. Essays on Philostratus’ Vita Apollonii (Leiden & Boston), 2009
Th eios Sophistes : essays on Flavius Philostratus' Vita Apollonii / edited by Kristoff el Demoen... more Th eios Sophistes : essays on Flavius Philostratus' Vita Apollonii / edited by Kristoff el Demoen and Danny Praet. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
Mnemosyne 60.4, 2007
In two passages of the Oneirocritica, Artemidorus discusses the practice of asking the gods for a... more In two passages of the Oneirocritica, Artemidorus discusses the practice of asking the gods for a dream containing a prediction or an advice. The prevailing opinion among scholars is that Artemidorus rejects this type of dreams categorically. In this article it is argued that, on the contrary, Artemidorus does accept the validity of petitionary dreams, provided that some rules are taken into account. Further, a couple of proposals for improvement of the text are made for a pivotal passage on petitionary dreams, namely 246.15-8 Pack.
Lampas 40.1, 2007
The present article, a sequel to our contribution in Lampas 39 3, deals with the different role... more The present article, a sequel to our contribution in Lampas 39 3, deals
with the different roles played by the gods in Artemidorus' Oneirocritica. After an
introduction (§ i), we discuss Artemidorus' treatment of dreams received by
people who have approached the gods, either in a private context or in the frame-
work of an incubation ritual. Artemidorus takes an agnostical position with regard
to the provenance of predictive dreams Nevertheless, he leaves room for the pos-
sibility that people who have asked the gods for a prediction or an advice, will in
fact receive a mantic dream, and he obviously thinks that oneirocritics should be
prepared to offer their services in interpreting such 'petitionary dreams'; the same
IS true of dreams resulting from incubation. He sternly warns, however, against the
disrespectful attitude towards the gods implied in magical dream-divination and
against the fraudulence of books allegedly containing collections of divine pre-
scriptions (§ 2). In the following two sections we focus on gods as dream-symbols
in the Onetrocnttca, successively discussing Artemidorus' classification of the gods
(§ 3) and the methods he employs in interpreting dreams about them (§ 4). In the
final section (§ 5), we raise the question of the extent to which the ideas about the
gods implied in Artemidorus' interpretations are representative of contemporary
pagan religiousness and of his own opinions We argue that adducing such ideas as
evidence of the vitality of traditional polytheism is questionable procedure, and
that what Artemidorus presents as his own beliefs is a rather uncomfortable com-
bination of syncretism verging on monotheism on the one hand and traditional po-
lytheistic conceptions on the other.
Lampas 39.3, 2006
Artemidorus' Oneirocritica, a manual for the interpretation of dreams, was composed in the seco... more Artemidorus' Oneirocritica, a manual for the interpretation of dreams,
was composed in the second century A D by a Greek from Asia Minor. The author
presents his readers with an impressive number of dream-symbols and their possi-
ble interpretations. He also repeatedly defines, explains, and defends his profession
and its underlying principles, on a couple of occasions confronting oneiromancy
with competing divinatory practices. Thus, the Oneirocritica contains fascinating
evidence on the interpretation of dreams as well as on other forms of divination
practised for private purposes in the Mediterranean world under the Early Empire.
The present article surveys this evidence. After introducing the work and its
author (§ 2), it discusses Artemidorus' classification of dreams, the interpretative
methods he employs (§ 3), and his ideas about the provenance of predictive dreams
(§ 4). The last section (§ 5) focuses on Oneirocritica 2.69, where Artemidorus
lashes out at disreputable rivals, positioning the interpretation of dreams among
the intellectually and socially respectable forms of divination. The chapter is o b -
viously inspired by professional jealousy. For Artemidorus, obtaining a larger
share of the market prevailed over correspondence between theory and practice.
This is especially apparent from the fact that he smuggled oracular dreams, which
actually fell outside the scope of his professional expertise, into the dream-inter-
preter's realm.
B. Borg (ed.), Paideia. The World of the Second Sophistic (Berlin/New York), 2004
Ancient Narrative 1, 2002
Mnemosyne 62.3, 2009
This pdf contains the text of the review as it was published. The page numbers of the original pu... more This pdf contains the text of the review as it was published. The page numbers of the original publication are indicated by numbers in bold between square brackets.
