Tag Archive for 'Gnomologia'
February 14th, 2013 by Roger Pearse
In 1923 A. Delatte published a strange, short Greek text which consists of sayings predicting Christ attributed to the Seven Sages. There are quite a number of collections of “sayings” in later Greek literature, which are studied under the intimidating title of “gnomologia” (i.e. “wisdom sayings”). Most remain inaccessible and untranslated. The sayings are usually [...]
August 2nd, 2012 by Roger Pearse
Adam McCollum’s blog HMMLOrientalia came back to life a few months ago, and unfortunately I did not notice. But he is now posting some very useful material indeed, with good bibliographies, and each post contributes measurably the increasing the quality of information online. But this post caught my eye for other reasons: At the beginning [...]
August 18th, 2010 by Roger Pearse
Everyone knows that the Arabs had collections of the “sayings of the poets and philosophers” with which they bored each other at those lengthy dinner parties during the middle ages while they were waiting for the crusades to begin. Few perhaps realise that collections of this kind actually start with the Greeks, and are extant [...]
March 20th, 2010 by Roger Pearse
A. Delatte begins his article of the above title with the following words: Never did anyone prophesy so much, in the special form known as prophecy post eventum, as in the first centuries of Christianity. The rapid conquest of souls by the new ideal and the solid establishment of the Christian churches showed the hand [...]
March 20th, 2010 by Roger Pearse
I doubt that I am alone in possessing piles of photocopies from books and articles. Like blocks of stone they rise on every side. Made by my own hands, mostly, the photocopies were paid for in time and money. Many a trip to the university library has ended in a session at home reading through [...]
August 20th, 2008 by Roger Pearse
Last night I read a truly splendid article by R. Van Den Broek, Four Coptic Fragments of a Greek Theosophy, Vigiliae Christianae, 32 (1978), 118-42. It’s on JSTOR here. If you have JSTOR access, don’t try to read it on-screen, because it will make your eyes hurt; print it on paper and read it that [...]
July 17th, 2008 by Roger Pearse at ToA
I collect joke books. Most evenings I get home, tired, and I’m not really in the mood to read something heavy. Instead I pick up a joke book, open it anywhere, read a few lines and always find something to make me smile. Anyone who has bought joke books will be familiar with the way [...]
June 24th, 2008 by Roger Pearse at ToA
Collections of sayings by philosophers and other bums are known as gnomologia – the idea being that they contain gnomic wisdom. These things exercised quite a bit of influence in antiquity. One of the most famous collections of these is the Corpus Parisinum, so called because it is preserved in a massive manuscript (Ms. Paris [...]