Could Iamblichus help us to understand one ancient relief?
Describing Pythagoras’ activities in Croton Iamblichus summarizes the content of his public speeches addressed to young men, to the Thousand who governed the city, as well as children and women of Croton. The earliest evidences about the Pythagoras’ speeches, available to us are found in an Athenian...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | ell |
| Published: |
Novosibirsk State University Press
2015-01-01
|
| Series: | SCHOLE |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.nsu.ru/classics/schole/9/9-1-afonasina.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797977688273584128 |
|---|---|
| author | Afonasina, Anna |
| author_facet | Afonasina, Anna |
| author_sort | Afonasina, Anna |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Describing Pythagoras’ activities in Croton Iamblichus summarizes the content of his public speeches addressed to young men, to the Thousand who governed the city, as well as children and women of Croton. The earliest evidences about the Pythagoras’ speeches, available to us are found in an Athenian rhetorician and a pupil of Socrates Antisthenes (450–370 BCE), the historians Dicearchus and Timaeus, and Isocrates. In the present paper I consider the content of the Pythagoras’ speeches, preserved by Iamblichus, in more details, in order to suggest a new interpretation of the famous grave relief from the Antikensammlung, Berlin (Sk 1462). The relief, found in an “Olive grove on the road to Eleusis” and dated to the first century BCE, presents an image of a sitting half-naked bearded man with a young man, also half-naked, standing behind his chair, and a group of peoples consisting of a child, an older man and a woman, standing in front of him. Our attention attracts a big and clear image of the letter ‘Psi’ above the scene. The comparison of the content of Pythagoras’ speeches with the picture given on the relief allows us to interpret the image as following: we suggest that the sitting man, undoubtedly a philosopher, could be a Pythagorean or Pythagoras himself; he is attended by his pupil and gives speeches to different groups of peoples, symbolically represented as a young man, a public agent, a woman and a child. Admittedly, the letter ‘Psi’ symbolizes the Pythagorean teaching about psyche (the soul), and the relief itself, contrary to general opinion, was initially designed to adorn a school or a private building rather than a funeral monument. An alternative interpretation suggested is that the sitting figure could be a wandering physician. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:10:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9a13e6a7a7914e4ba04097a0beae74a7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1995-4328 1995-4336 |
| language | ell |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:10:58Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | Novosibirsk State University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SCHOLE |
| spelling | doaj.art-9a13e6a7a7914e4ba04097a0beae74a72022-12-25T10:44:17ZellNovosibirsk State University PressSCHOLE1995-43281995-43362015-01-0191185192Could Iamblichus help us to understand one ancient relief?Afonasina, Anna0Tomsk State University, Novosibirsk State UniversityDescribing Pythagoras’ activities in Croton Iamblichus summarizes the content of his public speeches addressed to young men, to the Thousand who governed the city, as well as children and women of Croton. The earliest evidences about the Pythagoras’ speeches, available to us are found in an Athenian rhetorician and a pupil of Socrates Antisthenes (450–370 BCE), the historians Dicearchus and Timaeus, and Isocrates. In the present paper I consider the content of the Pythagoras’ speeches, preserved by Iamblichus, in more details, in order to suggest a new interpretation of the famous grave relief from the Antikensammlung, Berlin (Sk 1462). The relief, found in an “Olive grove on the road to Eleusis” and dated to the first century BCE, presents an image of a sitting half-naked bearded man with a young man, also half-naked, standing behind his chair, and a group of peoples consisting of a child, an older man and a woman, standing in front of him. Our attention attracts a big and clear image of the letter ‘Psi’ above the scene. The comparison of the content of Pythagoras’ speeches with the picture given on the relief allows us to interpret the image as following: we suggest that the sitting man, undoubtedly a philosopher, could be a Pythagorean or Pythagoras himself; he is attended by his pupil and gives speeches to different groups of peoples, symbolically represented as a young man, a public agent, a woman and a child. Admittedly, the letter ‘Psi’ symbolizes the Pythagorean teaching about psyche (the soul), and the relief itself, contrary to general opinion, was initially designed to adorn a school or a private building rather than a funeral monument. An alternative interpretation suggested is that the sitting figure could be a wandering physician.http://www.nsu.ru/classics/schole/9/9-1-afonasina.pdfthe images of philosopherPythagorasplastic artschools in antiquity |
| spellingShingle | Afonasina, Anna Could Iamblichus help us to understand one ancient relief? SCHOLE the images of philosopher Pythagoras plastic art schools in antiquity |
| title | Could Iamblichus help us to understand one ancient relief? |
| title_full | Could Iamblichus help us to understand one ancient relief? |
| title_fullStr | Could Iamblichus help us to understand one ancient relief? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Could Iamblichus help us to understand one ancient relief? |
| title_short | Could Iamblichus help us to understand one ancient relief? |
| title_sort | could iamblichus help us to understand one ancient relief |
| topic | the images of philosopher Pythagoras plastic art schools in antiquity |
| url | http://www.nsu.ru/classics/schole/9/9-1-afonasina.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT afonasinaanna couldiamblichushelpustounderstandoneancientrelief |