Knowledge of God in the Graeco-Roman World (Études Préliminaires Aux Religions Orientales Dans l'Empire) 9004086889, 9789004086883

Table of contents :
Knowledge of god in the graeco-roman world
Contents
Preface
Abbreviations
Identification and Self-Identification of Gods in Classical and Hellenistic Times
The Unknown God (Acts 17:23)
Zur Theologie des Xenokrates
Naming and Knowing: Themes in Philonic Theology with special Reference to the De mutatione nominum
Compatible Alternatives: Middle Platonist Theology and the Xenophanes Reception
La connaissance de dieu et la hiérarchie divine chez Albinos
The Way of the Most High and the Injustice of God in 4 Ezra
Man's Behaviour and God's Justice in Early Jewish Tradition. Some Observations
Générations antédiluviennes et chute des éons dans l'Hermétisme et dans la Gnose
"If you do not sabbatize the Sabbath ... ": The Sabbath as God or World in Gnostic Understanding (Ev. Thorn. Log. 27)
Eugnostus and Aristides on the Ineffable God
The Knowledge of God in Origen
Knowledge of God in Eusebius and Athanasius
Les dieux et le divin dans les mystères de Mithra
La conception de Dieu dans le manichéisme
Index of Biblical and Jewish Texts
Index of Greek and Latin Texts and Monuments
Index of Coptic, Syriac, and other Oriental Texts

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KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD

ETUDES PRELIMINAIRES AUX RELIGIONS ORIENTALES DANS L'EMPIRE ROMAIN PUBLlEES PAR

M.J. VERMASERENt M.E.C. VERMASEREN-VAN HAAREN

ET

MARGREET B. DE BOER

TOME CENT DOUZIEME

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD EDITED BY

R. VAN DEN BROEK, T. BAARDA, AND J. MANSFELD

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IN THE GRABeO-ROMAN WORLD EDITED BY

R. VAN DEN BROEK, T. BAARDA, AND J. MANSFELD

E.l. BRILL

LEIDEN • NEW YORK • K0BENHAVN • KÖLN 1988

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Knowledge of God in the Graeco-Roman world / edited by R. van den Broek, T. Baarda, and J. Mansfeld. p. cm. -- (Etudes preliminaires aux religions orient ales dans I'Empire romain, ISSN 0531-1950; t. 112) Includes bibliographies and indexes. ISBN 9004086889 (pbk.) 1. God--Knowableness--Comparative studies--Congresses. 2. God-Knowableness-- History of doctrines-- Early church, ca. 30 - 600-Congresses. 1. Broek, R. van den. II. Baarda, Tjitze. IIr. Mansfeld, Jaap. IV. Series. BL473.K56 1988 291.2' 11 '0938--dc 19 88-5064 CIP

ISSN 0531-1950 ISBN 90 04 08688 9

© Copyright 1988 by E.J. BrilI, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or translated in any form, by print, photoprint, microjilm, microfiche or any other means without written permission from the publisher PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS BV E.J. BRILL

CONTENTS Preface ...................................................... Abbreviations ................................................ Identification and Self-Identification of Gods in Classical and Hellenistic Times .......................................... . G. MUSSIES The Unknown God (Acts 17:23) .............................,... P.W. VAN DER HORST Zur Theologie des Xenokrates ..................................

VII IX

19

43

M. BALTES

Naming and Knowing: Themes in Philonic Theology with special Reference to the De mutatione nominum ......................

69

D.T. RUNIA

Compatible Alternatives: Middle Platonist Theology and the Xenophanes Reception ......................................

92

J. MANSFELD

La connaissance de dieu et la hierarchie divine chez Albinos ....... P.L. DONINI The Way of the Most High and the Injustice of God in 4 Ezra

118 132

M.E. STONE

Man's Behaviour and God's Justice in Early Jewish Tradition. So me Observations ......................................... P.W. VAN BOXEL Generations antediluviennes et chute des eons dans l'Hermetisme et dans la Gnose .............................................. J.-P. MARE "If you do not sabbatize the Sabbath ... ": The Sabbath as God or World in Gnostic Understanding (Ev. Thorn. Log. 27) ..........

143 160

178

T. BAARDA

Eugnostus and Aristides on the Ineffable God 202 R. VAN DEN BROEK The Knowledge of God in Origen ............................... 219 J.M. DILLON

Knowledge of God in Eusebius and Athanasius ................... G.C. STEAD Les dieux et le divin dans les mysteres de Mithra R. TURCAN

229

243

VI

CONTENTS

La conception de Dieu dans le manicheisme M.

262

TARDlEU

Index of Biblical and Jewish Texts Index of Greek and Latin Texts and Monuments Index of Coptic, Syriac, and other Oriental Texts ................ .

271 274 289

PREFACE This volume contains most of the papers read at an international symposium on "Knowledge of God in Philosophy and Religion from Alexander the Great to Constantine," which was held at the University of Utrecht 26- 30 May 1986, on the occasion of the University's 350th anniversary. The theme of the symposium is related to our research project concerned with the Literary, Religious and Philosophical Background of Early Christianity, in which members of the Faculties of Theology and of Philosophy participate. Two contributions, by C. Colpe on Euhemerism and by E.P. Meijering on Irenaeus, are to appear elsewhere. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by our University and by the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (ZWO). Utrecht, April 14th 1987

R. van den Broek T. Baarda J. Mansfeld

ABBREVIATIONS AC AJPh BSOAS CIMRM CPJ CQ CR CRAI CSEL EPRO GGA IG JA JbAC JBL

JHS

JSNT HAA HThR Mnem MH NH NTT OGIS PG Phron PhW PL RAC RE REA REAug REG RFNS RhM RHR RPh SC SGM SO SPAW TAPA TS TU VC ZDMG ZNW

Antiquite Classique American Journal of Philology Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies Corpus lnscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (ed. M.J. Vermaseren) Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum (ed. V.J. Tcherikover) The Classical Quarterly The Classical Review Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. Comptes Rendus Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum Etudes preliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Empire Romain Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen lnscriptiones Graecae Journal Asiatique Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum Journal of Biblical Literature Journal of Hellenic Studies Journal for the Study of the New Testament Hamburger Arbeiten zur Altertumswissenschaft Harvard Theological Review Mnemosyne Museum Helveticum Nag Hammadi, Codices I-XIII Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae (ed. W. Dittenberger) Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca Phronesis Philologische Wochenschrift Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Latina Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum Realenzyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft (Pauly-Wissowa) Revue des Etudes Anciennes Revue des Etudes Augustiniennes Revue des Etudes Grecques Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica Rheinisches Museum Revue de I'Histoire des Religions Revue Philologique Sources Chretiennes Sources Gnostiques et Manicheennes Symbolae Osloenses Sitzungsberichte der preusischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association Texts and Studies. Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur Vigiliae Christianae Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche

IDENTIFICATION ANO SELF-IDENTIFICATION OF GO OS IN CLASSICAL ANO HELLENISTIC TIMES BY

GERARD MUSSIES (UTRECHT)

The notion 'Knowledge of God' which figures in our jubilee-theme more or less presupposes a stage of religion which is past polytheism, but as the period indicated, 'from Alexander to Constantine,' can hardly be considered to have been heno- or monotheistic only, the polytheistic variant of this subject also deserves to receive so me attention. This means that in this case we are not so much dealing with 'knowledge of God' but rather with 'knowledge of the gods,' which above all amounts to the quest ions of how such knowledge worked in practice, how people recognized gods when they appeared to them and how gods in their turn made themselves known to mankind. For that such encounters could offer problems was acknowledged already by Homer. As a matter of fact he describes the Greek gods as having themselves no difficulty in recognizing one another. Hermes, the messenger of the gods, quite unexpectedly arrives at the grotto where the nymph Calypso lives and is then weaving and singing. Being herself a daughter of the god Atlas she immediately recognizes hirn 'because' says Homer 'the immortal gods are not ayvarre J.1&V 'tt TtJ.11V 1tpo't!;pov &onv eipllJ.1&va, Ka"d't(lt OE 'O"uJ.11tiou ~tOt;. flpot; alm'!'> oe &onv clYVci>O'trov 6e&V ßroIlOlloi ayvroo'tou eeou. 17 A passage in Diogenes Laertius, however, seems to point in another direction. In his Lives and Opinions oj Eminent Philosophers (written in the early third century CE) he teIls us that when the Athenians were attacked by pest iIence, they sent a ship to Crete to ask the help of Epimenides, the famous religious teacher and miracIe-worker from Cnossos. 18 In order to bring about atonement for the city, Epimenides took black and white sheep and brought them to the Areopagus. KUKEleEV EiaoEv lEVat Ot ßOUAOlV'tO, 1tpoo'ta~a 1tP0011KOV'tl 6ECi>· Kai oihro ATl~at 'to KaK6v. Ö6EV E'tl Kai vüv EO'tlV EUPE1:V Ka'ta 't00 or eEOipOOUVT\C;· Oroq>POVEotEPOV yap tO 1tEpi 1tOC; 't1C; öv0J.1an 'AnoUoov ... 'eK'tloe 'tov tv 'AlhivUlc; vaov ypaljlac; tv alrtq> ßOOJ.1q>· ayvci>o'tCj) geq>. See W. Göber, Theoi agnostoi, RE V A (1934), 1993; Wikenhauser (n. 9), 380.

THE UNKNOWN GOD

35

11

We have already incidentally touched upon the meaning of altar-inscriptions for unknown gods in the previous paragraph, both when discussing the milieu ofthe Pergamon altar and when reporting some ofthe aetiological tales oflater Christian writers. We will now briefly examine whether, apart from texts that speak of altars of unknown gods, there is other evidence that might help us to see more clearly the background of such cults and hence the meaning of the inscriptions. It needs to be borne in mi nd that the term äyvroo'toUOECO