Procopius' Phoenician Inscriptions: Never Lost, Not Found

Schmitz, Philip C.

doi:10.1179/003103207x194127

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…15 Either way, however, quid sint is a strange 12 One might indeed wonder how people in late antique North Africa could have come to the conclusion that they were Canaanite: the term is attested almost exclusively in the Bible and in some later Jewish and Christian sources, and there it is used for the most part in relation to the Levant. Some Jewish sources of the second century BC-first century AD do, however, preserve a tradition in which the inheritance of Canaan has expanded from the small area of the Levant described in Genesis into North Africa (Book of Jubilees 9.1-2; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 1.130), and some later sources present Canaanite presence in North Africa as a result of flight from Joshua (Procopius 4.10.22, Suda X 79, with Schmitz, 2007).…”

Section: 'This Consonance Of Words'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Augustine's Canaanites

Quinn¹,

McLynn²,

Kerr³

et al. 2014

Pap. Br. Sch. Rome

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There is a widespread idea that the people we call 'Phoenician' called themselves 'Canaanite'. This article argues that the only positive evidence for this hypothesis, a single line in the standard editions of Augustine's unfinished commentary on Paul's letter to the Romans, where he claims that 'if you ask our local peasants what they are, they answer 'Canaanite'', is prima facie highly unreliable as historical evidence, and on closer inspection in fact is almost certainly an editorial error: our examination of all the manuscriptsthe first to have been carried outestablished that what the peasants were really asked in the archetype was not quid sint -'what they are'but quid sit -'what is it', a phrase that would most obviously refer to their language. While this new reconstruction of the archetype does not necessarily mean that quid sit was what Augustine originally wrote, this passage cannot be used as positive evidence for Canaanite identity in late antique North Africa, or anywhere else.C'è un'idea diffusa che il popolo che noi chiamiamo 'Fenici' chiamasse se stesso con il nome di 'Canaaniti'. Il presente articolo sostiene che la sola testimonianza che va nella direzione di quest'ipotesi è prima facie estremamente inaffidabile come fonte storica. Si tratta di un'unica riga nell'edizione standard del commentario incompiuto di Agostino alla lettera di Paolo ai Romani, in cui si dice che 'se tu chiedi ai nostri contadini locali che cosa siano, essi rispondono 'Canaaniti'' e che a una verifica più dettagliata corrisponde quasi certamente a un errore redazionale. Il nostro riesame di tutto il manoscrittoil primo a essere stato effettuatoha stabilito che ciò che nell'archetipo viene chiesto effettivamente ai contadini non è quid sintovverosia 'che cosa sono'ma quid site quindi 'che cos'è', una frase che si riferisce con probabilità al loro linguaggio. Mentre questa nuova ricostruzione dell'archetipo non implica necessariamente che quid sit fosse ciò che Agostino originariamente scrisse, questo passaggio non può essere usato come una prova dell'identità dei Canaaniti nella tarda antichità in Nord Africa o in qualsiasi altra localizzazione. 'OUR RUSTICS'Only very rarely do we hear ancient peasants speak, and then their voices are usually translated into the language of the political élite. There is therefore every reason to attend to two single-word utterances that Augustine of Hippo 1 The origins of this paper lie in a series of conversations between Jo Quinn, Stephen Heyworth and Jonathan Prag, and we are extremely thankful to the two latter for their ongoing advice and enthusiasm. We also gratefully acknowledge the help given to us by

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Section: 'This Consonance Of Words'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Augustine's Canaanites

Quinn¹,

McLynn²,

Kerr³

et al. 2014

Pap. Br. Sch. Rome

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“…In fact, I had never made this issue the crux of my argument -I had simply referred to the fact that Movers had stated that Moses of Khoren had 'been the first to mention the two inscribed columns in Phoenician referred to by Procopius' (Frendo 2002: 38). Schmitz states that in fact 'Moses postdated Procopius and made use of late Greek chronicles that cite Procopius' (Schmitz 2007: 102 and his one reference for this claim). Even a cursory look at some serious websites (Britannica 2006;Krause et al 2006;Hewser 2006;Wikipedia 2006) shows that the date of palestine exploration quarterly, 139,2,2007 Moses of Khoren is still an open question.…”

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Back to the Bare Essentials, 'Procopius' Phoenician Inscriptions: Never Lost, Not Found' — a Response

Frendo¹

2007

Palestine Exploration Quarterly

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“…8 To be sure, Procopius was for a while in a position to visit Tigisis and to see the inscription for himself, having remained in 5. For a different attempt to refute Frendo, see Schmitz 2007. 6.…”

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Procopius of Caesarea and the Girgashite Diaspora

Amitay

2011

Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha

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Procopius of Caesarea reports the existence of an inscription in Numidia, allegedly written by the refugees from Canaan’s conquest by Joshua. While this claim cannot be taken at face value, it raises interesting questions as to its provenance and purpose. Regarding provenance, the complicated situation of the sources (especially the ongoing debate about the real date of Moses of Khorene) unfortunately prevents a firm conclusion. Regarding purpose, the inscription seems to reflect the political and religious tensions, which accompanied Belisarius’ campaign to regain North Africa for the Roman Empire and Justinian’s attempts to Christianize those parts of African society who abided by their polytheistic ancestral custom.

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Procopius' Phoenician Inscriptions: Never Lost, Not Found

Cited by 6 publications

References 3 publications

Augustine's Canaanites

Augustine's Canaanites

Back to the Bare Essentials, 'Procopius' Phoenician Inscriptions: Never Lost, Not Found' — a Response

Procopius of Caesarea and the Girgashite Diaspora

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