Stones, wood and woven papyrus: Porphyry’s On Statues

Abstract

Abstract:Among the fragmentary works of the Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry of Tyre are some reasonably substantial remains of his essay on the interpretation of cult images, On Statues (περì Ἀγαλμάτων). My study falls into two parts. Firstly, I assess the major source of our fragments, Eusebius of Caesarea’s Praeparatio Evangelica, and argue that the full text of On Statues would have looked quite different, and in particular much less Stoic, than the surviving fragments would suggest. Secondly, I turn to consider what these fragments tell us about Porphyry’s thoughts on the interpretation of images and the place of these thoughts in the wider history of viewing.

How Do We Explain the Quiet Demise of Graeco-Roman Religion? An Essay

“…The reason must be that, as we have argued above, blood sacrifice had become widely rejected or simply abandoned as a practice by urban elites. By the time of Constantine, many temples had collapsed or become neglected (MacMullen 1981: 106), blood sacrifice had lost its previously central role, and even the belief in the divine presence in statues no longer held intellectual credibility, witness Porphyry's allegorizing tractate about them (Miles 2015;Viltanioti 2017; Männlein-Robert 2017; Zingg 2020),62 in which he tried to refute the Christian critique (Elliger 1930;Fredouille 1981).63 In other words, the whole central complex of pagan material religious culture -sanctuary, sacrifice, and statue -had not become obsolete, but sacrifice no longer enjoyed the undivided support of the highest classes, which until the 3rd century had been its loyal sponsors. Even so, the Christians still used sacrificial terminology when speaking about Christ's crucifixion in the Eucharist (Thomassen 2006: 143-153;Christ 2019), and they also kept or adapted ancient sacrificial rites at the margins of Christendom (Bremmer 2010: 38;Kahlos 2019).…”

Aspects of Roman Dance Culture. Religious Cults, Theatrical Entertainments, Metaphorical Appropriations

“…54 Lada-Richards 2007, esp64-78; Webb 2008, esp 197-216 55 Soler notes Libanios' claim at Or 64 50 that dancers dedicated their hair to Dionysos though this is in a series of allusions to older periods and may not be a reference to fourth-century practices Inscriptions (IAph 8 89, 97 and 98) giving lists of the Muses, found on the stage of the theatre at Aphrodisias and dated between the third and fifth centuries may also be a trace of cult practices involving performers See alsoRoueché 1993, 31-37 56 Porphyry, fr 316-318 Smith See Johnston 2008 On Porphyry's lost treatise seeMiles 2015and Deligiannakis 2015, 176-177 57 Cf Miles 2015, 87 Johnston 2008 provide an avenue through which humans, trapped in the material world, can worship entities who are immaterial "…”