John Lydus

This paper uses the conceptual framework of “Anchoring Innovation”, which is being developed by OIKOS, the Dutch National Research School in Classical Studies, in order to assess matters of religious continuity and change in the late antique and Byzantine attitudes towards the pignora imperii, or talismans which vouched for the safety of the Roman Empire. Notable pignora are the Palladium, the ancilia, and the stone of Cybele. The paper focuses on two periods. In the first section, a close reading of a passage of Servius from the early fifth century AD discloses how the author re-anchored the pignora in the contemporary context of anxieties over the preservation of pagan heritage and the imminent shift of power and prestige from Rome to Constantinople. The second section focuses on the works of John Malalas and John of Lydia in order to trace the vicissitudes of the pignora in sixth century Constantinople. Servius’ pignora are re-anchored in the context of an Empire which saw itself increasingly as Christian and centred on Constantinople. Also new pignora, such as the Latin language and statues in Constantinople are being construed in the sixth century. The paper concludes with a short sketch of a field which merits further research; the continuity in religious attitudes towards pignora between late antiquity and the Byzantine period. It will be argued that icons of the Theotokos or Virgin Mary in Byzantium gradually usurp the role and function of the antique pignora. The paper has in two appendices 1) a list of testimonies to the Palladium, and 2) a list of transfers of Hero remains in antiquity.

The subject of this dissertation was the assessment of the cultural meaning of antiquarianism in the sixth century AD. Once subjected to a reasoned re-definition, the concept of antiquarianism appeared as a useful tool for the study of the attitude towards the distant past in late antiquity. During the sixth century, antiquarianism was a textual attitude towards the distant past which was marshalled for debating and coming to terms with several uneasy societal changes, such as the transfer of power and prestige from Rome to Constantinople. This transfer was discussed in sixth-century Constantinople by an extended network of educated bureaucrats, which partly transcended the political, social and linguistic barriers of the period. Antiquarianism was part and parcel of the shared repertoire of this network for debating each other and the imperial government implicitly on the role of Rome and Constantinople. The shared antiquarian lore was used by these educated bureaucrats differently in order to take different stands in this contemporary debate. The antiquarian authors tried to replace Rome partially as the framework for historical meaning by focusing on their own home region, by their own administrative department and by a focus on their personal life.

John Lydus’ De ostentis 53 preserves an interesting section dedicated to seismic phaenomena. While dealing with the explanation of the causes of earthquakes, the author appears to be following the Pneumatic school of thought, and even though there is abundance of evidence suggesting that Lydus derives much information from Pseudo-Aristotle’s Περὶ κόσμου and Apuleius’ De mundo, this paper aims at focusing on specific traits (i.e. the author’s use of particular words, as ἐξαραίωσις [«rarefaction»]) which point towards the direction of original reinterpretation of multiple sources by John Lydus.

The article describes the inscription on the lid of the sarcophagus discovered in Vranjic (Croatia) during the development-led archaeological excavations carried out in 2007. The inscription mentions the married couple Saturninus and Justina who died in the summer of 541. Saturninus was a vaginarius, i.e. a maker of scabbards, which is an occupation rarely mentioned in epigraphic sources. Sixth century Salona saw the practice of producing inscriptions which mention the occupation of the deceased more often than in other periods, and this inscription fits the pattern. The inscription was dated absolutely by consular year, indictional year, date and day of the week, which makes it thus far the most precisely dated antique inscription in Dalmatia. The authors believe that the reference to a scabbard maker points to the continuing operation of the military factory in Salona (fabrica Salonitana armorum) during the 6th century, the existence of which was confirmed in the 4th and 5th centuries by Notitia Dignitatum and one other inscription. The stylistic features of this inscription were used to narrowly date another military inscription on the sarcophagus which could be linked to the Byzantine-Gothic War waged in the Salona area around 535. Since both occupants of the sarcophagus died around the same time, it is believed they could have been victims of violent death or some acute illness. During that time, between 541-543, the so-called Plague of Justinian was recorded on the Mediterranean, which killed around a quarter of the population. Salona was a port city and the plague, which had already spread across the Mediterranean from Egypt, could have reached it by ship, already by the summer of 541.

The paper discusses the quotation of Ov. Fast. 1,103 by Lyd. Mens. 4,2 and
questions the direct circulation of Ovid’s Fasti in 6th-century Constantinople. The possibility that Lydus did not read directly, but only thanks to intermediate, doxographical sources, Ovid’s Fasti is thus here presented.

Keywords: Ovid; John Lydus; Ovid’s Fasti; Cornelius Labeo; Justinianic Constantinople.

This paper focuses on the sixth-century historian John Lydus, who, next to an interest in Latin, exhibited a great interest in and knowledge of gynaecological texts. Almost all of his sources on gynaecology are Greek. However, in Mens. IV.26, Lydus vaguely mentions his use of Latin sources. We shall compare this passage to the works of the fourth-century Latin physician Helvius Vindicianus, hypothesising that he was one of Lydus’ sources. A readership of Vindicianus in Constantinople in the sixth century sheds light on the exchange of medical texts between the “Latin” West and the “Greek” East in late antiquity.

SUMMARY

One of the fundamental sources of cultural unease in Late Antiquity was the fall of the western Roman Empire and the transmission of imperial power and prestige from Rome to Constantinople. This paper shall analyse, through a close reading of the antiquarianism of three authors - John of Lydia (c. 490 – c. 565 AD), Cassiodorus (c. 485 – c. 585) and John Malalas (c. 490 – c. 570 AD) - how the distant past is used in sixth century sources as a platform to compare and discuss the moral legitimacy of Rome and Constantinople as capitals of the Roman empire. The paper shall present two case studies; the antiquarian scrutiny of the questionable character of Romulus, who founded Rome on the blood of his brother Remus, and the antiquarian analyses of the fate of the statues in Rome and Constantinople.   

SOMMAIRE

Une source fondamentale du malaise culturel de l'Antiquité tardive fut la chute de l'Empire romain et la transmission du pouvoir et du prestige impérial de Rome à Constantinople. Cet article analyse, à travers d’une lecture attentive des textes antiquaires de trois auteurs - Jean le Lydien (c. 490 - c. 565 ap. J.-C.), Cassiodore (c. 485 - c. 585 ap. J.-C.) et Jean Malalas (c. 490 - c. 570 ap. J.-C.) - comment le passé lointain est utilisé dans les sources du sixième siècle comme une plate-forme pour comparer et discuter la légitimité morale de Rome et de Constantinople comme les capitales de l'Empire romain. La contribution présentera deux études de cas; l'examen antiquaire du caractère douteux de Romulus, qui a fondé Rome sur le sang de son frère Remus, et les analyses antiquaires du sort des statues à Rome et à Constantinople.

SAMENVATTING

De val van het West-romeinse rijk was, samen met de overdracht van keizerlijke macht en prestige van Rome naar Constantinopel, een fundamentele bron van cultureel ongenoegen in de late oudheid. Deze bijdrage zal, door middel van een detaillezing van de antiquarische teksten van drie auteurs -Johannes van Lydië (ca. 490 – ca. 565 NC), Cassiodorus (ca. 485 – ca. 585 NC) en Johannes Malalas (c. 490 – c. 570 NC) -, analyseren hoe het verre verleden in zesde-eeuwse historische bronnen werd gebruikt als een arena waarin de morele legitimiteit van Rome en Constantinopel werden vergeleken en bediscussieerd. Deze bijdrage zal deze analyse maken door middel van twee casussen: de antiquarische bevraging van het twijfelachtig personage Romulus, dat Rome stichtte in het bloed van zijn broer Remus, en de antiquarische analyses van de lotsbestemming van de standbeelden van Rome en Constantinopel.

By way of comparing Psellus’ treatment of specific meteorological themes, and particular focus being on om. doct. 164 / opusc. 26, the present paper examines how not only “presences” , but also “abscences” can be helpful to better understand Psellus’ “fluctuations” and choices, both cultural and philosophical.

This paper aims to contribute to the cultural history of late antique embryology and gynaecology, by focusing on the historian John Lydus (ca. AD 490-ca. 565). In an overview of his numerous passages on gynaecology, we show that he had a coherent view on these sciences. We shall contextualise the interest of John of Lydia in a subject matter which is ostensibly far removed from his historical interests, by taking into consideration three factors: 1) the legal context of imperial policy, 2) the function of gynaecology in John's historical thinking, and 3) the personal concerns of the author.

The conflict between the pagans and the Christian authorities of the Eastern Roman Empire has given birth to numerous polemical discussions among modern commentators, which is due to the fact that our sources on the subject were often biased. The closing of the Neo-Platonic Academy in Athens in 529 has nevertheless been cited as the end of pagan philosophy, even though its last leader, Damascius, would continue his philosophical activity around the Persian border. My paper deals with the persistent reception of one subject that was at odds with the Christian dogma, the cosmogony. Damascius is also known for his De principiis, a lengthy treaty about the One and the Ineffable that precedes it. Although the work itself is first and foremost an answer to previous Neoplatonists, it is also an extremely valuable source for other lost Pre-Socratic cosmogonies, namely the Orphic ones, which are interpreted alongside other non-Greek creation myths in the final pages of the treatise. On the other hand, John Lydus provides an intriguing adaptation of such creation myths in De ma-gistratibus reipublicae Romanae, where he combines Platonic and Aristotelian ideas in order to build an explanatory model for the contemporary decline in offices of state. His choice of sources shows, however, that he was likely a pagan himself and that he had professed the official religion in order to avoid persecution. Thus, he bases his argumentation on a pagan cosmogony as a form of resistance against recent changes in Byzantine bureaucracy.

This paper places the Chronographia of John Malalas in the context of the historiographical and erudite production of sixth-century Constantinople. In order to do this, this paper addresses possible social connections between Malalas and two contemporary historians: Cassiodorus and John the Lydian. Their common bureaucratic and erudite networks are not their only resemblances. Their treatments of different aspects of the history of Rome and the Roman Empire also exhibit striking parallels, as one case study, on the colour purple, shows. The paper concludes with an assessment of this coincidence in textual resemblances and networks between the three authors. Although the attractive hypothesis of an erudite school around the university of Constantinople with John the Lydian as one of its professors remains in the realm of speculation for want of conclusive evidence, the work of Malalas is clearly an exponent of a continued common culture of Roman erudition in the sixth century.

De terrae motuum indice secundum Ioannis Lydi testimonium hic disputatur,
utrum terrae motuum genera in De ostentis servata Posidonio tribuenda sint, ut Theiler
proposuit, an magis composito rationis doctrinaeque processu (e.g. Pseudaristotelis Περὶ
κόσμου et Apuleii De mundo libris collatis) Lydo ascribenda, quod probabilius argumentis
permultis demonstratur, ex quibus medici verborum usus praecipue illustrari libet.

This paper traces the ways in which John Lydos articulates his identity as a civil servant: First, at the most basic level, with his various expressions of pride in that status within the treatise. Secondly, the indirect means by which he signals his alignment with the values and ideals of the bureaucratic cadre. And, thirdly, those aspects of On Powers that contain the seeds of deconstruction of Lydos’ bureaucratic identity, namely the ways in which his greed blinded him to the tensions between his own successes and the career prospects of his colleagues.

John Lydos in his main work, the De magistratibus, describes the history and functioning of the Roman magistracies. The Byzantine author knows well that such systems are changing in the course of time, new offices were born, developed and declined. In order to explain the changes, Lydos introduces a theory of history founded on the ideas and terms of Neoplatonic philosophy. He regards history as a cyclic process, new institutes “emanate” from older ones, “move away” from their archetypes and finally “return” to them by means of restoration initiated by the emperors. Lydos’ theory has some analogues in the legislation of Justinian who emphasizes his own role in the process of restoration.

The De mensibus by John Lydus contains a problematic sentence stating that Dionysus had two epithets: Dimetor and Dithyrambus, and both or one of these names mean(s): “the one who has two paths of procession, the one, from the east toward the south, in winter, and the other, from the north toward the west, in summer.” This sentence can be explained with the help of Mithraic theology as it is summarized in Porphyry’s De antro nympharum. In Mithraic cosmology, the alter egos of Mithras, Cautes and Cautopates, are associated with the same directions and seasons as in the text by Lydus. The Dionysiac triad  in the De mensibus can be read, thus, as an interpretation and adaptation of a Mithraic cosmology. The close analogy suggests that in the imperial era of Rome, similar stellar theologies were adapted for mystery cults with independent origins.