Posidonius

Both Panaetius and his student, Posidonius, contributed in the birth of humanism during Stoicism. Panaetius influenced the Romans, since he referred to their principles of behavior according to a humanistic ideal. He introduced encyklios paideia, which is the general education in levels, but he remained quite faithful to the Stoic doctrine. Panaetius supported that man's primary aim was to act as a rational moral agent. He stressed the distinctions between the physical components of man and his soul, introducing the human side of Stoicism and the criteria of moral acts. Posidonius followed his teacher, but he made some significant modifications. He was both a philosopher and a scientist. Posidonius eventually left the Stoic school entirely, since he desired to explore fields such as geography and astronomy with the same attention to detail that Stoicism afforded philosophy. Moving forward, he began to study both Plato and Aristotle in depth, rejecting the rigidity of his educational background. Posidonius' multifarious aspects of thought focused on the cosmic sympathy, claiming that the irrational side of human nature was the root of our passions. Posidonius was a polymath, developing a panhuman code of ethics and contributing positively not only to the Stoic philosophy but also to history. In the present paper, I am going to stress the two philosophers' contribution into the development of humanism, as an integral part of Stoic Ethics. The method I used is the analysis of each philosopher's beliefs related to the humanistic ideal and their influence on general education. The conclusion is that their main ideas are shaped by practical philosophy for Panaetius and theoretical approaches for Posidonius. The aim of this paper is to show that the Stoic idea that the human being is a microcosm of the universe is a part of general education.

Recorrido crítico por la figura y la obra de Piteas de Marsella, primer explorador del NO de Europa, que vivió en el s. IV a.C. Astrónomo y geógrafo, compuso una obra "Sobre el Océano", conservada de modo muy fragmentario, en la que estudiaba el Océano desde un punto de vista físico y astronómico. Cleómedes lo califica como "filósofo", probablemente debido a su relación con Eudoxo de Cnido. En la Antigüedad fue reconocido como astrónomo, matemático y explorador entre los hombres de ciencia (Eratóstenes, Hiparco, Posidonio, Ptolomeo), con la excepción del geógrafo Estrabón (que paradójicamente representa nuestra fuente de información más amplia), quien lo critica con fuerza. Por lo demás, la imagen que se ha transmitido de Piteas a través de Antonio Diógenes (Maravillas increíbles de más allá de Tule), Hecateo de Abdera, las Argonáuticas órficas y buena parte de la literatura fantástica de la Antigüedad es una imagen muy diferente a aquella de un hombre de ciencia. La influencia de Piteas en la tradición posterior se debe sobre todo al motivo mítico de la "ultima Tule" como un nuevo lugar utópico donde emplazar especulaciones y fantasías de todo tipo. Esquema del capítulo: Bibliografía general: Testimonios y fragmentos: Ediciones antiguas. Ediciones de referencia. Traducciones. Estudios generales. Datación. Obra: Título. Importancia filosófica. Influencia.

This paper gives an overview of the papyrological evidence for Pythagoras and (much less) the Pythagoreans, which is collected in "Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici" and in Christian Vassallo’s  “Catalogue of the Evidence for Presocratics in the Herculaneum Papyri”, no. 161-173, p. 52-53. Some of this scattered evidence can be coherently brought together and provide clues for the history of Pythagoreanism, whereas other is worthy of fresh consideration. Practically all the testimonia of the Herculaneum papyri come from the writings of Philodemus; they concern Pythagoras, not the Pythagoreans, and are of a biographical, not doxographical character. Philodemus’ evidence reflects the early Hellenistic stage of the Pythagorean tradition, before rise of Neopythagoreanism and the pseudo-Pythagorean literature related to it. Later evidence reveals new view on Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans as the philosophical precursors of Plato.

This article attempts to provide a realistic, securely contextualised estimate regarding the formation and extent of Posidonius of Apamea's (c. 135-51 BCE) contribution to the Greco-Roman tradition of ethnographic writing about the population groups of Europe - and his much-discussed 'Gallic ethnography' in particular.

The significance of being able to assess correctly the contents and the context of Posidonius' so-called 'ethnography' is obvious, especially when keeping in mind the optimistic and trusting tone that some past reconstructions of his fragments have exhibited. With all the accruing understanding of the tradition of ancient ethnographic writing, a critical eye must be cast at a contribution so often postulated as unsurpassed in its influence.

In this article, I submit the texts usually taken as Posidonian fragments to a reading informed by recent advances in the study of knowledge ordering (e.g. in eds. König & Whitmarsh 2007), information generation 'on the middle ground' (Woolf 2011), and the interplay of Greek writers and Roman audiences (Clarke 1999). There existed a wide range of interlocking 'middle grounds' which the ethnographical writers of the Late Republic navigated, even when they pursued goals to which ethnography was wholly subservient – as ancient ethnography nearly always was. Rather than being a record of his personal observations and meetings with Gauls, to a much greater extent the northern ethnography of Posidonius was constructed through literary processes based on his reading and his conversations with Romans and Greeks.

The intensified sense of decadence in late Republic gave rise to the necessity of explaining the historical evolution of the Roman res publica in deterministic terms. The cyclical and the linear view of time, which were concepts with a long philosophical and literary history, were used for the first time during this period in order to reconstruct the historical timeline of a specific body politic. The way in which each author reworks these theories reflects his ideological interpretation of the causes of the decadence and the future of the res publica.

This paper investigates Providence as it was conceived by the Stoics, beginning from the earliest of their school, Zeno, up until the writings of Seneca. What is Providence for the Stoics and how does it differ from fate? The findings of this study will be that the Stoics held Providence to be due to God’s rational ordering of the cosmos, that God in some sense is the cosmos, and thus the perfection of God is indistinct from the perfection of the cosmos. A difference can also be seen between the early and later Stoics. For the early Stoics, Providence is more of a cosmological speculation, whereas for the later it is a term of great ethical significance. In the end, Stoic cosmology and ethics are united in Providence.

RESUMEN: La dominación que Roma ejercía sobre naciones y personas ha generado mucha discusión. Para ahondar en este tema creo conveniente utilizar el marco de la Primera Guerra Servil puesto que podemos encontrar ambas formas de dominación en ella, es decir, la privada y la pública. Para ello abordaremos la fuente primordial de este conflicto, Diodoro Sículo, y trataremos de descubrir si los ideales estoicos de Posidonio de Apamea influenciaron su obra. Tras analizar el asunto describiremos la situación en Sicilia y cuáles fueron las causas de la rebelión. Para entender la dominación primero hay que ver que no existía un consenso sobre formas de dominación, puesto que Platón y Aristóteles diferían en esos conceptos. Polibio y su el análisis sobre las distintas formas de gobierno serán de ayuda en este punto. Para terminar meditaremos sobre la creación de un " estado de dos cabezas " por la lex iudiciaria de Cayo Graco y como la dominación se ve afectada por ello.

ABSTRACT: Rome's exercised domination over nations and individuals has generated much discussion. To delve into this topic I should use the framework of the First Servile War since we can find both forms of domination in it, ie, private and public. For that we analyse the primary source of this conflict, Diodorus Siculus, and we try to discover if the stoic ideals of Posidonius from Apamea show up below. After analyzing that I will describe the situation in Sicily and which were the causes of the rebellion are. To understand the concept of domination it must be understood the non-existint consensus situation on forms of domination, since Plato and Aristotle differed on these concepts. Polybius and his analysis on the different forms of government will help at this point. Finally we meditate on the creation of a "two-headed state" by the lex iudiciaria of Gaius Gracchus and how the domination is affected by it.

In his recently rediscovered On Freedom from Distress (Περὶ ἀλυπίας), Galen argues for a sophisticated therapy of distress that incorporates three prominent and, in their original contexts, opposing methods of consolation. Despite their varied origins, I argue that Galen integrates these distinct methods of therapy into a highly original and cogent, multi-tiered therapy of distress. Beyond its considerable interest for the ancient theory of emotional consolation, and for the ancient theory of the emotions more generally, Galen’s resulting theory also illuminates several features of his philosophical methodology: most notably, his open-minded and appropriative stance towards other philosophical schools, the role of his own trained experience as a criterion for his philosophical views, and the significance that he places on the nature and upbringing of the audience of his philosophical works.

Critiques of Chrysippan Stoicism in Galen's quotations of Posidonius make him seem openly hostile to monism's ability to account for human behavior.  Posidonius' adoption of Platonic tripartition may have been a response to rhetorical attacks by Carneades.  Stoicism needed a greater ability to defend itself against arguments from common sense.  This theory could explain why Posidonius seems to argue against Chrysippus in Carneades' own unscrupulous mode -- by adopting the rhetorical tools of his enemy, and pretending to attack one of his own, Posidonius might have occupied the rhetorical high ground -- something new and different for the Stoics.

The present study analyses Cicero's approaches to translating the Stoic term συμπάϑεια into Latin. In his treatise On Fate, the Roman author differentiates two types of situation in which Stoic sympathy functions. In the scientific sense, the word sympathy refers to mutual connections between physical phenomena, such as the connections between the phases of the moon and the alternating tides. In the divinatory sense, sympathy acts in the connection between a prophecy and its fulfilment, such as between the flight of birds and the start of a war. In Cicero's view, only the scientific sense of sympathy should be accepted. For this reason, in his treatise On Fate, he translates the Greek term συμπάϑεια using the Latin word contagio (Cic. Fat. 3, 5-6), since the verb tango means "to make or come into physical contact with". In contrast, he does not accept that sympathy acts in a divinatory sense, explaining the connection between a prophecy and its fulfilment as the result of chance.

The book provides a synoptic picture of the moral traditions – especially those of Platonism and Stoicism – which shaped the intellectual and cultural environment of Greco-Roman antiquity. It describes each philosophical school’s respective teachings on diverse moral topoi such as emotional control, ethical action and habit, character formation, training, mentorship, and deity. It then organizes each school’s tenets into systemic models of moral transformation. For Platonism, I analyze the works of Plato, Plutarch, Alcinous and Galen; and for Stoicism, Zeno, Chrysippus, Musonius Rufus, Seneca, and Epictetus, among others. I also construct a taxonomy of six interaction types to gauge how rival religio-philosophical sects, including Diaspora Judaism and Pauline Christianity, appropriated moral traditions from their Greco-Roman environment to articulate their own system of ethics. For further details, see these blog posts: http://paulredux.blogspot.com/2020/03/it-is-finished-moral-transformation-in.html

Polybius has traditionally been ignored as an ethnographic author in the tradition of Herodotus. This is mainly due to the lack of ethnographic digressions as they appear in the work of the Halicarnassian. However, a closer look at Polybius' scattered descriptions of the Celts throughout his own Histories shows a vivid interest not only in the character of the Gauls, but also in the macro models of his predecessors who explained the differences between different peoples in the oecumene with different paces of development, the climatic nature of the respective regions and other philosophically inspired theories. The paper will show that Polybius used these arguments to make the Celts appear more primitive and dangerous than they actually were as to convince his readers that the Romans, who had often fought against this 'Barbarian' foe, were the defenders of civilisation and should be accepted as rulers over the Greek world.

Chapter from the monograph Aristonico grammatico. Περὶ τῆς Μενελάου πλάνης (Alessandria 2020). In first part of the work is edited, translated and commented on the Strabonian resumé of  the work About Menelaus' Wanderings, by the grammarian Aristonicus of Alexandria (Geogr. I 2, 31-35+XVI 4, 27). This is a precious case of preservation of a monograph of Hellenistic time from περὶ-literature, though in epitomized form. In the second part of the work is considered the context (Strabo's prolegomena, I 2) and its sources, among which chapter I 2, 36.
The chapter, which is concerned in interpreting the Homeric  description of Charybdis (scil. Od. XII), possibly derives from Posidonius; arguments in favour of this thesis are offered. Extant ancient exegesis on Od. XII also is considered (Aristonicus; Porphyry). Finally, some remarks on how the Poet used the monster within the narration of Od. XII - not without inconsistencies which puzzled the ancient interpreters.

The reference to Albinus in a refutation of Bardesanes († c. 222) by Ephrem the Syrian († 373) is not unknown to modern commentators. This text, edited and translated into English since the beginning of the twentieth century, is regularly mentioned, albeit rather cursorily, by scholars of Middle Platonism. Although much has been clarified between the first publication of the book just over a century ago and the present day, the following pages aim to continue the exploration. The aim will be to better understand what has so far remained unnoticed: the dependence of Albinus’ work on Posidonius on three crucial points: (1) his classification of incorporeals, (2) his doctrine of comprehensive representation, and (3) the deep relationship between (1) and (2).

"
The result of our investigation is twofold. We have to admit minimally that the view that in F 223 EK Posidonius postulated a kind of universal east-west climatic differentiation does not stand up to the close scrutiny. We may also conclude with an equal degree of confidence that the theory which Posidonius referred to in F 223 EK was the same by which he sought to explain the climatic difference between the equatorial and the tropical zone. After that, we suggest a possible explanation of how Posidonius could have used this theory to prove that ‘east’ is wet and ‘west’ is dry. Posidonius’ idea becomes perfectly intelligible, provided that he was speaking not of the whole oikoumene, but only of the western and eastern parts of the inner Libya.
"

Ever since Tierney (1960) published his incorporating take on Posidonius’ contributions to the way Greeks and Romans wrote about the continental Celts, and particularly since Nash (1976) issued her influential criticism of his view, the debate on the significance of this Hellenistic polymath to ancient Gallic ethnography has been ongoing. The lure of ‘over-Posidonisation’, however, appears to be quite as enduring. The tendency to attribute practically any post-90s BCE galatographic passage, even when very generalised or evidently topical, to Posidonius found perhaps its most inclusive editorial symptom in the 1982 edition of fragments by Theiler (de Gruyter, Berlin). Another trait of this problematic tendency is evident in semi-popularising works about ancient Celts.

The aim of this paper is to issue some further words of caution against reading too much significance into the fragments of Posidonius’ information regarding the Keltoi and Galatai. Reassessing Posidonius’ claims of autopsy as well as his general intellectual and literary milieu will dispel some of the illusion of a single, original contributor to ancient Gallic ethnography. Almost no element of even the most securely attributable Posidonian fragments is without its parallel or predecessor within the tradition of Graeco-Roman literary representation of northern barbarians.

Quels éléments ont conduit Marx et d’autres auteurs contemporains à considérer que les économies grecque et romaine se fondaient sur l’esclavage ? Ce livre étudie l’origine et l’évolution du discours historique qui souligne l’importance de l’esclavage dans l’Antiquité. Un discours qui prend sa forme canonique au XVIIIe siècle, mais trouve ses racines dans la philosophie et l’historiographie classiques et sa réception parmi les humanistes de l’époque moderne.

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.

The reference to Albinus in a refutation of Bardesanes († c. 222) by Ephrem the Syrian († 373) is not unknown to modern commentators. This text, edited and translated into English since the beginning of the twentieth century, is regularly mentioned, albeit rather cursorily, by scholars of Medioplatonism.  Although much has been clarified between the first publication of the book just over a century ago and the present day, the following pages aim to continue the exploration. The aim will be to better understand what has so far remained unnoticed: the dependence of Albinus' work on Posidonius on three crucial points: (1) his classification of incorporeals, (2) his doctrine of comprehensive representation, and (3) the deep relationship between (1) and (2).

With this collection of papers, we hope to have provided valuable impulses for thinking about issues of more than antiquarian concern. To support this discussion and to complement the mosaic of single contributions, there is a bibliography of essential readings at the end of this volume compiled from recommendations by all authors.

The present study analyses Cicero's approaches to translating the Stoic term συμπάϑεια into Latin. In his treatise On Fate, the Roman author differentiates two types of situation in which Stoic sympathy functions. In the scientific sense, the word sympathy refers to mutual connections between physical phenomena, such as the connections between the phases of the moon and the alternating tides. In the divinatory sense, sympathy acts in the connection between a prophecy and its fulfilment, such as between the flight of birds and the start of a war. In Cicero's view, only the scientific sense of sympathy should be accepted. For this reason, in his treatise On Fate, he translates the Greek term συμπάϑεια using the Latin word contagio (Cic. Fat. 3, 5-6), since the verb tango means "to make or come into physical contact with". In contrast, he does not accept that sympathy acts in a divinatory sense, explaining the connection between a prophecy and its fulfilment as the re...

Aristonico di Alessandria (I a.C.), grammatico greco operante a Roma, è più celebre come esegeta dei segni critici che il grande Aristarco di Samotracia aveva apposto ai poemi omerici; Strabone però (I 2, 31) ricorda come egli abbia affrontato un tema trascurato dell'esegesi omerica antica, cioè i viaggi di Menelao, descritti brevemente dallo stesso eroe (Odissea IV vv. 82-85: "giunsi all'ottavo anno, dopo aver vagato per Cipro, la Fenicia e gli Egizi, e raggiunsi gli Etiopi e i Sidoni e gli Erembi, e la Libia"). La monografia che Aristonico dedica alle questioni suscitate da questi versi ("Sui viaggi di Menelao"), riassunta da Strabone nei capitoli successivi (I 2, 31-35), è stata estrapolata e ampiamente commentata a livello testuale e contenutistico. L'epitome di questa monografia di tarda età ellenistica è ancora in grado di mostrarci il metodo seguito dal grammatico, guidato dalle categorie aristarchee, e alle prese con problemi letterari, ma anche storici, geografici, financo astronomici e idro-geologici. L'analisi del più ampio contesto straboniano (I 2, 1-40) ha permesso di determinare meglio la presenza delle autorità citate-Eratostene, Ipparco, Polibio, Apollodoro di Atene, Posidonio, Demetrio di Scepsi-chiarendo tanti dettagli del vigoroso dibattito di età ellenistica sulla veridicità della poesia, e anche di fare alcune ipotesi sul metodo di lavoro del Geografo, nonché sulla cronologia della composizione dei suoi Geographikà.

RESUMEN: La dominación que Roma ejercía sobre naciones y personas ha generado mucha discusión. Para ahondar en este tema creo conveniente utilizar el marco de la Primera Guerra Servil puesto que podemos encontrar ambas formas de dominación en ella, es decir, la privada y la pública. Para ello abordaremos la fuente primordial de este conflicto, Diodoro Sículo, y trataremos de descubrir si los ideales estoicos de Posidonio de Apamea influenciaron su obra. Tras analizar el asunto describiremos la situación en Sicilia y cuáles fueron las causas de la rebelión. Para entender la dominación primero hay que ver que no existía un consenso sobre formas de dominación, puesto que Platón y Aristóteles diferían en esos conceptos. Polibio y su el análisis sobre las distintas formas de gobierno serán de ayuda en este punto. Para terminar meditaremos sobre la creación de un “estado de dos cabezas” por la lex iudiciaria de Cayo Graco y como la dominación se ve afectada por ello.

ABSTRACT: Rome's exercised domination over nations and individuals has generated much discussion. To delve into this topic I should use the framework of the First Servile War since we can find both forms of domination in it, ie, private and public. For that we analyse the primary source of this conflict, Diodorus Siculus, and we try to discover if the stoic ideals of Posidonius from Apamea show up below. After analyzing that I will describe the situation in Sicily and which were the causes of the rebellion are. To understand the concept of domination it must be understood the non-existint consensus situation on forms of domination, since Plato and Aristotle differed on these concepts. Polybius and his analysis on the different forms of government will help at this point. Finally we meditate on the creation of a "two-headed state" by the lex iudiciaria of Gaius Gracchus and how the domination is affected by it.