Procopius of Gaza

Salvation from Fire: A "Monophysite" Exegesis of 1 Cor 3:15 in the Slavonic Izbornik (Miscellanea) of 13th cent. (ms RNL Q.p.I.18)

Толкование на 1 Кор. 3, 15, содержащееся в рукописи РНБ Q.p.I.18 (XIII в.), принадлежит к редкой экзегетической традиции, созданной в самом начале VI в. в «монофизитской» среде и сохранившейся только у двух «монофизитских» авторов — Филоксена Маббугского и Прокопия Газского. Таким образом, толкование оказывается одним из звеньев, связывающих древнейшую славянскую письменность с «невизантийским» восточным христианством.

This text in Slavonic follows a peculiar exegesis previously known from Philoxenus of Mabbog and Procopius of Gaza only.

The mosaic from the House of Nestor was discovered in Sheikh Zuweid on the western shore of Sinai, by
Jean Clédat in 1912. It covered the floor of a reception room of a large villa with private baths. Today the
mosaic from the House of Nestor with two mythological panels, three Greek metrical inscriptions and an
interesting geometric carpet are very well known by the specialists of the Late Antiquity. Fifteen years ago I
had the pleasure to make an interpretation of its iconological programme where I had put together the
inscriptions and the images to explain the sense of the mosaic. Hippolytus and Phaedra panel is linked with
the inscription evoking the envy (phtonos) and baskanos (evil eye) - warning for incoming guests. The
second scene of thiasos of Dionysos is associated with the non-violent, happy and festive character of the
reception room in the house. After a very careful study of the style of the mosaic the date of its execution
seems to be around 450 AD. It is possible that it was executed by a mosaic workshop from Egypt
(Alexandria), however it is not excluded that the workshop could have come from Gaza.I would like to
present the oldest and recent researches of my colleagues specialists of Late Antiquity who wrote about the
programme of the mosaic. I think that it is important after one hundred years of scholarly research to make a
recapitulation of the state of research on its semantic programme. Rina Talgam (Hebrew University),
Vlastimil Drbal (Academy of Science, Prague), Delphine Laurentzen (Académie de Créteil), Gianfranco
Agosti (Universita di Roma, La Sapienza) and some others wrote about the programme of mosaic evoking its
connections with the culture and civilization of Late Antiquity in the Near East. I will also discuss the question
of a mysterious word "telete" present on the panel of Dionysos. I believe that its meaning seems clear.

A new Fragment of Contra Galilaeos by Emperor Julian provides evidence that the circulation of the anti-christian work was limited in the Byzantine culture: there was probably only an indirect tradition of fragments.
Draft of a paper published in Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 62 (2012), pp. 265-279.
In questa sede si presenta un nuovo frammento (da Teofilatto di Ocrida) e nuove testimonianze (in Procopio di Gaza e Michele Glica) del Contra Galilaeos di Giuliano. Il riesame dei dati già noti agli studiosi precedenti e di una testimonianza di Severo di Antiochia, finora considerata dal solo Rinaldi nel 1998, prova che quest'opera di Giuliano nel Medio Evo era nota per tradizione indiretta.

The Byzantine rhetorical culture presupposed a practice of authorship that demanded the imitation and appropriation (μίμησις) of sanctioned literary models. A fine illustration of this cultural attitude is afforded by the surprising array of rhetorical models enclosed in Philagathos of Cerami’s Homilies. This paper uncovers Philagathos’ hitherto undocumented usage of Procopius of Gaza’s Description of the Image (Ἔκφρασις εἰκόνος) and examines other possible textual allusions to Procopius’ Monody I (op. 14 Amato).

In the opening address to the translation the A. investigates the structure and content of the catenae of Procopius of Gaza on the Book of Ecclesiaste, specifically the “chain of interpretation” of Eccl. 1, 1–4, 6 (MS Marc. gr. 22). Moreover, the manuscripts of the works (in total there are six, of which the most important are Marc. gr 22 and Vindob. th. gr. 147), among which Procopius’ catenae on the Book of Ecclesiastes are also included, remained fragmentary. Several of the authors of the exegetical works cited by him could not be identified by the publisher of the manuscript. For two of the unknown fragments of interpretations the A. was able to determine the authorship. After the introductory part, the translation of Procopius’ catenae to the Book of Ecclesiastes is published with commentaries.

Rez. Amato, Eugenio, Aldo Corcella and Delphine Lauritzen, eds. L’École de Gaza: Espace littéraire et identité culturelle dans l’antiquité tardive, actes du colloque international de Paris, Collège de France, 23–25 mai 2013 (Leuven/Paris/Bristol, CT 2017, Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta 249 = Bibliothèque de Byzantion 13), in Plekos 22 (2020): 193–206.

John, father of the groom in Procopius of Gaza’s Epithalamium for Meles and Antonina, can be identified with the poet John of Gaza. This study focuses on the Description of the Cosmic Panel’s iambic prolog of the same John of Gaza and compares several texts by other Vth-VIth c. CE authors from Byzantine Gaza, such as Procopius of Gaza’s Description of the Image and Choricius’ both  Encomia to the bishop Marcian. As a member of a prominent family liable for municipal duties, John appears to have directed, together with his brother Timotheus, the restoration of a public bath. He also described the Cosmic Panel in the same building. However, he states that he was not free in choosing neither his charge nor the subject of the poem; for he was an officially appointed grammatikos, due to follow the wishes of his superiors, the most influential members of the local council.

Keywords: John of Gaza, Procopius of Gaza, Timotheus of Gaza, grammatikos, municipal council, patronage, public bath.

Greek concepts: ἀγών, ἀνάκτωρ, βουλή, δεσπόται, ἡδύς, πόνοι, σεμνός, συγγενεία, φροντίς.

Compte rendu de E. Amato, A.  Corcella, G. Ventrella et P. Maréchaux, Procope de Gaza. Discours et fragments. Texte établi, introduit et commenté par E. A., avec la collaboration d’A. C. et G. V., et traduit par P. M., Les Belles Lettres (CUF), Paris, 2014, dans L’Antiquité Classique 85, 2016, p. 358