Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T17:36:38.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Date of Eunapius’ Vitae Sophistarum and the Establishment of the Martyr Cult in Menouthis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2022

Mikhail A. Vedeshkin*
Affiliation:
Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Social Sciences (RANEPA)

Abstract

The paper is a contribution to a discussion on the dating of Eunapius’ Vitae Sophistarum. Arguments are put forward that Eunapius’ remark on the necrolatry of the monks of Canopus reflects the establishment of a cult of Saints Cyrus and John. Since this event took place when the Church of Alexandria was headed by Cyril, we may consider the beginning of his archbishopric (October 18, 412 CE) as a reliable terminus post quem for the publication of this text.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Australasian Society for Classical Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowski, L. (1963), Untersuchungen zum Liber Heraclidis des Nestorius. Louvain.Google Scholar
Athanassiadi, P. (1993), ‘Persecution and Response in Late Paganism, The Evidence of Damascius’, JHS 113, 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banchich, T. (1984), ‘The Date of Eunapius’ Vitae Sophistarum’, GRBS 25, 183–92.Google Scholar
Banchich, T. (1987), ‘On Goulet's Chronology of Eunapius’ Life and Works’, JHS 107, 164–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banchich, T. (2000), ‘Eutropius, Eutychianus, and Eunapius’ Vitae Sophistarum’, Historia 49, 248–50.Google Scholar
Becker, M. (2013), Eunapios aus Sardes: Biographien uber Philosophen und Sophisten. Einleitung, Ubersetzung, Kommentar. Stuttgart.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolotov, V.V. (1884), ‘Iz cerkovnoj istorii Egipta. Vyp. 1’, Hristianskoe chtenie 11, 581625.Google Scholar
Cameron, A., and Long, J. (1993), Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Csepregi, I. (2015), ‘Christian Transformation of Pagan Cult Places: The Case of Aegae, Cilicia’, in Chandrasekaran, S. and Kouremenos, A. (eds.), Continuity and Destruction in the Greek East: The Transformation of Monumental Space from the Hellenistic Period to Late Antiquity. Oxford, 4957.Google Scholar
Dahlman, B. (2018), ‘Textual Fluidity and Authorial Revision: The Case of Cassian and Palladius’, in Larsen, L. I. and Rubenson, S. (eds.), Monastic Education in Late Antiquity: The Transformation of Classical Paideia. New York, 281305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delehaye, H. (1911), ‘Les Saints d'Aboukir’, AB 30, 448–50.Google Scholar
Duchesne, L. (1910), ‘Le sanctuaire d'Aboukir’, Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Alexandria 12, 314.Google Scholar
Dzielska, M. (1995), Hypatia of Alexandria. Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Frankfurter, D. (2010), ‘The Consequences of Hellenism in Late Antique Egypt: Religious Worlds and Actors’, ARG 2, 162–94.Google Scholar
Fraser, P. M. (1962), ‘Bibliography: Graeco-Roman Egypt: Greek Inscriptions (1961)’, JEA 48, 141–57.Google Scholar
Gascou, J. (1991), ‘Metanoia, Monastery of the’, in The Coptic Encyclopedia 5, 1608a–11.Google Scholar
Gascou, J. (2007), ‘Les origines du culte des saints Cyr et Jean’, AB 125, 241–81.Google Scholar
Goulet, R. (1980), ‘Sur la chronologie de la vie et des œuvres d'Eunape de Sardes’, JHS 100, 6072.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goulet, R. (1994), ‘Antoninus 221’, in Goulet, R. (ed.), Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Vol. 1: D'Abammon à Axiothéa. Paris, 257–8.Google Scholar
Graf, F. (2015), Roman Festivals in the Greek East: From the Early Empire to the Middle Byzantine Era. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, C. (1997), Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict. Baltimore.Google Scholar
Hahn, J. (2004), Gewalt und religiöser Konflikt. Studien zu den Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Christen, Heiden und Juden im Osten des Römischen Reiches (von Konstantin bis Theodosius II). Berlin.Google Scholar
Hahn, J. (2008), ‘The Conversion of the Cult Statues: The Destruction of the Serapeum 392 A.D. and the Transformation of Alexandria into the “Christ-loving” City’, in Hahn, J., Emmel, S. E., and Gotter, U. (eds.), From Temple to Church: Destruction and Renewal of Local Cultic Topography in Late Antiquity. Leiden, 336–67.Google Scholar
Jacobs, A. S. (2016), Epiphanius of Cyprus: A Cultural Biography of Late Antiquity. Oakland, CA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janiszewski, P., Stebnicka, K., and Szabat, E. (2014), Prosopography of Greek Rhetors and Sophists of the Roman Empire. New York.Google Scholar
Kaplow, L. (2005), ‘Religious and Intercommunal Violence in Alexandria in the 4th and 5th centuries CE’, The McGill Journal of Classical Studies 4, 226.Google Scholar
Kayser, F. (1992), ‘Oreilles et couronnes. À propos des cultes de Canope’, BIAO 91, 200–17.Google Scholar
Lampada, D. (2015), ‘The Cult of Martyrs and Politics of Sainthood in Patriarch Cyril's Alexandria’, in Ferrari, M. C. (ed.), Saints and the City: Beiträge zum Verständnis urbaner Sakralität in christlichen Gemeinschaften. Erlangen, 5372.Google Scholar
Liebeschuetz, W. (1990), Barbarians and Bishops: Army, Church, and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysostom. Oxford.Google Scholar
Liebeschuetz, W. (2003), ‘Pagan Historiography and the Decline of the Empire’, in Marasco, G. (ed.), Greek and Roman Historiography in Late Antiquity. Fourth to Sixth Century A.D. Leiden and Boston, 177218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lur'e, S. YA. (1960), ‘K voprosu o proiskhozhdenii kul'ta hristianskih celitelej’, VDI 72.2, 96100.Google Scholar
Maraval, P. (1985), Lieux saints et pèlerinages d'Orient: Histoire et géographie des origines à la conquête arabe. Paris.Google Scholar
McGuckin, J. A. (1993), ‘The Influence of the Isis Cult on St. Cyril of Alexandria's Christology’, Studia Patristica 24, 291–99.Google Scholar
Montserrat, D. (1998), ‘Pilgrimage to the Shrine of SS Cyrus and John at Menouthis in Late Antiquity’, in Frankfurter, D. (ed.)’ Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt. Leiden, 257–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moussa, M. (2003), ‘The Coptic Literary Dossier of Abba Moses of Abydos’, Coptic Church Review 3, 6690.Google Scholar
Nau, F. (1919), ‘Histoire de Nestorius d'après la lettre à Cosme et l'hymne de Sliba de Mansourya sur les docteurs grecs. Conjuration de Nestorius contre les migraines’, Patrologia Orientalis 13, 271326.Google Scholar
Orlandi, T. (1970), Storia della Chiesa di Alessandria. Vol. II: Da Teofilo a Timoteo II. Testi e documenti per lo studio dell'antichità. Milano.Google Scholar
Paschoud, F. (1975), Cinq études sur Zosime. Paris.Google Scholar
Paschoud, F. (1989), Zosime. Histoire nouvelle III 2. Livre VI et index. Paris.Google Scholar
Penella, R. J. (1990), Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century AD. Studies in Eunapius of Sardis. Leeds.Google Scholar
Rizos, E. (2018), ‘Cyril of Alexandria, Homily 18, Fragments of Three Homilies on the Translation of the Relics of Kyros and Ioannes (CPG 5262, BHG 0472-0474)’, in The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity from Its Origins to Circa AD 700, Across the Entire Christian World. Online database. http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E03563.Google Scholar
Rohrbacher, D. (2002), The Historians of Late Antiquity. London and New York.Google Scholar
Russell, N. (2006), Theophilus of Alexandria. New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stolz, Y. (2008), ‘Kanopos oder Menouthis? Zur Identifikation einer Ruinenstätte in der Bucht von Abuqir in Ägypten’, Klio 90, 193207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timbie, J., Zaborowski, J.R. (2006), ‘Shenoute's Sermon The Lord Thundered: An Introduction and Translation’, Oriens Christianus 90, 91123.Google Scholar
Vidman, L. (1969), Sylloge inscriptionum religionis Isiacae et Sarapicae. Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 28. Berolini.Google Scholar
Watts, E. J. (2006), City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria. Berkeley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, E. J. (2009), ‘The Enduring Legacy of the Iatrosophist Gessius’, GRBS 49, 113–33.Google Scholar
Watts, E. J. (2010), Riot in Alexandria: Tradition and Group Dynamics in Late Antique Pagan and Christian Communities. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Watts, E. J. (2017), Hypatia: The Life and Legend of an Ancient Philosopher. New York.Google Scholar
Wessel, S. (2004), Cyril of Alexandria and the Nestorian Controversy: The Making of a Saint and of a Heretic. Oxford and New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Witt, R. E. (1971), Isis in the Ancient World. Baltimore.Google Scholar
Wipszycka, E. (1988), ‘La christianisation de l’Égypte aux IVe – VIe siècles. Aspects sociaux et ethniques’, Aegyptus 68, 117–65.Google Scholar
Wright, W.C. (1921), Philostratus: Lives of the Sophists. Eunapius: Lives of the Philosophers. Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar