The αἰώνιος in Hellenic Literature: From Plato to Pseudo-Timaeus

Ewa Osek

The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin , Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9407-4435


Abstract

A subject of this article is the semantic analysis of the Greek word αἰώνιος in Hellenic literature from its beginning to the composition of the New Testament. For the first time, the word αἰώνιος occurred in Plato’s Republic, and after Plato the term was re-used by the ancient Greek philosophers, poets, and historians. Part one of the paper shows the etymology of the αἰώνιος, part two discusses the semantics of the word in Plato’s dialogues, part three – its meaning in the post-Platonic philosophy, part four – in the Hellenistic poetry, part five – in the Hellenistic historiography. Part six contains an overview of entries in the Byzantine lexicons that refer to αἰώνιος. The semantic analysis of the αἰώνιος usus in the ancient Greek literature (4th c. BCE – 1st c. CE) leads to the conclusion that the term in any given context does not denote what is really eternal, i.e. without beginning or end, but something else: longeval, long-lasting, perennial, perpetual, endless, unceasing, imperishable, immutable. Among 60 occurrences only eight refer to eschatological punishments in Hades and three different concern eschatological rewards. None of them is about punishments or rewards that would be actually endless, but rather the long-lasting ones.

Keywords:

αἰώνιος, semantics, ancient Greek literature, Classical period (510-323 BCE), Hellenistic period (323-31 BCE)

Adler, A., Suidae Lexicon (Lexicographi Graeci 1; Lipsiae: Teubneri 1928) I.

Arrighetti, G., Epicuro: Opere (Classici della Filosofia 4; Torino: Einaudi 1960).

Aujac, G. – Lebel, M., Denys d’Halicarnasse: Opuscules rhétoriques (Collection des Universités de France, Série grecque; Paris: Belles Lettres 1978-1992) I-V.

Beekes, R.S., Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10; Leiden: Brill 2010) (=Beekes).

Bernabé, A., Poetae epici Graeci: testimonia et fragmenta. II/1. Orphicorum et Orphicis similium testimonia et fragmenta. II/3. Musaeus; Linus; Epimenides; Papyrus Derveni; Indices (BSGRT; Monachii et Lipsiae: Saur – Berolini: de Gruyter 2004-2007) (=PEG). (Crossref)

Boissonade, J.F., Herodiani Partitiones: E codd. Parisinis (Londini: Valpianis 1819).

Büttner-Wobst, Th., Polybii Historiae, wyd. 2 (BSGRT; Stutgardiae: Teubneri 1995) II.

Chantraine, P. et al., Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots (Paris: Klincksieck 1968-1980) I-IV (=Chantraine).

de Stefani, A., Etymologicum Gudianum quod vocatur (Lipsiae: Teubneri 1909) I.

Diels, H. – Kranz, W., Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, wyd. 6 (Berlin: Weidmann 1951-1952) I-III (=D-K).

Fayant, M.-C., Hymnes orphiques (Collection des Universités de France. Série grecque 509; Budé; Paris: Les Belles Lettres 2014).

Goukowsky, P. – Cohen-Skalli, A., Diodore de Sicile: Bibliothèque historique: Fragments (Collection des Universités de France; Paris: Belles Lettres 2006-2014) I-IV (=DS frs.).

Hammer, S. – Brożek, M., Polibiusz: Dzieje (Biblioteka Przekładów z Literatury Antycznej 3; Wrocław: Ossolineum 1957) I.

Herrman, J., Hyperides: Funeral Oration (American Classical Studies 53; Oxford: Oxford University Press 2009).

Heyne, C.G., Homeri Ilias; Scholia minora; Heraclidis Allegoriae Homericae (Oxonii: E typographeo Clarendoniano 1821) I.

Isnardi Parente, M., Senocrate e Ermodoro: Testimonianze e frammenti, wyd. 2 (Testi e Commenti 13; Pisa: Edizioni della Normale 2012).

Jacoby, C., Dionysii Halicarnasei Antiquitatum romanarum quae supersunt, wyd. 2 (BSGRT; Stutgardiae – Lipsiae: Teubneri 1995-1998) I-V (=DH). (Crossref)

Jacoby, F. et al., Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Berlin: Weidmann 1923-) I-(=FGrHist).

Keizer, H.M., Life Time Entirety: A Study of ΑΙΩΝ in Greek Literature and Philosophy, the Septuagint and Philo (Diss. Universiteit van Amsterdam 1999).

Krońska, I. et al., Diogenes Laertios: Żywoty i poglądy słynnych filozofów, wyd. 3 (Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe 1984).

Lasserre, F. – Livadaras, N., Etymologicum Magnum Genuinum (Athens: Parnassos 1992) II.

Latte, K., Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon (Hauniae: Munksgaard 1953-1966) I-II.

Liddell, H.G. – Scott, R. – Jones, H.S., Greek-English Lexicon, wyd. 9 (Oxford: Clarendon 1996) (=LSJ).

Ławińska-Tyszkowska, J. et al., Kallimach: Dzieła poetyckie. I. Hymny i epigramaty (Biblioteka Antyczna 49; Wrocław: Uniwersytet Wrocławski 2016).

Madyda, W., Trzy stylistyki greckie: Arystoteles, Demetriusz, Dionizjusz (Biblioteka Narodowa II 75; Wrocław: Ossolineum 1953).

Manitius, C., Gemini Elementa astronomiae, wyd. 2 (BSGRT; Stutgardiae: Teubneri 1974).

Mason, A.S., „Why Does Plato Believe in a Timeless Eternity?”, New Essays on Plato: Language and Thought in Fourth-Century Greek Philosophy (red. F.-G. Herrmann) (Swansea: The Classical Press of Wales 2006) 177-188. (Crossref)

Mohr, R.D., „Plato on Time and Eternity”, Ancient Philosophy 6 (1986) 39-46. (Crossref)

Montanari, F. et al., The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek (Leiden: Brill 2015) (=Montanari).

Müllerus, C., Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum (Paris: Didot 1841-1884) I-V (=FHG).

Murphy, E., The Antiquities of Egypt: A Translation with Notes of Book I of the ‘Library of History’ of Diodorus Siculus, wyd. 2 (New Brunswick, NJ – London: Transaction 1990).

Niese, B., „Excerpta ex Eudemi Codice Parisino n. 2635”, Philologus suppl. 15 (1922) 145-160.

Obbink, D., Philodemus On Piety (Oxford: Clarendon 1996) I.

Orbán, A.P., Les dénominations du monde chez les premiers auteurs chrétiens (Graecitas Christianorum Primaeva 4; Nijmegan: Dekker 1970).

Pfeiffer, R., Callimachus. II. Hymni et epigrammata (Oxonii: E typographeo Clarendoniano 1953).

Podbielski, H. – Narecki, K., Trzy greckie stylistyki i dwa traktaty retoryczne z okresu Cesarstwa Rzymskiego. Pseudo-Longinus; Pseudo-Arystydes; Anonymus Seguerianus; Apsines (Źródła i Monografie 429; Lublin: TN KUL 2016).

Ramelli, I. – Konstan, D., Terms for Eternity: Aionios and Aidios in Classical and Christian Texts (Piscataway, NY: Gorgias 2007).

Sacks, K.S., „Diodoros of Sicily and the Hellenistic Mind”, Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke (red. L.I. Hau – A. Meeus – B. Sheridan) (Studia Hellenistica 58; Leuven: Peeters 2018) 43-63.

Smith, A., Porphyrii Philosophi fragmenta (Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana; Stuttgart: Teubner 1993).

Stern, M., Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism. I. From Herodotus to Plutarch (Publications of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 1976) (=GLAJJ).

Theiler, W., Posidonios: Die Fragmente (Texte und Kommentare 10/1; Berlin: de Gruyter 1982) I. (Crossref)

Thesleff, H., The Pythagorean Texts of the Hellenistic Period (Acta Academiae Aboensis. Ser. A, Humaniora 30/1; Åbo: Åbo Akademi 1965).

Tobin, T.H., Timaios of Locri: On the Nature of the World and the Soul (Texts and Translations 26. Graeco-Roman Religion Series 8; Chico, CA: Scholars Press 1985).

Tosi, R., „Typology of Lexicographical Works”, Brill's Companion to Ancient Greek Scholarship (red. F. Montanari – S. Matthaios – A. Rengakos) (Brill’s Companions in Classical Studies; Leiden: Brill 2015) I, 622-636. (Crossref)

van der Horst, P.W., The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides (Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha 4; Leiden: Brill 1978).

Vogel, F. – Fischer, C.T., Diodorus: Bibliotheca historica, wyd. 3 (BSGRT; Stutgardiae: Teubneri 1985) I-V (=DS).

von Arnim, I., Stoicorum veterum fragmenta (Stutgardiae: Teubneri 1903-1924) I-IV (=SVF).

Wozniczka, P., „Diodoros’ Narrative of the First Sicilian Slave Revolt (c. 140/35-132 B.C.) – A Reflection of Poseidonios’ Ideas and Style?”, Diodoros of Sicily: Historiographical Theory and Practice in the Bibliotheke (red. L.I. Hau – A. Meeus – B. Sheridan) (Studia Hellenistica 58; Leuven: Peeters 2018) 221-246.

Wuensch, R., Ioannis Laurentii Lydi Liber de mensibus (BSGRT; Leipzig: Teubner 1898).

Zarewicz, D., Przywoływanie bogów – mit, magia, misteria w starożytnej Grecji (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Sub Lupa 2017).

Żybert, E., Hymny orfickie (Bibliotheca Curiosa 6; Wrocław: Atut 2012).


Published
2019-12-27


Osek, E. (2019). Aἰώνιος w literaturze helleńskiej: od Platona do Pseudo-Timajosa. Verbum Vitae, 36, 373–407. https://doi.org/10.31743/vv.1939

Ewa Osek  ewaosek@wp.pl
The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

Ewa Osek, filolog klasyczny, pracownik naukowo-dydaktyczny w Instytucie Literaturoznawstwa KUL, doktor habilitowany nauk humanistycznych w dyscyplinie literaturoznawstwo, profesor nadzwyczajny KUL, członek International Society for Neoplatonic Studies. Główny obszar zainteresowań: filologia klasyczna, literatura starogrecka, religia w literaturze późnego antyku, tak zwana literatura orficka, neoplatonizm. Autorka kilku książek, kilkudziesięciu artykułów naukowych oraz kilkunastu tłumaczeń tekstów autorów starogreckich, m.in. Platona, Porfiriusza z Tyru, Marinusa z Samarii. Uczestniczyła czynnie w wielu konferencjach naukowych w Polsce i zagranicą.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9407-4435



License

The author(s) grant (s) to the Licensee a non-exclusive and royalty-free license in accordance with the provisions of the Appendix: LICENSE TO USE THE WORK