Tomas Hägg

Hierocles the lover of truth and Eusebius the sophist

Apropos the new edition of Contra Hieroclem in “Sources Chretiennes”;, the title and number of books and editions of Hierocles’ lost treatise are discussed. In the latter part of the article, the various attempts to date Contra Hieroclem are examined, and the question is raised whether Eusebius of Caesarea is really its author.

Hermes and the invention of the lyre an unorthodox version

According to the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Hermes on the day of his birth met a tortoise, killed it and constructed the lyre from its shell. This became the orthodox version of the invention of the lyre. There are, however, some traces of another version as well, which can now be reconstructed with the help of an 11th‐century Persian verse‐romance. Here, Hermes is an adult, he finds a tortoise‐shell sounding in the wind, and then tries to imitate nature. Behind the two versions, each the creation of an individual author, one may discern the original myth.

Titles and honorific epithets in Nubian Greek texts

The use of Greek titles and honorific epithets in the texts of late antique and medieval Nubia is investigated. It is argued that, contrary to common opinion, basiliskos is not a title of distinction in the Silko inscription and other Nubian texts, meaning “Chief King”;, but defines the rulers legal position in relation to the Roman emperor, basileus. It is also concluded that none of the titles and epithets studied provides any evidence for Byzantine influence on medieval Nubia later than the Arab conquest of Egypt.

The oriental reception of Greek novels: A survey with some preliminary considerations

Under three headings: (1) Translations, (2) Adaptations, and (3) Creative borrowing, the possible influence of the ideal Greek novel on Oriental narrative literature is considered. The emphasis is on Arabic literature, Muslim or Christian, but attention is also paid to Syriac, Persian, and Coptic literature, in their own right or as intermediaries between Greek and Arabic. Unsuris verse romance of Vāmiq and ‘Adhrā (11th cent. AD), based on the Greek novel of Metiochus and Parthenope, is pointed out as an actual example of translation; and there is a discussion of what intermediaries (Arabic, Syriac, and/or Pahlavī?) it may have had on its passage from Greek to New Persian. The Christian Martyrdom of St. Parthenope, transmitted in a Coptic fragment and a complete Arabic version, is chosen as an instance of adaptation, whereas creative borrowing is exemplified by stories in the Arabian Nights, in which some narrative patterns, motifs, and points of narrative technique may go back to the Greek novels.

The preface of the bibliotheca of photius once more

In reply to a recent contribution by C. Coppola (AFLN 21 [N.S. 9], 1978–79, 73–82), the authors discuss the reading and restoration of Cod. Marc. gr. 450, fol. lr, col. II, lines 1–10, with apo‐graphs. Corrections and modifications to Coppolas text and critical apparatus are offered and a new restoration and translation of col. I, line 29, through col. II, line 13 (=Bibl. p. 1.8–14 Bekker), attempted.