The "Sacred History" of Euhemerus of Messene (eBook)

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Marek Winiarczyk, University of Wrocław, Poland.

Abbreviations 13
I. The life of Euhemerus 19
1. Dating Euhemerus 19
2. Place of birth 23
3. Place of activity 25
4. Euhemerus in ancient tradition 26
A. Geographer 26
B. Historian 27
C. Atheist Philosopher 27
D. Poet 28
II. Euhemerus’ .e.. ..a..af. 31
1. The state of preservation of the work 31
2. Interpretation of the title 32
3. When the work was written 33
4. Literary form 34
A. Ideal island 34
B. Locus amoenus 36
C. Utopian novel 37
5. Applied method 39
III. The theological views of Euhemerus of Messene 45
1. The reliability of Diodorus’ account of the theologia dipertita in Euhemerus’ .e.. ..a..af. 45
2. Sources regarding Euhemerus’ theological views 46
A. Old Greek concepts 47
a. The hero cult 47
b. Gods as the founders of cults 50
c. The tombs of the gods 51
B. Euergetism 59
C. Rationalistic interpretation of myths 64
D. The Sophistic movement 65
E. The origins of the commander and ruler cult in the 5th and 4th centuries BC 66
a. Lysander, Spartan commander (d. 395 r.) 66
b. Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse (405–367) 68
c. Dion of Syracuse 69
d. Clearchus, tyrant of Heraclea Pontica (364/363–353/352) 69
e. Nicagoras, tyrant of Zeleia (to 334) 70
f. Philip II, king of Macedonia (359–336) 71
g. Alexander III the Great (336–323) 74
h. Summary 76
F. The ruler cult at the start of the Hellenistic period (up to 270) 77
a. The Antigonids 77
b. The Lagids 78
c. The Seleucids 81
d. Summary 81
G. Hecataeus of Abdera 82
H. Leon of Pella 84
I. Summary 86
IV. Society and economy in the .e.. ..a..af. 89
1. The island of Hiera 89
2. The island of Panchaea 90
3. Why Hiera should not be identified as Panchaea 97
4. The ‘sources’ of the socio-economic description 99
5. Summary 104
V. The Zeus Sanctuary on the Island of Panchaea 105
1. The temple and temenos 105
2. The stele in the temple 108
A. The account on the stele 108
B. .e... ..... on the stele 111
3. The priests of Zeus Triphylius 114
4. Summary 115
VI. An attempt to interpret the .e.. ..a..af. 117
1. Destruction of belief in the Olympian gods 117
2. Satire on the ruler cult 118
3. A justification or promotion of the ruler cult 119
4. A description of an ideal state system 121
5. An explanation of the origins of belief in gods 122
6. Promoting the idea of unity and brotherhood of all people 123
7. Reinterpretation of Greek mythology 124
8. Summary 126
VII. Ennius’ Euhemerus sive sacra historia 127
1. The history of its genesis 127
A. Scipio Africanus 128
B. Ennius’ Scipio 130
C. Dating Ennius’ Euhemerus 132
2. The translation title 132
3. The translation form 133
4. A close translation or free version? 136
5. Ennius’ translation in the works of Latin authors 137
6. Summary 140
VIII. Euhemerism in the ancient world 141
1. Pagan literature 141
A. Euhemerus and Euhemerism 141
B. Euhemerism and the ruler cult 142
C. Euhemerism in mythological novels 143
a. Dionysius Scytobrachion 143
b. Dinarchus of Delos 146
c. The ‘Phrygian Literature’ 146
D. Stoic Euhemerism 147
E. Euhemerism in historiography 149
a. Leon of Pella 149
b. Mnaseas of Patara in Lycia 150
c. Nicagoras of Cyprus 150
d. Polybius 151
e. Apollodorus of Athens 152
f. Castor of Rhodes 152
g. Diodorus Siculus 152
h. Thallus 154
i. Philo of Byblos 155
j. Sisyphus of Cos 158
F. Latin Euhemerists 158
G. Index deorum cognominum 160
H. Pseudo-Euhemerists 162
a. Diagoras of Melos 162
b. Palaephatus 163
c. Megasthenes 163
d. Philochorus of Athens 164
e. Res gestae Divi Augusti 164
f. Lucian of Samosata 165
2. Patristic literature 166
A. Rejection of Euhemerism 166
B. Acceptance of Euhemerism 167
C. Summary and medieval Euhemerism 170
3. Jewish literature 172
A. Eupolemus 172
B. Pseudo-Eupolemus 173
C. Artapanus 174
D. Theodotus 174
E. The Sibylline Oracles 174
F. Summary 176
IX. Conclusions 179
Appendix I: Homines pro diis culti 185
Appendix II: Deos homines fuisse 189
Appendix III: The tombs of the gods 195
Bibliography 201
1. Editions 201
A. Editions of fragments from Euhemerus’ work 201
a. Greek and Latin testimonia 201
b. Latin testimonia 201
B. Editions of authors cited in this book 202
2. Secondary works 215
Indexes 265
1. Indexes of names 265
2. Index of geographical and ethnic names 270
3. Index of subjects 273
4. Greek and Latin words and expressions 276
A. Greek words and expressions 276
B. Latin expressions 277
5. Index of passages 277