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• Life and Work of Prague Master Simon of Tišnov

  297-308

  Karel Dobiáš

  Views:

  92

  The Bohemian Reformation is a widely researched topic. However, not enough attention is given to all participants during the course events. The aim of this article is to introduce the life and literary work of the little-known University of Prague Master, Simon of Tišnov (ca. 1370–1432), a medieval scholar with roots in the Moravian town called Tišnov, a defender of John Wycliffe’s philosophy, an ardent supporter of the Bohemian reformation movement and, eventually, an objector, or rather an opponent, of those who followed the teachings of John Wycliffe and John Hus. The article is focused on Simon’s very first publication, viz. the Defensio of John Wycliffe’s treatise De probationibus propositionum which is also known under the title Logicae continuatio.

• Logos – in die Seele geschrieben (Zu Platons Schriftkritik im Phaidros)

  11–24

  Attila Simon

  Views:

  44

  In Plato’s Phaedrus, in the context of the ‘critique of writing’ the phrase ‘writing in the soul’ occurs twice (276a5, 278A3). Why did Plato use this metaphor, with positive connotation, in a context which criticises ’writing’ in everyday sense? On the basis of the Phaedrus, I argue that the content of logos inscribed in the soul is not a philosophical doctrine, formulated in propositions, but the continuous practice of dialectic as the philosophical way of life. On the basis of the broader context of 5th and 4th century literary texts, I argue that Plato uses this metaphor as a cliché which emphasizes the importance of the content that should be inscribed in the soul for remembrance, even though the phrase is somewhat at odds with the narrower context.

• Myth and philosophy: The Great Sinner’s topos in Ovid, Lucretius and Seneca

  219–231

  Simona Martorana

  Views:

  141

  In my paper I examine the occurrence of a repeated pattern, namely the catalogue of the so-called Great Sinners, in the work of three Latin authors: Ovid, Lucretius and Seneca. Through the hermeneutical category of (external) intertextuality, the paper explores how the same Leitmotiv is profitably employed by different authors across diverse genres and contexts, changing certain features while retaining the same core. Specifically, it will be shown that these Latin writers drew the list of the Great Sinners from previous sources, but that they also adapted the catalogue to the content and patterns of their own works. Finally, it is noted that these three occurrences of the catalogue should be seen more generally as a specimen for the process of imitatio/aemulatio of previous traditions brought forth by classical writers.

• Byzantine epigrams on the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.: The case of Georgios Pisides

  Anastasios Kantaras

  Views:

  147

  This article is dealing with issues of the Cross alongside the epigrams related to the Crucifixion written by a distinguished Byzantine scholar of the 7th century, Georgios Pisidis, focusing our attention and scope on particular aspects of those epigrams such as the possible influences and impact from literary texts previously and later written and most noticeable motifs.

• Mithras, Neoplatonism and the stars

  161–180

  Dan-Tudor Ionescu

  Views:

  310

  The main ideas of this study (which is a continuation of my former article entitled “Mithras, Sol Invictus, and the Astral Philosophical Connections”) are the following: I. The dichotomy and differences between the two main groups of theories regarding the origins of the Roman mystery cult of Mithras, namely the school of the great Belgian scholar Franz Cumont, who considered Mithraism in the Roman world as an essentially Iranian cult adapted to the new cultural Hellenistic-Roman context, and the theory of the 19th century German scholar K. B. Stark (revived in the 1970s by academics like R. Beck, J. R. Hinnells, S. Insler, R. Gordon, and A. Bausani, who considered that the Roman cult of the solar god Mithras was a new mystery cult which was born in the Roman world because of the Hellenistic scientific discovery of the precession of the equinoxes.1 My conclusion is that the Roman cult of Mithras, fused with the cult of Sol Invictus (the Hellenistic-Roman cult of the Unvanquished Sun), has more things Iranian than the name of the central deity of this initiation-mystery cult (despite its undeniable Hellenistic-Roman and astrological-astronomical elements). II. The astral element as a potent religious component of the religious and philosophical mentality of the so-called “mystery religious and initiation cults” in the Roman Empire is seen in Roman Mithraism as a ladder for the journey of the soul through the astral spheres towards perfection or possibly towards liberation (these are modern interpretations, since we do not have any consistent Mithraic religious-liturgical text). III. The role of Neo-Platonist philosophy in the religious and philosophical landscape of the 3rd and 4th centuries CE of the Late Roman Empire and its possible relationship with the Roman cult of Mithras.

• The Presence and Importance of Beauty in the Byzantine Epigrams About the Cross and the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ: Some Basic Observations

  217–230.

  Anastasios Kantaras

  Views:

  154

  Scholar poetry, particularly the epigram, has been a literary means of expression not only of ideas and attitudes about life but also of religious sentiment and profound religious faith. Delving into the epigrams of the second category, particularly those related to the Cross and the Crucifixion, our attention will be focused on the presence of beauty, its meaning, and the role it played within the category of Byzantine epigrams. The aim of this article is to identify relevant epigrams (by anonymous or known writers), make some basic observations and reach certain conclusions regarding the issue of beauty.