Around the year 400, a Macedonian by the name of John of Stobi, referred to as Stobaeus, gathered a multitude of extracts from Greek philosophers, poets, and statesmen, in many instances all that remains of certain works or authors. This anthology consisted of four extensive books, dealing with metaphysics, natural philosophy, logic, ethics, and politics. We know little about the anthologist himself, except that he ostensibly put his work together for the education of his son. However, from his selection of philosophers we can see that Stobaeus had an affinity for the Pythagorean and Platonist schools, and especially the synthesis of these that posterity labels Neoplatonism, which also integrates Aristotle. The focus of my project has been to analyze what the selection of authors can tell us about Stobaeus, and then especially the excerpts of one singular philosopher: Hermes Trismegistus, "the thrice greatest Hermes," which is the Greek designation of the Egyptian god of writing, wisdom, and magic, Thoth. Excerpts from this Egyptian, who was considered as either a god or a deified human, appears side by side with Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle.
Even though Hermes Trismegistus supposedly lived in the Egypt of hoary antiquity, the hermetic writings were written around the beginning of the common era, and was heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, in particular Platonism. There are forty excerpts of varying length in the anthology of Stobaeus, and these can tell us much about the textual tradition of Hermetism, the status of Hermes in late antiquity, and the religious and philosophical worldview of Stobaeus himself.
The most extensive Hermetic collection is the so-called Corpus Hermeticum (CH), consisting of seventeen texts rediscovered in the Renaissance that came to play a considerable role in Italian humanism. Nine of the forty excerpts of Stobaeus derive from three texts of the CH, and an analysis of these shows that CH as a collection was still not established at the time of Stobaeus. The manuscript of both CH and Stobaeus are from the late middle ages, and a comparison of the Greek text shows that the excerpts are faithful to their sources, with certain discrepancies. The close correspondence shows us that the textual tradition of CH is stable and that its many corruptions entered the texts before they came into the hands of Stobaeus.
The 29 excerpts of which we have no other witness correspond thematically and stylistically with the other Hermetica, and there is no reason to assign them lower priority in the reconstruction of the Hermetic tradition. One group that is somewhat distinct are the excerpts from a dialogue between Isis and Horus, two popular Egyptian deities with an international mystery-cult in the Roman Empire. This dialogue is called Hermetic because Isis designates Hermes as her teacher and quotes him extensively. The Egyptian Hermes was also a divinity venerated by the Isis-cult, and Isis is mentioned with approval in some Hermetica. Hermetism and the Isis-cult thus had a closer connection than commonly assumed: both are directed towards a wider Greek audience who romanticize Egyptian culture and mythology, but where Hermetism demands philosophical studies and contemplation, the cult of Isis emphasize daily devotions at her sanctuaries.
Several excerpts of Stobaeus indicate that he shared the view of the Neoplatonic philosopher Iamblichus of Chalcis, who is also excerpted extensively in the anthology, that the Egyptian Hermes was the originator of philosophy from whom Pythagoras and Plato had obtained crucial elements of their philosophy. Research on the chapter headings of Stobaeus likewise indicates that his own worldview was close to the Neoplatonism following Iamblichus, emphasizing rituals as a necessary means for the ascent of the soul to god. This so-called theurgical Neoplatonism became a dominating force around the turn of the fifth century in Athens, where Proclus assumed the leadership of the Platonic school in 437 and became highly influential. Proclus is not represented in the anthology of Stobaeus, nor are the so-called Chaldaean Oracles, a collection of Greek oracular verses that under Proclus became central to Neoplatonism. This likely means that Stobaeus had gathered his anthology by the 430s, when also the bishop of Alexandria, Cyril, mentions an anonymous editor who had gathered together fifteen Hermetic books in Athens, giving Hermes credit for inventing all the most important arts and sciences. This provides us with another indication of the influence of Hermes in Athenian Neoplatonism prior to Proclus, while the Chaldaean wisdom took over this role later. It is this Neoplatonic tradition that is the most likely intellectual and religious environment of Stobaeus.
Prosjektet har hatt en transformativ virkning på prosjektleders karriere, og har ført til økt internasjonalt samarbeid, spesielt i USA, gjennom forskningsoppholdet ved Princeton University, deltagelse i konferanser, og en workshop avholdt i Oslo. Samarbeidet som ble etablert vil fortsette i årlige sammenkomster som vil resultere i en monografi av prosjektleder, samt minst en monografi av prosjektpartner i USA, Professor Christian Wildberg.
The philosophical Anthology collected by John of Stobi (Stobaeus) in the fifth century CE is an important source for ancient philosophy, providing us with numerous excerpts from philosophical works that are otherwise unattested. One of the authors thus preserved is Hermes Trismegistus, which is actually the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian god Thoth. The Egyptian Hermes was considered to be the tutelary god of priests and scribes, and since Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato were widely believed to have studied with Egyptian priest, the texts ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus came to be seen as the sources of these philosophers. In actuality it was the other way around; the actual authors were most likely Egyptian priests in the Roman period, who attributed Greek philosophical teachings to their tutelary god in order to increase the prestige of Egyptian wisdom.
The most famous Hermetic texts are the Greek collection known as the Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin treatise Asclepius, works which became highly influential in Renaissance Humanism. The forty excerpts preserved in the Anthology of Stobaeus have in contrast been comparatively neglected. It is the aim of the present project to remedy this by publishing a monograph devoted to these treatises, which will contain an English translation - the only modern one - along with extensive commentaries, and an in-depth analysis of the body of texts, focusing on four topics: 1) the Hermetic sources of Stobaeus; 2) The status of Hermes in the fifth century; 3) The centrality of the Stobaei Hermetica in the ancient Hermetic tradition; and 4) the later transmission of the Stobaei Hermetica.
The secondary objective will be to take into consideration another highly neglected body of texts, namely the so-called technical Hermetica, which deals with applied "sciences" such as astrology, alchemy and magic. The hypothesis is that these texts are more closely related to the philosophical text than usually assumed.