CLAS / PHIL 2610. Paganism to Christianity

Reading Handout 11. Reading for Thursday April 25, 2002

Reading: Lane and MacMullen 11.1-2 (pp. 138-47)

Norlin Reserve: Eunapius Lives of the Sophists pp. 363-467.

Eunapius was a pagan aristocrat born in Sardis (Asia Minor) c. 345. He studied in his home town under the philosopher Chrysanthius and later in Athens under Prohaeresius. When he returned to Sardis after his studies he settled into the circle of Neo-Platonist philosphers concentrated in the area and learned more extensively the the arts of medicine and the rites of theurgy. Theurgy, the practice of influencing union with the divine through the physical world, had become the center point of late Neo-Platonic philosophy and provided philosophers with a cirect connection to spiritual--rather than simply intellectual--inquiry. When we read Eunapius, we must thus keep in mind that, for people in late antiquity, “philosophy” was not simply a matter of the mind, but, more importantly, a matter of the soul.

Eunapius was a confirmed supporter of the pagan emperor Julian whom he defended strongly in his Histories which are no longer extant but which form the basis for the extant Histories of Zosimus. Julian also receives praist in Eunapius’ Lives of the Sophists, written in 396. In this account Eunapius follows earlier Greek writers in cataloging short biographies of learned and revered men and women. He differs from his predecessors, however, in that he borrows heavily from Christian hagiography and writes about his subjects as arbiters of divine energy. Although some earlier philosophical biographies (like Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius, LM 11.1) offered similarly hagiogrphical accounts, none approach the level of spiritual preoccupation we find in Eunapius.

Questions

1. What was the social status of the pagan holy men and women? What social stratum did they come from and associate with? What was the level of their political involvement?

2. If you ran into a pagan holy man or woman, how would you recognize him or her? What did pagan holy men and women look like? What did they wear, how did they talk, what did they carry with them?

3. As you read, try to come up with a pedigree or “family tree” of pagan Holy Men? With whom did each one study and in what places? Based on what you find, would you say that pagan holy men and women were abundant or few in number?

4. What sorts of rites did pagan holy men and women practice? What sorts of miracles did they perform? How might we explain these miracles?

5. How did pagan holy men and women compare with Christian ascetics? Think about attitudes to wealth, to sex and marriage, to food, to publicity.

6. What attitude does Eunapius have toward the Christian authorities? What attitudes did the Christian authorities have toward pagan holy men?

7. Was there any division among these holy men in the style of their philosophy and worship? What about in their attitudes toward society and politics?