Month: May 2010

Testimonia for Philip of Side

Posted on by Roger Pearse

When dealing with a lost text, the comments by other ancient writers who read it are usually included with the fragments as testimonia.  I need to pay attention to these for Philip of Side.

There seem to be three for Philip of Side’s Christian History.  Photius and Socrates HE, book 7, c.27.  I would have thought both should be included.  The critical text of the first is the edition by Rene Henry.  For Socrates it is the GCS NF 1 Socrates Scholasticus, Historia ecclesiastica (1. Aufl. 1995: Günther Christian Hansen).

Apparently Nicephorus Callistus also says something (Hist. eccl., xiv. 29).  

Here are the English translations of what we have.  First Photius:

35. [Philip of Side, Christian History]

Read the work of Philip[1] of Side, entitled a Christian History, beginning with the words “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” He gives an account of the Mosaic history, sometimes brief, sometimes full, although wordy throughout. The first book contains twenty-four volumes, like the twenty-three other books, which we have seen up to the present.[2] His language is diffuse, without urbanity or elegance, and soon palls, or positively disgusts; his aim is rather to display his knowledge than to benefit the reader. Most of the matter has nothing to do with history, and the work might be called a treatise on all kinds of subjects rather than a history, a tasteless effusion. Philip was a contemporary of Sisinnius and Proclus, patriarchs of Constantinople. He frequently attacks the former in his history, because, while both filled the same office[3] and Philip was considered the more eloquent, Sisinnius was elected to the patriarchate.

1 Philip of Side in Pamphylia (fifth century). He was a presbyter in Constantinople, and a friend of John Chrysostom.
2 It originally contained thirty-six books and nearly one thousand volumes.
3 They were both presbyters.

And Socrates:

Chapter XXVI.  Sisinnius is chosen to succeed Atticus.

After the decease of Atticus, there arose a strong contest about the election of a successor, some proposing one person, and some another. One party, they say, was urgent in favor of a presbyter named Philip; another wished to promote Proclus who was also a presbyter; but the general desire of the people was that the bishopric should be conferred on Sisinnius…. The presbyter Philip was so chagrined at the preference of another to himself, that he even introduced the subject into his Christian History, making some very censorious remarks, both about the person ordained and those who had ordained him, and much more severely on the laity. But he said such things as I cannot by any means commit to writing. Since I do not approve of his unadvised action in committing them to writing, I do not deem it unseasonable, however, to give some notice here of him and of his works.

Chapter XXVII. Voluminous Productions of Philip, a Presbyter of Side.

Philip was a native of Side; Side is a city of Pamphylia. From this place also Troilus the sophist came, to whom Philip boasted himself to be nearly related. He was a deacon and thus admitted to the privilege of familiar intercourse with John Chrysostom, the bishop. He labored assiduously in literature, and besides making very considerable literary attainments, formed an extensive collection of books in every branch of knowledge. Affecting the Asiatic style, he became the author of many treatises, attempting among others a refutation of the Emperor Julian’s treatises against the Christians, and compiled a Christian History, which he divided into thirty-six books; each of these books occupied several volumes, so that they amounted altogether to nearly one thousand, and the mere argument of each volume equalled in magnitude the volume itself. This composition he has entitled not an Ecclesiastical, but a Christian History, and has grouped together in it abundance of very heterogeneous materials, wishing to show that he is not ignorant of philosophical and scientific learning: for it contains a medley of geometrical theorems, astronomical speculations, arithmetical calculations, and musical principles, with geographical delineations of islands, mountains, forests, and various other matters of little moment. By forcing such irrelevant details into connection with his subject, he has rendered his work a very loose production, useless alike, in my opinion, to the ignorant and the learned; for the illiterate are incapable of appreciating the loftiness of his diction, and such as are really competent to form a just estimate, condemn his wearisome tautology. But let every one exercise his own judgment concerning these books according to his taste. All I have to add is, that he has confounded the chronological order of the transactions he describes: for after having related what took place in the reign of the Emperor Theodosius, he immediately goes back to the times of the bishop Athanasius; and this sort of thing he does frequently. But enough has been said of Philip: we must now mention what happened under the episcopate of Sisinnius.

I know almost nothing about the Ecclesiastical History of Nicephorus Callistus, tho.  Apparently it is in PG145, PG146 and PG147.

UPDATE:  A reader writes:

I looked over the account of Philip of Side in Nicephorus Callistus (PG 146: 1152-6); it’s nearly identical to Socrates’ account, although I haven’t looked at the Greek of Socrates.

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Berthelot’s Greek Alchemical Texts

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I never knew that a collection of Greek alchemical texts existed with French translation in four volumes, but it does: Edition: M. Berthelot/Ch. Em. Ruelle, Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs , Paris 1887-1888.  Better still, much of it is online.

  • Volume 1 (Archive.org)
  • Volume 2-3 (Archive.org).  Vol. 2 is Zosimos; p.244 of the PDF is the start of vol. 3, old authors and technical texts and commentators.
  • Volume 3-4 (Google books).  Volume 4 seems to be indexes.

The packaging of these volumes in PDF’s is unfortunate.  Nor do I see various texts of the Byzantine period, such as Stephanos of Alexandria.  But … still worth knowing about.

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Carmen adversus paganos

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I mentioned that Brian Croke and Jill Harries had put together a volume of documents around the fall of paganism and the final establishment of Christianity during the fourth century, entitled Religious Conflict in Fourth-Century Rome.  Some pages of this have reached me, and I have been pretty impressed.

Among the texts translated for the first time is the Carmen contra paganos which I was considering getting translated a little while ago.  Since it is short, I think I may quote it in full as an example of the truly vivid impression that the book made on me (or at least those bits I saw).  I’ve abbreviated the copious notes so that the general reader may still understand; but the notes are full and highly useful.

Anonymous, Carmen contra paganos (Poem against the Pagans)

Tell me, you people who worship the sacred groves and cave of the Sibyl and the thicket of Ida; the lofty Capitol of thundering Jupiter, the Palladium and the household gods [Lares] of Priam, the chapel of Vesta, and the incestuous gods, the sister married to her brother,[1] the cruel boy [Cupid], the statues of unspeakable Venus, you whom only the purple toga consecrates, you to whom the oracle of Phoebus has never spoken true, you whom the delusive Etruscan diviner forever mocks; this Jupiter of yours, overwhelmed with love for Leda, did he mean to cover himself with white feathers so as to change into a swan, when desperately in love to flow all at once to Danae as a golden shower, to bellow through the straits of Parthenope [Naples] as an adulterous bull? If these monstrous rites find favour are no hallowed things modest? Is the ruler of Olympus [Saturn] forced to retreat, in flight from the arms of Jupiter?  And does any suppliant venerate the temples of the tyrant, when he sees the father compelled to fight by his own son? Finally, if Jupiter himself is ruled by Fate what advantage is it to wretched men to pour forth prayers already foredoomed? The handsome young man, Adonis, is mourned in the temples, naked Venus weeps, Mars the hero rejoices, Jupiter in the middle does not know how to bring about reconciliation and Bellona urges on the quarrelling gods with her whip.

Is it fitting for senators to hope for safety from sacred leaders such as these? Should they be allowed to settle your quarrels? Tell me, what benefit to the City was your prefect, when, a plunderer in ceremonial attire, he had reached the throne of Jupiter, whereas [in fact] he scarcely atones for his crimes by a protracted death? This man who feverishly purified the whole city for three months finally came to the limits of his life. What madness of spirit was this, what insanity of mind? He was certainly able to disturb your Jupiter’s peace! Who, most beautiful Rome, provoked your suspension of public business? Was the populace, long since a stranger to them, to resort to arms?

But there was no one on earth more hallowed than he whom Numa Pompilius, the chief diviner among many, taught by an empty rite outrageously to pollute the altars in the blood of cattle with putrefying carcasses [2]. Is this not the very same man who once betrayed the wine of his country[3] and ancient households, overturning the towers and residences of the nobility, since he wished to bring destruction on his city, adorned his doorposts with laurel, gave banquets, offered unclean bread tainted with the smoke of incense, asking in jest whom he would give over to death, who was ever accustomed to put on the sacred garments, forever ready to corrupt the unfortunate with some new deceit?

How, I ask you, did your priest help the city? He taught the [Greek] priest to seek the Sun beneath the earth,[4] and when a grave-digger from the countryside happened to cut down a pear tree for himself, would say that he was a companion of the gods and mentor of Bacchus, he, a worshipper of Serapis, always a friend to the Etruscan diviners, the one who sought eagerly to pour for the unwary his draughts of poison, who sought a thousand ways of harming and as many contrivances. Those whom he wished to ruin he struck down — the ghastly snake! — ready as he was to fight the true God, in vain, he who always mourned in silence the times of peace, unable to proclaim his own deep grief.

Which initiate of the taurobolium persuaded you to change your clothes so that you, a puffed-up rich man, should suddenly become a beggar covered in rags and having been made a pauper by your small contribution sent underground, stained with bull’s blood, dirty, corrupted, to preserve your bloodied garments and hope to live pure for twenty years? [5] You set yourself up as a censor to cut down the life of your betters, henceforth trusting that your own actions would lie hidden, although you had always been surrounded with the dogs of the Great Mother,[6] you whom the licentious band (O horror!) accompanied in your triumph. The old man of sixty remained a boy,[7] a worshipper of Saturn, constant friend of Bellona, who persuaded everyone that the Fauns,  companions of the nymph Egeria, and the Satyrs and Pans are gods. He is a companion of nymphs and Bacchus and priest of Trivia,[8] whom the Berecynthian Mother inspired to lead the choral dances, take up the staffs of effeminacy and clash the cymbals; whom powerful Galatea [Venus], born of lofty Jove and endowed with the prize of beauty through the judgement of Paris, commanded. Let no priest be allowed to keep his shame when they are in the habit of chanting in falsetto in the Megalensian celebrations. Thus in his madness he wanted to damn many worshippers of Christ were they willing to die outside the Law, and would give honours to those he would ensnare, through demonic artifice, forgetful of their true selves, seeking to influence the minds of certain people by gifts and to make others profane with a small bribe and send the wretched people below with him to Hell. He who wanted pious agreements to replace the laws had Leucadius put in charge of the African farms, to corrupt Marcianus so that he might be his proconsul. [9]

What was the divine custodian of Paphos [Venus], the matron Juno and elderly Saturn able to provide for you, their priest? What did the trident of Neptune promise you, O madman? (90) What responses could the Tritonian maiden [Minerva] give? Tell me, why did you seek the temple of Serapis by night? What did deceitful Mercury promise you as you went? What do you gain from having worshipped the Lares and two-faced Janus? What pleasure to you as priest did our parent Earth give, or the beautiful mother of the gods? (95) What barking Anubis; what the pitiable mother Ceres, and Proserpine below; what lame Vulcan, weak in one foot? Who did not laugh at your grieving, whenever you came bald to the altars as a suppliant to beseech rattle-bearing Faria [Isis] and when, after lamentation, you carried the broken olive branch when mourning wretched Osiris, [as Isis] sought the one she would lose again when found? We have seen lions bearing yokes wrought in silver, [10] when joined together they pulled creaking wooden wagons, and we have seen that man holding silver reins in both his hands. We have seen eminent senators following the chariot of Cybele which the hired band dragged at the Megalensian festival, carrying through the city a lopped-off tree trunk,[11] and suddenly proclaiming that castrated Attis is the Sun. While through your magic arts, alas, you seek the honours of princes, pitiable man, you are thereby brought low with the gift of a small tomb. Yet only the promiscuous Flora rejoices in your consulship, the shameful mother of games and mistress of Venus, to whom but recently your heir Symmachus [13] constructed a temple. You, stationed in the temple, continually worshipped all those monstrous things while your suppliant wife with her hands heaps up the altars with grain and gifts and prepares to fulfil her vows to the gods and goddesses on the threshold of the temple, and threatens the divine powers, desiring to sway Acheron with magic verses, yet sent him wretched headlong down to Tartarus. Leave off weeping after such a spouse, a sufferer from dropsy, he whose wish was to hope for salvation from Latian Jupiter.

[1] Juno and Jupiter.

[2] This refers to the augural ritual and the feast of the Parentalia (Prudentius, Contra Symmachum II.1107-8).

[3] This is apparently an allusion to some tampering with the wine supply during the City prefecture of Flavianus in 383 (Mommsen, ‘Carmen Codicis Parisini 8084’,. p. 363).

[4] Mithras as Sol.

[5] The initiation of the taurobolium was normally meant to last for twenty years according to contemporary inscriptions from Rome (e.g. CIL VI. 502, 504, 512).

[6] A reference to the dog masks worn at the festival of the Great Mother, the Megalensia. For similar instances: Carmen ad senatorem line 31 and Carmen ad Antonium lines 117-18.

[7] The word efebus here may refer to a grade of worship of the cult of Hercules.

[8] Trivia = Hecate. 

[9] Leucadius was an imperial financial official in Africa at the time. See ‘Leucadius 2′, PLRE I, p. 505. Marcianus became Prefect of the City of Rome in 409. After the defeat of Eugenius and Arbogast in September 394 Marcianus was compelled to pay back the salary he had acquired as Flavianus’ pronconsul in Africa (‘Marcianus 14’, PLRE I, pp. 555-6).

[10] The lions of Cybele; see M. Vermaseren, Cybele and Attis, London 1977, pp. 96ff.

[11] The pine trunk was carried in procession through the city on 22-23 March each year (ibid., p. 115).

[12] Attis was declared the Sun at the annual feast of the Hilaria, held on 25 March.

[13] This refers to the younger Flavianus who had married the daughter of Symmachus, rather than Symmachus’ son (‘Q. Fabius Memmius Symmachus 10’, PLRE II, p. 1047).

 I didn’t agree with all the footnotes; e.g. why introduce Attis, when Mithras is the Sol worshipped under the earth in a thousand inscriptions?  I wasn’t sure how we know that Attis was identified with the sun either. 

But … a tour de force.  Recommended.

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Mark Ashton and the bishop

Posted on by Roger Pearse

One thing that struck me as odd when I was looking back at Mark Ashton’s life was that he was never made an honorary canon of the cathedral, Ely.  His predecessor, Mark Rushton, did receive that honour.  I thought it was worth asking the diocese about this.

I had a somewhat stiff reply from the diocesan office.  They told me that Bishop Anthony Russell (now retired) did offer to make him a canon, but the offer was declined by Mark.  Apparently it was thought that some at the Round Church would not approve, along the lines of “Call no man father”.

It’s not easy to understand this explanation, which if true would involve some condemnation of Mark Rushton for accepting it.  No doubt the truth will come out one day.

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The Bringel thesis of the Religionsgesprach

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Fragments of Philip of Side are in the 6th century fictional dialogue set at the court of the Sassanids and known as the Religionsgesprach after Bratke’s publication.  But since I learned that Pauline Bringel had made a critical edition in an unpublished French thesis a few years ago, I have been attempting to obtain a copy.

I did find a website which sort of looked as if it supplied theses.  But the site — the Atelier National de Reproduction des Thèses has got back to me, telling me that they can suppy a copy for 20 euros or so… in micro-fiche format!  Yes, really!!  What an extraordinary thing to do, in the age of the PDF.  And… shouldn’t they make these available for free?  The public has already funded them, in taxes, after all.

Of course this means that there is a fall-back position.  I could get the fiche, get it converted to PDF (at further cost) and then email it to my translator.

But a French scholar has slipped me Dr Bringel’s email address.  I have written to her and asked if she has a PDF, or will sell me a photocopy.  Let’s hope I can get a copy that way.

UPDATE: Pauline Bringel has very kindly given me a copy of her thesis.  515 pages!  Wow! 

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Hunting the wild (mis)quotation

Posted on by Roger Pearse

As I wander around the web, I come across supposed quotations which slap me in the face and shriek at me “fake”.  Today I found this:

The following creed is that of a church at Constantinople around the time of the “Council of Nicea”:

“I renounce all customs, rites, legalisms, unleavened breads & sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews, and all other feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspersions, purifications, sanctifications and propitiations and fasts, and new moons, and Sabbaths, and superstitions, and hymns and chants and observances and Synagogues, and the food and drink of the Hebrews; in one word, I renounce everything Jewish, every law, rite and custom and if afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with the Jews, or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as the legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with Satan and the devils.”

DO you think that this religion (constantinianism) is what Yeshua wanted us to become entangled in

This is a canon of Nicaea I?  It sounds like a personal confession of faith.  The poster, of course, gave no reference.  But a google search on I renounce all customs, rites, legalisms, unleavened breads & sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews gave me this link at Fordham.edu, which said nothing about Nicaea and gave “From Assemani, Cod. Lit., 1, p. 105″ as the reference, and “from James Parkes:  The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue: A Study in the Origins of Antisemitism, (New York: JPS, 1934), 394-400.”

Assemani was an oriental scholar, publishing texts from Syriac at Rome in the 18th century, most of them medieval.  So this also is not in accord with the starting post.

Adding Assemani to the Google search brought up a slew of material such as this, headed Constantine’s and Romes Christian Creed, giving “Stefano Assemani, Acta Sanctorium Martyrum Orientalium at Occidentalium, Vol. 1, Rome 1748, page 105” as the reference for the very same paragraph.

We’re clearly in the realm of the polemical quote, when we have two references for the same thing.  Of course “Sanctorium” is itself a typo, but suggestive of someone who has repeated, rather than checked, the data. 

Is the book online?  Not in google books or archive.org — not  a good start.

What about the “Cod. Lit.” reference?  This site tells us that J. A. Assemani published, inter alia:

“Codex liturgicus ecclesiae universae in XV libros distributus” (Rome, 1749-66). — This valuable work has become so rare that a bookseller of Paris recently issued a photographic impression of it.

So the “quote” has two references, neither readily accessible, both in Latin at best. 

Volume 8 of the codex liturgicus is here, and several others are accessible.  Is volume 1, I wonder?  After a lot of searching, I found it here.  Page 105 is p.162 of the PDF.  The renunciation starts at the top of p.106, and starts as per the quote.

But … it’s misleading.  For this is not the whole statement.  A huge chunk has been omitted from the middle, without being marked.  For it should at least indicate the omission: “in one word, I renounce everything Jewish, every law, rite and custom …. and if afterwards I shall wish to deny”.  In fact the sentence before the break is truncated, and the one afterwards starts before the ‘and’.

in one word, I renounce everything Jewish, legalism, custom and rite; and above all he who is expected by all the Jews in the shape and dress of Christ, I renounce Anti-Christ, and join myself to the true Christ and God.  And I believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; the holy and consubstantial and individual Trinity; I profess the dispensation where one of the holy trinity, the Word of God took flesh and became man; …

and later:

…if I pretend to be a Christian and then I wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition….

I don’t have time to translate the whole confession, but the extracts are more than a little misleading.

The other question — is this Nicene? — must be answered in the negative.  There is no trace of such a statement in all this.  No, this is a medieval Greek catechism, for someone converting to Christianity from Judaism. 

Quite why the Christians should not require a Jew professing conversion to be sincere, of course, we are not told by the original post.

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The church-historical epitome

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve been trying to understand just what this “kirchegeschichtliches Epitome” text is that all the articles about Philip of Side mention.  The catalogue of fragments referred to it quite a bit.

It seems it’s a text whose existence is inferred (don’t you hate that?).  Apparently there are three 14th century manuscripts containing excerpts from church histories of various sorts.  If you compare these, there’s enough commonality that they can’t be independent.   They must all derive from some earlier epitome of church history.  Then there are a couple of pages in Milan, which seem to derive from a copy of that earlier epitome.  The conclusion of De Boor, when printing the fragments of Philip of Side, was that this epitome was the source for all the fragments now extant.

The epitome consists of snippets from Eusebius’ Church History, plus additions from sources unspecified; then material from the Historia Tripartita (i.e. Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret), plus some stuff from the now lost history of Gelasius of Caesarea.  It ran from the time of Christ up to the reign of the emperor Phocas (610), so was presumably written at that time.  The Christian History of Philip of Side must have been one of the minor sources.

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From my diary

Posted on by Roger Pearse

A useful trip to Cambridge this morning, and I got several articles in photocopied form about the fragments of Philip of Side.  Now to read them!

Cambridge was beautiful in the sunshine.  In the library there were few people, although since I arrived at 9:15 I suspect many were yet abed.  The characteristic smell of books greeted me as ever, and I went to look for the volumes I needed.

One of the items I had to get was from a 1906 French periodical.  I’m so used to getting these in PDF form, hundreds of pages, that it was a bit of a shock to pull down this very thick, very heavy volume, half-leather, faded pages, and realise that this was the physical form of those little black-and-white PDF’s.  Of course I knew intellectually that this was the case — but evidently I had begun to forget.

The university library has always seemed to me a massive thing, long-lived.  Yet I found that it had not purchased the latest editions of some of the Griechische Christliche Schriftsteller series; and somehow the great walls and ceilings and floor upon floor of books seemed less substantial, losing its solidity, slightly immaterial. 

Because, of course, who needs all these shelves any more?  All we need are good PDF’s. 

Indeed the books are harder to search!  Give me a directory full of PDF’s and I can make sure they are OCR’d and search the lot easily.  A similar row of books is impossible to look through.

On the way out, I was stopped and my bag searched thoroughly, as I waited, grey hair and shirt and tie.  My PDF collection never treats me like a thief.  Somehow this too seemed incongruous, not quite real — for what need will there be for it, when libraries start to dispose of all that paper?

In the town I saw many changes.  Borders bookshop had gone.  Galloway and Porter — remaindered academic books — was holding a closing-down sale.  Heffers, which sells textbooks to students, seemed to have little on its shelves.  Marks of the recession were in most streets, and it didn’t quite seem the place I visited last time I was there.  Indeed I walked up and down the town for half an hour, but saw nothing I wanted.  I noticed that there was nowhere to sit and have a glass of coke and a roll.  In the end I headed back, across the river and along the beautifully gardened and scented walkway to the library.

“All things are fleeting” … nothing remains the same forever, except God.

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A list of the fragments of Philip of Side’s “Christian History”

Posted on by Roger Pearse

The rambling 24 book history written by Philip of Side is lost. The fragments that remain are of considerable interest, however. I intend to get them all put into English and make them available online.

There is an excellent article by Katharina Heyden, which lists all the fragments and discusses them: Die Christliche Geschichte des Philippos von Side: Mit einem kommentierten Katalog der Fragmente, in M. Wallraff (ed.), Julius Africanus und die christliche Weltchronistik (Berlin, 2006), pp. 209-243. Unfortunately German isn’t my best language, and I have to use a machine translator to make much of it. I don’t think I am alone in this. Since I need a digest for my own purposes, I thought I would share it.

[UPDATE (19/5/10): I’ve started to link to these where possible, and added some out of copyright articles online.]

A. Authentic fragments

Fr. 1. On Adam and Eve.

The text is found in Codex Bodleianus graecus 120, fol. 300r (14th century) and Codex Parisinus graecus Suppl 685, fol. 10r (16th century), and has been edited by D. Serruys, Autour d’un fragment de Philippe de Side, Melanges d’archeologique et d’histoire 26, (1906), 335-359. The text of Codex Parisinus Graecus Suppl 685 is in A. Wirth, Aus orientalischen Chroniken, Frankfurt (1894), p.208 f. (p.208 in the PDF).

The two manuscripts listed are both collections of miscellaneous snippets. There is a small note on a chunk of Old Testament numerical speculation from the Christian History. One attributes it to book (τόμος) 20, the other to book 22, but otherwise the text is the same. Philip seems to use now unknown apocrypha, as the calculated numbers differ from texts such as Jubilees.

Fr. 2. List of the presidents of the school of catechists at Alexandria.

Text: Codex Baroccianus 142, fol. 216r Z. 40 – 216v Z. 15; first edited by H. Dodwell, Dissertationes in Irenaeum. Accedit fragmentum Philippi Sidetae hactenus ineditum de catechistarum Alexandrinorum successione cum notis, Oxoniae 1689,488; again by: P. Nautin, La continuation de l'”Histoire Ecclesiastique” d’Eusebe par Gelase de Cesaree, Revue des Etudes Byzantines 50, 1992, 175 f. (gr. text); 177 f. (french trln.) sowie: G. C. Hansen, Theodoros Anagnostes Kirchengeschichte, GCS N.F. 3, Berlin 2 1995,160. [I have PDF’s of all these]

Literature: P. Nautin, ibid., 163-183; B. Pouderon, Le temoignage du Codex Baroccianus 142 sur Athenagore et les origines du Didaskaleion d’Alexandrie, in: G. Argoud (ed.), Science et vie intellectuelle a Alexandrie (I-III er siecle apres J.-C), Archipelegeen,Saint Etienne 1994,163-224.

A story of miracles at the temple of Hera at Babylon and the report of the Magi on their journey to Bethlehem.

This is a famous chunk, found in the Bodleian manuscript Codex Baroccianus 142, which was probably compiled by Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos as part of preparations for his church history between 1303-1320. The codex contains on fol. 212r-224r und 236v-240v a short epitome of an ecclesiastical history. A marginal note ώς φησ’ι φίλιππος ό σϊδ έν λόγω κ 5 in the first hand clearly labels the source. A photo in Heyden shows this note, I gather. However the text also refers to Philip of Side himself, so is clearly not a direct quotation from his work. (Indeed the complete text was probably not extant at that late date).

Fr. 3. Fragments in the De gestis in Perside.

CPG 6968. Critical edition and study: E. Bratke, Das sogenannte Religionsgespräch am Hof der Sasaniden, TU 19/4, Leipzig 1899 (starting on p.448 of the PDF). No subsequent study has surpassed this, although Pauline Bringel has had a new critical edition forthcoming from the Sources Chretiennes for some years, based on her dissertation [I have a PDF of the dissertation].

Heyden notes: ‘The connection between this 5-6th century romance and the history of Philip has become so accepted that G. C. Hansen can simply record in the introduction to his edition of the Anonymous church history: “Pages and pages of excerpts from the giant work of Philip are found in the novelistic ‘Εξήγησις των πραχθέντων έν Περσίδι(…)”. However, we still await an answer to the question of what specific pieces from Pers. are to be classified as from the Christian History of Philip, even now.’ She lists the following, not all equally certainly by Philip, from Bratke’s edition.

Fr. 3.1. Narrative by Cassander (Pers. 5,11-9,5 Bratke). This is three pseudo-historical oracles about Alexander the Great and Christ.

Fr. 3.2. Narrative by Aphroditian (Pers. 11,2-19,9; 45,4-9 Bratke). A story of miracles at the temple of Hera at Babylon and the report of the Magi on their journey to Bethlehem.

From here on we are on more dodgy ground.

B. Less certainly authentic fragments

Fr. 3.3. Prophecies by Greek Sages (Pers. 31,27-33,7 Bratke). This is a discussion with the Jews about whether Jesus was the messiah; pagan pseudo-prophecies are adduced after Aphroditian asks, “Why should we cite the prophecies of the Jews and not those of our own?”.

Fr. 3.4. Material about god-fearing heathens (Pers. 19,25-21,10 Bratke) such as Cyrus.

Fr. 3.5. Legend of the shepherdess Koatos (Pers. 42,2-43,3 Bratke). This is a legend of a pagan virgin who preferred purity to an admirer.

Fragment 4. Additions to Eusebius in the Byzantine Church-Historical Epitome.

Manuscripts: Codex Baroccianus 142, fol. 212r-216r (extracts), Codex Oxoniensis Misc. 61 (Auct. E.4.18), fol. 136r-143r (unedited, extracts); Frg. 4.3-6 also in Codex Vatopedi 286, fol. 91r-218r (extracts).

Edition with commentary: C. de Boor, Neue Fragmente des Papias, Hegesippus und Pierius in bisher unbekannten Excerpten aus der Kirchengeschichte des Philippus Sidetes, TU V/2, Leipzig 1888,169-171 (p.322-341 of the PDF; the following 7 chunks of Greek are on pp.326-7 of the PDF).

Fr. 4.1. Information on the birthplace of Julius Africanus (Addition to Eusebius HE I 7:1) — Emmaus / Nicopolis, it says.

Fr. 4.2. Etymology of names; a quote from an unnamed writing by Pierus (Continuation to Eusebius HE II, 1:13)

Fr. 4.3. A quote from Hegesippus: the names of the sons of Judas, the brother of the Lord: Zoker and James (Addition to Eusebius, h.e. III, 17-20)

Fr. 4.4. A list of apocryphal Gospels (Eusebius addition to, HE III, 25). The following are labelled ευαγγέλια ψευδή; that of the Egyptians (κατ’ Αιγυπτίους), the Gospel of the Twelve (κατά τους δώδεκα) and the Gospel of Basilides (κατά Βασιλείδην). The same list is found in Origen, Homilia in Lucam I, which probably served here as the source.

Fr. 4.5. A quote from Pierios about Paul’s matrimonial abstinence (an addition to Eusebius, HE III 30). It states that Pierios said in his first Easter sermon (έν τω πρώτφ λόγω τών εις τό πάσχα) that the Apostle Paul was married, but lived celibate for God’s sake and renounced his wife for the service of the church (I hope I got that right!).

Fr. 4.6. A quote from the second book of the Λογίων κυριακών έξήγησις of Papias: the martyrdom of John and James (an addition to Eusebius, HE III, 39). Heyden adds that this fragment is particularly interesting because Papias says that the Evangelist John and his brother James had been killed by the Jews. The same words are quoted also in a homily of John Chrysostom on 1 Corinthians 2, with the promise of resurrection for all the martyrs – which alone would be a terminus post quem given for this source, but also further demonstrates the close relationship between Philip and John Chrysostom.

Fr. 4.7. The life and works of Pierios (Addition to Eusebius, HE. VII, 32). This is an important text for the history of the church of Alexandria.

Fr. 5. Fragments in the Anonymen Kirchengeschichte (AKG = ps.Gelasius of Cyzicos)

Text: CPG 6034. Edition: G.C. Hansen, Anonyme Kirchengeschichte, GCS N.E 9, Berlin 2002.

Literature: G. C. Hansen, intro to GCS N.F. 9; also Hansen in, Eine fingierte Ansprache Konstantins auf dem Konzil von Nikaia, ZAC 2,1998,173-198.

This work quotes from the original text of Philip, imitating Eusebius, attacking Eusebius of Nicomedia, and displaying the style that Socrates Scholasticus attributes to him. Hansen has catalogued a bunch of fragments, which I will simply list:

Fr. 5.1 Fabulous story of Constantine’s campaign on the right bank of the Rhine (AKG 14.2-5 [7.7 to 28 Hansen])

Fr. 5.2 Speculative reflection on the trophies of Constantine (AKG I from 5.2 to 7 [8.15 -9.20 Hansen])

Fr. 5.3. Report on the campaign of Constantine and Crispus against Licinius (AKG 111.19 to 21, 12.1 [18.18 to 19.2, from 21.1 to 9 Hansen])

Fr. 5.4. Report on a one-year vacancy in the episcopal office in Alexandria and the bishops Achillas and Alexander (AKG II 1.13 f. [Hansen 23.28 to 24.3])

Fr. 5.5. Fictional speech of Constantine on the Council of Nicaea (AKG II 7 [34.20 -42.9 Hansen])

Fr. 5.6. Polemic against the Arians (AKG II from 12.8 to 10 [47.5 to 19 Hansen])

Fr. 5.7. Report on the conversion of an Arian philosopher by a confessor (AKG II 13 [47.20 to 50.5 Hansen], excerpts)

C. Fragments whose authenticity has been denied

6. Fragments of Ecclesiastical History in the church history epitome

Editions: Carl de Boor also edited seven fragments from the church history epitome (v. a. Codex Baroccianus 142, fol. 216r Z. 11-39; s. Abb. 2a), which he attributed to Philip (and referenced the Dodwell fragment as the 8th(: C. de Boor, Neue Fragmente des Papias, Hegesippus und Pierius in bisher unbekannten Excerpten aus der Kirchengeschichte des Philippus Sidetes, TU V/2, Leipzig 1888, 167-184 (PDF p.322-341). Edition of the fragments on pp. 182-184 (339-341 of the PDF). There is a newer edition from the same codex of some of it by G. C. Hansen, Theodoros Anagnostes Kirchengeschichte, GCS N.F. 3,2 (1995) 158-160., who assigns them to Gelasius of Caesarea. After comparing the mss of the epitome Pierre Nautin edited a total of 8 fragments (including the list of the catechical school) from a “ouvrage sans titre”: P. Nautin, La continuation de l'”Histoire Ecclesiastique” d’Eusebe par Gelase de Cesaree, REByz 50, 1992, 174-176 (gr. text); 176-178 (fr. trnl.).  [I have a PDF of Nautin, and the relevant part of Hansen]

7. Alchemical fragments.

Codex Vindobonensis medicus graecus 2 (1564), fol. 106-107; Edition: M. Berthelot/Ch. Em. Ruelle, Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs vol. 2, Paris (1887-1888) p.346 f. (p.346 of the PDF is the Greek; there must be a French translation in there somewhere too)  There are two fragments in the Vienna medical manuscript attributed to a “Philip”. Lambeck ascribed them to Philip of Side; but it seems unlikely that this is correct.

So… quite a lot there.  I shall be taking a trip to Cambridge tomorrow, and hope to acquire most of these.

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Eusebius update

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Very little remains to do of the Eusebius volume.  There’s some editorial work to do, probably only a few hours of it.  But … I don’t seem able to get to it.  The muscle injury in my hip that prevented me going to Syria is also preventing long periods of work at my laptop.  So … I need to get someone to help out.  I’ll offer $20 an  hour, and I’ve approached someone who would be ideal.

Some may like to know what’s left.  This is it:

1.  Do some work on the Latin text and translation.  They exist; but the page references to Mai and Migne and to the CSEL text and the Sources Chretiennes text need adding in some sensible form.  For part of it, the book number and chapter number of Jerome need adding.  Also Mai / Migne has cross-references to the Greek in the margin; the corresponding cross-reference needs adding to my version.  In truth I would usually expect the translator to do all this; unfortunately the Eusebius translator did not.  I’ve learned not to let that happen next time!

2.  Look over the format of all the material and make sure it’s consistent.

3.  Create a short index of whatever people will want to use.

4.  Create some kind of look-up table from Mai / Migne to my sections.

5.  Title page, table of contents, stuff like that.

6.  Write some sort of short intro “from the publisher”.

7.  Make some intelligent decisions about how to present some of the oriental stuff, and how to cross-reference it.  If need be bring in some material from references and translate it.

8.  Anything else!

The output will be a set of Word .doc files.  The text and translation for each section will be in separate files, so that the typesetting can run them into separate boxes (or whatever).

It will be good to get this done, and get to typesetting.  I’d do it myself, except that I can’t!  Ah well…

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