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PLATO in SYRIAC LITERATURE* 1. Cultural Background 1.1 PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE* 1. Cultural Background 1.1. Christianity and Greek Philosophy The earliest evidence of the Syriac reception of Plato and his philoso- phy dates from the period when Christian theology had already devel- oped a certain attitude towards Greek Antiquity and its cultural heritage. Accepting and further developing the forms of Greek literature, Christian intellectuals creatively transformed them in the light of the Incarnation. Their interpretation of Greek philosophy aimed at discovering the “true” meaning of the books of the past that remained hidden even from the authors of the works. This tendency manifested in the writings of Christian authors connected with Alexandria and influenced to a large extent by Jewish Hellenistic writings, which in turn presented Greek philosophy in the language of the Bible and ancient authors as dependent on the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Thus, adopting this apologetic claim, Clement of Alexandria presented Greek philosophy as a “preparatory stage” of Christian revelation1. The writings of Plato constituted a substantial part of the Greek intel- lectual heritage and played a crucial role in the Late Antique system of philosophical education. It was thus inevitable that the Christian inter- pretation of the Greek genius included a specific attitude towards Plato and his philosophy. Both those authors who, like Clement and Justin Martyr (cf. his Apologies), appreciated and partly accepted the Greek heritage, and those who, like Tatian (Oratio ad Graecos) and Theophilus of Antiochia (Ad Autolycum), expressed a rather critical attitude towards it, recognized the value of Platonic philosophy. Describing his philosophi­ cal education, Justin Martyr states that it was quite natural after studying Plato to take the next step and convert to Christianity, seeing that “the end” of the teachings of Plato was the idea of God2. The early Christian apologists ascribed a special place to Plato among ancient philosophers, but at the same time, they were eager to stress that the most precious elements * I’d like to thank Joshua Falconer for his valuable suggestions and for having cor- rected my English. 1 See WYRwA, Die christliche Platonaneignung. 2 Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 2 (MARCOVICH, Iustini Martyris Dialogus, p. 71-73). Le Muséon 132 (1-2), 1-36. doi: 10.2143/MUS.132.1.3286532 - Tous droits réservés. © Le Muséon, 2019. 2 Y. ARZHANOV of his doctrine could be truly understood only in the light of the teach- ings of Christ3. The Christian reception of the teachings of Plato had two important consequences4. On the one hand, as a result of a reinterpretation of his teachings, the philosopher passed from the camp of thinkers hostile to Christianity to the group of its sympathizers and forerunners. On the other hand, the Christian reinterpretation of his philosophy prepared the ground for new works composed in the name of the philosopher (pseudepigrapha) with the purpose of expressing genuinely Christian ideas. Thus, the gen- eral development of Christian philosophy paved the way for such a recep- tion of Plato and his philosophy among the Syrians that highly valued his figure as a sage but had no need for studying his original works. The Platonic dialogues remained in Late Antiquity mainly under the authority of the rhetorical and philosophical schools, among which the two centers, Athens and Alexandria, with their programs of philosophical education, played a crucial role5. The curriculum of the Alexandrian philo­ sophical schools made an important impact on the Syriac scholastic tra- dition6. Starting with the translation activity of Sergius, an archiatros of Rēš ῾Aynā (d. 536), who received a philosophical and medical education from Ammonius at the end of the 5th century7, the Alexandrian school literature (especially the genre of prolegomena) became an integral part of philosophical studies in Syria8. Since the 4th century, the Alexandrian philosophical tradition assumed a special form in the Egyptian monastic circles, whose literature enjoyed great popularity in the Palestinian and Mesopotamian monasteries9. The Egyptian and later Syriac monastic literature transmitted the type of Pla- tonic philosophy that was expressed in the works of Origen and Evagrius Ponticus and later developed in the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. From the 6th century onward, it was not with the writings of Plato that educated Syriac speakers became acquainted, but through the Evagrian version of Late Antique Platonism, it was an altered form of Plato’s philosophy, compatible with the image of the “Christianized” philosopher and known through the writings of Christian apologists. 3 Justin, 1st Apology, ch. 60 (MARCOVICH, Iustini Martyris Apologiae, p. 116-117). 4 Cf. BEIERwALTES, Platonismus im Christentum, p. 7-24. 5 See WATTS, City and School. 6 Cf. BRUNS, Aristoteles-Rezeption. 7 See HUGONNARD-ROCHE, Note sur Sergius. 8 See DAIbER, Die syrische Tradition. 9 WATTS, City and School, p. 169-186. PLATO IN SYRIAC LITERATURE 3 1.2. Syria and Hellenic Culture As an Aramaic dialect of the city of Edessa (modern Urfa in Turkey), Syriac language appeared and quickly spread in the first centuries CE in Northern Mesopotamia. For several centuries it was the common language among most of the Christian population in the Middle East until the rise of Islam. From the very beginning, Hellenistic culture greatly influenced Syriac literature. The term “Hellenistic” here refers primarily to its cul- tural and not strictly historical meaning10, since the impact of the cultural tradition that became characteristic of the whole Mediterranean world between 323 and 30 BCE largely exceeds these time boundaries. In par- ticular, the Aramaic speaking urban population of Northern Mesopotamia and Palestine was strongly influenced by the Hellenic culture. At times, Christian intellectuals accepted and creatively developed Hellenic cul- ture, but at other times, they viewed it as a rival that they had to severely oppose11. One of the mosaics depicting Orpheus surrounded by animals, exca- vated not far from Edessa, demonstrates the presence of Greek cultural symbols in one of the main intellectual centers of Syriac Christianity12. Another such center, Antioch on the Orontes, maintained its “pagan” reli- gious cults and institutions for a long time13. In his orations, Libanius, the leader of the school of rhetoric in Antioch in the 4th century, gives insight into the secular and religious culture of the city14. Another Hel- lenized town situated to the south of Antioch on the river Orontes, Apamea became famous for its Neo-Platonic school due to the works of such figures as Numenius and Iamblichus, so that Libanius even mentions “the choir of the Apamean philosophers”15. Thus, it is not surprising to meet elements of Greek philosophical education in the writings of a Christian author of the 5th century, connected with Apamea, John the Solitary, who mentions in his letters opinions of “the house of Plato”, i.e. of the followers of his philosophy, some of which were connected with the local school16. An archeological finding that provides evidence for the interest in Plato and his ideas in Apamea is one of the mosaics found there under the ruins of a Christian church dating from the 6th century17. It shows Socrates in 10 Cf. SCHmITT – VOGT, Hellenismus. 11 See especially BROCK, From Antagonism to Assimilation. 12 HEALEY, New Syriac Mosaic Inscription, p. 315. 13 WALLACE-HADRILL, Christian Antioch, p. 14-18, 96-116. 14 See CRIbIORE, The School of Libanius. 15 See BALTY, Apamea in Syria. 16 STROTHmANN, Johannes von Apamea, p. 8 [Syriac], p. 120 [German]. 17 Cf. HANFmANN, Socrates and Christ. 4 Y. ARZHANOV the company of his pupils. Socrates is depicted on it in a position that bears a strong resemblance to the early Christian images of Christ in the company of the apostles. If the figures surrounding Socrates on the Apamean mosaic are indeed his disciples, then the most famous of them, Plato, must also be present among them. An important center of religious cults and philosophical education gen- erally hostile to Christianity was Ḥarrān. Later Arabic sources (the most detailed account is found in Ibn al-Nadīm in the 10th century) describe Ḥarrānians as worshippers of the stars and the moon, but they also present this town as a place of study and translation of Greek scientific and philo­ sophical works18. The reputation of Ḥarrān as a center of “pagan” culture was high enough to encourage Emperor Julian the Apostate to visit it on his way to Persia in 363. Relying on this evidence, some modern scholars consider it possible that Ḥarrān became place of refuge for Damascius, the last head of the Athenian Neo-Platonic school, who moved together with Simplicius first to Persia but later returned to the Roman Empire after the closing of the school in 529 by Emperor Justinian19. Mas῾ūdī, who visited Ḥarrān in 943, there encountered teachers of philosophy and temples bearing the “names of the intellectual substances” (asmā᾿ al-ǧawāhir al-῾aqliyya). On the gates of one of the temples, Mas῾ūdī found an inscription, written in Syriac and attributed to Plato, that he cites in Arabic as follows: man ῾arafa ḏātahū ta᾿allaha “he who knows himself (lit. “his essence”) becomes divine”20. This sentence echoes the teachings of Socrates as represented in the writings of Plato21, but prob- ably was based on some Neo-Platonic treatises22. Mas῾ūdī’s note that it was written in Syriac corroborates the testimonies that Syriac long con- tinued to be used in Ḥarrān, possibly also as the language of philosophi- cal education. Evidence of the Syriac adaptation of the Greek enkyklios paideia is found in the 7th century manuscript London, British Library Add. 14658. The structure of this codex reflects the idea of the Late Antique educa- tion23. Opening with a prolegomena-text, the manuscript contains treatises on logic, grammar, natural philosophy and cosmology, and it ends with a number of moral admonitions, some of which are attributed to Plato.
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