DOCSLIB.ORG

Greek Religion and Philosophy in the Sisyphus Fragment

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Greek Religion and Philosophy in the Sisyphus Fragment Greek Religion and Philosophy in the Sisyphus Fragment CHARLES H. KAHN The Sisyphus fragment (DK 88B.25) consists of 42 iambic trimeters cited by Sextus Empiricus as an expression of the atheistic views of the tyrant Critias.1 Sextus does not mention the name Sisyphus, but another citation (in the doxography known as Aetius) tells us that the speech was deliv- ered by Sisyphus in a play by Euripides. I translate the text as given by Snell.2 There was a time when the life of human beings was disordered and beastly, and life was ruled by force, when there was no reward for the virtuous nor any punishment for the wicked. And then I think that humans decided to establish laws to punish [wrongdoers] so that justice might rule and be master over crime and violence ( hybris). And they punished anyone who did wrong. Then, since the laws held public deeds in check and prevented men from open acts of violence, but they acted secretly, then it was, I believe, that a shrewd and clever-minded man invented for mortals a fear of the gods, so that there might be a deterrent for the wicked, even if they act or say or think anything in secret. Hence from this source the divine was introduced [with the claim] that there is a deity who enjoys imperishable life, hearing and seeing with his mind, his thought and attention on all things, his nature so divine that he will hear whatever is said among mortals and be able to see whatever is done. Accepted March 1997 1 This is a revised version of a paper delivered at a conference on Reason and Religion in the Fifth Century at the University of Texas, Austin on September 20, 1996. Some improvements have been made in response to comments by an anony- mous reader for Phronesis. 2 Tr. G. F. 1.43 F 19, with two corrections. Following Dihle, I read tŒ p‹nta for te taèta in verse 19 and s¡law for d¡maw in verse 33. ©Koninklijke Brill, Leiden, 1997 Phronesis XLII/3 248 CHARLES H. KAHN If ever you plot some evil deed in silence, even this will not escape the gods. For they have knowledge. It was such stories that he told when he introduced this most delightful teaching and hid the truth with a false tale. He said the gods dwell there and placed them where they might make the greatest impression upon human beings, there where he knew that fears come to mortals and bene ts also [to relieve] the miseries of life, from the vault on high, where they beheld the shafts of lightning and fearful blows of thunder and star- lled gleam of heaven, the beautiful design of Time the clever builder, parade-ground for the brilliant mass of the sun and source of rainfall moistening the earth below. Such were the fears with which he surrounded humans and by which this clever man established the deity in the proper place, with a handsome story, and extinguished lawlessness by means of laws. It was thus, I think, that someone rst persuaded mortals to believe that there is a race of gods. I propose to discuss this text as a remarkable document for the inter- action between reason and religion in the fth century. It is the best- preserved example of fth-century accounts of the origin of religion, and it is the most outspoken example of fth-century atheism. 3 My aim here will be to situate this text within the larger framework of the interaction between religion and early Greek natural philosophy. SisyphusÕ specula- tion concerning the origin of belief in the gods has familiar parallels in the theories of Democritus and Prodicus, theories which belong to the tra- dition of Kulturenstehungslehre or accounts of the rise of human civili- zation. And these accounts in turn, like the later prehistories in Lucretius and Diodorus, have their place within a tradition of explaining the origin of mankind and the origin of the world – a tradition that began in fth century Miletus. These accounts of human prehistory were rst formulated within a speculative narrative that began with cosmogony and ended with the development of human beings and human life in society. We know that the biological origin of human beings was already a topic in the ear- 3 The atheism is explicit in verse 26 ceudeÝ kalæcaw t¯n l®yeian lñgÄ , implicit in the closing lines oìtv d¢ prÇ ton oàomai peÝsaÛ tina/ynhtoçw nomÛzein daimñnvn eänai g¡now ..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • SCEPTICAL ARGUMENTATION and PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY: By
    SCEPTICAL ARGUMENTATION AND PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY: TOPICS IN HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY by Máté Veres Submitted to Central European University Department of Philosophy In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy Supervisor: Prof. Gábor Betegh CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2016 Table of contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 7 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1. Keep calm and carry on: Sextan Pyrrhonism as a kind of philosophy ....... 17 1. Philosophy and inquiry ............................................................................................ 18 2. The road to Pyrrhonism ........................................................................................... 22 2.1. The 'origins' of scepticism (PH I. 12) ............................................................... 22 2.2. The goal of Pyrrhonism (PH I. 26 and 29)........................................................ 26 2.3. Men of talent ..................................................................................................... 34 3. The origin of Pyrrhonism ......................................................................................... 37 3.1. The Partisan Premise
    [Show full text]
  • Herodotus and the Origins of Political Philosophy the Beginnings of Western Thought from the Viewpoint of Its Impending End
    Herodotus and the Origins of Political Philosophy The Beginnings of Western Thought from the Viewpoint of its Impending End A doctoral thesis by O. H. Linderborg Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Engelska Parken, 7-0042, Thunbergsvägen 3H, Uppsala, Monday, 3 September 2018 at 14:00 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Faculty examiner: Docent Elton Barker (Open University). Abstract Linderborg, O. H. 2018. Herodotus and the Origins of Political Philosophy. The Beginnings of Western Thought from the Viewpoint of its Impending End. 224 pp. Uppsala: Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University. ISBN 978-91-506-2703-9. This investigation proposes a historical theory of the origins of political philosophy. It is assumed that political philosophy was made possible by a new form of political thinking commencing with the inauguration of the first direct democracies in Ancient Greece. The pristine turn from elite rule to rule of the people – or to δημοκρατία, a term coined after the event – brought with it the first ever political theory, wherein fundamentally different societal orders, or different principles of societal rule, could be argumentatively compared. The inauguration of this alternative-envisioning “secular” political theory is equaled with the beginnings of classical political theory and explained as the outcome of the conjoining of a new form of constitutionalized political thought (cratistic thinking) and a new emphasis brought to the inner consistency of normative reasoning (‘internal critique’). The original form of political philosophy, Classical Political Philosophy, originated when a political thought launched, wherein non-divinely sanctioned visions of transcendence of the prevailing rule, as well as of the full range of alternatives disclosed by Classical Political Theory, first began to be envisioned.
    [Show full text]
  • Nomos and Phusis in Antiphon's Peri Alãªtheias
    UC Berkeley Cabinet of the Muses: Rosenmeyer Festschrift Title Nomos and Phusis in Antiphon's Peri Alêtheias Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kg1w5zm Author Ostwald, Martin Publication Date 1990-04-01 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California NOMOS AND PHUSIS IN ANTIPHON’S * Martin Ostwald Swarthmore College and University of Pennsylvania The central importance of Antiphon, the author of the tract On Truth, for students of philosophy and history alike, needs no argumPenetr. ‹ N ÉoAt olnhlyy ise ¤hae wthe earliest Athenian sophist intelligible to us, but he is also the most explicit exponent of the nomos-phusis controversy which emerged in Athens in the 420s and was to prove seminal in the development of Western thought; for the historian, its author presents the tantalizing problem whether he is or is not identical with the politician who, according to Thucydides (8.68.1), orchestrated the oligarchical revolution of 411 B.C. Moreover, the publication in 1984 of a new fragment by Maria Serena Funghi1 has renewed interest in both author and tract.2 This spate of recent publications, when added to the formidable array of earlier discussions by a formidable array of scholars,3 may make the addition of yet another interpretation a foolhardy enterprise. Yet it seems possible to show that a new perspective on the tract can be gained, which not only places it more closely into the context of contemporary discussions of nomos and phusis but also takes greater account of the fragmentary nature of the tract, and attempts to do greater justice to POxy.
    [Show full text]
  • Prodicus on the Rise of Civilization Religion, Agriculture, and Culture Heroes
    Philosophie antique Problèmes, Renaissances, Usages 18 | 2018 L’athéisme antique Prodicus on the Rise of Civilization Religion, Agriculture, and Culture Heroes Stavros Kouloumentas Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/philosant/1026 DOI: 10.4000/philosant.1026 ISSN: 2648-2789 Publisher Presses universitaires du Septentrion Printed version Date of publication: 1 November 2018 Number of pages: 127-152 ISBN: 978-2-7574-2372-1 ISSN: 1634-4561 Electronic reference Stavros Kouloumentas, « Prodicus on the Rise of Civilization », Philosophie antique [Online], 18 | 2018, Online since 01 November 2019, connection on 14 November 2019. URL : http:// journals.openedition.org/philosant/1026 ; DOI : 10.4000/philosant.1026 La revue Philosophie antique est mise à disposition selon les termes de la Licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International. provided by OpenEdition View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk CORE brought to you by PRODICUS ON THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION Religion, agriculture, and culture heroes Stavros Kouloumentas Center for Hellenic Studies, Harvard University [email protected] Résumé. Prodicus est réputé pour avoir formulé une théorie nouvelle sur les origines de la croyance religieuse, qui a parfois été taxée d’athéisme dans l’Antiquité, notam- ment par les épicuriens. Il suggère que les hommes ont d’abord considéré comme des dieux des choses qui étaient utiles à leur survie, comme les fruits et les rivières, et qu’à un stade plus avancé, ils ont déifié des héros culturels, comme Déméter et Dionysos. Je suggère d’abord que la théorie de Prodicus peut être reliée à d’autres doctrines qui lui sont attribuées, en particulier au discours concernant « le choix d’Héraclès » et à un fort intérêt pour l’étymologie des mots.
    [Show full text]
  • The Νόσος of Declaring That Gods Do Not Exist in Plato's Laws. Isolated Cases Or Groups of Ἄθεοι?
    T he Νόσος of Declaring that Gods do not Exist in Plato’s Laws. Isolated Cases or Groups of Ἄθεοι? L a νόσος de declarar que los dioses no existen en las Leyes de Platón. ¿Casos aislados o grupos de ἄθεοι? Ramón Soneira Martínez University Of Erfurt [email protected] Abstract Resumen D enying the existence of God or gods is L a negación de la existencia de Dios o de a common modern phenomenon in differ- los dioses es un fenómeno moderno presente ent places and religious contexts. This paper en diferentes lugares y contextos religiosos. explores the possibility of its applicability in En las últimas décadas, hemos podido ob- antiquity. The last decades have witnessed servar como el estudio del ateísmo en la anti- considerable growth in the study of atheism güedad ha crecido enormemente ampliando in antiquity. Analysis of atheistic positions los límites históricos de las posiciones irreli- https://doi.org/10.20318/arys.2020.5515- Arys, 18, 2020 [309-343] issn 1575-166x 310 Ramón Soneira Martínez in ancient societies, especially in Classical giosas. Los trabajos sobre las ideas ateas en Athens, has foregrounded new develop- las sociedades pretéritas, especialmente en ment in the study of unbelief. The term “un- la Atenas clásica, han consolidado el estudio belief” has been defined as a broad category de la increencia como fenómeno histórico. to study the diverse irreligious positions El término “increencia” ha sido definido not merely as the opposite of religion but as como una categoría amplia para estudiar las part of the religious field.
    [Show full text]
  • Prodicus.Pdf
    Prodicus Richard Bett Prodicus is probably the best known, after Protagoras and Gorgias, of those conventionally labeled Sophists.1 That is not saying much, since these figures continue to be understudied and under-appreciated for their intellectual significance. But three things about Prodicus are generally recognized among specialists in ancient Greek thought: 1) he told a story about Heracles’ choice between Virtue and Vice; 2) he paid a lot of attention to fine distinctions among terms that most people would regard as synonymous; and 3) he offered explanations of the origins of religious belief that resulted in his being labeled an atheist. Of these, the first clearly has ethical import; the second might seem irrelevant to ethics, but is in fact importantly implicated in Prodicus’ ethical thinking, though the details are likely to remain elusive; and the third, which one might expect to be of ethical significance, shows no sign of having been viewed in this light by Prodicus himself, even if others may have done so. In what follows, I shall address each of these topics in this order. But first, it is worth saying a little about how Prodicus was portrayed in antiquity, and especially in his own time. Besides establishing or suggesting a few biographical markers, the picture we are given often seems to be connected in interesting ways with the views I have just mentioned.2 I The most widely read text dealing with Prodicus is undoubtedly Plato’s Protagoras, which features him as a character, and he is introduced in a striking vignette: Prodicus is in bed, lecturing to a group of people (315d-16a).
    [Show full text]
  • A Journal for the History of Rhetoric
    Word Count: 10186 Rhetorica: A Journal for the History of Rhetoric IMMORALITY OR IMMORTALITY? AN ARGUMENT FOR VIRTUE Abstract: In the 5th century a number of sophists challenged the orthodox understanding of moralIty and claimed that practIcIng InjustIce was the best and most profitable way for an Individual to lIve. Although a number of responses to sophistIc ImmoralIsm were made, one argument, In fact comIng from a paIr of sophists, has not receIved the attentIon It deserves. According to the argument I call Immortal Repute, selF-Interested Individuals should reject ImmoralIty and cultIvate virtue Instead, for only a virtuous agent can wIn the sort everlastIng reputatIon that makes a lIfe truly admIrable and successful. Key Words: Anonymous Iamlichi, Prodicus, SophistIc Movement, ImmoralIsm, VIrtueI 1 Word Count: 10186 The second half of the 5th century wItnessed an excItIng Intellectual movement In Athens. During this tIme of discovery and InvestIgatIon, many of the traditIonal Greek world-views were challenged and rejected. Even the centuries-old belIefs about the gods and moralIty came under Intellectual FIre: the text known to us as the Sisyphus Fragment attests to the fact that at least some 5th century Intellectuals denied the existence of the traditIonal, InterventIonist gods.II And once the divine punishments for unjust behavior that these gods were customarily thought to dispense had been called Into questIon, some Greeks began to wonder whether followIng the moral princIples of theIr socIety was the most prudent way to lIve.III
    [Show full text]
  • 1 ATHEISM in ANTIQUITY by JAN N. BREMMER in 1942 the French Historian Louis Febvre Published His Epoch-Making Study of Rabelais
    ATHEISM IN ANTIQUITY by JAN N. BREMMER In 1942 the French historian Louis Febvre published his epoch-making study of Rabelais, in which he noted the absence of atheism in the Middle Ages.1 Febvre explained this absence as a kind of blocage mental. In the life of society and the individual, Christianity was of overriding importance. Its festivals constituted the rhythm of the year; important transitions in the life of the individual – birth, marriage and death – were completely integrated into religious life, as were everyday activities. Churches, whose bells would always remind the forgetful believer of its existence, often dominated the landscape. It was simply impossible to think Christianity away from medieval society.2 Subsequent research has modified Febvre’s findings to some extent,3 but his main findings still stand. Antiquity was not that different from the Middle Ages in this respect. The ancient Greeks and Romans also moved in a landscape where temples were everywhere, where gods adorned their coins, where the calendar went from religious festival to festival, and where religious rites accompanied all major transitions in life. Consequently, atheism never developed into a popular ideology with a recognisable following. All we have in antiquity is the exceptional individual who dared to voice his disbelief or bold philosophers who proposed intellectual theories about the coming into existence of the gods without, normally, putting their theories into practise and to reject religious practice altogether. If we find atheism at all, it is usually a ‘soft’ atheism or the imputation of atheism to others as a means to discredit them.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Groningen Atheism in Antiquity Bremmer, Jan N
    University of Groningen Atheism in Antiquity Bremmer, Jan N. Published in: The Cambridge Companion to Atheism IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2006 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Bremmer, J. N. (2006). Atheism in Antiquity. In M. Martin (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Atheism (pp. 11-26). Cambridge University Press. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). The publication may also be distributed here under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the “Taverne” license. More information can be found on the University of Groningen website: https://www.rug.nl/library/open-access/self-archiving-pure/taverne- amendment. Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 02-10-2021 ATHEISM IN ANTIQUITY by JAN N.
    [Show full text]
  • Complete Draft Defenseversion
    DIDASKALOS: THE INVENTION OF THE TEACHER IN CLASSICAL ATHENS A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Lindsay Lauren Sears-Tam May 2013 © 2013 Lindsay Lauren Sears-Tam ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DIDASKALOS: THE INVENTION OF THE TEACHER IN CLASSICAL ATHENS Lindsay Lauren Sears-Tam, Ph. D. Cornell University 2013 This dissertation deals with the role of the teacher in fifth- and fourth-century Athens through an examination of the scope of the Greek word didaskalos. The first part of this investigation consists of an analysis of the various types of educational figures whose roles overlapped to some extent that of the didaskalos, beginning with the legendary educators Cheiron, Phoenix, and Mentor, and touching upon the characters of the erastês, the paidagôgos, and the Sophist. The second part is a study of the mechanism and process for teaching as described in the literary sources, focusing in particular on the importance of imitation in the student-teacher relationship. The third part approaches the aims and effects of teaching as described by Greek authors, especially the various ways that physis can be influenced by ones teacher, especially for the worse. The final part deals with the figure of Socrates, in particular, the way he is portrayed as a didaskalos in the texts of Aristophanes, Plato, and Xenophon. All in all, the pattern of Greek authors’ usage of the word didaskalos suggests a strong societal belief in the potential power of the teacher - both inside and outside of the schoolroom - to improve or harm the polis.
    [Show full text]
  • Prologue: Irreligiosity in Fifth-Century Athens Autor(Es): Domingo Gygax, M
    Prologue: irreligiosity in fifth-century Athens Autor(es): Domingo Gygax, M. Publicado por: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra URL persistente: URI:http://hdl.handle.net/10316.2/44016 DOI: DOI:https://doi.org/10.14195/978-989-26-1598-1_1 Accessed : 25-Sep-2021 04:48:27 A navegação consulta e descarregamento dos títulos inseridos nas Bibliotecas Digitais UC Digitalis, UC Pombalina e UC Impactum, pressupõem a aceitação plena e sem reservas dos Termos e Condições de Uso destas Bibliotecas Digitais, disponíveis em https://digitalis.uc.pt/pt-pt/termos. Conforme exposto nos referidos Termos e Condições de Uso, o descarregamento de títulos de acesso restrito requer uma licença válida de autorização devendo o utilizador aceder ao(s) documento(s) a partir de um endereço de IP da instituição detentora da supramencionada licença. Ao utilizador é apenas permitido o descarregamento para uso pessoal, pelo que o emprego do(s) título(s) descarregado(s) para outro fim, designadamente comercial, carece de autorização do respetivo autor ou editor da obra. Na medida em que todas as obras da UC Digitalis se encontram protegidas pelo Código do Direito de Autor e Direitos Conexos e demais legislação aplicável, toda a cópia, parcial ou total, deste documento, nos casos em que é legalmente admitida, deverá conter ou fazer-se acompanhar por este aviso. pombalina.uc.pt digitalis.uc.pt Irreligiosidad y Literatura en la Atenas Clásica V.M. Ramón Palerm, G. Sopeña Genzor, A.C. Vicente Sánchez (eds.) IMPRENSA DA UNIVERSIDADE DE COIMBRA COIMBRA UNIVERSITY PRESS ANNABLUME M. Domingo Gygax 1. Prologue Irreligiosity in Fifth-Century Athens M.
    [Show full text]
  • AN ARISTOCRACY of VIRTUE: the PROTAGOREAN BACKGROUND to the PERICLEAN FUNERAL SPEECH in THUCYDIDES by Joseph Arthur Tipton Bach
    AN ARISTOCRACY OF VIRTUE: THE PROTAGOREAN BACKGROUND TO THE PERICLEAN FUNERAL SPEECH IN THUCYDIDES by Joseph Arthur Tipton Bachelor of Arts, Berea College, 2000 Master of Arts, University of Kentucky, 2003 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Classics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2013 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH THE DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Joseph A. Tipton It was defended on May 29, 2013 and approved by Dr. D. Mark Possanza, Professor, Department of Classics Dr. Nicholas F. Jones, Professor, Department of Classics Dr. James Allen, Professor, Department of Philosophy Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Harry C. Avery, Professor, Department of Classics ii Copyright © by Joseph Arthur Tipton 2013 iii AN ARISTOCRACY OF VIRTUE: THE PROTAGOREAN BACKGROUND TO THE PERICLEAN FUNERAL SPEECH IN THUCYDIDES Joseph A. Tipton, Ph.D University of Pittsburgh, 2013 In this dissertation I argue that the theory of relativism developed by the sophist Protagoras of Abdera served as a rationalization for democracy that was incorporated into the Athenian political culture as an integral part of its basic worldview. Using Plato’s Protagoras and Theaetetus, as well as the fragments of Protagoras, I first offer a comprehensive reconstruction of the sophist’s political thought. Since the human individual is an autarkic and autonomous entity whose perceptions and judgments of reality are veridical and incorrigible, the only form of government that allows him to live in community with others without violating his basic identity is democracy.
    [Show full text]