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Lucius Annaeus Cornutus' Ethnographic Investigations Into Studia Philosophica Wratislaviensia Supplementary Volume, English Edition 2013 MIKOLAJDOMARADZKI Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna´n Lucius Annaeus Cornutus' Ethnographic Investigations Into Mythology* Abstract The purpose of the present article is to show that the hermeneutical ac- tivity of Lucius Annaeus Cornutus is best characterized as \ethnographic" rather than merely \allegorical" or \etymological". Without denying the presence of both these dimensions in the philosopher's exegeses, the paper suggests that Cornutus' analyses aimed first and foremost to excavate the ancient world picture that the philosopher believed to underlie the theology transmitted by Homer and Hesiod. Thus, the philosopher regarded conven- tional mythology and traditional religion as sources of information about the primeval accounts of the cosmos: his analyses of various etymologies discov- ered not merely the origin of the word in question but also the origin of the ancient cosmological conceptions. Consequently, interpreting myths was for Cornutus tantamount to gaining profound insights into the pristine theology that was skillfully developed by the wise men of antiquity and poorly trans- mitted by the poets. Cornutus' hermeneutics built on the assumption that interpreting mythology provided the interpreter with a better understanding of not only the ancient world but also the present one. Etymological analyses of the gods' names and epithets belong undoubtedly to one of the most interesting and, at the same time, controversial developments within Stoic philosophy. While the purpose of these investigations was to extract the ancient world view that according to the Stoics underlay the theology trans- mitted by the poets, such analyses formed an integral part of the Stoic physics. By viewing traditional mythology as a prefiguration of their own cosmological doc- trines, the Stoics came to treat conventional myths as important sources of infor- mation on the primordial beliefs about the gods and the cosmos. Thus, examining a given etymology would provide the philosophers not only with information about the origin of the word in question (in this regard their analyses were frequently * This paper is a substantially revised version of a text published in the Studia Philosophica Wratislaviensia VII [2] (2012), pp. 7{25. 26 M. Domaradzki, Lucius Annaeus Cornutus'... na¨ıve and fantastic), but also with information about the genesis of the pristine world picture that was mirrored in the particular etymologies. Whilst such ethnographic interests can already be found in some of the extant testimonies on the hermeneutical activity of the early Stoics,1 the present paper will focus exclusively on the hermeneutics of Lucius Annaeus Cornutus. This Stoic philosopher, who lived in the first century of our era, wrote a very interesting work, whose title EPIDROMH TWN KATA THN ELLENIKHN JEOLOGIAN PARADEDOMENWN is customarily translated into English as Compendium of (the Traditions of) Greek Theology.2 Cornutus' work provides us with a unique insight into the ethnographic na- ture of Stoic etymologizing. At the outset, however, it needs to be emphasized that characterizing Cornutus' etymological interpretations as \ethnographic" is a certain simplification.3 It goes without saying that when interpreting ancient thinkers, one should refrain from imposing contemporary categories and concepts on their intellectual work. Although at first sight such \reconstructions" might seem quite \natural", they, nevertheless, inevitably distort the objects of inter- pretation. Thus, we need to emphasize that employing the term \ethnography" 1 It needs to be emphasized that there is a heated controversy as to how Stoic approach to mythology ought to be classified. For scholars who have some reservations regarding the al- legorical dimension of Stoic hermeneutics see especially A.A. Long, Stoic Readings of Homer, [in:] A.A. Long (ed.), Stoic Studies, New York 1996, pp. 58{84; cf. also P. Steinmetz, `Alle- gorische Deutung und allegorische Dichtung in der alten Stoa', Rheinische Museum f¨urPhilologie 129 (1986), pp. 18{30 and D. Dawson, Allegorical Readers and Cultural Revision in Ancient Alexandria, Berkeley 1992, pp. 23{38. While the majority of scholars are inclined (rightly, in my opinion) to characterize the Stoics' hermeneutics as in one way or another \allegorical", it would be virtually impossible to enumerate all the relevant studies. See, however, the following works: J. Tate, `Cornutus and the Poets', Classical Quarterly 23 (1929), pp. 41{45; F. Buffi`ere, Les Mythes d'Hom`ere et la pens`eegrecque, Paris 1956, pp. 137{154; J. P´epin, Mythe et all´egorie:Les origines grecques et les contestations jud´eo-chr´etiennes, Paris 1976, pp. 125{167; J. Whitman, Allegory. The Dynamics of an Ancient and Medieval Technique, Cambridge 1987, pp. 31{47; G. Most, Cornutus and Stoic Allegoresis: A Preliminary Report, [in:] W. Haase (hrsg.), Aufstieg und Niedergang der r¨omischenWelt, Bd. II 36.3, Berlin{New York 1989, pp. 2014{2065; C. Bl¨onnigen, Der griechische Ursprung der j¨udisch-hellenistischen Allegorese und ihre Rezeption in der alexandrischen Patristik, Frankfurt am Main 1992, pp. 22{42; L. Brisson, Introduction la philosophie du mythe, vol. 1:Sauver les mythes, Paris 1996, pp. 61{72; G.R. Boys-Stones, The Stoics' Two Types of Allegory, [in:] G.R. Boys-Stones (ed.),Metaphor, Allegory and the Classical Tradition: Ancient Thought and Modern Revisions, Oxford 2003, pp. 189{216 and P.T. Struck, Birth of the Symbol: Ancient Readers at the Limits of Their Texts, Princeton 2004, pp. 111{151. I have argued that 1) the Stoics' hermeneutical activity comprises an allegorical as well as eth- nological dimension and 2) that Cornutus' exegetical activity continues the hermeneutical efforts of the early Stoics in: M. Domaradzki, `From Etymology to Ethnology. On the Development of Stoic Allegorism', Archiwum historii filozofii i my´slispo lecznej 56 (2011), pp. 81{100. 2 In the present paper, the text is cited after: C. Lang, Cornuti theologiae Graece compendium, Leipzig 1881. 3 For the sake of our considerations, Cornutus' hermeneutical activity could also be described as \ethnological" or `anthropological". Long is clearly right when he classifies Cornutus as an \ethnographer" and \cultural anthropologist", A.A. Long, Stoic Readings. , p. 73. The view put forward in this paper is nicely expressed by the scholar's following diagnosis: \the Stoics treated early Greek poetry as ethnographical material and not as literature", A.A. Long, Stoic Readings. , p. 82. I cannot, however, agree with Long's denial of the allegorical dimension of Stoic hermeneutics. Cf. infra note 34. Studia Philosophica Wratislaviensia, Suppl. vol. (2013) 27 with reference to Cornutus' hermeneutics is, in fact, tantamount to cramming the thinker into modern and, thereby, alien framework.4 Notwithstanding this, such a simplification appears to be justified by the fact that an uncontroversial classi- fication of Cornutus' hermeneutical activity is far from easy. As will be argued below, Cornutus aims to etymologically \excavate" the primeval world picture that has been preserved in the gods' names and epithets. That is why his approach invites the label of \ethnography". The present considerations will be structured in the following way: firstly, I will briefly examine the possibility of Aristotle's influence on Stoic ethnography; then, I will move on to discussing the relation between the Stoics' theory of language and their recourse to etymology as a basic interpretative tool; finally, I will show in what sense Cornutus' investigations can be characterized as \ethnographic". An assessment of Cornutus' cultural relevance will conclude my considerations. The purpose of this paper will be to show that Cornutus' etymological analyses serve the purpose of eliciting the profound ancient wisdom that lies beneath the veneer of the na¨ıve and primitive language of mythology: through his etymologizing, Cornutus wants to demonstrate that anthropomorphic and often fatuous myths allegorically express a valuable cosmology that frequently anticipates the physical and theological views of the Stoics. 1. Aristotle and the emergence of Stoic ethnography When trying to make sense of Stoic hermeneutics, Aristotle's account of the cyclical recurrences of human civilizations is a good place to begin.5 According to this account \one must acknowledge that not once, not twice, but countless times the same beliefs come to us" (oÎ γὰρ Vapaxοὐδὲ dÈc ἀλλ᾿ ἀπειράκιc de~inomÐzein τὰς αὐτὰς ἀφικνε~isjai δόξας eÊc ἡμ~ac).6 This shows the Stagirite to have believed 4 Especially in light of the fact Cornutus modestly stresses (76.6{7) that he merely confines himself to \recapitulating" (ἐπιtetmhmènwc) the views of \the older philosophers" (to~icpresbutèroic φιλοσόφοιc). 5 Although the influence of Aristotle on the development of Stoic allegoresis has been fre- quently discussed, the scholars are far from reaching any consensus as to where exactly the influence should be located. For example, Wehrli finds the traces of Aristotle's influence already in Chrysippus, cf. F. Wehrli, Zur Geschichte der allegorischen Deutung Homers im Altertum, Borna{Leipzig 1928, pp. 56{57. Tate, on the other hand, suggests that the Stagirite's influence is limited to Cornutus only, cf. J. Tate, Cornutus. , pp. 43{44. Lastly, Struck expresses his doubts as to the importance of Aristotle's civilization theory for the formation of any Stoic's approach to mythology, cf. P.T. Struck, Birth of the Symbol. , p. 150 n. 19. While clearly Aristotle's influence on Stoic ethnography \darf [. ] nicht ¨ubersch¨atztwerden" (F. Wehrli, Zur Geschichte. , p. 57), total skepticism in this regard does not appear to me particularly attrac- tive. A well-balanced discussion of this issue is to be found in: J. P´epin, Mythe et all´egorie..., pp. 121{124; L. Brisson, Introduction..., pp. 58{60 and G.R. Boys-Stones, The Stoics' Two Types. , pp. 191{192. I wholeheartedly agree with the following opinion: \A l'inverse de Platon, Aris- tote ne voit donc pas dans le mythe d'Hom`ereet d'H´esiode une fiction purement arbitraire et d´epourvue de toute port´eedidactique; [.
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