This is not a comprehensive list, just a very, very rough overview, a first look at the issue. It grew out of my comments on a post by Galina Krasskova.
4th century BCE
The first known use of "theologia" (but hardly its first use, it is likely to have been in more or less common usage) is in Plato, who means mythological poetry by it. The same usage is present in Aristotle, who however also uses the adjective "theologikos" to (metaphorically) characterize metaphysics. "Theologos" means mythological poet.
On this question, cf. Richard Bodéüs, Aristotle and the Theology of Living Immortals, pp. 73ff
"Theologia" is not listed in the index to the Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta; it was apparently not used by the early Stoics.
3rd and 2nd century BCE
The material here is dispersed through citations and doxographies, as few philosophical works from the period survive intact, and so it is harder to do word searches etc. I have not looked at the period in detail for this reason, but the sense of "theologia" that is evident in Christian writers (not considered here) and in Iamblichus ("the science of deity"), as well as a corresponding sense of the verb "theologeô" (and its participle, "theologoumenon") must have developed in this time.
1st century BCE
Varro may be using "theologia" when he distinguishes the "mythical", the "physical" and the "civil"; the first means mythological accounts of the gods, the second philosophical ones—about the physical character of gods, not about physics as such, as the passage is sometimes understood (as if the philosophers used gods only as ciphers for elements etc.)—, the third concerns civil ritual practice. Whether he called these three areas "theologiae" is not entirely clear (to me, at least) because the passage survives only through citation by Augustine, De Civilitate Dei 6.5.
Philodemus in On Piety seems to use "theologos" in the sense of mythological poet, "theologia" in the sense of "philosophical(?) teaching about the gods".
Cicero uses "theologus" twice in De Natura Deorum (book 3) to refer to mythological poets.
1st and 2nd century CE
Albinus (2nd century), in his short and conventional Introduction to Plato, gives "theologia" as the topic of the Timaeus, thus making it a category alongside physics, ethics, etc. "Theologia" gives insight into "divine things".
Other Platonists, especially Plutarch (1st century), also used it.
The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria does not use "theologia" or "theologos" anywhere in his voluminous works; he uses the verb "theologeô" once.
3rd century CE
Plotinus uses "theologos" twice in the sense of mythological writer.
Porphyry uses "theologos" several times in the sense of a mythological writer or the originator of mythological symbolism and imagery. "Theologikos" is used when Porphyry (On the Timaeus, book 2, fragment 28) parallels the Brahmins among the Indians, the Magi among the Persians and "the most theologikos ones" among the Greeks, namely those who instituted initiatory and mystery rites. "Theologia" is used only twice by him, oncein a general meaning of "speech about the gods" (and synonymously with "tou peri theou logou", of the same meaning), where its relation to religious acts is treated (Letter to Marcella); once in the meaning of mythological poetry (in the plural, in On images).
Iamblichus uses "theologos" in the sense of mythological poet. "Theologikos" is used in different senses:
'Theological arithmetic' means the king of numerology/arithmology that associates the numbers with gods (On the general arithmetic science and On Nicomachus).
"Theologika" are theological matters (issues concerning the nature of the gods).
"Theologikôs", theologically, refers to the methods of philosophical theology (both of these usages are in Answer to Porphyry ["De Mysteriis"], chapter 2).
Both of these forms are from "theologikos", theological, i.e. relation to rational inquiry into the nature of the gods (Answer to Porphyry, chapter 8).
It also occurs several times in the Protrepticus, but I have not looked at these.
"Theologia" is used in the sense of "doctrine about the gods" (Answer to Porphyry chapter 1, where the plural is used), but also in both senses of the adjective (relating to arithmetic and to rational inquiry).
None of these three philosophers use the verb "theologeô" in their extant works.
4th century CE
Servius, in his commentaries on Vergil, uses "theologus" for Orpheus (on Eclogues 4.58 [named with Linus, who is called only "poeta"], on Aeneid 6.645 ["{he is called} 'priest' because he was a 'theologus' and was the first to institute 'orgia' {=sacred revels}") and Musaeus (on Aeneid 6.667, 6.669 [explaining that he is called "vates" (bard/seer) "because he was a 'theologus'"]). He also declares that Vergil draws from the science of "philosophorum, theologorum, Aegyptiorum" (on Aeneid 6.proem), i.e. "theologi" are not philosophers, and they are not all who have sacred wisdom (Egyptians is surely meant as something like "the wise men / priests among the Egyptians"). Two passages give "theologi" as the sources for certain doctrines and are worth translating:
on Aeneid 5.735
"Elysium is where the souls of the pious live after the separation of body and soul: whence also death (interitus) is called the thing coming between (inter) soul and body. Therefore Elysium (is called thus) apo tês luseôs (from "dissolution"). Which (=Elysium), according to the poets, is in the middle of "things below" (= the middle of the Earth? the middle of the underworld?) filled for the happiness of those who 'know their own sun, their own star' (a quote from Vergil).
According to the philosophers Elysium is the Isles of the Blest, which Sallust says are renowned through the poems of Homer, whose description (of them) the commentator Porphyry says is sublime. According to the 'theologi' (it is) around the lunar orbit, where the air is already purer (than on Earth)."
on Aeneid 8.84
"It is asked who is 'Iuno maxima' (Greatest Juno); for, as we have said, many and various are her powers, such as Curitis, Lucina, Matrona, Regina. And the 'theologi' say that the same is Mater Deum ("the mother of the god_desses", the goddess Meter/Mater), who is called the Earth, for which reason the pig is sacrificed to her. So (Vergil) cleverly picked the epithet, to call her the greatest."
It is hard to attribute these opinions to a specific source in Servius' mind; perhaps he sees the "theologi" as the source of wisdom about divine matters that is not specifically mythological or philosophical, and not attributable to "foreign" wise men like the Egyptians
In the proem to on Eclogues, he uses "theologia" in the sense of "mythological poetry", while in on Aeneid 10.175, it seems to have the sense of "inquiry into the divine" generally. There Varro is described as superior "in theologia" to another writer on religious matters. This lends perhaps some additional credence to the use of "theologia" by Varro himself.
There are two passages where Servius distinguishes a "theologica ratio" or theological account/explanation from another (named physical in one case, and the term seems applicable to the other as well):
on Aeneid 2.604:
(On the passage Theodore C. Williams translated as: "Behold, I take away / the barrier-cloud that dims thy mortal eye, / with murk and mist o'er-veiling.")
"...for it is said that the fog rising from the earth obstructs our eyes; wherefore the eagle, since it is above the fog, sees more. There is also a theological reason, since those who are ignorant of the Venereal usage (=of sex) are said to (be able to) see the gods. Therefore Aeneas is rightly said to have seen gods after Venus has left."
on Aeneid 2.694:
(On the passage Williams translated as: "suddenly / from leftward, with a deafening thunder-peal, / cleaving the blackness of the vaulted sky, / a meteor-star in trailing splendor ran, / exceeding bright.", and specifically on "ran, / exceedingly bright.")
"Now he follows the theological reason/account, which asserts that the track of flames we observe is the cloud of a descending deity; elsewhere (he follows) the physical (account), when (he says) 'when wind is toward, the stars thou'lt see / From heaven shoot headlong, and through murky night' (transl. J. B. Greenough)."
5th century CE
Here it would be worthwhile to take a closer look at Proclus, John Lydus and Damascius.
4th century BCE
The first known use of "theologia" (but hardly its first use, it is likely to have been in more or less common usage) is in Plato, who means mythological poetry by it. The same usage is present in Aristotle, who however also uses the adjective "theologikos" to (metaphorically) characterize metaphysics. "Theologos" means mythological poet.
On this question, cf. Richard Bodéüs, Aristotle and the Theology of Living Immortals, pp. 73ff
"Theologia" is not listed in the index to the Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta; it was apparently not used by the early Stoics.
3rd and 2nd century BCE
The material here is dispersed through citations and doxographies, as few philosophical works from the period survive intact, and so it is harder to do word searches etc. I have not looked at the period in detail for this reason, but the sense of "theologia" that is evident in Christian writers (not considered here) and in Iamblichus ("the science of deity"), as well as a corresponding sense of the verb "theologeô" (and its participle, "theologoumenon") must have developed in this time.
1st century BCE
Varro may be using "theologia" when he distinguishes the "mythical", the "physical" and the "civil"; the first means mythological accounts of the gods, the second philosophical ones—about the physical character of gods, not about physics as such, as the passage is sometimes understood (as if the philosophers used gods only as ciphers for elements etc.)—, the third concerns civil ritual practice. Whether he called these three areas "theologiae" is not entirely clear (to me, at least) because the passage survives only through citation by Augustine, De Civilitate Dei 6.5.
Philodemus in On Piety seems to use "theologos" in the sense of mythological poet, "theologia" in the sense of "philosophical(?) teaching about the gods".
Cicero uses "theologus" twice in De Natura Deorum (book 3) to refer to mythological poets.
1st and 2nd century CE
Albinus (2nd century), in his short and conventional Introduction to Plato, gives "theologia" as the topic of the Timaeus, thus making it a category alongside physics, ethics, etc. "Theologia" gives insight into "divine things".
Other Platonists, especially Plutarch (1st century), also used it.
The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria does not use "theologia" or "theologos" anywhere in his voluminous works; he uses the verb "theologeô" once.
3rd century CE
Plotinus uses "theologos" twice in the sense of mythological writer.
Porphyry uses "theologos" several times in the sense of a mythological writer or the originator of mythological symbolism and imagery. "Theologikos" is used when Porphyry (On the Timaeus, book 2, fragment 28) parallels the Brahmins among the Indians, the Magi among the Persians and "the most theologikos ones" among the Greeks, namely those who instituted initiatory and mystery rites. "Theologia" is used only twice by him, oncein a general meaning of "speech about the gods" (and synonymously with "tou peri theou logou", of the same meaning), where its relation to religious acts is treated (Letter to Marcella); once in the meaning of mythological poetry (in the plural, in On images).
Iamblichus uses "theologos" in the sense of mythological poet. "Theologikos" is used in different senses:
'Theological arithmetic' means the king of numerology/arithmology that associates the numbers with gods (On the general arithmetic science and On Nicomachus).
"Theologika" are theological matters (issues concerning the nature of the gods).
"Theologikôs", theologically, refers to the methods of philosophical theology (both of these usages are in Answer to Porphyry ["De Mysteriis"], chapter 2).
Both of these forms are from "theologikos", theological, i.e. relation to rational inquiry into the nature of the gods (Answer to Porphyry, chapter 8).
It also occurs several times in the Protrepticus, but I have not looked at these.
"Theologia" is used in the sense of "doctrine about the gods" (Answer to Porphyry chapter 1, where the plural is used), but also in both senses of the adjective (relating to arithmetic and to rational inquiry).
None of these three philosophers use the verb "theologeô" in their extant works.
4th century CE
Servius, in his commentaries on Vergil, uses "theologus" for Orpheus (on Eclogues 4.58 [named with Linus, who is called only "poeta"], on Aeneid 6.645 ["{he is called} 'priest' because he was a 'theologus' and was the first to institute 'orgia' {=sacred revels}") and Musaeus (on Aeneid 6.667, 6.669 [explaining that he is called "vates" (bard/seer) "because he was a 'theologus'"]). He also declares that Vergil draws from the science of "philosophorum, theologorum, Aegyptiorum" (on Aeneid 6.proem), i.e. "theologi" are not philosophers, and they are not all who have sacred wisdom (Egyptians is surely meant as something like "the wise men / priests among the Egyptians"). Two passages give "theologi" as the sources for certain doctrines and are worth translating:
on Aeneid 5.735
"Elysium is where the souls of the pious live after the separation of body and soul: whence also death (interitus) is called the thing coming between (inter) soul and body. Therefore Elysium (is called thus) apo tês luseôs (from "dissolution"). Which (=Elysium), according to the poets, is in the middle of "things below" (= the middle of the Earth? the middle of the underworld?) filled for the happiness of those who 'know their own sun, their own star' (a quote from Vergil).
According to the philosophers Elysium is the Isles of the Blest, which Sallust says are renowned through the poems of Homer, whose description (of them) the commentator Porphyry says is sublime. According to the 'theologi' (it is) around the lunar orbit, where the air is already purer (than on Earth)."
on Aeneid 8.84
"It is asked who is 'Iuno maxima' (Greatest Juno); for, as we have said, many and various are her powers, such as Curitis, Lucina, Matrona, Regina. And the 'theologi' say that the same is Mater Deum ("the mother of the god_desses", the goddess Meter/Mater), who is called the Earth, for which reason the pig is sacrificed to her. So (Vergil) cleverly picked the epithet, to call her the greatest."
It is hard to attribute these opinions to a specific source in Servius' mind; perhaps he sees the "theologi" as the source of wisdom about divine matters that is not specifically mythological or philosophical, and not attributable to "foreign" wise men like the Egyptians
In the proem to on Eclogues, he uses "theologia" in the sense of "mythological poetry", while in on Aeneid 10.175, it seems to have the sense of "inquiry into the divine" generally. There Varro is described as superior "in theologia" to another writer on religious matters. This lends perhaps some additional credence to the use of "theologia" by Varro himself.
There are two passages where Servius distinguishes a "theologica ratio" or theological account/explanation from another (named physical in one case, and the term seems applicable to the other as well):
on Aeneid 2.604:
(On the passage Theodore C. Williams translated as: "Behold, I take away / the barrier-cloud that dims thy mortal eye, / with murk and mist o'er-veiling.")
"...for it is said that the fog rising from the earth obstructs our eyes; wherefore the eagle, since it is above the fog, sees more. There is also a theological reason, since those who are ignorant of the Venereal usage (=of sex) are said to (be able to) see the gods. Therefore Aeneas is rightly said to have seen gods after Venus has left."
on Aeneid 2.694:
(On the passage Williams translated as: "suddenly / from leftward, with a deafening thunder-peal, / cleaving the blackness of the vaulted sky, / a meteor-star in trailing splendor ran, / exceeding bright.", and specifically on "ran, / exceedingly bright.")
"Now he follows the theological reason/account, which asserts that the track of flames we observe is the cloud of a descending deity; elsewhere (he follows) the physical (account), when (he says) 'when wind is toward, the stars thou'lt see / From heaven shoot headlong, and through murky night' (transl. J. B. Greenough)."
5th century CE
Here it would be worthwhile to take a closer look at Proclus, John Lydus and Damascius.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen