This paper addresses the question of chronology and authorship of the Hieroglyphica. The examination of its structure and content and of selected linguistic features seems to confirm that Book II was put together in the Byzantine Age, while Book I and section 2.1-30 contain materials that can be traced back to late antiquity and find parallels in other works of the 4th and 5th centuries. The attribution to Orapollo II, however, seems to be unconvincing, and the story of Philip’s “translation” is probably a literary fiction. Moreover, the Hieroglyphica cannot be read as a staunchly pagan work, but rather as an antiquarian treatise, linked to cultural, not religious, interests.
Elementi tardoantichi nel trattato di Orapollo?
Agosti, G.
2021-01-01
Abstract
This paper addresses the question of chronology and authorship of the Hieroglyphica. The examination of its structure and content and of selected linguistic features seems to confirm that Book II was put together in the Byzantine Age, while Book I and section 2.1-30 contain materials that can be traced back to late antiquity and find parallels in other works of the 4th and 5th centuries. The attribution to Orapollo II, however, seems to be unconvincing, and the story of Philip’s “translation” is probably a literary fiction. Moreover, the Hieroglyphica cannot be read as a staunchly pagan work, but rather as an antiquarian treatise, linked to cultural, not religious, interests.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
