The present volume focuses on Athens in Late Antiquity, exploring the cultural and religious transformations of the city and the creation of symbolic images of Athens from the fourth to the sixth centuries AD from a variety of perspectives, including archaeology, ancient history, classical philology, Byzantine studies, and the history of religions.
Together with Jerusalem and Rome, Athens stands today as a symbol of European culture. This image goes back a long way, having received a lasting imprint from the developments of Late Antiquity. The present volume focuses on this period, exploring the cultural and religious transformations of the city and the creation of symbolic images of Athens from the fourth to the sixth centuries AD from a variety of perspectives, including archaeology, ancient history, classical philology, Byzantine studies, and the history of religions. The contributions retrace reconfigurations of urban space and their impact on the sacred topography of Athens, as well as the changes in the Athenian panorama of learning and religion, uncovering various strategies employed to appropriate or counteract the Athenian past and its symbolic capital, whether by means of genealogy, by architectonic measures or by constructing literary images of the city suited to supporting particular claims. From the various competing discourses over the city, Late Antique Athens emerges as an emblem of higher learning and pagan religion, an image bequeathed to later European intellectual history.
Table of contents:
Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler (contributed to by
Leonie von Alvensleben): Athens in Late Antiquity - Learning and Paganism
I. Roman Athens: Real and Imagined
Christoph Auffarth: Athen - die heilige Stadt: Erbe, Umdeutung, Palimpsest der Sakrallandschaft -
Heinz-Günther Nesselrath: Philostratus' Apollonius in Imperial Athens: Old Values and Modern Decadence
II. Late Antique Athens: Archaeological Aspects
Arja Karivieri: The Archaeology of Athens in Late Antiquity -
Tasos Tanoulas: The Acropolis in Late Antiquity -
Balbina Bäbler: From Asclepius to the 'Saints without Silver': The Transformation of a Sanctuary in Late Antique Athens -
Georgios Deligiannakis: From Paganism to Christianity in Late Antique Athens: A Re-Evaluation
III. Symbolic Constructions of Athens: Athens as an Epitome of Culture
Jan R. Stenger: Learning City: The Athenian Experience in Late Antiquity -
Michael Schramm: Julian, Athens, and the Athenians -
Jochen Schultheiß: Athens as a Cultural Symbol in Christian Authors
IV. Schools and their Social Context
Stefanie Holder: The Inner Structure of Schools in Third- and Fourth- Century Athens -
Edward Watts: Athens, Educational Reform, and the Future of Philosophy -
Anthony Kaldellis: The Politics of Classical Genealogies in the Late Antique Roman East
V. Athenian Neoplatonism: Philosophy and Religion
Irmgard Männlein-Robert: Vom Piräus zur Akropolis, oder: Das spätantike Athen der Hellenen. Zur Bedeutung von Wegen und Räumen in der Vita Procli des Marinos -
Sarah Klitenic Wear: Syrianus and the Shape of Platonist Philosophy in Late Antique Athens: Evidence from the Parmenides Commentary Tradition -
Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler: Patron Goddess of Athens - Patron Goddess of Philosophy? Athena in Proclus and the Neoplatonic Tradition -
Leonie von Alvensleben: Intertextuelle Götternähe: Homerische Kurzzitate im Athenehymnos des Proklos
