Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia

Edited by Reinhard Feldmeier, Rainer Hirsch-Luipold and Heinz-Günther Nesselrath
Advisory Board: Barbara E. Borg, Maximilian Forschner, Dorothee Gall, Reinhard Gregor Kratz, Gustav Adolf Lehmann, Jan Opsomer, and Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler

For a long time, Greek and Latin texts from late antiquity (1st to 4th century AD) were in the shadow of the so-called »classic« epochs. There was however an abundance of works on philosophy, ethics and religion in Greek and in Latin during the first four centuries AD, and these works have not lost their relevance.

It is the goal of the SAPERE series (Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia, Writings in Late Antiquity on Ethical and Religious Issues) to make precisely these texts available in an innovative combination of edition, translation and interdisciplinary commentary in an essay form.

The name SAPERE is a deliberate link to the various connotations of the Latin verb. In addition to the intellectual aspect (which Kant in the translation of sapere aude, »Have courage to use your own understanding,« used as the motto of the Enlightenment), the sensuous aspect of »taste« will also be given the attention it deserves: On the one hand, major sources for the discourse in various disciplines (theology and religious studies, philology, philosophy, history, archaeology...) are to be presented, on the other hand the texts dealt with are also meant to whet the readers' appetites.

Thus a careful scholarly examination of the texts which are explained from various angles in the essays will be combined with a linguistic presentation which does not lose sight of the relevance of the texts for the history of ideas and at the same time shows the importance of authors of antiquity for discussions on current issues.

Visit the SAPERE-Project of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen

ISSN: 1611-5945 / eISSN: 2569-4340 - Suggested citation: SAPERE