Programme

Synesius of Cyrene (4th-5th century CE) was both a brilliant student of neoplatonic philosophy at the pagan school of Alexandria and the christian bishop of Ptolemais.
In 405 he sent to his old teacher Hypatia a letter along with two then unpublished works: the first one was On Dio and the other was a brief treatise about dreams. In the latter work, as one can read at the end of the letter, Synesius put forward “doctrines entirely new to Hellenic philosophy”.
The class of Byzantine Civilisation for MA degree is dedicated to the analysis of the figure of Synesius – which is ambiguous only in appearance – and of his On Dreams. In particular, the class will deal with the reception of the work in late Byzantium. In fact, in the 14th century Synesius’s treaty was commented by two important Byzantine scholars, approximately in the same period. The examination of the text will be crucial to comprehend the most profound reasons which led some Byzantine intellectuals to become interested in Neoplatonic doctrines during the Palaiologan age.

Core Documentation

OBLIGATORY TEXTS
E.R.Dodds, , Pagani e cristiani in un’epoca di angoscia (ed. it.), La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1970 (Ia ed.).
M.Simonetti, Classici e cristiani, Milano, Medusa Edizioni, 2007.
Sinesio, Opere, epistole, operette, inni, a cura di Garzya, A., UTET, Torino 1989, pp. 9-34.
Sinesio, I sogni, a cura di Susanetti, D., Adriatica Editrice, Bari 1992, pp. 11-30.

OPTIONAL TEXTS
Athanassiadi, P.,-Frede, M. (a cura di), Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1999.
Aujoulat, N., “Les avatars de la phantasia dans le Traité des songes de Synésios de Cyrène”, ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑ 8 (1984), pp. 33-55.
Aujoulat, N., “Les avatars de la phantasia dans le Traité des songes de Synésios de Cyrène”, ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑ 7 (1983), pp. 157-177.
Barnes, T. D., “Synesius in Constantinople”, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 27/1 (1986), pp. 93-112.
Barnes, T. D., “When did Synesius become bishop of Ptolemais?”, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 27/3 (1986), pp. 325-329.
Bregman, J., “Synesius of Cyrene”, in Gerson, L. P. (a cura di), The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010, vol. I, pp. 520-537.
Bregman, J., Synesius of Cyrene, Philosopher-Bishop, University of California Press, Berkeley-Los Angeles-Londra 1982.
Brown, P.,-Lizzi Testa, R. (a cura di), Pagans and Christians in the Roman Empire: a breaking of a dialogue. Proceedings of the International conference at the Monastery of Bose (Ottobre 2008), LIT, Zurigo 2011.
Cameron, A.,-Long, J., Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius, Berkeley-Los Angeles-Oxford 1993.
Chuvin, P., “I filosofi e la loro religione nella società di Alessandria nel V secolo”, in Romano, F.,-Tiné, A. (a cura di), Questioni neoplatoniche, Università di Catania, Catania 1988, pp. 45-61.
Chuvin, P., Cronaca degli ultimi pagani (ed. it.), Paideia, Brescia 2012.
Di Pasquale Barbanti, M., Filosofia e cultura in Sinesio di Cirene, La Nuova Italia, Firenze 1994.
Di Pasquale Barbanti, M., Ochema-pneuma e phantasia nel Neoplatonismo. Aspetti psicologici e prospettive religiose, CUECM, Catania 1998.
Hagl, W., Arcadius Apis Imperator. Synesios von Kyrene und sein Beitrag zum Herrscherideal der Spatantike, Franz Steiner, Stoccarda 1997.
Lacombrade, C., Sinesio: il trattato sui sogni (ed. it.), in Il sogno in Grecia, a cura di Guidorizzi, G., Laterza, Bari 1988, pp. 191-207.
Lacombrade, C., Synésios de Cyrène, hellène et chrétien, Les Belles Lettres, Parigi 1951.
Liebeschuetz, J. H. W. G., “Synesius and Municipal Politics of Cyrenaica in the 5th century AD”, Byzantion 55 (1985), pp. 146-164.
Liebeschuetz, J. H. W. G., “Why did Synesius become bishop of Ptolemais?”, Byzantion 56 (1986), pp. 180-195.
Marrou, H. I., “La «conversion» de Synésios”, Revue des études grecques 65 (1952) pp. 474-484.
Marrou, H. I., “Sinesio di Cirene e il neoplatonismo alessandrino” (ed. it.), in Momigliano, A. (a cura di), Il conflitto tra Paganesimo e Cristianesimo nel secolo IV, Einaudi, Torino 1968, pp. 139-164.
Neil, B., “Synesius of Cyrene on Dreams as a Pathway to the Divine”, Phronema 30/2 (2015), pp. 19-36.
Nicephori Gregorae Explicatio in librum Synesii «De Insomniis», scholia cum glossis, a cura di Pietrosanti, P., Levante Editori, Bari 1999.
Ronchey, S., Ipazia. La vera storia, Rizzoli, Milano 2010.
Roos, B. A., Synesius of Cyrene: A Study in His Personality, Lund University Press, Lund 1991.
Roques, D., “Synésios à Constantinople : 399-402”, Byzantion 65 (1995), pp. 405-439.
Roques, D., Synésios de Cyrène et la Cyrénaïque du Bas-Empire, Éditions du CNRS, Parigi 1987.
Schmitt, T., Die Bekehrung des Synesios von Kyrene, K. G. Saur, Monaco 2001.
Synésios de Cyrène, Opuscule I (vol. IV), a cura di Lamoureux, J.,-Aujoulat, N., Les Belles Lettres, Parigi 2004.
Synesius, De Insomniis. On Prophecy, Dreams and Human Imagination, a cura di Russell, D. A.,-Nesselrath, H. G., Mohr Siebeck, Tubinga 2014.
Tanaseanu-Döbler, I., Konversion zur Philosophie in der Spätantike: Kaiser Julian und Synesios von Kyrene, Steiner, Stoccarda 2008.
Toulouse, S., “Synésios de Cyrène”, in Goulet, R. (a cura di), Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques (vol. VI), CNRS, Parigi 2016.
Vollenweider, S., Neuplatonische und christliche Theologie bei Synesios von Kyrene, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Gottinga 1985.

Type of delivery of the course

36 h 6 cfu II sem

Type of evaluation

Oral question on sources and handbooks