Basileia

Les Cesars, les rois d'Orient et les Mages

by Jean Gage

Book cover: Basileia

Extent: 396 pages

Publisher: Les Belles Lettres

Subjects: Classical Studies

Series: Etudes anciennes Serie latine

Series volume number: 10

Language: French

Paperback (Published)

(June 2011)

ISBN: 9782251328867

5.28 x 8.27 inches

Price: $64.00

In stock

L’influence des mystiques et des astrologues, notamment orientaux, sur la cour imperiale et le Prince


From Augustus (63 BC) to Constantine (AD 272-337), Roman emperors constantly strove to legitimise their ambiguous power through a form of supernatural consecration. Remarkable continuity can be observed from Apollo – the patron saint of Octavius and of the neopythagoreans – to Aurelian’s Invincible Sun, and even to Constantine’s radiating Horns . A power endowed with something monstrous and illegal (at least when compared to traditional institutions and human rights) always needs to be justified on the grounds of divine right. The Imperial religion, with its political allegories and apotheosis-based rites, is not solely to blame with regard to this issue, which has turned out to be the most critical one to consider in attempting to fathom the reason behind the conduct of the Caesars – whether good or bad, mad or wise. In these seven chapters abounding with theories and fruitful hypotheses (regardless of whether or not all readers will instantly agree with them), Jean Gage shows that the princes – whether heirs or rulers – called upon the realms of magic and astrology to garner the prestigious crowns of a true basileia.

Avant-propos

Chapitre I. ? Le triomphe des Germanicus et les secrets astrologiques de Caligula

Chapitre II. ? De Thrasyllus a Balbillus: Tibere contre les rois
L'astrologie royale au service de Neron

Chapitre III. ? Vespasien entre le Serapeum d'Alexandrie et les intrigues de Commagene

Chapitre IV. ? Trajan en Syrie et l'oracle d'Heliopolis

Chapitre V. ? Horoscopes imperiaux et themes astraux d'Alexandre

Chapitre VI. ? Heliopemptos : les propagandes oraculaires en Orient vers le milieu du IIIe siecle: l'attente du Nouvel Alexandre ou le theme d'un retour de Neron?

Chapitre VII. ? Les pretres solaires au IIIe siecle ap. J.-C.
la place des Mages dans les mysteres de Mithra

Conclusion: Mages de l'Empire romain et mages faillis denonces par les chefs du clerge perse sassanide

Index general

Index des empereurs, rois ou dynasties

Index des auteurs anciens et des principaux textes cites

Table des illustrations

  • By (author) Jean Gage