Cleanthes’ Hymn to Zeus
Text, Translation, and Commentary
by Johan Thom
Cleanthes’ Hymn to Zeus is a popular philosophical text combining both traditional, literary and religious motifs with philosophical ideas. The main problem addressed in the Hymn is the disorder caused by bad people who disregard Zeus’ governance of the world. The Hymn contains a genuine prayer for divine assistance to enable human beings to attain insight into the way the world is governed, and at the same time serves as a reminder and exhortation for people to recognize and live in accordance with the divine world-order. Such a way of life is characterized as a life of continuous praise. This book, the first complete monograph to be devoted to the Hymn to Zeus by the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes (ca. 331-230 BCE), contains a new critical text edition and English translation of the Hymn. In addition to the usual questions of authorship and date, Johan Thom analyses the composition, genre and function of the poem in depth, arguing that the Hymn should be considered a genuine prayer and that it was intended for a non-specialist audience. In the line-by-line philological commentary, attention is paid to the literary, philosophical, and religious aspects of the hymn. It should therefore be of interest to classical philologists, philosophers, as well as scholars of Hellenistic and Greco-Roman religions.
Cleanthes’ Hymn to Zeus is a popular philosophical text combining both traditional, literary and religious motifs with philosophical ideas. The main problem addressed in the Hymn is the disorder caused by bad people who disregard Zeus’ governance of the world. The Hymn contains a genuine prayer for divine assistance to enable human beings to attain insight into the way the world is governed, and at the same time serves as a reminder and exhortation for people to recognize and live in accordance with the divine world-order. Such a way of life is characterized as a life of continuous praise. This book, the first complete monograph to be devoted to the Hymn to Zeus by the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes (ca. 331-230 BCE), contains a new critical text edition and English translation of the Hymn. In addition to the usual questions of authorship and date, Johan Thom analyses the composition, genre and function of the poem in depth, arguing that the Hymn should be considered a genuine prayer and that it was intended for a non-specialist audience. In the line-by-line philological commentary, attention is paid to the literary, philosophical, and religious aspects of the hymn. It should therefore be of interest to classical philologists, philosophers, as well as scholars of Hellenistic and Greco-Roman religions.
- By (author) Johan Thom
Other Titles in this Series
Syrien im 1.-7. Jahrhundert nach Christus
Akten der 1. Tubinger Tagung zum Christlichen Orient (15.-16. Juni 2007)
Volume 62
Der Mensch als Gottes Bild im christlichen Agypten
Studien zu Gen 1,26 in zwei koptischen Quellen des 4.-5. Jahrhunderts
Volume 34
Scribal Traditions in Coptic Magical Texts
Edition and Materiality of the Berlin Magical Archive, the Unpublished Coptic Magical Texts of the Papyrussammlung of Heidelberg and the Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg
Religion im romischen Thessaloniki
Sakraltopographie, Kult und Gesellschaft 168 v. Chr. - 324 n. Chr.
Volume 47
The Fate of the Dead in Early Third Century North African Christianity
The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas and Tertullian
Volume 83
Augustins Trinitatslehre praktisch
Katechese, Liturgie, Predigt: Ritual und Unterweisung auf dem Weg zur Taufe
Volume 105
An Ancient Christian Hymn with Musical Notation
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1786: Text and Commentary
Volume 65
Christliche Populärmoral und Laienethik im spätantiken Ägypten
Neuedition der Gnomai des Konzils von Nizäa (clavis coptica 0021)
Philologos Kosmos
Kleine Schriften zur antiken Literatur, Naturwissenschaft, Philosophie und Religion
Volume 73
The Sermons on Joseph of Balai of Qenneshrin
Rhetoric and Interpretation in Fifth Century Syriac Literature
Volume 50
Augustins Trinitatsdenken
Bilanz, Kritik und Weiterfuhrung der modernen Forschung zu De trinitate
Volume 22
Die ‘Regula Pastoralis’ Gregors des Grossen
Studien zu Text, kirchenpolitischer Bedeutung und Rezeption in der Karolingerzeit
Volume 26
Augustins Trinitatsdenken
Bilanz, Kritik und Weiterfuhrung der modernen Forschung zu 'De trinitate'
Volume 22
Die Vita Pauli des Hieronymus
Darstellung und Etablierung eines Heiligen im hagiographischen Diskurs der Spatantike
Volume 107
The Gospel of Judas
Coptic Text, Translation, and Historical Interpretation of 'the Betrayer's Gospel'
Volume 64
Ignatius of Antioch and the Second Sophistic
A Study of an Early Christian Transformation of Pagan Culture
Visio mystica im Spannungsfeld fruhchristlicher Uberlieferungen
Die Lehre der sogenannten Antoniusbriefe von der Gottes- und Engelschau und das Problem unterschiedlicher spiritueller Traditionen im fruhen agyptischen Monchtum
Volume 52
Similar Books
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
As Messianism Turns to Heresy
The Regenstein Chair Lectures On Lurianic Kabbalah and Shabbatai Tzevi at Hebrew Union College - Cincinnati
Athanasius of Alexandria, Epistula ad episcopos Aegypti et Libyae
Old Slavonic Version and English Translation
Volume 261
Contesting Labeled Identities
The Sociology of Gentilics in Biblical and Northwest Semitic Literature
Cyril of Alexandria’s Christological Exegesis
Explorations of Partitive Exegesis in the Dialogues on the Trinity
Volume 70
Epiphanies of the Divine in the Septuagint and the New Testament
Fifth International Symposium of the Corpus Judaeo-Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti (CJHNT), 14-17 May 2015, Nottingham
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
From Joseph to Jesus
The Joseph Narrative as a Compositional Template from Old Greek Esther to the Gospel of Luke
Volume 125
Lobbying for Equality
Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Equality during the French Revolution
