Bernese Lucan Scholia

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The anonymous scholias (explanatory additions) to the work of the Roman poet Marcus Annaeus Lucanus , which were created in the 4th century and are included in two codices from the 10th century in the Bern Citizens' Library (Cod. 45 [incomplete] and Cod. 370) , are the Bernese Lucan Scholias. after which they were edited by the philologist and religious scholar Hermann Usener in 1869 .

Lucan's ten-volume work De bello civili (also called Pharsalia ) is commented on in detail in the scholias. These comments were in turn supplemented by anonymous commentators in the 8th and 9th centuries. The information, which therefore differs several times, is often unsolvable even for modern research.

Religious historical significance

For Celtic mythology and religion , the scholia are very important because Lukan writes about human sacrifice for the Gallic gods Teutates , Esus and Taranis . The victims for Teutates are drowned upside down in a vat, those for Esus are hung in a tree to rot, those for Taranis are burned in a wooden trough. It is not clear whether there is a connection with the "wicker man" .

The interpretatio Romana of the Gallic deities and the various sacrificial customs are given differently depending on the sources used and available to the anonymous author (s). In particular, the equation in the Interpretatio is uncertain, since it is not clear from the Scholia whether reliable ancient traditions were used in the drafting. Subsequently secured interpretations (e.g. through inscriptions) are not very often available.

expenditure

literature

  • Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
  • Fritz Graf : Human sacrifices in the burger library: Notes on the catalog of gods in the "Commenta Bernensia" to Lukan 1, 445. In: Archeology of Switzerland. Vol. 14, 1991, 136-143 ( digitized version ).
  • Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
  • Johann Ramminger: Sources and genesis of the scholias and glosses on Lukan, 'Pharsalia' 2, 355-371. In: Hermes . Vol. 114, 1986, 479-490.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 , p. 444.
  2. ↑ Pharsalia I , pp. 444-446.