Diogenes of Oinoanda

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Diogenes of Oinoanda ( Greek Διογένης ὁ Οἰνοανδέας Diogénēs ho Oinoandéas ) was an ancient Greek author from the city of Oinoanda in Lycia ( Asia Minor ). He is the author of an extensive inscription of about 30,000 words and about 60 to 80 m in length, which was attached to the back wall of a pillared hall at the agora and has only survived in fragments. It comprised more than 120 columns of text; this made it a unique monument of its kind.

For a long time, the time of origin of the inscription was usually assumed to be the second half of the 2nd century AD, according to recent research, which relates to names that are mentioned on fragments of the inscription that have since been found, and to the shape of the letters used, but now the first quarter of the 2nd century is more likely to be considered ( lit .: according to Martin Ferguson Smith ). A minority of researchers even advocate the last decades before the birth of Christ ( lit .: so Smith / Canfora). Nothing is known about Diogenes, but he must have been a very wealthy man.

He may be identical to a certain Flavianus Diogenes , a Roman citizen from Oinoanda who is known from other inscriptions. There is also the assumption that Diogenes of Oinoanda could be identical to the author Diogenes Laertios , but this is rejected by most researchers.

Contents of the inscription

The inscription, which was affixed in such a way that passers-by could easily read it, comprised roughly the following texts (the exact assignment of the fragments preserved is partly controversial):

An inscription stele with a mention of Diogenes in the ruins of Oinoanda.
A fragment of the philosophical inscription at the site (2010).
  • An introduction in which Diogenes explains his turn to philosophy and the application of the inscription.
  • Diogenes' treatise on nature , d. H. the principles of Epicurean physics and worldview.
  • Diogenes' treatise on ethics under the (preserved) title Diogenes from Oinoanda's Excerpt on Affects and Actions .
  • Diogenes' long treatise on old age , which defends the old age against the usual reproaches.
  • A letter from the Diogenes to a certain Antipater over the infinite number of worlds in which Diogenes defends the often attacked since ancient Epicurean doctrine that there are infinitely many worlds (κόσμοι, kosmoi give).
  • A letter to his mother, perhaps in the traditional form of a consolation , from which v. a. a section on the meaning of dreams is received.
  • The will of Diogenes and an open letter to his friends in which he says goodbye to life and again mentions the affixing of the inscription.
  • Various maxims and sentences from Epicurus, some of which have been handed down in other sources, some of which are only documented here.

Together these texts formed a diverse and extremely lively outline of the teaching of Epicurus . Newly found fragments since 2007 deal with the teachings of Plato . The search for further parts of the inscription continues.

Fate and meaning of the inscription

The inscription is the longest and largest known from ancient times. The portico was destroyed later, perhaps in an earthquake in 140/141 AD (this would of course also speak against the traditional dating of the inscription to the later 2nd century); many remains of the inscription were used when the agora was rebuilt. Only 212, partly larger fragments of the inscription were discovered by French, German and Austrian researchers towards the end of the 19th century and published for the first time - however, certain parts of Epicurus' teaching that must have been covered in the inscription are in the fragments that have survived underrepresented (e.g. physics). The inscription shows that its author was an enthusiastic follower of the teaching of Epicurus, who in old age wanted to ensure that this philosophy became known to as many people as possible. In addition, the wealthy man was obviously interested in his own fame. Apparently Diogenes was well versed in Epicurean doctrine; various details of this doctrine are preserved only in its inscription.

If one follows the traditional late dating, the inscription as a whole provides significant evidence that Epicureanism was still a significant movement in the 2nd century AD. But even with an earlier dating it is at least astonishing and admirable how Diogenes was able to put together such an immense work in his rather remote polis . The inscription is probably the most significant attempt known from antiquity to make philosophy accessible “for everyone” who could read, as written books were relatively expensive. In the introduction it says (Frg. 2 Chilton, col. IV – VI):

In addition, it is right and proper to help those people who will live after us (after all, they also belong to us, although they are not yet born), and finally humanity commands us to give help to strangers who come to us. Since the help this inscription is supposed to provide affects a considerable number of people, I have decided to make the helpful remedies [of the Epicurean teaching] generally available.

Oionoanda is located on a remote mountain peak and is still not developed for tourism and can only be reached cross-country. For this reason, it took a long time to explore the ruined city more closely. Since 2007, however, the German Archaeological Institute in Istanbul (DAI), together with the Cologne Graecist Jürgen Hammerstaedt, has been conducting systematic research in Oinoanda in order to find further parts of the monumental inscription in the city, which has not yet been archaeologically adequately recorded. As part of these studies, Martin Bachmann had already come across 26 other stones with fragments of the inscription in July 2008. Among other things, they contain references to Plato and indicate the development of a henotheistic trend by naming a “highest God” . Further fragments were also discovered in summer 2009; the new finds were published annually by Hammerstaedt and Martin Smith. The DAI project continued in 2010 and 2011 before it was provisionally concluded in 2012. An estimated 40 percent of the text should be known.

Editions and translations

  • Cecil W. Chilton (Ed.): Diogenes Oenoandensis fragmenta. Teubner, Leipzig 1967 (Greek text with Latin introduction, reconstruction, a facsimile and Greek index)
  • Diogenes of Oenoanda: The Fragments. Edited by Cecil W. Chilton, Oxford 1971 (English translation with detailed introduction and commentary)
  • Diogenes of Oinoanda: The Epicurean inscription . Ed. with introd., translation, and notes by Martin Ferguson Smith . Naples 1993. ISBN 88-7088-270-5 (latest authoritative edition of the Greek text)
  • Diogenes of Oinoanda: The Epicurean inscription . Supplement. Ed. with introd., translation, and notes by Martin Ferguson Smith. Naples 2003. ISBN 88-7088-441-4
  • Martin Ferguson Smith: The philosophical inscription of Diogenes of Oinoanda . Tituli Asiae minoris. Supplementary volumes. Volume 20. Vienna 1996. ISBN 3-7001-2596-8
  • Greek atomists. Texts and comments on the materialistic thinking of antiquity. Transl. And ed. by Fritz Jürß , Reimar Müller and Ernst Günther Schmidt . Leipzig 1977. ISBN 3-379-00245-3 (German translation of most of the fragments known at the time on pp. 427–450)

literature

Overview representations

Investigations

  • Pamela Gordon: Epicurus in Lycia. The Second-Century World of Diogenes of Oenoanda. University of Michigan Press, Michigan 1996, ISBN 978-0472104611 (attempt to embed it in the historical context)
  • Jürgen Hammerstaedt: Inscription and architecture. The philosophical journalism of Diogenes of Oinoanda . In: Werner Eck, Peter Funke (Ed.): Public - Monument - Text. De Gruyter, Berlin 2014, pp. 731–755.
  • Peter Scholz: A Roman Epicurean in the province. Diogenes of Oinoanda and his addressees. In: Karen Piepenbrink (ed.): Philosophy and lifeworld in antiquity. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2003, ISBN 3-534-17041-5 , pp. 208-227 ( online ).
  • Martin Ferguson Smith, Luciano Canfora: Did Diogenes of Oinoanda know Lucretius? In: Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica. Volume 121, 1993, pp. 478-499 (recent discussion of the dating of the inscription).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ DAI: Spectacular inscription finds ( Memento of the original from September 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dainst.org
  2. ↑ DAI: Spectacular inscription finds ( Memento of the original from September 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dainst.org
personal data
SURNAME Diogenes of Oinoanda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Diogenes Oenoandensis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek author
DATE OF BIRTH between 1st century BC BC and 2nd century
DATE OF DEATH between 1st century BC BC and 3rd century