Basil’s Use of Oppian in Homilia in hexaemeron 7: His Source of Zoological Knowledge Reconsidered
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Colten Cheuk-Yim Yam
Abstract
In analyzing the discussion of fish in Homilia in hexaemeron 7, this article attempts to shed light on the source that Basil of Caesarea used in his exposition of Gen 1:20. It will first critically review the old (but widely accepted) thesis of Jean Levie that Basil’s knowledge of natural history comes solely from an Aristotelian epitome. In rejecting this view, this paper will argue that Basil’s materials, in fact, draw on a more complex tradition than simply being directly extracted from Aristotle’s work. In the second part, four sources that are adduced in relation to Homilia in hexaemeron 7, namely Pliny, Aelian, Oppian, and Plutarch will be examined. By analyzing the similarities and differences between Basil and these sources, I will demonstrate that Oppian’s Halieutica is the most likely source that Basil consulted and used as a framework for composing the examples of fish in Homilia in hexaemeron 7,3–6, despite the apparent similarities among the four sources. I will also propose ways of interpreting the apparent similarities between Basil and the three other sources.
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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- Introduction
- Intertextuality as a Phenomenon in the History of Religion and Culture
- Impulses
- Talmudic-Christian Intertextuality: Primary Considerations
- Intertextuality Now and Then: From Kristeva Back to Irenaeus and the Valentinians
- Intertextualität und spätantike Hagiographie: Methodische Überlegungen und exemplarische Vertiefungen
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- Beyond the Rhetoric of the Octavius: Minucius Felix’s Exhortatio ad Christianitatem
- Plato’s Phaedrus and Symposium in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies
- Basil’s Use of Oppian in Homilia in hexaemeron 7: His Source of Zoological Knowledge Reconsidered
- Between Nature and Spirit: Lucretian Resonances in Paulinus’ Carmen 23
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Introduction
- Intertextuality as a Phenomenon in the History of Religion and Culture
- Impulses
- Talmudic-Christian Intertextuality: Primary Considerations
- Intertextuality Now and Then: From Kristeva Back to Irenaeus and the Valentinians
- Intertextualität und spätantike Hagiographie: Methodische Überlegungen und exemplarische Vertiefungen
- Articles
- Auf den Spuren des hellenistischen Judentums in Caesarea: Ein Jüdischer Psalmenforscher in Origenes’ Glosse im Kontext Rabbinischer Literatur
- Beyond the Rhetoric of the Octavius: Minucius Felix’s Exhortatio ad Christianitatem
- Plato’s Phaedrus and Symposium in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies
- Basil’s Use of Oppian in Homilia in hexaemeron 7: His Source of Zoological Knowledge Reconsidered
- Between Nature and Spirit: Lucretian Resonances in Paulinus’ Carmen 23
