Papers by Francesco Padovani
Status Quaestionis 26, 2024
Carlo Carena was the translator of Einaudi classical texts for decades. Despite his assertion tha... more Carlo Carena was the translator of Einaudi classical texts for decades. Despite his assertion that the translated work matters more than the translator, his choice of authors to translate (mainly Plutarch and Augustine) outlines the development of a very personal trajectory. In fact, ancient authors are read in the light of a restless Christianity, nourished by the reading of Augustine, Montaigne, and Pascal. This essay investigates the first half of Carena's production as a translator (1956-1992), highlighting the cultural project that ambitiously integrates the ancient world and the modern world in the name of profound ethical and spiritual values. Through the translation of ancient biographies, the translator also speaks of himself and his worldview.
What's in a Divine Name? Religious Systems and Human Agency in the Ancient Mediterranean, ed. by Alaya Palamidis and Corinne Bonnet, 2024
Is the etymological interpretation of divine names a good way to get to know the divine according... more Is the etymological interpretation of divine names a good way to get to know the divine according to the perspective developed by a Greek intellectual elite (poets, orators, grammarians, philosophers) throughout the centuries? Applying etymology to divine names discloses a dynamic and relational approach to the divine figures within Greek polytheism. It underlines, on the one hand, the decoding of multiplicity in a unitarian direction and, on the other hand, the functionalisation of the divine figures according to the (literary, ritual, performative, local, historical) context. This chapter provides a theoretical overview of possible intersections between ancient etymology and Greek polytheism, corroborated by concrete examples from literary and philosophical texts. It is structured around three main topics: the mutual χάρις between gods and men, the exploitation of onomastic ambiguity and the intersection between etymology and interculturality.
What role does Greek culture play in rethinking the relationship between emotional
sphere and rat... more What role does Greek culture play in rethinking the relationship between emotional
sphere and rationality in the modern world? The Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger (1881-
1966) finds in Heraclitus some fundamental elements of his ‘phänomenologische Anthropologie’,
which he expounds in the essay Heraklits Auffassung des Menschen (“Die Antike” XI, 1935).
According to Binswanger’s reading, strongly influenced by Werner Jaeger and Martin Heidegger,
Heraclitus is the discoverer of interiority, but also of the conflict at the heart of existence (fr.
85 DK). This paper analyses the relationship between Binswanger and Heraclitus starting from
human suffering, seen as a structural condition of existence and the key to accessing interiority,
also providing an historical-cultural framework of Binswanger’s pages in the context of German
Dritter Humanismus.
sphere and rationality in the modern world? The Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger (1881-
1966) finds in Heraclitus some fundamental elements of his ‘phänomenologische Anthropologie’,
which he expounds in the essay Heraklits Auffassung des Menschen (“Die Antike” XI, 1935).
According to Binswanger’s reading, strongly influenced by Werner Jaeger and Martin Heidegger,
Heraclitus is the discoverer of interiority, but also of the conflict at the heart of existence (fr.
85 DK). This paper analyses the relationship between Binswanger and Heraclitus starting from
human suffering, seen as a structural condition of existence and the key to accessing interiority,
also providing an historical-cultural framework of Binswanger’s pages in the context of German
Dritter Humanismus.
Plutarch and his Contemporaries. Sharing the Roman Empire, ed. by K. Jazdzewska, F. Doroszewski, 2024
This paper analyses some aspects of Plutarch’s treatise De Herodoti malignitate in the light of t... more This paper analyses some aspects of Plutarch’s treatise De Herodoti malignitate in the light of the Early Imperial debate about historiography. The reflection about the historians’ style and personality forms the background for Plutarch’s work, as well as for Lucian’s Quo modo historia conscribenda sit. In both cases, the ethical concern supersedes viewing historiography as a literary genre. Thus, historiography becomes a crucial turning point for the negotiation of Greek paideia in the context of the Second Sophistic, insofar as the discussion about the authors of the past moulds a paideutic model to be applied in contemporary circumstances. Under this aspect, Plutarch and Lucian show two different approaches to the problems of frankness of speech, the moral education of the young, and the role of the intellectual in the Roman Empire.
Valore e simbologia del termine "traccia" (ἴχνος) nel lessico teologico di Plutarco
Studi classici e orientali, 2021
Ritualizzare l'indicibile, spezzare le forme: una riflessione su Riten di Ingmar Bergman e Le Baccanti di Euripide
ClassicoContemporaneo, 2021
Chaos e Kosmos, 2020
The article focuses on Plutarch's Quaestiones Romanae 20 (268 D-E) concerning the exclusion of my... more The article focuses on Plutarch's Quaestiones Romanae 20 (268 D-E) concerning the exclusion of myrtle from the cult of the Bona Dea. More than representing an authoritative source for our historical reconstruction of the problem, Plutarch complicates the data belonging to the Roman tradition through the interpretative lenses of his Greek mindset. The connection between myrtle and sexuality and the tabuistic way he interprets the changing of Aphrodite's epithet Myrtia into Murcia reflect Plutarch's own comparative attitude towards Roman religion. His analysis supposes a dialectic between an archaic, barbarian sostratum and the more recent attainment of civilization. As a result, the article highlights Plutarch's comparative approach towards specific aspects of Roman religion and suggests that according to his view the rites in honour of Bona Dea were similar to Greek mystery cults.
Anna Maria Ortese e l'antico
Strumenti critici, 2022
La lunga vita di un εἴδωλον. Eracle redivivo tra Omero, Plutarco e Plotino
Lexis, 2020
The essay reconsiders the well-known problem of the platonic interpretations of Od. 11.601-603, c... more The essay reconsiders the well-known problem of the platonic interpretations of Od. 11.601-603, concerning Heracles’ εἴδωλον. Starting with a detailed description of the interpretive problems traditionally raised by the Homeric passage, the article provides an accurate analysis of Plutarch’s and Plotin’s different approaches to Heracles’ myth and to the eschatological concepts involved. The common rationalising surface hides deep conflicts inside the Platonic tradition. The cultural appropriation of the Homeric texts depends therefore to a large extent on the deliberate manipulation and misunderstanding of its original meaning.
In his masterpiece Dialoghi con Leucò Cesare Pavese sketches a history of Mediterranean and archa... more In his masterpiece Dialoghi con Leucò Cesare Pavese sketches a history of Mediterranean and archaic Greek beliefs which are based on the development of the name-theory. During the pre-Olympic age, human beings shared the universal destiny and had no need to define reality through names. As they improve their linguistic skills,t he perceive the old world as full of monsters. The new gods embody the new fears: they have distinctive names and protect the human life against Chaos. The end of the religious view deletes these mysterious creatures, but not their names, now empty, through which the man discovers that he is alone on Earth.
All'interno di una breve digressione sul mito egiziano nel suo dialogo dedicato a Eros, l'Amatori... more All'interno di una breve digressione sul mito egiziano nel suo dialogo dedicato a Eros, l'Amatorius, Plutarco enuncia un principio metodologico su cui la critica è stata finora riluttante a interrogarsi. Il passo in questione recita: καίτοι λεπταί τινες ἀπόρροιαι καὶ ἀμυδραὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἔνεισι ταῖς Αἰγυπτίων ἐνδιεσπαρμέναι μυθολογίαις, ἀλλ' ἰχνηλάτου δεινοῦ δέονται καὶ μεγάλα μικροῖς ἑλεῖν δυναμένου 1 . 2 A meno che non si accetti, con pAGe, Epigrams, 104, la datazione al II-I sec. a.C. di un epigramma di Zosimo di Taso (AP 6, 183) in cui il termine compare con l'inequivocabile significato di «cacciatore» di animali a quattro zampe. È comunque evidente il nesso etimologico con il termine ἴχνος, «traccia, impronta, orma del piede», sul cui valore nella teologia di Plutarco tornerò in un contributo che ho in preparazione. 3 Esso ricorre in: De op. 56; De Ios. 7; 104; De praem. 36. 4 Suda s.v. ἰχνηλατῆσαι: κατ' ἴχνος ἀναζητῆσαι. FrAnCesCo pAdoVAni NOTA A PLUTARCO, AMATORIUS 762 A: SUL TERMINE ἸΧΝΗΛΑΤΗΣ
L'Amatorius, il più maturo e problematico frutto della riflessione di Plutarco sull'eros, è stato... more L'Amatorius, il più maturo e problematico frutto della riflessione di Plutarco sull'eros, è stato oggetto negli ultimi decenni di una crescente attenzione critica, specialmente per quello che riguarda il senso da attribuire alla vicenda di Ismenodora, che fornisce lo spunto principale per la discussione filosofica su Eros. L'erotica unitaria 1 teorizzata da Michel Foucault è stata giustamente contestata da Simon Goldhill 2 , che ha individuato nella figura di Ismenodora il terreno di scontro tra le diverse posizioni espresse nel dialogo. Nella vicenda della vedova egli legge tuttavia un momento di distanziamento ironico dell'autore rispetto alle tesi espresse nel dibattito teologico, pervenendo a una sostanziale aporia. Se è corretto vedere in Ismenodora una sorta di piano di proiezione delle inquietudini dell'epoca in cui il dialogo è stato scritto, non bisognerà d'altro canto trascurare la posizione che l'autore assume quando decide di trattare un problema come quello dell'iniziativa femminile in campo sessuale: Plutarco costruisce il suo paradigma interpretativo trattando Eros e Ismenodora con analoga disinvoltura e adattando la loro fisionomia ai suoi scopi argomentativi. Nel ii secolo d.C. 3 la finzione, la costruzione di scenari plasmati su episodi storici o su precedenti letterari, apre la strada all'elaborazione di una letteratura che sempre di più si spinge nel campo dell'ipotesi, guadagnando agli autori una notevole parrhsiv a nel loro dialogo aperto con gli "Antichi" a partire dai problemi concreti di una società profondamente mutata 4 . Nel caso dell'Ama� 1 M. Foucault, Le souci de soi, Paris 1984, p. 229: «il s'agit de former une conception de l'amour unique ; celle-ci ne rejettera pas les valeurs propres à l'amour pédérastique, elle les inclura au contraire dans une forme plus large, plus complète et telle que seule, finalement, la relation aux femmes et plus précisément à l'épouse pourra la mettre en oeuvre». 2 S. Goldhill, Foucault's Virginity. Ancient Erotic Fiction and the History of Sexuality, Cambridge 1995, p. 159: «the unwillingness to see any tension between Plutarch's "rule by a woman" and the kidnapping to which it is juxtaposed is thus fully emblematic of his [scil. Foucault's] reading».
Books by Francesco Padovani
Book Reviews by Francesco Padovani
Thomas Schmidt, Maria Vamvouri, Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, The dynamics of intertextuality in Plutarch. Brill's Plutarch studies, 5. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2020. xviii, 664 p.. ISBN 9789004421707 $178.00.
Arnaud Zucker, Claire Le Feuvre, Ancient and medieval Greek etymology: theory and practice I. Trends in classics - Supplementary volumes, 111. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021. Pp. viii, 341. ISBN 9783110714852 $137.99.