Between Hipparchian Cynicism and Priscillian Montanism: some notes on Tatian, or. 3.6

Lossl, Josef ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5829-6500 2020. Between Hipparchian Cynicism and Priscillian Montanism: some notes on Tatian, or. 3.6. Vigiliae Christianae 75 (1) , pp. 84-107. 10.1163/15700720-12341420

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Abstract

Tatian's 'Oration to the Greeks' (or.) contains a list of twelve ancient Greek philosophers whom Tatian berates for their arrogant stupidity (or. 2.1-3.7). In this list can be found a brief note (or. 3.6) in which Tatian singles out the Cynic Crates of Thebes (ca. 368/5 - ca. 288/5 BCE) and asks who would want to be a witness at his 'dog marriage' (κυνογαμία) or not reject the arrogant 'tongue madness' (γλωσσομανία) 'of people like him' rather than 'seeking that which is truly worth pursuing.' This article aims at contributing to an improved understanding of this sentence and in particular of the two words, κυνογαμία and γλωσσομανία. For this purpose it looks (1) at Crates' background, in particular his marriage with Hipparchia of Maroneia (b. ca. 350 BCE), a well-known Cynic philosopher, not mentioned by Tatian, and (2) at the wider context in which Tatian is writing, in particular the phenomenon of early Christian ecstatic prophecy personified by the leading Montanist women prophets Priscilla and Maximilla, whose conduct, and ancient perceptions of that conduct (judging by extant ancient reports), was in many respects similar to that of female Cynic philosophers such as Hipparchia. The article concludes with some questions regarding possible reasons why Tatian may have been suppressing this evidence and mentioned neither Hipparchia in connection with κυνογαμία nor ecstatic Christian female prophets such as Priscilla and Maximilla in connection with γλωσσομανία.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity P Language and Literature > PA Classical philology
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Tatian – Crates of Thebes – Hipparchia of Maroneia – Montanus – Priscilla – Maximilla – Cynicism – Montanism – Encratism – Ancient Marriage – Prophecy
Publisher:	Brill Academic Publishers
ISSN:	0042-6032
Funders:	Leverhulme Foundation
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	6 August 2019
Date of Acceptance:	5 August 2019
Last Modified:	03 Dec 2024 22:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/124736

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