Recherche – Detailansicht
Ausgabe: | Dezember/2022 |
Spalte: | 1178–1179 |
Kategorie: | Altertumswissenschaft |
Autor/Hrsg.: | Elm, Eva, and Nicole Hartmann [Eds.] |
Titel/Untertitel: | Demons in Late Antiquity. Their Perception and Transformation in Different Literary Genres. |
Verlag: | Berlin u. a.: De Gruyter 2020. VI, 176 S. m. 5 Abb. = Transformationen der Antike, 54. Geb. EUR 79,95. ISBN 9783110626728. |
Rezensent: | Sofia Bianchi Mancini |
The volume edited by E. Elm and N. Hartmann is a collection of eight insightful articles on the representation of demons in various literary genres of late antiquity that stems from the 2015 international conference »The Perception of Demons in Different Literary Genres in Late Antiquity«, which attempted to tackle the almost neglected issues of how literary genres influenced the way late antique authors depicted demons and whether particular narrative representations of demonic beings were typical of certain genres or religious contexts (7). Focusing on the literary aspects of their depictions, the conference stressed the social facets of this literary production by asking »how do notions of demons function in the genres and the particular social contexts in which they were pro-duced or for which they were written?« (7). The same emphasis returns in the present volume where, however, each contribution eventu-ally extends beyond the sole question of genre by exploring the complexity of demonic discourses in relation to other (interrelated) topics such as disease and healing practices.
The book opens with an introduction written by E. Elm, who surveys several studies on demonology in Judaism, Christianity, and pagan antiquity, and provides insights into the concept of genre in late antiquity (8–9). This introductory essay is followed by Ch. Markschies’ contribution on demons and human ailments in ancient magical amulets and philosophical texts. By examining how demons function as »a basis for explaining disease and their cure« (15), Markschies illustrates that Christian authors transformed pagan notions of demons by means of appropriation, encapsulation, and reinterpretation (24–33). A. Weissenrieder further investigates the confluence of demons and disease with an explanation of the terms daemonia, spiritus immundus, and spiritus mutus immundus in the Vetus Latina Matthew, Mark and Luke from the point of view of Roman medicine. In doing so, she questions whether this »medical« vocabulary always refers »to the phenomenon of exorcism or to illness and its healing« (42). N. Hartmann analyses the idea of demons in early martyrologies, observing that the texts show a lack of demonic beings (70) and concluding therefore that »early martyrology did not contribute substantially in the shaping of specific Christian demonology« (77). E. Grypeou discusses views on demonic afterlife and post-mortem punishment in apocalyptic literature, departing from the Visio Baronti Monachi Longoretensis. Grypeou shows important developments in the literary depictions of the divine punitive system and its agents by discussing how, after the fifth century CE, demonic beings are not only de- scribed as tormentors but also the punishment of sinners now figures as their prerogative (91).
After Grypeou’s essay, the volume turns to the topic of demons in Christian hagiography. Its examination begins with R. Wiśniewski, who chiefly assesses the role of demons in fourth and fifth centuries CE Latin hagiographers, highlighting that these authors use demonic beings as »literary tools« and consequently their stories serve a specific narrative purpose (97). E. Elm provides a close understanding of demons in Jerome’s Vita Hilarionis, stressing the differences in the narration of demonic assaults in Wes-tern and Eastern hagiographies (123–130). N. Vos presents a linguis-tic reading of Sulpicius Severus’ Vita Martini 21 and 24, noticing that demons are used to create clarity and confusion – a feature of the Vita that has a »didactic« and »existential« side (135). S. Lunn-Rockliffe investigates demonic speech in Greek, Latin and Syriac hagiographies and Syriac and Greek hymnography. Lunn-Rockliffe observes that, while in the former demon’s speech is usually presented in the third person thus reflecting »the language spoken by a particular human target«, liturgical hymns render demonic utterances in the first person (151). Lastly, J. Bremmer concludes the volume with an epilogue that binds together the problems raised in each chapter, departing from an etymological recollection of the word daimôn.
In sum, the book is a great contribution to the study of demon-ic representations in different late antique genres and a valuable resource for anybody interested in the topic. Its well-organised structure and easily readable contributions are combined with meticulous examinations of important texts and a vast amount of bibliographical information, which both contribute to the reader’s acquisition of past and new ways of dealing with the topic and material of each essay. The volume would have however been even more resourceful if it included additional studies on demons in the textual and material record of magical practices in late antiquity. But, as Elm points out in the introduction, the book is only a start-ing point for subsequent discussions of demons’ treatments in various genres of late antique Christianity (11).