Alexander the Great in the Early Christian Tradition

Classical Reception and Patristic Literature

Christian Thrue Djurslev

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781350120402
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

What has Alexander the Great to do with Jesus Christ? Or the legendary king's conquest of the Persian Empire (335–23 BCE) to do with the prophecies of the Old Testament? In many ways, the early Christian writings on Alexander and his legacy provide a lens through which it is possible to view the shaping of the literature and thought of the early church in the Greek East and the Latin West. This book articulates that fascinating discourse for the first time by focusing on the early Christian use of Alexander. Delving into an impressively deep pool of patristic literature written between 130–313 CE, Christian Thrue Djurslev offers original interpretations of various important authors, from the learned lawyer Tertullian to the 'Christian Cicero' Lactantius, and from the apologist Tatian to the first church historian Eusebius. He demonstrates that the early Christian adaptations of the Alexandrian myths created a new tradition that has continued to develop and expand ever since. This innovative work of reception studies is important reading for all scholars of Alexander the Great and early church history.

1

Apologists and Co.

Introduction

Not many early Christians have achieved the status of household names. The casual reader cannot be expected to be familiar with these esoteric figures, so I offer a short survey of the key Christian authors that mention Alexander. I include brief introductions and textual references with summaries, which will be discussed throughout this book. I lay out the evidence chronologically within entries, insofar as this is possible. The structure does not mean that I believe that the discourse developed linearly from author A to B, etc., although sometimes a source relationship can be detected. I intend the present chapter for quick consultation, not necessarily for continuous reading.

Tatian of Assyria

A pupil of the apologist Justin Martyr, Tatian flourished in the mid- to late second century. Born a non-Christian in the east, it is possible that he converted at Rome before residing at an unknown location in the eastern empire, perhaps Antioch-on-the-Orontes in Syria. Other Christians branded him the founder of a heretical sect, known as the “Abstinents” or Encratites, whose extreme beliefs included claiming matrimony was adultery, abstaining from eating meat and drinking wine, and drinking water at the Eucharist, for which they were also labeled Aquarii. We know these details from the Heresiologists, i.e., catalogers of heresies, and from Tatian’s own works. In his day, his most famous work was the Diatessaron (“through four versions”; full reference in Clavis Patrum Graecorum, CPG, no. 1106). This work was a harmony of the four Gospels used locally in the churches of Syria. The text has not reached us in its early form, which was perhaps Syriac, but it is partially preserved in the Syrian Ephrem’s (c. 306–373) commentary on it, as well as in Arabic and Latin adaptations from the Middle Ages.

While Tatian is described as an ascetic and apologist, his Oration to the Greeks (Oratio ad Graecos or Pros Hellenas; CPG 1104) is a vituperative outburst against everything Greek, especially the tenets of philosophy (§§ 1–3, 25–28). He attacks every aspect of Greek philosophy and morality, arguing that the only good things in the Greek world were taken from the “barbarians,” such as the wisdom of the Hebrews or Indians. “Alien” wisdom was a latent theme in the imperial period. Despite his lambasting of the Greeks, Tatian’s own Greek education shines through the text. But the content is distinctively in the vein of other apologetic writing of the period, especially arguments about demonology (§§ 8–20) and the priority of the Christian religion (§§ 31, 36–41).

It is in the context of this criticism that Alexander appears. First at § 2.1–2 in a few contemptuous remarks on Aristotle and, second, at § 36.1–2, a passage on the Babylonian writer Berossus, who lived in the times of Alexander. The former will be discussed in Chapter 2; the latter in Chapter 4.

Athenagoras of Athens

If Tatian launches an offensive on behalf of Christianity, Athenagoras takes a defensive stance. From his principal work, Supplication for the Christians (the Greek presbeia also suggests “address” or “embassy”; CPG 1070), we learn some ostensible details of his life. The title page suggests that he is an Athenian philosopher, although other notes from the biographical tradition call him a teacher at a school in Alexandria. The elegant style of his Greek suggests rhetorical training, and scholars routinely praise him for his Atticizing eloquence. Unlike Tatian, he was not afraid to cite sources directly from prose or poetry, supporting the doctrine that the writers were divinely inspired. His addressees are none other than the highest authorities, the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, whose co-rule lasted from 176/7 to the former’s death in c. 180. Whether he delivered the oration before them or not, it is telling that he directed it to them instead of the local governors, who were normally in charge of regional persecutions. The speech seeks to repudiate three major accusations against the Christians. They are as follows. The first is that the Christians were atheists (not believing in the Roman gods); the second is that they were cannibals (in the Eucharist); and the third is that they were incestuous (all of them being brothers and sisters).

In the Supplication, Athenagoras argues vehemently for monotheism, not only through divine revelation, but also through dismissal of other religions. In §§ 26–30, he takes issue with how demons tempt humans with idol and ancestor worship. His “evidence” is taken from Herodotus, Hermes Trismegistus, and Alexander’s Letter to his Mother (§ 28). The pseudo-letter was very popular with Christians and non-Christians, as we shall see in Chapter 2.

Clement of Alexandria

Titus Flavius Clemens was one of the most brilliant apologists of the late second century. He tells us himself that his thirst for knowledge led him from Greece (Athens?) to Sicily and Syria before he found his way to a compelling teacher in Alexandria, namely Pantaenus (Euseb. Hist. eccl. 5.10–11). Tradition has it that Clement left Egypt during the alleged persecutions of emperor Septimus Severus (r. 193–211) and died somewhere in Cappadocia. At Alexandria, Clement received a comprehensive education, but his abilities went much beyond the common curriculum. His extraordinary skills emerge in his impressive range of knowledge and rhetorical flair in three extant works: Exhortation to the Greeks (Protreptikos, like Aristotle’s work of the same name; CPG 1375); Pedagogue (Paidagogos; CPG 1376); and a miscellany, known as the Stromata (“Carpets” or “Tapestries”; CPG 1377). These immensely learned works are famous for bridging Hellenistic Judaism, Greek philosophy, and Christianity in the most profound way. Long conceived of as a tripartite initiation to the Christian mysteries, the books contain no real serial unity. As they represent only some of his surviving works, we can hardly consider it a specific educational program. These three give the impression that he is targeting the wealthy and already well-educated stratum of society, supported by the fragmentary text, What Rich Man is Saved (CPG 1379). This personal appeal to the well-to-do hardly fits well with his role of teaching ordinary Christian catechumens, but the wider interests evident in his writing suggest that he was immersed in all aspects of the church, not just raising the religion to a higher social register. For example, Eusebius speaks of Origen’s attendance of Clement’s classes and, at 6.13–14.9, he records the works of Clement, primarily at 6.13.3. Finally, Christian tradition is also persistent in associating Clement with the successors of Apostolic teaching through his assumption of headship over Pantaenus’ school. This is done in order to maintain that Christian teaching proceeded unchanged and uncontaminated from the days of Jesus.

Alexander appears in all of Clement’s surviving works, though not with the same frequency: Exhortation three times, Pedagogue once, and Miscellany six times. Clement sometimes extracts the passages by quoting other texts with full reference to the author, but he contextualized the citations with his own agendas. We will encounter him in Chapters 2 and 4.

Hippolytus “of Rome”

Few figures from the early third century have caused the same amount of controversy as Hippolytus “of Rome.” Scholarly interpretations of the rich textual and iconographical evidence have split him into two different persons, one from the East and the other from Rome. Other scholars have confused him with a third martyr of the same name because the author also suffered martyrdom in the mines of Sardinia, “the island of death.” Hippolytus’ legend is tied to his resistance to Calixtus’ election for the bishopric of Rome, which led some to brand him the first “Antipope.” Later writers on his identity must be excused for the confusion because the uncertainty arose already in antiquity. Eusebius records a fraction of the writings attributed to him (Hist. Eccl. 6.22.1–2) and other details of his authorship abound. A late story tells us that Origen heard Hippolytus preaching the lost homily On the Praise of the Lord our Saviour when he visited Rome (6.15.10; Eusebius’ silence on this meeting is telling). One key feature of the meeting is that it links the two intellectuals with the highest literary output of third-century Greek Christianity, although the comparison may not have been meant to be flattering during the heated time of the so-called “Origenist controversy” (AD 380–410s). Ignoring the debatable historicity of this meeting, the shadowy Hippolytus (c. 170–235) was, as far as we can tell, an older contemporary of Origen.

For the purpose of this study, I have chosen to present Hippolytus as the author of a single corpus, which is also done in the CPG nos. 1870–1925. Many of his texts survive intact in Oriental and Caucasian languages, as well as in more fragmentary Greek remains. Our main concern is with the following four works: Refutation of all Heresies (after 222, books 1, 4–10 extant; CPG 1899); On the Christ and the Antichrist (c. 200, fully preserved in Greek; CPG 1872); Commentary on Daniel (c. 204, Greek in fragments; CPG 1873), and the Collection of Chronologies (c. 234, later Latin adaptations; CPG 1896). Hippolytus wrote a great deal on Alexander from various perspectives. For example, he is the first to use both Jewish and classical material in tandem. Most of his sixteen references occur in the Commentary on Daniel. We shall regularly encounter Hippolytus in the following chapters.

Julius Africanus

The next author seems an anomaly in the third-century church. Even his name is contested: the praenomen Sextus is poorly attested, and “Africanus” is a misnomer for someone presumably born in Aelia Capitolina (the Roman re-foundation of Jerusalem) in c. 170. Unlike some of his Christian contemporaries, Julius Africanus rose through the ranks and became a high-profile citizen in the empire. Reconstructing his life through his fragmentary works unveils a story fit for the big screen: early on, he served in the imperial army of Septimus Severus, which brought him as far as Edessa and its ostensible Christian ruler, perhaps in 195. He admired Abgar VIII and taught his son. He conversed with the “regretful heretic” Bardesanes, whom Eusebius later despised. Still in Edessa, Julius Africanus may have seen the famed tent of Jacob, whose cycle of exile and restoration is described in Genesis 28–33. His haphazard travels took him back to the Mediterranean. He had intriguing encounters in Alexandria (with the future bishop Heraclas and perhaps Origen), work at Rome (establishing the library of the Pantheon for Alexander Severus), and duties in Palestinian Nicopolis (the town Emmaus of Luke 24:13–35), which he seems to have restored through his imperial influence. A polyglot (Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and perhaps Syriac) and polymath, late in life he entered into a correspondence with none other than Origen. His letter concerned the authenticity of Susanna’s story in the Book of Daniel. The letter is dated to 240 after which his story ends. In short, Julius Africanus was every bit as cosmopolitan and erudite as Eusebius wanted his Christians to be in the Church History. Eusebius even recognized Africanus’ authority in several places (Hist. Eccl. 1.6.2, 1.7, 6.31).

Africanus’ two principal works are the Chronographies (Chronographiae; CPG 1690) and the Miscellany (Kestoi, “stiches” or “embroideries”; CPG 1691). Both works are lost in their complete form and exist only as excerpts in later writers. The fragments are now available in accessible editions that have properly contextualized Africanus in the Severan period (Chronographs in GCS NF 15; Miscellany in GCS NF 18). The extensive mining of information from Africanus is the reason why his works are lost: if the original is reworked often enough, it ceases to exist in its original form. New copies may alter content or later writers may use a text’s authority to write an updated version. Africanus’ Chronographies was the first Christian history, a five-book synchronism of world histories from Creation to c. 221, whereas the Miscellany was a compilation of scattered encyclopedic information with little to no Christian content in nine (according to George Syncellus), fourteen (Photius), or twenty-four (Suda) books. Though miscellanies were common, Julius Africanus’ version presents a rarity for its variety and its dedication to the emperor Alexander Severus (r. c. 222–235).

Alexander appears briefly in both works in the context of warfare and Macedonian kingship. He features several times...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Series Text
• Title Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Conventions and Abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Apologists and Co.
• 2 Classical Themes and Christian Tradition
• 3 Tales from Judea and the Diaspora
• 4 History and Rhetoric
• Conclusion
• Epilogue: Writing Alexander, Writing Constantine
• References
• Index Locorum
• General Index
• Copyright