ARTICLES
Claudia Maggi
University of Rome Tor Vergata
unotutto@yahoo.it
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 7-27
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-7-27
Keywords: Plotinus, Proclus, numbering, numbers, being, intermediates
Abstract. Plotinus’ investigation into numbers has peculiar characteristics that cannot be confused with numbers’ ontological role in late Neoplatonism. However, since, in his inquiry on the nature of Being and numbers, Proclus explicitly calls Plotinus into question, the analysis of such a comparison can contribute to understanding some different speculative assumptions of the two philosophers. With this in mind, I will focus on two issues: the role accorded by Plotinus and Proclus to arithmetic, and the different ontological rank of numbers.
María-Pilar Molina-Torres
University of Cordoba (Spain)
pilar.molina@uco.es
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 28-40
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-28-40
Keywords: community, cultural transmission, education, gender roles, priestess, religion
Abstract: This article explores the role of Iunia Rustica, a Roman priestess from Cartima, in transmitting and teaching religious practices to her local community. As a Roman priestess, Rustica held a position of spiritual authority, extending beyond ritual performance to include the education of community members in religious norms, moral values and ceremonial traditions. Drawing on epigraphic evidence, archaeological findings and historical sources, the study examines the ways in which her role contributed to the continuity of Roman religious and cultural practices in provincial towns. Particular attention is given to the pedagogical dimension of her priesthood, demonstrating that rituals served as structured opportunities for learning and social cohesion, as well as acts of devotion. The article argues that an understanding of Rustica's activities provides valuable insight into the intersection of religion and education in the Roman Empire, demonstrating that priestesses could act as educators, mediators of knowledge and moral guides. By situating Iunia Rustica within the broader framework of Roman provincial religious life, the study emphasizes the significance of female religious authority in shaping local traditions and transmitting cultural knowledge across generations. Ultimately, it sheds light on how ritualized teaching practices reinforced communal identity while preserving the religious heritage of Cartima.
Kazimierz Pawłowski
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University (Warsaw, Poland)
kazimierzpawlowski2007@gmail.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 41-67
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-41-67
Keywords: Middle Platonism, Apuleius, demonology, theology, Socrates’ daimonion
Abstract. The article discusses one of the most interesting and important topics in the philosophy of Middle Platonism, namely demonological issues, including the topic of the Socrates’ daimonion, in the writings of Apuleius of Madauros, one of the most important representatives of this trend of philosophy from the 2nd century AD. The issue of the historical sources of Apuleius’ demonology is also discussed. The author is of the opinion that the main source of Apuleius’ demonology were the works of Plato, alongside some influences from the beliefs of the Romans.
Alexey V. Appolonov
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow)
alexeyapp@yandex.ru
Faris O. Nofal
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow)
faresnofal@mail.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 68-86
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-68-86
Keywords: philosophy of religion, medieval conceptualisations of religion, medieval Aristotelianism, al-Fārābī, Roger Bacon
Abstract. According to some recent studies, until the 16th or 17th century, there was no concept of religion as such (“religion in general”), because before then, people only recognised their own faith as religion, and it was only after the European Reformation, which created conditions for religious pluralism, that this situation changed. The purpose of this article is to introduce and validate an alternative perspective. The authors argue that long before the European Reformation, in both the Islamic East and Christian West, the concept of “religion” (“faith,” “sect,” etc.) was utilised by certain scholars, who were engaged in the comparative analysis of religions. Typically, the conceptual framework for such analysis was provided by (proto)science and philosophy: thus, ʾAbū Maʿšar (d. 886) examined religions in the naturalistic context of astronomy (astrology), while al-Fārābī (d. c. 950) used the core concepts of Aristotle’s moral and political philosophy. As early as the 13th century, Roger Bacon (c. 1214 – c. 1294) developed the ideas of his predecessors and produced what might be referred to as a synthetic medieval theory of religion, which, in turn, influenced the later discussions on “religion” and religions.
Oleg Donskikh
Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management
Novosibirsk State Technical University (Russia)
olegdonskikh@yandex.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 87-112
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-87-112
Keywords: natural philosophy, theology, metaphysics, immortality, infinity, “physis”, idea of unity, individual position referring to public consciousness
Abstract. The philosophy of nature is traditionally understood as the doctrine of the causes of the origin and structure of the world as a whole, while excluding everything supernatural. At the same time, it is usually assumed that philosophy began precisely as natural philosophy. This article examines the question of how such a characteristic is applicable to early philosophical constructions. We need to keep in mind that the word “physis” meaning “the outside world”, appears only in the 5th century BC. Thus, neither the Milesians, nor the Eleatics, nor the Pythagoreans study nature in the meaning of the world as a whole, but talk about the origin and development of certain principles that make up the essence of things. The Milesians are already radically divorced from sensuality, and in their teachings there is a gap between what leads to metaphysics and explanations of individual phenomena of the external world that are in no way related to their metaphysical speculations. At the same time, although the metaphysical doctrines of the fifth century can be considered as religious revelations, it is only a stretch to talk about ancient theology. It is stated that the movement towards metaphysical constructions begins with a change in attitude towards the previous worldview. This begins with Hesiod, followed by a group of poets, politicians, sages, and seers. A rational understanding of mythology and free reflection on it based on striving for a single beginning begins. It is the idea of the one that is fundamentally new, which is being developed by the generation of thinkers following Hesiod. Yet it is pointless to seek unity in the externally sensually given world, because it is infinitely diverse, and the appeal to the supersensible begins in those divine images that occupy a special, higher position in relation to others. We encounter such personified images as fate and justice. Philosophers begin to realize the divine (immortal) negatively as infinite, by denying what is inherent in man and what he is able to perceive with his senses. And it is only through denial that they move towards certain positive characteristics. Ultimately, it can be shown that metaphysical reflections led philosophers away from nature and into the realm of the divine and infinite, while reflections on the outside world led to what we call science.
Svetlana Tarkhanova
National Treasures Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority
svetlanat@israntique.org.il
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 113-155
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-113-155
Keywords: Ascalon-Afridar, polis, Roman basilica, Byzantine church, architectural details, capitals, columns, bases, pedestals, fluted cornice
Abstract. Modern Ashkelon, founded on the extensive remains of ancient Ascalon, is rich in architectural details; most are focused in the National Park near the Severan Basilica. However, many other artifacts are scattered throughout the current city. In the northern suburb known as Afridar, several collections of architectural elements are displayed at three open-air exhibitions—the “Court of Sarcophagi” and two locations on the shore. The origins of most of these items cannot be determined at this time, although some appear in documentation from the British Mandate period (1930s). This article highlights architectural details from Afridar, mainly from the “Court of Sarcophagi” exhibition, as well as from other sites in Ashkelon. Besides three items with Greek inscriptions, the rest have not been published until now. The author groups them into four categories based on style and date: 1. The “Purely” Roman details; 2. The Roman-Period Spolia Group; 3. The Byzantine-Period Spolia Group; 4. The “Purely” Byzantine-Period Group. All likely belonged to colonnaded structures of Roman and Byzantine Ascalon, such as streets, basilicas, and churches. Some elements are unique in style and lack parallels in local Roman-Byzantine art, and therefore deserve special attention and analysis despite their unclear original context.
Arturo Sanchez Sanz
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
asblade@msn.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 156-188
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-156-188
Keywords: Amazons, onomastics, Hippolyta, Antiope, Penthesilea
Abstract. The Amazon stories in written sources have provided us with most of the names of their protagonists. Antiope, Hippolyta and Penthesilea are the best known, but there were many others. Sometimes they corresponded to secondary characters in works by lesser-known authors, which prevented them from achieving the same renown. The iconographic sources not only reveal the scope of these myths in certain social spheres, but also provide new variants, to the point of creating a panorama that is necessary for the analysis of the Amazon universe. Despite this, and the large volume of information available in art, only a small part of it includes written references to its protagonists. The present work offers a broad and complete record of Amazon onomastics present in art and literature throughout antiquity. Its study provides a basis for unravelling not only the Amazon image in the Hellenistic collective imaginary, but also its political organisation and the transfer of power associated with its mythical culture.
Andrei Shchetnikov
a.schetnikov@gmail.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 189-199
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-189-199
Keywords: Old Babylonian mathematics, Pythagorean triples, Plimpton 322
Abstract. The article proposes a new reconstruction of the ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablet Plimpton 322, containing 15 Pythagorean triples. This reconstruction is based on a sequential listing of sexagesimal fractions that have a finite number of digits and lie within the specified interval.
Andrei Shchetnikov
a.schetnikov@gmail.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 200-216
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-200-216
Keywords: Ajami ibn Abubakr, Nakhchivan, Islamic geometrical patterns, medieval Islamic architecture
Abstract. This article examines the geometric patterns that decorate three mausoleums from Nakhchivan, built in the second half of the 12th century. The architect of two mausoleums was Ajami ibn Abubakr, and the third mausoleum was also built either by him or by someone from his school. Among these patterns are simple and well-known ones, as well as complicated and original ones, undoubtedly invented by him. For each pattern, its structure and the possible idea of its invention are discussed.
Alexander A. Sinitsyn
The Dostoevsky Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities
aa.sinizin@mail.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 217-241
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-217-241
Keywords: I. S. Turgenev, Khor and Kalinych, Socrates and Khor, Russian peasant, Athenian sage, Xanthippe, reception of Ancient Culture
Abstract. In Ivan S. Turgenev’s Khor and Kalinych (1846), which opens the collection of stories A Sportsman’s Sketches, the narrator compares the Athenian sage to one of the main characters of the sketch, Khor. This old man, whose family has long moved away from the rest of the private peasants, resembles Socrates in appearance. Turgenev’s character resembles Socrates in more ways than one: his manner of speaking – “a simple, wise discourse of a Russian peasant”. The narrator highlights his “philosophical” traits that liken him to Socrates: he is referred to as “an old sceptic”, “a positive man”, “a rationalist”; he is a clever old man who “speaks ingeniously”. These two characters (Socrates of Athens is known to us as a hero in the writings of his disciples – Xenophon and Plato) are akin in their propensity to ask questions, ironic as they might be. The narrator speaks about Khor’s contempt for women and his own old wife, who was “cross, <...> and incessantly grumbled and scolded”. Which immediately evokes Socrates’ old woman – perhaps, one of the best-known women of Antiquity and, surely, the best-known wife of philosophers of all times. It is crossness that made Socrates’ spouse notorious. Khor and Socrates are brought close even in their care of themselves and their homestead. The comparison of the peasant Khor with the ancient sage Socrates testifies to the tradition of perceiving in our national culture a simple, peasant-like, wise, original, our Russian Socrates.
Svetlana Mesyats
Institute of Philosophy RAS
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University
messiats@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 242-273
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-242-273
Keywords: philosophy of late Antiquity, Neoplatonism, Proclus, Plotinus, Iamblichus, Aristotle’s time paradoxes, Simplicius, theory of time, Plato's Timaeus, time and eternity, now, parts of time, continuity, soul, intelligent time, participation
Abstract. The starting point for Proclus's reflections on the nature of time is Plato's definition of time as “the image of eternity” (εἰκόνα αἰῶνος) in Timaeus (37 de). This definition seems aporetic to Proclus, since despite the fact that an image should be similar to its prototype, Plato focuses exclusively on the differences between time and eternity, calling the former “moving according number” and the latter immovable and “abiding in unity”. Proclus rejects as inconsistent the solution of Plotinus, who proposed to consider time as the ‘life’ of the Soul, just as eternity itself is the “life” of the divine Intellect. Analyzing the text of Timaeus, Proclus shows that, although eternity is the archetype of time, it cannot serve as its immediate cause; therefore between time and eternity there must be some kind of mediating hypostasis that combines the properties of both extremes, and is therefore both immovable and multiple. This kind of entity was first introduced into Neoplatonism by Iamblichus, who called it “intelligent time” in order, on the one hand, to distinguish it from the flowing time of the material cosmos, and, on the other hand, to show its belonging to the same level of reality as the demiurgic Intellect. The concept of intelligent time, developed by Iamblichus and elaborated further by Proclus, allowed the latter to resolve the difficulty with the definition of time in Timaeus, showing that Plato must have meant not the visible time of the material cosmos, but the immovable partial Intellect which proceeds from the Demiurge and in its procession determines the measures of movement and change of all generated things. Only such immaterial substantial time could be considered the true image of eternity. In this paper, I will attempt to outline the main features of the concept of intelligent time in its evolution from Iamblichus to Proclus, as well as to demonstrate that, contrary to the popular opinion, there were three paths that led the Neoplatonists to the invention of this concept, namely: the theory of participation, the exegesis of Plato’s Timaeus and the attempts to resolve Aristotle’s paradoxes of time.
Rustam Galanin
The Dostoevsky Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities
The Saint Petersburg University
mousse2006@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 274-308
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-274-308
Keywords: anti-Semitism in antiquity, biblical studies, biblical archaeology, ancient Judaism, Jewish identity, history of Persia
Abstract. In the book of Esther, we find a classic example of anti-Semitic politics and propaganda, when Haman incites the Persian king to exterminate all the Jews of the empire because they are different. The book of Esther was often viewed as a historical novel far removed from reality. However, research in the second half of the 20th century, when the archives of the fortifications and the archives of the treasury of Persepolis were published, as well as the excavation of Apadan from Susa, confirmed with great accuracy that the events described in Esther were not fiction. On the clay Elamite cuneiform tablets of these archives, we find names identical to many of the characters from the book of Esther. Historians have reconstructed a hypothetical chronology of the book's events. An Akkadian tablet from Borsippa (Amherst 258), published by Ungnad, confirmed that Mordechai indeed held a high administrative post at the court, i.e., as stated in Esther, "sat at the gates" of the King (Esth. 2:21; 3: 2-4; 5: 13). It follows from the Aramaic documents of the Persepolis treasury that in the 19th year of the reign of Xerxes, the royal treasury underwent a reshuffle, as a result of which the main segan was replaced: a certain Mithraka unexpectedly received the position, who remained in this post until the 7th year of the reign of Artarkserxes 1 (458/457 BC), and then disappeared as suddenly as he appeared. Thanks to the analysis of Mithraka name, it was noted that through metathesis, the transcription mrtk is given in one tablet, which, according to some scholars, phonetically may be identical to the name Mordechai. It is assumed that the figure of Mordecai from the book of Esther may be hiding under these names. Attention was also drawn to the fact that this name disappears from their archives precisely in the 7th year of the reign of Artaxerxes (458) - that is, when "some of the children of Israel, and of the priests and Levites, and singers and gatekeepers and the Nephites went to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes" (Ezra 7:7). Also in the 19th year of Xerxes, when Mithraka/Mordechai was appointed segan, and a new royal seal "Xerxes, the Great King" was put into circulation, the use of which, however, disappeared in the year of Mordechai's disappearance – in the 7th year of Artaxerxes. It is possible that in the 19th year of his reign, "the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai" (Esther 8:2). Our article is devoted to the reconstruction of this historical background.
Igor Tantlevskij
Saint Petersburg University
i.tantlevsky@spbu.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 309-327
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-309-327
Keywords: Judean heterodox spiritual tradition, the transcendent world, Qumran soteriology, the concept of “silence” in heaven, the Psalms, the Apostle Paul, Hesychasm, Marsilio Ficino, “Hamlet”
Abstract. The author analyzes the Qumran community’s views on the nature of the divine and human mind, universal “knowledge” and their correlation, as well as the community members’ ideas about the transcendent world, its inhabitants and their hypothetically “silent” communication in heaven on a noetic level. An attempt is made to identify the influence of these views on the passage from the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:4 about “inexpressible words” in Paradise. At the same time, the mystical experience of the Qumranites and “a man” (in all likelihood, Paul himself) reflected in 2 Corinthians 12:2–4 is compared. An allusion to the idea of “silent” spiritual communication, expressed by Marsilio Ficino in “Platonic Theology”, XIII, 2, 31, is also considered. The article further proposes a hypothesis concerning the influence of the conception reflected in 2 Cor. 12:2–4 and in the aforementioned passage of Ficino’s “Platonic Theology” upon Shakespeare—particularly upon the way in which, in “Hamlet”, the playwright characterizes the ontological essence of the earthly world as “words, words, words” (II, 2, 210), in contrast to the heavenly world, which he characterizes as “silence” (V, 2, 395: “the rest is silence,” that is, “further (i.e., in the heavenly world)—silence”).
Oleg N. Nogovitsin
The Sociological Institute of the RAS – Branch of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
onogov@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 328-375
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-328-375
Keywords: Late Antique and Byzantine grammar and philosophy, theory of language, phone, name, verb, sentence, affirmative sentence, speech
Abstract. In the paper, we analyze the basic terminological apparatus of the Late Antique and Byzantine grammar and philosophical theory of language, as well as the conceptual grounds and problem spots that determined the divergence between the concept of language among grammatists and philosophers at the stage of formalizing the grammar and philosophical knowledge where, in the imperial world of the early and classic Byzantium, they acquired a stable form of school disciplines with a unified curriculum and a primordial authoritative text. The core subject of our study is thematization of differences and identities in the gramma and philosophical interpretation of the terms φωνή, ὄνομα, ῥῆμα, λόγος and λέξις. As primary research material for the philosophical school tradition, we engaged the commentaries on Aristotle’s “On Interpretation”, with the commentary of Ammonius of Alexandria in the first turn, for, as our paper demonstrates, it was the primary text of the Byzantine tradition of teaching the philosophical grammar and the guideline for newly written educative commentaries, paraphrases and scholia on “On Interpretation”. For its part, as research material for grammar school tradition, we took commentaries on Ars grammatica of Dionysius of Thracia that, being partly preserved in the educative codices of the scholia to this treatise that held in the grammar theory of language the similar place to the first six chapters of “On Interpretation” in the philosophical branch.
Yaroslav Slinin
Saint Petersburg University
slinin@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 376-384
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-376-384
Keywords: Aristotle, possibility, necessity, opposition, existence, implication, law of excluded middle
Abstract. The easiest way to unravel the complex structure of Aristotle’s logic is to start with the definition of possibility that he gives in Chapter 13 of Book I of the First Analytics. The possibility that Aristotle uses as the basis for his logic is two-sided. It is a possibility and only a possibility: it is opposed not only to impossibility but also to necessity. Aristotle considers this understanding of possibility to be “ordinary and inherent in the nature of things.” An alternative interpretation of possibility, when it is recognized as one-sided, opposed only to impossibility but subordinate to necessity, Aristotle rejects it, considering it inconsistent with the nature of things, purely homonymous and irrelevant to his logic. In the same chapter 13, Aristotle writes that all premises about the possible are mutually reversible in the sense that if the presence of something is possible, then its absence is always possible. In other words, the Aristotelian possibility is such that the premises “it is possible that p” and “it is possible that not-p” are equivalent. Thus, it turns out that the basis of the structure of Aristotelian logic is the “triangle of opposites”, in the corners of which are the modalities “it is necessary that p”, “it is necessary that not-p” and “it is possible that p” (“it is possible that not-p”). All three modalities are incompatible, but their incompatibility is “one-sided”. If any one of them is true, then the other two are false, but if any one is false, then uncertainty arises: it is not known which of the remaining modalities is true and which is false. This is because the law of the excluded middle does not apply here: after all, the “third” is not excluded here. Aristotle, however, does not limit himself to considering only the two above-mentioned modalities. In Chapter 2 of Book 1 of the First Analytics, he writes that for him every premise is a premise about what is inherent, or about what is necessarily inherent, or about what is possibly inherent. The premisses about what is inherent are p and not-p. They are incompatible with each other, but how do they relate to the premisses about what is possibly inherent and what is necessarily inherent? It is clear that the premisses about what is inherent cannot be incompatible with the premise about what is possible. After all, if this were to happen, then a repetition of the triangle considered above would arise: p would coincide with “it is necessary that p”, and not-p would coincide with “it is necessary that not-p”. A careful examination of the proofs of syllogisms with mixed premises shows that Aristotle postulates an implicative relation between the inherent and the possibly inherent. He accepts the following propositions: (1) if p, then it is possible that p, and it is possible that not-p; (2) if not-p, then it is possible that p, and it is possible that not-p. As a result, it turns out that the modality “it is possible that p” and “it is possible that not-p” turns out to be true both when p is true and when not-p is true. In other words, it becomes always true and ceases to influence what happens in the area of p and not-p. It becomes the “third” that is excluded, and in the area of p and not-p the law of the excluded middle begins to operate. In Chapter 9 of the treatise “On Interpretation,” Aristotle speaks of “conditional necessity.” It arises when one of the possibilities p or not-p is realized, and the other is not realized. But this is not the unconditional necessity that opposes possibility in the triangle of opposites. Conditional necessity remains a possibility, albeit a realized possibility. It is the necessity of an accomplished fact. What is unconditionally necessary always exists and cannot not exist, and what is conditionally necessary arises only when some possibility becomes a fact. According to Aristotle, everything that simply exists is one of the realized possibilities and could not exist, in contrast to what is unconditionally necessary and is not capable of not existing.
Svetlana Demina
Vladimir State University named after Alexander and Nikolay Stoletovs
ist-drev@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 385-394
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-385-394
Keywords: Ancient Rome, Seneca, tragedies, Stoicism, fata, fortuna, gods, free will, Roman religion
Abstract. This article investigates Seneca’s thoughts about fate (fata), fortune (fortuna), gods, and free will based on the analysis of his tragedies. In all his plays and philosophical works, this Roman author writes about the power of fata, fortuna and the gods, about the predestination of the course of events, and about the necessity to evince humility and honor the gods. However, in the tragedies, written in the 40s – 50s, the personages blame fata, fortuna, and the gods, who can feel emotions (hatred, anger, vexation) and harm mortals, for their misfortunes. This contradicts Seneca’s Stoic views. The ideas about fata, fortuna, gods, and free will, presented in dramas of 60s, are more similar to his thoughts, declared in the philosophical works.
Victoria Pichugina
HSE University (Moscow)
Pichugina_V@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 395-415
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-395-415
Keywords: the allegory of the cave, virtue, Plato, Sophocles, Philoctetes
Abstract. Plato's cave is one of the most striking and discussed metaphors not only in Plato's philosophy but in philosophy as a whole. However, the image of the cave as a place associated with the acquisition of new knowledge and the affirmation of one's own opinion appears in Sophocles' Philoctetes, that is, somewhat earlier than in Plato's Republic. The question of why Sophocles places the wounded archer Philoctetes on Lemnos in a cave with two mouths has been debated by scholars on numerous occasions, but the cave's design has most often been explained by the ease of movement of actors on stage or by poetic expediency. Both explanations are vulnerable to evidence, so the question of why Sophocles needed the cave’s two mouths has remained controversial for over a hundred years. The presence of the cave two mouths could indeed have been caused by both technical and poetic necessity, but the special structure of the cave could have allowed not only to effectively hide or reveal one or another hero from the audience. It's no coincidence that Sophocles' cave alludes to both the Odyssey, which features several significant caves, and the Iliad, which also features a diplomatic mission involving Odysseus. Referring to Homeric plot lines, Sophocles makes the cave not just a setting, but a metaphor explaining the complexities of Neoptolemus's moral choice, who, upon arriving on Lemnos, finds himself under the influence of two mentors - Odysseus and Philoctetes. Each has their own arsenal of pedagogical methods for instilling virtue in Neoptolemus, but the success of this indoctrination is called into question when, at the end of the tragedy, Heracles appears—a hero traditionally associated with the choice between virtue and vice.
Syumbel Zainullina
HSE University (Moscow)
zainullinasymbel@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 416-446
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-416-446
Keywords: metempsychosis, soul, life, death, immortality
Abstract. This article proposes a reconsideration of the conventional scholarly use of the term “metempsychosis” in relation to Greek thought of the 6th–5th centuries BCE. We proceed from the assumption that the term is laden with a range of anachronistic meanings which, when applied to archaic sources, tend to distort their ideas and obscure their diversity. An analysis of early texts (Xenophanes, Pindar, Empedocles, Herodotus, the Orphics) shows that what is usually reduced to “transmigration of souls” in fact comprises a set of distinct and sometimes incompatible models of life, death, and subjectness, which cannot be integrated into a single doctrine. It is concluded that it is methodologically justified to adopt a more conceptually pure notion “proto-metempsychosis”, which denotes a minimal unity of two components: the idea of a continuous alternation of life and death, and the presence of a subject participating in this process. Such a definition allows for a more accurate description of archaic views, avoiding the projection of later frameworks onto earlier material and preserving their originality.
TRANSLATIONS
Alexei Garadja
Russian State University for the Humanities
agaradja@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 447-460
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-447-460
Keywords: Michael Psellus, allegorical interpretation, Neoplatonism
Abstract. The publication presents a commented Russian translation of Michael Psellus’ two minor works written in the genre of allegory, meaning a philosophical interpretation of characters and plots from Ancient Greek mythology and literature, primarily Homeric. The method of allegorical philosophico-philological commentary was first fully elaborated by adherents of Stoa (from Zeno to Cornutus), was later expansively exploited by Platonists (Plutarchus), Alexandrian scholars, Fathers of the Church among them, and subsequently by Neoplatonists (Porphyry of Tyre should be mentioned here in particular). This means that Psellus is guided by an ancient tradition and in his turn transfers it on to the next generations of Byzantine scholars (John Tzetzes, Eustathius of Thessalonica). Other considerations aside, the undoubted service rendered to us by all these commentators inclined to allegorical interpretations is the enormous volume of information on Ancient Greek mythology we have at our disposal nowadays. In both allegories presented here — on the “assembly of gods”, and on the “golden chain” in Homerus (Il. 4.1–4 и 8.18–27) — one may find a problematization of allegory as such, an original juxtapposition of the two ways to “express things differently”, the “Hellenic” (i.e. pagan) and Christian interpretations. The first critical edition of the two allegories had been published by K. Sathas (Sathas 1875: 211–219). The present translation is based on the currently authoritative edition of Psellus’ minor works by J.M. Duffy (Duffy 1992: 148–152 and 164–168).
Eugene Afonasin
St. Petersburg University
Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management
afonasin@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 461-476
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-461-476
Keywords: Judaism, Platonism, creationism, Stoicism, time, eternity, the first principles
Abstract. In the treatise ‘On the Eternity of the World’, translated below, Philo appears not only as a key figure in the history of the interpretation of the biblical books, but also as a crucial witness to the development of Platonism in the first century BCE. This philosophic work of the Alexandrian exegete can be subdivided into two unequal parts. In an introductory part (sec. 1-19) Philo speaks for the most part on his own behalf, making comparison between Aristotelian, Stoic, Epicurean, and Platonic approaches to the problem of the elemental status of the world and the question of its everlasting existence; the reader will find it published in the previous issue of the journal (Schole 19.2 (2025) 1243-1257). A section of the doxographic part of the treatise (sec. 20–73), translated in this publication, systematically presents the positions of other philosophers, most notably curious arguments of the Peripatetic Critolaus and the Stoic Chrysippus for whom Philo is a unique witness. He also discusses the original Platonic arguments based on the idea of the closed nature of the world and its immunity to disease, the integrity of its composition, its transformation and the impossibility of its complete disintegration, moving from the Peripatetic idea of natural movements to teleological considerations and criticising the Stoic theory of the cosmic cycle from various angles. The treatise not only provides a wealth of important information about the philosophical discussions on the eternity of the world that preceded Philo, but also allows us to better understand his own theological position, which is not always clearly stated in his exegetical works.
REVIEWS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ekaterina Smirnova
Petrozavodsk State University (Russia)
esmirnova@petrsu.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 477-510
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-477-510
Keywords: Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, O. Senkovsky, classical Studies, Russian journalism of the 19th century
Abstract. The article attempts to identify the characteristics of classical antiquity representation in O.I. Senkovsky’s Library for Reading during 1841–1848 — a time of decline in popularity for the journal and a period of ambiguous perception of the classical heritage in Russian literature. Analysing twenty-four literary and more than thirty scholarly items on Greco-Roman subjects, the study reconstructs Senkovsky’s multifaceted editorial strategy for the popularisation of antiquity. In the literary section, the extracts from the works of classical authors selected by Senkovsky for publication aimed to highlight romantic features in Horace's poetry and Virgil's “Aeneid,” the woman question in Aristophanes' “Lysistrata”, and potential for Christian perception of Sophocles' “Antigone”. They also displayed innovative approaches by younger generation of translators to interpreting masterpieces of classical literature. Works by contemporary poets posited antiquity not as a rejection of modernity, but as a means to better understanding of modern conflicts, values, and anxieties. The key features of the scholarly and critical materials, many written or extensively edited by Senkovsky, were: first, a focus not on political history but on everyday life, material culture, arts, and intellectual history of ancient Greece and Rome; second, an interest not only in the results of recent research but also in the very process of generating new knowledge about classical world; and finally, a deliberately lucid, engaging, public-facing style. Antiquity was thus presented as an appealing civilization with a unique cultural-historical experience, its mysteries still awaiting researchers, and as an inexhaustible source for creative dialogue across times. This model allowed Senkovsky to address both a broad reading public, thereby fulfilling the educational mission of the journal, and the learned elite, inviting them to reflect on the methodology of ancient history, translation from classical languages, and effective ways of presenting specialized issues in classical philology and archaeology to public.
Oksana Egorova
Institute of Philosophy and Law SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia)
oksana12egorova@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 20.1 (2026) 511-544
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2026-20-1-511-544
Keywords: Theophrastus, Aristotle, Peripatetics, classics in Russia, Russian philosophy, intellectual literature, reception of antiquity
Abstract. The article examines publications of various genres by Russian authors from the second half of the 18th to the early 20th centuries, which contain information about Aristotle's closest students, collaborators, and followers who lived in the 4th–3rd centuries BC. Using these works as examples, demonstrating the history dissemination of knowledge about such figures as Theophrastus, Aristoxenus, Dicaearchus, Eudemus, and others, conclusions are drawn about the peculiarities of the reception of the Peripatetic legacy in Russian culture. Specifically, it demonstrates that, on the one hand, the Peripatetics remained little known to the Russian intellectual public throughout the period under study. On the other hand, their legacy remained relevant, and in addition to scholarly pursuits (research and translation), it was repeatedly used for didactic and educational purposes. The work also contains additions to the history of Russian Aristotelian studies. The results of the study, presented in the form of a "Bibliographic List," are published as an appendix to the article.
