[B-Greek] reading Philo and Papyri [was "reading Homer and period literature"]

R Yochanan Bitan Buth ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Mon Aug 16 03:41:53 EDT 2004


>Thanks for the suggestions! How would reading Philo
>be, if one's interest was in NT?
> 
>Also, what would be a good accessible source for
>reading papyri, where they wouldn't be too
>fragmentary. (I do have Moulton & Milligan.)
> 
>William Smith
 
I find Philo horribly long-winded and boring. A chacun son gout 'to each his
own taste'
For papyri some of the most interesting letters were already collected close
to a century ago in the Loeb series "Select Papyri". Start there, then there
are old volumes of papyri in libraries and recent collections have been
appearing regularly.
 
There are also many gems hidden in published authors. Last night I was
reading a delightful story in Dio Chrysostom (40 CE - 120 CE, similar to
Plutarch). The seventh discourse begins with a 23 page story about two
peasants living off the land in Euboea. Great cultural background stuff in
an unpretentious but typically Greek style. Some humor between the lines. It
seems that Dio was converted from sophistry later in life and returned to a
common sense ethic "show me" (don't just wax elequent).
 
Blessings
 
Randall Buth

 

 

Randall Buth, PhD

Director, Biblical Language Center

www.biblicalulpan.org

and Director, Biblical Studies in Israel

Hebrew University, Rothberg International School

ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il

 




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