[B-Greek] Prevalence of holy books

Anita Clerke clerke at humanperformance.cc
Tue Feb 19 07:32:41 EST 2008


Thanks Carl for the corrections. Regarding your statement concerning  
the prevalence of LOGOI hIEROI (sacred books):
"It is used in the sense of a doctrinal formulation -- and where  
I've  seen it, it's used of a myth, myths, or a doctrinal formulation  
of a
mystery cult." Could you supply a citation or two of when these words  
are used in such a pagan context? I realise you may be too busy to do  
this though.

Thanks very much Jeffrey for the list of citations of LOGOI hIEROI  
(sacred books). I was particularly interested in such sacred books  
that could be read aloud, so as to match the context of Lucian's use.

FYI, regarding the context of these citations:

The reference from Philo isn't in the same context as that of Lucian,  
as Philo's "sacred words" in "On Dreams", doesn't appear to refer to  
words that could actually be read aloud. I can not be certain if the  
English translation of sacred words does in fact refer to the Greek  
LOGOI hIEROI (sacred books). However nothing else in the English  
translation appears to come close to translating these Greek words.

The reference to Eusebius of Caesarea's  'Praeparatio Evangelica  
(Preparation for the Gospel)' also doesn't always appear to refer to  
words that could actually be read aloud. Eusebius describes God's  
sacred laws and God's word as the source of control of the elements  
such as  flood-tides, sequence of seasons, and the alternating course  
of day and night. However the chapter also talks of the 'sacred laws'  
delivered by Moses. The last sentence in chapter 10 mentions  
Scripture. As so far I only have access to an english translation of  
this work, which doesn't indicate the exact line reference of 7.10.3,  
means I can not be certain if the latter reference to Moses uses the  
same Greek words that I am interested in, namely those of Lucian,  
LOGOI hIEROI (sacred books). I imagine that they are. In fact I can  
not be certain if the English translation of sacred laws does in fact  
refer to the Greek LOGOI hIEROI (sacred books). However nothing else  
in the English translation appears to come close to translating these  
Greek words.

Regarding the reference to Eusebius of Caesarea's  'The History of  
the Martyrs in Palestine', once again I only have access to an  
english translation of this work, which doesn't indicate the exact  
line reference of 4.6 means I can not be certain, but the only  
reference in English to 'sacred' that is relevant, is a reference to  
Pamphilus'  "...accomplishments in philosophy, and his acquirements  
both in sacred and profane literature." This is found in the chapter  
titled: The Confession of Domninus. The context indicates that sacred  
literature here probably refers to Christian literature.

The reference to Lucian is that which I gave originally, and the  
context indicates that LOGOI hIEROI (sacred books) here refers to  
Christian literature. I really appreciated finding out that this is  
the only time Lucian used these words.

As Photius lived in the ninth century, I did not check out his  
references, though will probably do so later.

Thanks again to both of you.
Regards

Jonathan Clerke
clerke at humanperformance.cc







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