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This study considers how a significant variable, namely level of literary education (enkuklios paideia), might affect an ancient hearer''s interpretation of Revelation 9. This volume focuses on how two hypothetical ancient hearer-constructs, with very different "mental libraries", may interpret the rich cosmological imagery of Revelation 9.The first, ancient hearer-construct (HC1), the recipient of a minimal literary education, retains a Homeric cosmological model. The second ancient hearer-construct (HC2), by contrast, utilises a tertiary-level knowledge of Aratus and Plato to allegorically reinterpret the cosmological imagery of Rev 9 (cf. ''Hippolytus'', Refutatio IV.46-50). The volume concludes by critically comparing the hypothetical responses of HC1 and HC2 with the early reception of Revelation 9 by Victorinus, Tyconius and Oecumenius (3rd-6th century CE), attentive to the educational attainment of each commentator.>
List of contents
List of Figures
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Greek Encyclical Education
3. Graeco-Roman Cosmologies
4. Hearer-Construct One (HC1): Interpretation of the Cosmology of Rev 9:1-19
5. Hearer-Construct Two (HC2): Interpretation of the Cosmology of Rev 9:1-12
6. Victorinus, Tyconius and Oecumenius\: Interpretation of the Cosmology of Rev 9
7. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index of References
General Index
About the author
Dr Sean Michael Ryan is a Lecturer in Biblical Studies, Heythrop College,
University of London
Summary
This study considers how a significant variable, namely level of literary education (enkuklios paideia), might affect an ancient hearer's interpretation of Revelation 9. This volume focuses on how two hypothetical ancient hearer-constructs, with very different "mental libraries", may interpret the rich cosmological imagery of Revelation 9.
The first, ancient hearer-construct (HC1), the recipient of a minimal literary education, retains a Homeric cosmological model. The second ancient hearer-construct (HC2), by contrast, utilises a tertiary-level knowledge of Aratus and Plato to allegorically reinterpret the cosmological imagery of Rev 9 (cf. 'Hippolytus', Refutatio IV.46-50). The volume concludes by critically comparing the hypothetical responses of HC1 and HC2 with the early reception of Revelation 9 by Victorinus, Tyconius and Oecumenius (3rd-6th century CE), attentive to the educational attainment of each commentator.
