ΠΡΟΣΚΛΗΣΗ

Την Τρίτη 7 Νοεμβρίου 2023, ώρα 14.00,

θα πραγματοποιηθεί στο πλαίσιο των «Επιστημονικών Συναντήσεων»

που οργανώνει ο Τομέας Κλασικής Φιλολογίας του Τμήματος Φιλολογίας του Ε.Κ.Π.Α.

και το Π.Μ.Σ. Κλασικής Φιλολογίας «Δέξιππος»

η ομιλία τουκ.

AntonioStramaglia

(Prof. Università di Bari)

με θέμα:

       “The ‘Apuleian’ Cupid and Psyche before Apuleius”

                                  Η ομιλία θα πραγματοποιηθεί στην αίθουσα 209 του κτηρίου της Φιλοσοφικής Σχολής.

Σας προσκαλούμε να παραστείτε.

Ο Διευθυντής του Τομέα Κλασικής Φιλολογίας

Aμφιλόχιος Παπαθωμάς

Συντονιστές

Αικατερίνη Κορολή       Βάιος Βαϊόπουλος               
katkoroli[at]phil.uoa[dot]gr        vaiosvaiop[at]phil.uoa[dot]gr                                                                         

     Antonio Stramaglia (Università di Bari)

“The ‘Apuleian’ Cupid and Psyche before Apuleius”

The story of Cupid and Psyche, embedded at the centre of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses (ca. 160–170 AD), has elicited much scholarly attention i. a. for its intertextual and narratological features. This paper will focus on the origin of the story, suggesting that the narrative core of Psyche’s adventures can be traced back to Hellenistic culture, rather – or more importantly – than North-African folklore (recently claimed to be the source of Apuleius).

The analysis will start from an illustrated papyrus fragment from Oxyrhynchus (PSI VIII 919), dating to the second century AD, which portrays Psyche while revealing the identity of her mysterious husband—the very scene depicted in Apul. Met. 5.22–23. An examination of this fragment will show that the illustration is not based on Apuleius’s novel, but follows the same tradition evidenced by a number of iconographic items earlier than the Metamorphoses. These materials include: (1) bas-reliefs on terracotta oil-lamps from Egypt and Lebanon, the latter dating to the third century BC; (2) a set of first-century BC gems from Italy; (3) an early second-century AD mosaic from Asia Minor.

A close scrutiny of this evidence will shed light on an organised narrative cycle on Cupid and Psyche circulating as early as the Hellenistic period. This, in its turn, will afford a better apprecia-tion of Apuleius’s refashioning of this ‘pretty story’ (bella fabella: Met. 6.25.1), embedded within the complex narrative frame of the Metamorphoses.