Kapitlet sätter in Thomas livsbana och verk i en bred historisk och idéhistorisk kontext. Thomas levde i en tid då tiggarordnarnas framväxt, det unga universitetsväsendets blomstring, återupptäckten av vissa av Aristoteles verk, och den kyrkliga dialogen mellan öst och väst skapade dynamiska kraftfält av idéer och intellektuella konflikter som kom att forma Thomas tankevärld på avgörande sätt. Hos Thomas sammanstrålar tiggarordnarnas evangeliska radikalism med universitetsvärldens skolastiska stringens, och augustinsk nyplatonism förenas med ett aristoteliskt intresse för den naturliga, materiella verkligheten. Kapitlet låter läsaren komma närmare den historiske Thomas genom att ge oss en utförlig redogörelse för de källor som historiker har tillgång till. Som ett bidrag till thomasforskningen argumenterar kapitlet också för att vissa av de många anekdoter som förmedlats till oss om Thomas har ett historiskt värde.

Book review of J. Neils & S.M. Dunn, eds, Hippos. The horse in ancient Athens. ΙΠΠΟΣ. Το άλογο στην αρχαία Αθήνα, Athens: American School of Classical Studies at Athens 2022

The Corinthian Speech (Corinthiaca) in the corpus of Dio Chrysostom (Or. 31) isattributed to Favorinus (c.80–160) based on internal criteria of content and style. Thisarticle argues that a reference to an author of a Corinthian speech found in a collectionof sayings in codex Vaticanus Graecus 1144 is a unique external reference to Favorinus asauthor of this speech.

Den heliga Birgitta (1303-1373) är den mest kända svenskan genom tiderna. Samlingen av hennes "himmelska Uppenbarelser" (Revelaciones caelestes) är en svensk klassiker. Förutom att den har lockat läsare i hela världen under mer än 600 år har den också en alldeles särskild verkningshistoria genom den klosterorden som Birgitta grundade och som än i dag verkar i många länder. Samtidigt är de ca 700 uppenbarelserna inte lätta att  tolka och förstå. Inte heller upphovskvinnan är någon lätt nöt att knäcka, då de många biografier som finns om henne ger förvirrande och olika intryck av hennes person. Denna bok vill på ett pedagogiskt sätt introducera Uppenbarelserna för en bredare svensk publik - som säkert hört talas om Birgitta och hennes skrifter men inte vet vad de innehåller eller känner till deras receptionshistoria i dåtid och nutid. Bokens syfte är att på ett begripligt och tillgängligt sätt presentera den heliga Birgittas "himmelska Uppenbarelser" utifrån de medeltida dokument som bevarats och de utgåvor på latin och svenska som utkommit.

Sophonias is the author of paraphrases of Aristotelian works, most probably active in the latter half of the thirteenth century (see Hunger I:25–26, 37 nn. 139–140, II:267–268; PLP 11 p. 49 no. 26424; Praechter in RE 15,2, col. 1099; Searby In: Goulet R (ed) Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques, VI. Paris, pp 473–477, 2016). He is almost certainly to be identified with Sophonias, the monk from the same period, who lived in Constantinople and spent time in Thessaloniki, concerning whom reliable historical data exists.

Early usage of the noun ἀπόφθεγμα and the corresponding verb are examined and discussed. The verb is consistently used to underline an authoritative speech act, calling attention to a particular individual’s dramatic statement. The noun “apophthegm” denote’s someone’s pointed utterance, often, but not necessarily, in response to a question. Overlappings of apophthegm with gnōmē, apomnēmoneuma, paroimia and chreia are also discussed. Apophthegms labeled as such in Xenophon, Aristotle, Plutarch, Diogenes Laertius, Stobaeus and other sources, are shown to be practically indistinguishable from chreia. Evidence for early collections of pagan apophthegms is summarized: apophthegmata occurs as a title for collections or as a header introducing lists of sayings in biographies from Hellenistic to medieval times. The collecting of anecdotes and apophthegms of famous people was related to growing biographical interests in character studies as well as a reflection of an increasingly literate society, or at least of the literary habits of an educated elite with cosmopolitan tastes. Pagan Greek apophthegms attributed to Greek celebrities, usually making a moral point, sometimes only a witty one, were ubiquitous in Greek and Roman society by the time the Christians got around to compiling their own collections of the apophthegms of the desert Fathers.

The Hellenistic and early Imperial evidence of χρεία (chreia) in the sense of anecdote is summarized with the aim of completeness. The special rhetorical sense of this common Greek word is discussed, and a new explanation of the semantic derivation is offered: it is suggested that the sense of anecdote derives from the earlier sense of dealings rather than utility. The proposal that Metrocles or the Cynics invented the micro-genre of chreiai is strongly criticized. It is to the Socratics more generally we should look for its origins, if the genre must be supposed to have originated among philosophers, which is not certain.

This volume explores the theme of Latin and Greek mutual learning, intellectual and cultural interchange in the final age of Byzantium (1261-1453), challenging received conceptions of East and West as clearly delineated ideological categories. The reception of Thomas Aquinas and Western scholasticism receives emphasis, but also other forms of philosophical and theological frames of reference that have had lasting repercussions.

“Stridskvinnan Birgitta” focuses on aspects of Birgitta’s writings less palatable to moderntastes, such as images of violent punishment in hell and purgatory. It brings in the exampleof the American Catholic author Flannery O’Connor to illustrate how, from Birgitta’sperspective, violent images could represent an occasion of grace for the recipient of herrevelations. It also discusses Birgitta’s support for the king’s “crusade” to the Baltic countriesfor the purposes of Christianizing them and touches on her view of proper conductin warfare.

This paper is intended as a straightforward, light-hearted survey of passages in Greek literature dealing with the pyramids from Herodotus to late antiquity; it refers also to various passages in Latin imperial authors. The chief question is: Did the Greeks and Romans view the pyramids differently than we do today? It turns out that fascination for the size and construction of the pyramids is something common to all times, but less so their great antiquity. Scientific interest in the pyramids from mathematicians and engineers is not in evidence among Greek scientific authors, somewhat surprisingly. The pyramids also carried certain negative connotations for Greeks and Romans that are not common today, primarily, connotations of extravagant and useless opulence as well as of tyrannical oppression, though the latter lives on somewhat. The pyramids as a touted tourist attraction remain common to Greek antiquity and our contemporary culture.