Religion and Apuleius' Golden Ass: The Sacred Ass PDF
Preview Religion and Apuleius' Golden Ass: The Sacred Ass
R E L I G I O N A N D A P U L E I U S ’ G O L D E N A Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies S S RELIGION AND APULEIUS’ GOLDEN ASS THE SACRED ASS Warren S. Smith Religion and Apuleius’ Golden Ass This volume examines Apuleius’ comic donkey novel, The Golden Ass, within the context of the popular beliefs and Jewish and Christian writings that were part of the intellectual culture of his own day in 2nd century c.e. North Africa, a culture which can also be glimpsed in some early Arabic writings. The novel was written against a cultural and religious background in which the donkey had various connotations, both positive and negative, but tended to be admired in Jewish, Christian, and later, in Muslim writ- ings. Smith explores the influence of such popular opinions on The Golden Ass and how Apuleius presented Isis and Osiris as desirable alternatives to the claims of both Christianity and magic, offering hope of spiritual renewal partly modeled on contemporary religious apocalyptic literature. Complemented by images of contemporary art, including amulets and terra- cotta figures, this volume gives readers a better understanding of how Apuleius, ostensibly a Platonist and member of the Roman establishment, could maintain an intellectual independence in a North African milieu while still drawing on hope in the salvation of the gods. Religion and Apuleius’ Golden Ass provides a fascinating new approach to this much disputed novel. It will be of interest not only to students and scholars of Apuleius and Roman literature, but also to scholars interested in Christian and Jewish literature and beliefs of the early centuries of the first millennium c.e. Warren S. Smith is professor emeritus of Classics at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA, and has also taught in Kenya and the Philip- pines. He has edited Erasmus’ Annotations on Romans and Satiric Advice on Women and Marriage from Plautus to Chaucer. Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies Recent titles include: The Province of Achaea in the 2nd Century CE The Past Present Edited by Anna Kouremenos Making and Unmaking Ancient Memory Edited by Martine De Marre and Rajiv Bhola Production, Trade, and Connectivity in Pre-Roman Italy Edited by Jeremy Armstrong and Sheira Cohen Taxation, Economy, and Revolt in Ancient Rome, Galilee, and Egypt Edited by Thomas R. Blanton IV, Agnes Choi, and Jinyu Liu Poverty in Ancient Greece and Rome Realities and Discourses Edited by Filippo Carlà-Uhink, Lucia Cecchet, and Carlos Machado Politics in the Monuments of Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar Eleonora Zampieri Power and Rhetoric in the Ecclesiastical Correspondence of Constantine the Great Andrew J. Pottenger The War Cry in the Graeco-Roman World James Gersbach Religion and Apuleius’ Golden Ass The Sacred Ass Warren S. Smith For more information on this series, visit: https://www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Monographs-in-Classical-Studies/book-series/RMCS Religion and Apuleius’ Golden Ass The Sacred Ass Warren S. Smith First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Warren S. Smith The right of Warren S. Smith to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Smith, Warren S., 1941- author. Title: Religion and Apuleius’ Golden ass : the sacred ass / Warren S. Smith. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Series: Routledge monographs in classical studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022031036 (print) | LCCN 2022031037 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032192802 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032192826 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003258469 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Apuleius. Metamorphoses. | Religion and literature. | LCGFT: Literary criticism. Classification: LCC PA6217 .S65 2023 (print) | LCC PA6217 (ebook) | DDC 873/.01--dc23/eng/20220711 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031036 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031037 ISBN: 978-1-032-19280-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-19282-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-25846-9 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003258469 Typeset in Times New Roman by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. To Anne Marie, again Contents List of Illustrations viii Acknowledgments ix Preface x 1 Asinine Thinking 1 2 Magical Thinking: The Witchcraft Narrative 17 3 Fortune Competes with Providence: The Meaning of Laughter 43 4 Robbers Think Like Heroes 55 5 Cupid and Psyche: Thinking Like a Winged Creature 61 6 Thinking Like a Christian Apologist 75 7 Is the Golden Ass a God? 88 8 Thinking Like a Christian 101 9 Christian and Jewish Apocalyptic Writings 128 10 Balancing Judaism and Christianity 154 Appendix: Lucius “Becomes” Apuleius 157 Bibliography 172 Index 186 Illustrations 1.1 La Burra de Balaam: Balaam’s talking ass (Rembrandt, 1626). 2 1.2 Palestinian peasant at work ca. 1890. 7 1.3 Manger scene from early Christian sarcophagus. 10 1.4 Jesus enters Jerusalem, from tomb of Junius Bassus. 11 1.5 Al-Burak, the creature that carried Muhammed to heaven. 15 5.1 Botticelli: The birth of Venus. 65 5.2 Psyche discovers the identity of Cupid. 71 7.1 Alexamenos graffito, ca. 100 c.e. 89 7.2 Ass and foal amulet, ca. 400 c.e. 90 7.3 Terra-cotta of ass with book teaching baboons, Egypt. 91 8.1 Statue of Isis from Hadrian’s Villa. 114 Appendix 0.1 Velazquez painting of the royal Spanish family, “Les Meninas” (The Handmaidens). 158 Acknowledgments My first thanks for help in Apuleian scholarship will always go to the team of Classicists who published collections of articles on Apuleius and edited the 11 books of The Golden Ass, originally meeting at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and later at other venues including Dartmouth College, Oxford, Rome, Rostock, Crete, and Greece. The late Ben Hijmans was one of their leaders and when he first greeted me in Groningen he said, “Everyone working on this project has read your doc- toral dissertation [Yale 1968],” it was a unique and very meaningful wel- come to the club. Others I came to know include (among many others) Rudi Van der Paardt, Heinz Hofmann, Maaike Zimmerman, Ken Dowden, Steve Harrison, Stavros Panayotakis, Regine May, Paula James, Danielle Mal- Maeder, Luca Graverini, Wytse Keulen, Stefan Tilg, Ulkrike Egelhaaf- Gaiser, Vincent Hunink, Niall Slater, Lara Nicolini, Gareth Schmeling, and Ellen Finkelpearl; I had already known late Carl Schlam, who died too young. I learned from all of these people and still cherish the memory of our meetings together. I owe much to the University of New Mexico for the support, freedom, and opportunities they gave me over the years to develop courses and cur- ricula at my own pace, and also to take time off to study and teach at a variety of places including the Philippines and Kenya. My interest in The Golden Ass first aroused when I was assigned to read the novel in Freshman English at Wesleyan University. Apuleius fascinated me then and continues to challenge me to this day. I owe many thanks to the suggestions of the anonymous reader assigned by Routledge Press, who went beyond the call of duty in his close reading of my manuscript.
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