Tale and dream: the text and compositional history of the corpus of Epidaurian miracle cures

323 Pages·1994·5.089 MB·English

by  Lynn LiDonnici

Order Number 8922557
Tale and dream: The text and compositional history of the
corpus of Epidaurian miracle cures
LiDonnici, Lynn R., Ph.D.
University of Pennsylvania, 1989
Copyright ©1989 by LiDonnici, Lynn R. All rights reserved.
U M I
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TALE AND DREAM:
The Text and Compositional History of the Corpus
of Epidaurian Miracle Cures
LYNN R. LiDONNICI
A DISSERTATION
m
Religious Studies
Presented to the Faculties of the University of
Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
1989
Robert A. Kraft
Supervisor of Dissertation
Graduate Group Chairperson
COPYRIGHT
LYNN R. LiDONNICI
1989
iii
Dedicated with gratitude and affection to
Professor Tamara M. Green
(xuaTotyoyoc
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am glad to have this opportunity to thank all of
those whose help, patience and advice have seen me through
the completion of this dissertation. I especially thank
Professor Robert A. Kraft for his aid and inspiration
throughout my years of graduate study; and for his "wit"
(in both senses of the word). I am also grateful to
Professor Guy Welbon for reading this dissertation and for
all his help in many other areas; to Dr. David G.
Romano, for much helpful advice on archaeological
matters; and to Prof. Jon Mikalson who, although we
have never met, suggested Asklepios as a potentially
fruitful area of study— he was right. I thank as well
my wonderful professors at Hunter College, three Great
Ladies who inspired and encouraged me: Professor Tamara
M. Green, Professor Jean R. Bram, and the late
Professor Claireve Grandjouan.
Many of my friends and fellow graduate students
have suffered through this project with me and have given
valuable help. Comments and suggestions by Dr. Benjamin
G. Wright were extremely helpful for revisions; and it is
unlikely that this dissertation would ever have become
"hard copy" without his assistance. I thank Dr. Michelle
V
Marcus for reading an early version and giving helpful
comments, and Ms. Dena Salmon for providing support,
suggestions and humor.
I am also greatly indebted to my parents, Kenneth
and Marie LiDonnici, who made my graduate education
possible not only financially but by teaching me to love
books— a precious gift.
ABSTRACT
TALE AND DREAM:
The Text and Compositional History of the Corpus
of Epidaurian Miracle Cures
LYNN R. LiDONNICI
Robert A. Kraft, Supervisor
The corpus of healing reports from the worship of
Asklepios at Epidauros, the "Iamata" (cures), survives in
the form of four large stelai, IG IV I, 121-4. These
fourth-century stelai preserve approximately 70 tales of
healings and other miraculous events. It is generally
agreed that the corpus represents a collection of tales
from individual votive plaques dedicated by suppliants,
combined with an oral and/or priestly tradition, but
there has been little study of the sources for tales
and the manner in which they were compiled.
Form-critical analysis of the tales on each stele
reveals several groups which share thematic material
and/or linguistic style. These groups and patterns
suggest divergent sources and a variety of conditions
influencing the formation of the tales. Some groups may
indicate that officials or votive-sellers could recast the
details told them by the grateful patients into a
convenient or devotionally correct format, creating
resemblances or families of tales. This may have
occasionally involved the introduction of narrative
elements to reflect the pictorial representation on a
vii
votive which a merchant may have already had "in stock."
Orally-circulating stories inspired by certain votives or
other elements in the sanctuary may also have played a
role in forming’relationships between disparate tales.
The groupings of tales also suggest two or more previous
episodes of collection of tales from votives, occurring at
different times in the sanctuary's development, and
reflecting the aims and concerns of the patients and
authorities at different periods.
The identification of these groups opens up the
possibility of establishing of a relative chronology for
the Iamata, which indicates changes over time in the aims
and concerns of the sanctuary officials and in the types
of dreams and miracles expected by suppliants at different
periods. This adds a further level of significance to the
study of a corpus which is already a valuable source of
information about personal religious thought and activity
in the late Classical period.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Plates................. .....................ix
List of Tables........................................x
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION..............................1
Chapter 2: ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
Part 1. The Sanctuary....................... 15
Part 2. The Inscriptions.................... 36
chapter 3: TEXT, TRANSLATION and NOTES
Part 1. Stele A..............................45
2. Stele B..............................68
3. Stele C..............................99
4. Stele D.............................130
Chapter 4: THEMATIC AND LINGUISTIC PATTERNS IN THE IAMATA
Part 1. Source Material for Tales.......... 134
2. Description of Patterns............ 154
Chapter 5: INTERPRETATIVE MODELS
Part 1. Pictorial Representation, Oral Tradition,
and Sanctuary Location.........205
Part 2. Artisan Composition and
"Stock" Influence............. 226
Part 3. Redaction; Multiple Redaction?
Priestly Tradition.............238
Part 4. Historians and Medical Writers..... 248
Part 5. Summary.............................257
Chapter VI: CHRONOLOGICAL ISSUES....................25 8
Chapter VII: CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS..............273
BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................281
APPENDICES
Home Towns of Suppliants.....................293
Death and Birth at Epidauros................ 296
Numbering Concordance....................... 303
PLATES.............................................. 304