{"id":19799,"date":"2024-04-20T09:10:42","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T13:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/?p=19799"},"modified":"2024-04-20T09:16:18","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T13:16:18","slug":"persians-apion-of-alexandria-on-pases-the-magian-first-century-ce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/2024\/04\/persians-apion-of-alexandria-on-pases-the-magian-first-century-ce\/","title":{"rendered":"Persians: Apion of Alexandria on Pases the Magian (first century CE)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ancient authors:<\/em><\/strong> Apion of Alexandria (early first century CE), On the<\/em> Magian<\/em>, or On Homer the<\/em> Magian<\/em>, as cited by the author of the Suda lexicon, pi 752 (link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Comments:<\/em> <\/strong>While many Greek authors wrote about Persian customs, including the Magians, we know of only three (now lost or largely lost) works that were titled to indicate a primary focus on Magians: there is Xanthos of Lydia’s fifth century work on Magian Matters<\/em> (Magika<\/em> \u2013 link<\/a>), there is the work attributed to Aristotle on Magian Matters<\/em> mentioned by Diogenes (link<\/a>), and there is this mysterious work by Apion of Alexandria On the Magian, <\/em>or (if a typo) On the Magians, <\/em>or (as in another manuscript of the Suda lexicon) On Homer the Magian<\/em>. In this entry in the Suda lexicon, the author of the lexicon refers to a specific story in Apion’s work about one Pases known for his Magian skill, including a supposed ability to make things materialize and dematerialize by means of chants.<\/p>\n

This is the only known reference to this work by Apion. And it seems that this is the same Apion engaged by Josephos (link<\/a>), the grammarian known for his speeches and works on Homer. Apion was also an ambassador for Alexandria during the tensions with Judeans.<\/p>\n

Works consulted: K. Jones, \u201cThe Figure of Apion in Josephus\u2019 Contra Apionem<\/i>,\u201d Journal for the Study of Judaism<\/i> 36 (2005): 278\u2013315 (link<\/a>); J. Rives, \u201cApion \u03a0\u03b5\u03c1\u1f76 \u039c\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5 and the Meaning of the Word \u039c\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2,\u201d MHNH: Revista Internacional de Investigaci\u00f3n Sobre Magia y Astrolog\u00eda Antiguas<\/i> 9 (2009): 119\u201332.<\/p>\n

\u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017<\/p>\n

Pases. This is a proper name. And there is a proverb: “Pases’ half-obol.” This Pases was a weak character, but he so excelled all men in Magian skill (mageia<\/em>) that as a result of his chants (epaoidioi<\/em>) they saw lavish banquets and some people acting as waiters. And then everything vanished again. He also possessed a half-obol [i.e. a small coin] made for him out of a single [missing words<\/em>] . . . , which was handed over by him to the sellers from whom he was seeking to buy. Then, if he wanted, it was discovered again in his possession. Apion the grammarian mentions him in On the Magian<\/em> [or in another manuscript, On the Magian<\/em> Homer<\/em>].<\/p>\n

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\u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017\u2017<\/p>\n

Source of translation:\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>David Whitehead at Suda Online (link<\/a>), adapted by Harland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ancient authors: Apion of Alexandria (early first century CE), On the Magian, or On Homer the Magian, as cited by the author of the Suda lexicon, pi 752 (link). Comments: While many Greek authors wrote about Persian customs, including the Magians, we know of only three (now lost or largely lost) works that were titled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,224,299,158,296,94,433],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-greek-and-roman-ethnography-on-barbarians","category-d-eastern-peoples","category-ancient-ethnography-ethnographic-culture","category-apion-of-alexandria-greek","category-ethnicity-ancient-world","category-persians-iranians-magians","category-suda-lexicon-authors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19799"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19809,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19799\/revisions\/19809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philipharland.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}