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Incarnating Proteus in Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 14:26 authored by Graeme MilesGraeme Miles
The appearance of Proteus to the mother of Apollonius of Tyana, and the subsequent references to this minor deity later in the text, carry a heavy load, almost an overload, of implications. Through Proteus the work announces its own stylistic complexity (poikilia), the versatility of its protagonist and the changeability of his metaphoric characterisation. The riskiness and uncertainty of this allusion, evoking both wisdom and slipperiness, changeability and lack of constancy, are a large part of its appeal for this deeply ambiguous text. Beyond this, Proteus provides a means of approaching two separate ideas about Apollonius' nature, as a god incarnate and as a 'normal' human soul undergoing a sequence of incarnations. It is also possible that the choice of Proteus is in part motivated by an allegorical understanding of this figure as representing the Platonic notion of processions of souls under the guidance of particular deities.

History

Publication title

Ancient Narrative

Volume

13

Pagination

139-157

ISSN

1568-3532

Department/School

School of Humanities

Publisher

Barkhuis Publishing

Place of publication

Netherlands

Rights statement

Copyright 2015 the Author

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Other culture and society not elsewhere classified

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