A.Gryunert
The image of the diver in the "Hexaemeron" of Basil of Caesarea

Abstract: The article provides a commentary on the “Hexaemeron” of Basil of Caesarea
(Hex. 2.7.23–36) where the creation of the light is compared to the way divers push oil out of their mouths under the water. After Basil of Caesarea this comparison was borrowed by Ambrose of Milan and Bede the Venerable in their commentaries on the hexaemeron. The existence of this tradition justifies a more careful study of the subject of comparison, i.e the diving practice itself as described in ancient testimonies. Thus, the article will consider in detail the following texts mentioning diving with oil: “The Natural History” of Pliny the Elder, Plutarch’s “Causes of Natural Phenomena”, “Table-Talk” and the treatise “On the Principle of Cold”, as well as Oppian’s “Halieutica”. Some properties of oil that are useful for diving, such as the ability to not mix with water and to spread widely, mentioned by Plutarch, occur in Hex 2.7. Regarding the composition the comparison used by Basil does not find any parallels in the rest of the text, despite the fact that the theme of the creation of light is exposed throughout the second and sixth homilies of the “Hexaemeron”. Nevertheless, the observations made in this short article are valuable in that they shed light on a place that modern reader and scholars of the “Hexaemeron” do not fully understand. The latter fact is clear in that commentators and translators of Hex. 2.7.23–36 still had settled for an uncomplete explanation of this place which deserves a little more attention.

Keywords: Basil of Caesarea, hexaemeron, early christian literature, biblical exegesis, cosmology

References
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(дата обращения: 02.01. 2019)


Author:

Anna Grünert