Neoplatonic treatment of Clytemnestra’s infidelity: an East Syriac philosopher Denḥa (9th c.) on...

NeoplatoNic treatmeNt of clytemNestra’ s iNfidelity: aN east syriac philosopher deNḥā (9th c.)

oN the power of music

GriGory Kessel

clytaemnestrae pudicitia non prius ab aegistho expugnari et corrumpi potuit, quam demodocum, poëtam et musicum citharaedum, qui castum amorem in illius animo fovebat, e medio sustulisset. hunc enim musicum agamemnon, ad bellum trojanum iturus, domi reliquerat custodem, ut clytaemnestrae conjugalem probitatem per muliebrium virtutum laudes ; concentus sui musici hortamento accenderet, et conservaret illibatam. [...] tanta erat vis musicae in castitate tuenda.michael praetorius, Syntagma musicum i, p. 222

professor henri hugonnard-roche has carried out a groundbreaking work in revealing a permeating influence of late antique alexandrian philosophy on the syriac tradition1. it is thus a great honour to offer him in gratitude another example of that kind.

I. Introductionamong the works of a prolific east syriac writer elias of Nisibis, or Īliyyā

bar Šīnāyā (975-1046 ce)2 features a peculiar composition Letter on the virtue

1. it certainly will not be superfluous for a purpose of the present study to quote a synthetic summary in extenso : « la source première du corpus philosophique syro-arabe est la tradition de l’École néoplatoni-cienne d’alexandrie, représentée par ammonius et ses successeurs, olympiodore, david, Élias, ainsi que Jean philopon. d’autres commentateurs, comme alexandre, thémistius et simplicius, furent également connus partiellement. le curriculum alexandrin des études aristotéliciennes était passé en syriaque, dès le Vie s., et il fut également repris dans le tradition de l’École chrétienne à Baghdâd aux iXe-Xe s. la propédeutique philo-sophique, en usage dans le cycle des études, plaçait la lecture et le commentaire de l’Isagogè de porphyre et des traités de l’Organon (Catégories, De l’ Interprétation, Premiers Analytiques, notamment) au point de départ de l’enseignement » (cf. h. hugonnard-roche, « du syriaque à l’arabe », in a. Jacob (ed.), Encyclopédie philosophique universelle. Volume IV, Le discours philosophique, puf, paris 1998, pp. 1057-1068, p. 1059).

2. on elias and his oeuvre cf. a. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur mit Ausschluss

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of continence (Risāla fī faḍīlat al-ʿafāf) that has not yet received the attention it duly deserves3. in it elias is at pains to defend the christian ideal of lifelong sexual continence. this apologetic work is designed as an epistle that claims to be a reply, or to say it more precisely, a refutation of an opinion of the muʿtazilite theologian al-Ǧāḥiẓ (d. 868/869 ce), who in his book Kitāb al-Ḥayawān states that it is not possible for men to withhold themselves from desiring women4.

it goes without saying that elias was not the first christian who tried to defend christian values against islam5. Nevertheless, his approach and the techniques he employs markedly distinguish his work. for instance, elias introduces a list of nine causes that can eliminate sexual desire. to illustrate each cause, elias provides various stories that he had drawn from different (for the most part written, but also oral) sources6.

one of the causes that is offered by elias to support his argument deals with the power of music that, as elias argues, can « either increase or diminish sexual desire ». in support of that affirmation elias provides a moralizing paraphrase of the story of clytemnestra’ s infidelity towards her husband agamemnon. according to a helpful indication of elias, the passage was borrowed from a commentary on the Isagoge that was written by a certain denḥā the logician.

this chrestomathic episode features in many texts of antiquity but one of its main and principal sources is homer’ s Odyssey. however, despite an apparent kinship between the account found in the Odyssey and this later paraphrase a more in-depth study does not leave any doubt that its author, denḥā the logician,

der christlich-palästinensischen Texte, a. marcus und e. weber, Bonn 1922 (repr. de Gruyter, Ber-lin 1968), pp. 287-288 ; Kh. s. samir, Foi et culture en Irak au XIe siècle. Elie de Nisibe et l’Islam, Variorum, aldershot/Bookfield 1996 (collected studies, 544) ; J. p. monferrer sala, s.v. « elias of Nisibis », in d. thomas et al. (eds), Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographic History. Vol. 2 (900-1050), Brill, leiden 2010 (history of christian-muslim relations, 14), pp. 727-741 ; h. teule, s.v. « eliya of Nisibis », in s. p. Brock - a. m. Butts - G. a. Kiraz - l. van rompay (eds), Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, Gorgias press, piscataway (NJ) 2011, p. 143 as well as the literature mentioned there.

3. the text has been usually known in the non-critical edition of raḥma (Ǧ. raḥma, « Risāla fī faḍīlat al-ʿafāf li-Īliyyā an-Naṣībīnī », Al-Mašrīq 62 (1968), pp. 3-74), although there is a fine criti-cal edition that, regrettably, was never published (a. hau, Brief über den Vorzug der Enthaltsamkeit gegenüber dem Geschlechtsverkehr von Elias von Nisibis. einführung, Übersetzung, text, Bonn 1969 [unpublished phd thesis]). the text of the Letter was approached from different perspectives in : G. Kessel, « a fragment from the lost Book of Admonition(s) by abraham bar dašandad in Risāla fī faḍīlat al-ʿafāf (Letter on the priority of abstinence) of elias of Nisibis », in m. tamcke (ed.), Got-teserlebnis und Gotteslehre. Christliche und islamische Mystik im Orient, harrassowitz, wiesbaden 2010 (Gottinger orientforschungen. syriaca, 38), pp. 109-130 ; s. Griffith, « the Virtue of conti-nence (al-ʿiffāh) and the “perfect man” (al-insān al-kāmil) : an islamochristian inquiry in abbasid religious and philosophical circles », in tamcke (ed.), Gotteserlebnis und Gotteslehre, pp. 25-48 ; monferrer sala, « elias of Nisibis », pp. 739-740.

4. abū ʿuṯmān ʿamr b. Baḥr al-Ǧāḥiẓ, Kitāb al-Ḥayawān, cairo 1938, vol. 1, p. 128.5. the most up-to-date and comprehensive survey is offered by an ongoing project, Christian-

Muslim Relations. A Bibliographic History that with its five already published volumes (Brill, leiden 2009-2013) covers a period between 600-1500 ce.

6. Kessel, « a fragment », pp. 111-119.

125 DENḤā ON THE POwER OF MuSIC

did not have any direct knowledge (in whatever language) of the poem, neither is it plausible that the story became available to him in one of the many antique renditions. rather, it is safe to maintain that denḥā reproduced clytemnestra’ s story while deriving that account from the late antique alexandrian commentary tradition on aristotle’ s Organon. moreover, as we will see shortly, he did not simply borrow the account, but also its treatment aiming at illustrating the power of music on emotions.

in what follows i would like to overview in a cursory fashion the development of the treatment of the story concerning clytemnestra’ s infidelity in antiquity. this will help us to pinpoint the source that was employed by denḥā.

II. Clytemnestra’ s infidelity in ancient Greek literatureclytemnestra7 was the daughter of tyndareus and leda and therefore was

helen’s sister. she married tantalus, son of the king of mycenae named thyestes. agamemnon later murdered tantalus and married clytemnestra, thus gaining the throne of mycenae for himself. she had several children by agamemnon. during the trojan war, aegisthus, son of thyestes, wooed clytemnestra and when agamemnon returned home with cassandra, aegisthus and clytemnestra murdered both the king and his concubine (the legends vary concerning the circumstances). Being originally assessed as an adulteress and murderess8, today clytemnestra’ s figure plays a considerable role in Gender studies where she exemplifies a complexity of motivations9.

one finds a mention of agamemnon’s murder a number of times in the Odyssey, but the most elaborate description of what preceded it can be found in the account of Nestor to telemachus :

Od. iii, 265-275ἡ δ᾽ ἦ τοι τὸ πρὶν μὲν ἀναίνετο ἔργον ἀεικὲς, δῖα Κλυταιμνήστρη· φρεσὶ γὰρ κέχρητ’ ἀγαθῇσι· πὰρ δ’ ἄρ’ ἔην καὶ ἀοιδὸς ἀνήρ, ᾧ πόλλ’ ἐπέτελλεν Ἀτρεΐδης Τροίηνδε κιὼν εἴρυσθαι ἄκοιτιν. ἀλλ’ ὅτε δή μιν μοῖρα θεῶν ἐπέδησε δαμῆναι, δὴ τότε τὸν μὲν ἀοιδὸν ἄγων ἐς νῆσον ἐρήμην κάλλιπεν οἰωνοῖσιν ἕλωρ καὶ κύρμα γενέσθαι, κάλλιπεν οἰωνοῖσιν ἕλωρ καὶ κύρμα γενέσθαι, τὴν δ’ ἐθέλων ἐθέλουσαν ἀνήγαγεν ὅνδε δόμονδε. πολλὰ δὲ μηρί’ ἔκηε θεῶν ἱεροῖσσ’ ἐπὶ βωμοῖς, πολλὰ δ’ ἀγάλματ’ ἀνῆψεν, ὑφάσματά τε χρυσόν τε, ἐκτελέσας μέγα ἔργον, ὃ οὔ ποτε ἔλπετο θυμῷ.

Now at the first she put from her the unseemly deed, the beautiful clytemnestra, for she had an understanding heart ; and with her was furthermore a bard whom the son

7. BNP, s.v. « clytaemnestra ».8. Quintilianus, Inst. 8. 6. 53 ; horatius, Sat. i. i. 100.9. V. Vogel-ehrensperger, Die übelste aller Frauen ? Klytaimestra in Texten von Homer bis Ais-

chylos und Pindar, schwabe, Basel 2102 (schweizerische Beitrage zur altertumswissenschaft, 38), pp. ix-xiv. for a broader survey of the reception of a myth about agamemnon and clytemnestra cf. B. Baldarelli, « agamemnon und Klytaimnestra », in Der Neue Pauly. Band 13 (Rezeptions- und wissenschaftsgeschichte), J. B. metzler, stuttgart/weimar 1999, pp. 27-32.

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of atreus straitly charged, when he set forth for the land of troy, to guard his wife. But when at length the doom of the gods bound her that she should be overcome, then verily aegisthus took the bard to a desert isle and left him to be the prey and spoil of birds ; and her, willing as he was willing, he led to his own house. and many thigh-pieces he burned upon the holy altars of the gods, and many offerings he hung up, woven stuffs and gold, since he had accomplished a mighty deed beyond all his heart had hoped (trans. a. t. murray, harvard u. p., cambridge1995).

one can see that in this description (and in the Odyssey in general)10, clytemnestra is presented as initially a good wife that was left by her husband, agamemnon, under the supervision of a bard (ἀοιδὸς) who was charged to guard (εἴρυσθαι) her. she was seduced by aegisthus according to the « doom of the gods » (μοῖρα θεῶν) and evidently she yielded not completely without her own will. eventually aegisthus removed the bard and brought clytemnestra into his house. modern commentators propose that in the Odyssey the presentation of clytemnestra forms a negative counterpart to penelope, who has become a symbol of marital faithfulness11.

clytemnestra’ s portrayal and the emphasis laid upon it differ from one antique account to another as to her role and motif for the murder (e.g. aeschylus’ Orestia, sophocles’ Electra, euripides’ Electra, and Iphigenia Aulidensis). what is of importance for our study is that the story of clytemnestra became very well known from antiquity and its reminiscences abound in classical literature. let us take a brief look at two examples of that kind.

clytemnestra’ s story features in the opening part of the Deipnosophistae of athenaeus of Naucratis (fl. c. 200 ce) that deals with various aspects of the organization of festivities to which belonged bards and dancers. the text survives in an epitome.

athen., Deipnosoph. i, 23 (14b)σῶφρον δέ τι ἦν τὸ τῶν ἀοιδῶν γένος καὶ φιλοσόφων διάθεσιν ἐπέχον. Ἀγαμέμνων γοῦν τὸν ἀοιδὸν καταλείπει τῇ Κλυταιμνήστρᾳ φύλακα καὶ παραινετῆρά τινα· ὃς πρῶτον μὲν ἀρετὴν γυναικῶν διερχόμενος ἐνέβαλλέ τινα φιλοτιμίαν εἰς καλοκἀγαθίαν, εἶτα διατριβὴν παρέχων ἡδεῖαν ἀπεπλάνα τὴν διάνοιαν φαύλων ἐπινοιῶν. διὸ Αἴγισθος οὐ πρότερον διέφθειρε τὴν γυναῖκα πρὶν τὸν ἀοιδὸν ἀποκτεῖναι ἐν νήσῳ ἐρήμῃ.

Bards were thoughtful people, who occupied the position of philosophers. agamemnon, for example, leaves his bard behind to guard clytemnestra and serve as a sort of advisor. the fellow used to offer her, first of all, a detailed account of feminine virtue, to inspire her with eagerness to become a noble person, while also providing a pleasant way of passing the time so as to divert her attention from base thoughts. aegisthus was therefore unable to seduce the woman until he put the bard to death on a desert island (trans. s. d. olson, harvard u. p., cambridge 2006-2012).

10. on this passage cf. Vogel-ehrensperger, Die übelste aller Frauen ?, pp. 10-16.11. Vogel-ehrensperger, Die übelste aller Frauen ?, p. 398.


athenaeus provides here an elaborate description of a bard’s duty who was appointed by agamemnon to look after his wife while he was away. although athenaeus straightforwardly explains to us that the bard (ἀοιδὸν) was left as « a guard and councillor »(φύλακα καὶ παραινετῆρά τινα) « to divert her attention from base thoughts (ἀπεπλάνα τὴν διάνοιαν φαύλων ἐπινοιῶν) what remains unclear is the actual means that were employed by the bard. Notwithstanding athenaeus’ silence, modern commentators of the text have been able to show that « the idea of presenting the poetry of singers in the courts of kings as one means of reinforcing moral standards and as a power having healing effects on a community early became an important part of Greek socio-political thought, in which artistic production formed a promising device for citizens’ education and the building up of social values »12.

while observing the other occasions of the use of clytemnestra’ s story we may easily note that, generally, later writers tend to stress the bard’s virtuous behaviour as being instrumental in having a tempering impact on agamemnon’s wife13. sextus empiricus (2nd c. ce), for example, relates that agamemnon left a bard to look after his wife’ s σωφροσύνη :

sextus empiricus, Adversus Musicos Vi.11-13καὶ μὴν δι’ ἔθους ἦν καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἥρωσιν, εἴ ποτε ἀποδημοῖεν καὶ μακρὸν πλοῦν στέλλοιντο, ὡς πιστοτάτους φύλακας καὶ σωφρονιστῆρας τῶν γυναικῶν αὑτῶν ἀπολείπειν τοὺς μουσικούς. Κλυταιμνήστρᾳ γέ τοι παρῆν ἀοιδός, ᾧ πολλὰ ἐπέτελλεν Ἀγαμέμνων περὶ τῆς κατὰ ταύτην σωφροσύνης. ἀλλ’ ὁ Αἴγισθος πανοῦργος ὢν αὐτίκα τὸν ἀοιδὸν τοῦτον ἄγων εἰς νῆσον ἐρήμην κάλλιπεν οἰωνοῖσιν ἕλωρ καὶ κῦρμα γενέσθαι· εἶθ’ οὕτως ἀφύλακτον λαβὼν τὴν Κλυταιμνήστραν διέφθειρεν, προτρεψάμενος αὐτὴν ἐπιθέσθαι τῇ ἀρχῇ τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος.

indeed, it was also customary for the other heroes – if they ever were away from home and set out on a long voyage – to leave behind musicians as the most faithful guardians and teachers of discretion to their wives. there was present with clytemnestra a bard to whom agamemnon gave commands concerning her discreet conduct. But aegisthus, being a rogue, immediately took the singer and left him on a desert island for the birds of prey to spoil and feed on. then aegisthus, taking clytemnestra thus unguarded, seduced her to appropriate the sovereignty of agamemnon (trans. d. d. Greaves, univ. of Nebraska press, lincoln 1986).

up till the present point in our survey a controlling duty of the bard appears to have been understood as being related to his personal upright behaviour14. Nevertheless a concealed message of the story that undoubtedly witness to

12. B. Krystyna, « the Voice of tradition : representations of homeric singers in athenaeus 1.14a-d », The Classical Quarterly 57 (2007), pp. 231-243, pp. 234-235.

13. e.g. strabo, Geographia, i.2.3 and Scholia in Odysseam (Σ 3, 267, 1-31).14. Nevertheless, the very same Odyssey does provide accounts about healing incantations (e.g.

Od. XiX, 456-457).

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the power of music could not remain unnoticed. it must have been especially appealing to all those who were advocating an ability of music to affect the emotions. indeed a conviction about the extraordinary powers of music was a common place in the classical period as can be readily seen in various branches of Greek literature and culture, including medicine (where it apparently occupied not such a prominent place as in a later islamic tradition) and complex systems of music theory developed in the pythagorean tradition and reaching Neoplatonism, that was considerably influenced by the pythagorean approach to music15.

an example, or better to say a counter-example, for a wide currency of clytemnestra’ s story as an illustration of the power of music can be found in the treatise Adversus Mathematicos of sextus empiricus just quoted. in it, sextus attempted to refute the views and doctrines professed by the teachers of the six subjects that made up a basic educational curriculum. Book Vi deals with the dogmatic claims of the theorists purporting to demonstrate different aspects of the value of music that sextus empiricus is at pains to refute16.

we have just seen a statement concerning the power of music that sextus is going to prove wrong and it shows that clytemnestra’ s story was used by the theorists of music to demonstrate the ability of music to affect the human soul and, closer to our case, to restrain sexual desire and to turn one to virtue.

15. a scholarly literature on the interrelationship of music and philosophy as well as on the thera-peutic treatment of music abounds. here are just a few literary suggestions : B. meinecke, « music and medicine in classical antiquity », in d. m. schullian - m. schoen (eds), Music and Medicine, h. schu-man, New york 1948, pp. 47-96 ; w. schulze, « armonia and psyche. remarks on the philosophical background of music therapy », in K. J. Boudouris (ed.), Philosophy and Medicine. Ninth International conference on Greek Philosophy (Kos-Kalymos 1997), vol. 1, international association for Greek phi-losophy, alimos 1998 (meletes sten hellenike philosophia, 28), pp. 204-222 ; r. sorabji, Emotions and Peace of Mind : From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation, oxford u. p., oxford 2000 ; m. west, « music therapy in antiquity », in p. horden (ed.), Music as Medicine : The History of Music Therapy since Antiquity, ashgate, aldershot 2000, pp. 51-68 ; m. schramm - st. l. sorgner (eds), Musik in der antiken Philosophie. Eine Einführung, Konigshausen & Neumann, würzburg 2010. for a later period cf. w.-f. Kümmel, Musik und Medizin : ihre wechselbeziehungen in Theorie und Praxis von 800 bis 1800, Verlag Karl albert, freiburg i. Br./münchen 1977 (freiburger forschungen zur wissenschafts- und universitatsgeschichte, 2). as for Neoplatonism, already plotinus allocated a special role to music in his doctrine and recognized its power to affect the soul positively and negatively (plot., Enn. iV 4 [28], 31.19-22 : ῥητορείαν δὲ καὶ μουσικὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ψυχαγωγίαν ἢ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἢ πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον ἄγειν ἀλλοιούσας, ἐν αἷς ζητητέον, ὅσαι αἱ τέχναι καὶ τίνα τὴν δύναμιν ἔχουσι). for some representative passages from the Neoplatonic philosophers cf. r. sorabji (ed.), The Philosophy of the Commentators, 200-600. A Sourcebook, Volume 1 : Psychology (with Ethics and Religion), duckworth, london 2004, pp. 302-304. cf. also d. J. o’ meara, « the music of philosophy in late antiquity », in r. w. sharples (ed.), Philosophy and the Sciences in Antiquity, ashgate, aldershot 2005 (ashgate Keeling series in ancient philosophy), pp. 131-147 and a. sheppard, « music therapy in Neoplato-nism », in r. w. sharples (ed.), Philosophy and the Sciences in Antiquity, pp. 148-155.

16. it was argued that sextus was reproducing the argumentation of the epicurean philoso-pher philodemus. a. riethmüller, « die hinfalligkeit musiktheoretischer prinzipien nach sextus empiricus, Adversus musicos », Archiv für Musikwissenschaft 32 (1975), pp. 184-195 ; r. la sala, « sextus empiricus », in schramm - sorgner, Musik in der antiken Philosophie. Eine Einführung, pp. 257-274 ; r. Bett, « a sceptic looks at art (but not very closely) : sextus empiricus on music », International Journal for the Study of Skepticism 3 (2013), pp. 155-181.


for sextus it was unacceptable to hold true the doctrines that go beyond the acceptance of phenomena. unfortunately, the argument brought by sextus to refute the statement under consideration is not actually convincing, because besides denigrating the value of the account while assigning it to a non-reliable source (“myth-tellers”), what he does is simply manipulating the succession of the events.

sextus empiricus, Adversus Musicos Vi. 26 νὴ Δί’ , ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἥρωες τὰς ἑαυτῶν γυναῖκας ᾠδοῖς τισὶν ὡς σώφροσι φύλαξι παρακατετίθεντο, καθάπερ ὁ Ἀγαμέμνων τὴν Κλυταιμνήστραν. ταῦτα δὲ ἤδη μυθολογούντων ἐστὶν ἀνδρῶν, εἶτα καὶ παρὰ πόδας αὑτοὺς διελεγχόντων· πῶς γάρ, εἴπερ μουσικὴ περὶ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐπανορθώσεως ἐπιστεύετο, τὸν μὲν Ἀγαμέμνονα ἡ Κλυταιμνήστρα ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἑστίας κατέκτανεν ὥσπερ βοῦν ἐπὶ φάτνῃ ;

But, by Zeus, even the heroes entrusted their wives to certain bards as guardians who were possessed of discretion, just as agamemnon entrusted clytemnestra! yet this surely derives from men telling mythical tales – who then, immediately afterwards, convict themselves. for if music is indeed trusted for the correction of passions, how is it that clytemnestra slew agamemnon at his own hearth like an “ox at the manger” ? (trans. d. d. Greaves, univ. of Nebraska press, lincoln 1986).

summing up the preceding presentation, one can say that the story of clytemnestra’ s infidelity was well known in antiquity and was used in different sources and contexts. Belonging to the repertoire of classical mythology, the story was developed by the authors of the dramas, so that by the time of the hellenistic period it became a chrestomathic one. on the other hand, we see that already in antique times clytemnestra’ s story was taken up by philosophers and theoreticians of music as evidence for the power of music to affect human emotions.

III. Neoplatonism on the power of music and Clytemnestra’ s infidelityif we turn now to our quotation from the work of denḥā, then it seems that

one can admit various ways and channels for clytemnestra’ s story to reach a 9th c. syrian christian. however, there is a reliable indication that provides crucial evidence in identifying with certitude the precise nature of the source that was used by denḥā.

according to an invaluable reference given by elias of Nisibis, the passage he quoted was borrowed from the commentary on the Isagoge by porphyry. we can be sure that elias’ reference is trustworthy, because as shown by various scholars earlier, elias’ approach to his sources is highly accurate, and usually there is no reason to suspect that he was confusing the texts.

interestingly, just a quick check of the available commentaries on the Isagoge of porphyry brings a remarkable result. to put it briefly, within the Neoplatonic school in alexandria in late antique period was established a tradition of starting the study of philosophy in general, and of aristotle’ s Organon in particular, with

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the Isagoge by porphyry, an examination of which was preceded by more general introductory lectures on philosophy, the so-called Prolegomena philosophiae. although a general pattern of that introduction has a stereotyped nature, a treatment of particular aspects and points could be done quite individually and one of the means for that was the usage of the illustrative examples. remarkably enough, the Prolegomena of elias (6th c.) contain a paraphrase of clytemnestra’ s story that is used as an illustration of the power of music.

some of these Prolegomena are extant but many are lost and are attested only indirectly. Now we know that the commentaries were a product of routine schooling activity and were delivered by a scholarch. each subsequent scholarch must have used earlier lectures while rearranging and supplementing the material according to his philosophical stance. as was noticed by leendert westerink, one may find considerable variation in the Prolegomena so that with time they tend to become more prolix17. a general pattern of the Prolegomena is normally restricted to the treatment of various definitions of philosophy and to a discussion of the parts that philosophy consists of. following a long-standing tradition, music is also considered as one of the sciences and therefore one can find its presentation there as well. it is a part of mathematics : philosophy is divided into theoretical and practical ; theory is subdivided into theology, mathematics and physics, whereas mathematics is going to be subdivided further into arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. a treatment of music usually covers two points. first of all, we find it mentioned within a section dealing with an invention of the four mathematical sciences18 and, secondly, slightly later in the text, the author provides an exposition about its power. the Prolegomena were being composed in the period from the 5th till 7th c. and, as mentioned earlier, only a few have survived (both as independent compositions and as connected with a following commentary on the Isagoge) : ammonius (c. 440-520 ce)19, david (d. c. 600 ce)20, elias (d. c. 600 ce)21. a survey of how the

17. l. G. westerink, « the alexandrian commentators and the introductions to their commentar-ies », in r. sorabji (ed.), Aristotle Transformed. The Ancient Commentators and Their Influence, cornell u. p., ithaca Ny 1990, pp. 325-348, p. 344. on the contents of the Prolegomena cf. ch. hein, Definition und Einteilung der Philosophie. Von der spätantiken Einleitungsliteratur zur arabischen Enzyklopädie, p. lang, frankfurt a.m. 1985 (europaische hochschulschriften XX. philosophie, 177); i. hadot, « les introductions aux commentaires exégétiques chez les auteurs néoplatoniciens et les auteurs chrétiens », in m. tardieu (ed.), Les Règles de l’interprétation, Éd. du cerf, paris 1987 (patrimoines. histoire des re-ligions), pp. 99-122 ; J. mansfeld, Prolegomena. Questions to be settled before the Study of an Author, or a Text, Brill, leiden 1994 (philosophia antiqua, 61) ; J. mansfeld, Prolegomena Mathematica. From Apol-lonius of Perga to late Neoplatonism, Brill, leiden/Boston 1998 (philosophia antiqua, 80).

18. cf. on that a. Baumstark, « Ζητήματα βαρβαρικά », in Philologisch-historische Beiträge Curt wachsmuth, teubner, leipzig 1897, pp. 145-154.

19. ammonius, In Porphyrii Isagogen sive V Voces, ed. a. Busse, reimer, Berlin 1891 (caG iV.3), pp. 1-16.

20. Davidis Prolegomena et in Porphyrii Isagogen commentarium, ed. a. Busse, reimer, Berlin 1904 (caG XViii.2), pp. 1-79.

21. Eliae In Porphyrii Isagogen et Aristotelis Categorias commentaria, ed. a. Busse, reimer, Ber-lin 1900 (caG XViii.1), pp. 1-34.


power of music was treated may assist in making sense of denḥā’ s relationship with that stream of commentary literature.

ammon., In Isag., p. 13.19-27 Busseἐπιτηδεύει δὲ καί τινα μέλη κοιμίζοντα μὲν τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς πάθη, διεγείροντα δὲ αὐτὴν ἐπὶ ἀρετήν. ὅτι δὲ τοῦτο οὕτως ἔχει, δηλοῖ τὰ ἔτι σωζόμενα ἴχνη καὶ οἷον ἀποπτώσεις τῆς μουσικῆς· ἀκούοντες γοῦν σάλπιγγος θυμικώτερον διατιθέμεθα (καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις ἡ σάλπιγξ ἐπιτηδεύεται), ἀκούοντες δὲ θεατρικῶν μελῶν ἐκλυτώτερον διακείμεθα τὰς ψυχάς. Φέρεται δὲ καὶ ἱστορία τοιαύτη, ὅτι ὁ Πυθαγόρας ἑωρακώς τινα νέον αὐλητρίᾳ ἔκλυτον μέλος αὐλούσῃ ἑπόμενον κελεύσαι αὐτὴν στρέψασαν τὸν αὐλὸν αὐλῆσαι, καὶ τούτου γενομένου παύσαι τοῦ νέου τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν·

some melodies are used to soothe the afflictions of the soul as well as to arouse it for the sake of virtue. that it is indeed so, is shown by the still lingering traces and reverberations of music. therefore, while hearing a trumpet we dispose ourselves to courage (and that it is why a trumpet is used in battles), whereas while hearing theatrical melodies our souls become more tranquil. there is a story that pythagoras, seeing a young man following a flutist playing a sweet melody, ordered her to play from the other side of the flute, and because of that ceased the desire in the young man.

ammonius makes a distinction between two different effects of music on the soul. Namely, music can « soothe »(κοιμίζοντα) and « arouse » (διεγείροντα). as an example of the former ammonius mentions a trumpet (σάλπιγγος), whereas the second type of the effects produced by music is exemplified by means of « theatrical melodies » (θεατρικῶν μελῶν). finally, a story about pythagoras serves to illustrate the moderating impact of music that apparently also belongs to the first type of effects.

as demonstrated by anne sheppard, the given story about pythagoras using music to cure a young man of his erotic passion was introduced as an example of the therapeutic ability of music by ammonius, who followed earlier Neoplatonists, iamblichus and proclus, in their interest in the effect of music22. the story, despite some variation about details, was readily taken up by olympiodorus (In Gorg., pp. 40.30-41.24 westerink) and, as we shall see in a moment, in both david and elias’ Prolegomena. music had an exemplary nature for Neoplatonism and one cannot but agree with o’ meara’ s statement that « Neoplatonists could find in music a theory of relations, of structures and in particular of unification, which influenced the way in which they saw the moral life, a life whose paradigms, they believed, were to be found in a higher theoretical science, in music »23.

a much more elaborate treatment of music’ s ability to affect the soul occurs in the Prolegemona of elias. although elias’ identity remains somewhat unclear,

22. cf. sheppard, « music therapy », pp. 151-152.23. cf. o’ meara, « the music of philosophy », p. 145.

132 GriGory Kessel

it is generally believed that he studied under olympiodorus and flourished in the second half of the 6th c. in alexandria24.

a paramount importance of the text of elias for our study of the quotation from the commentary of denḥā lies in the close similarity between them. the Prolegomena of elias is the only extant introduction to Isagoge where the story of clytemnestra was quoted to illustrate the power of music. although the story is embedded within a more extended narrative, its treatment, form and even wording remarkably resembles that of denḥā.

elias, In Isag., p. 31.7-25 Busse Ἀποροῦσι δέ τινες ὅτι εἰ πάντα τὰ μαθήματα δεῖται τῆς τῶν μουσῶν ἐπιπνοίας, διὰ τί μία μόνη λέγεται μουσική. πρὸς ὅ φαμεν ὅτι ταύτης μόνης ἔργον πάθη ψυχῆς ἰᾶσθαι καὶ σώματος· διὸ καὶ ἡ φιλοσοφία μεγίστη μουσικὴ ὡς πάθη ψυχῆς ἰωμένη, ὅθεν καὶ ἰατρικὴ ψυχῶν λέγεται. ὅτι δὲ ἰᾶται ψυχῶν πάθη ἡ μουσική, φασί ποτε τὸν Πυθαγόραν θεασάμενον παιδάριον ἑπόμενον κόρῃ αὐλούσῃ ἐπιτρέψαι αὐτῇ στρέψαι τοὺς αὐλούς, καὶ τοῦ μέλους διαφθαρέντος ἔπαυσεν αὐτὸν τοῦ ἐρᾶν. ἀλλὰ καὶ μέχρι τῆς σήμερον ἔχομεν ἐπᾴσματα μουσικά· ἀκούσαντες γὰρ θεατρικῶν μελῶν ἐκνενευρισμένοι γινόμεθα καὶ ἔκλυτοι, πολεμικῶν δὲ τοὐναντίον. καὶ τὰ βοσκήματα δὲ τῇ τοιᾷδε σύριγγι πείθεται εἰς νομὴν ἐξιόντα καὶ πάλιν εἰς τοὺς σηκοὺς ἐπιστρέφοντα. καὶ σάλπιγξ ἐν πολέμῳ τοὺς ἵππους παρορμᾷ καὶ διεγείρει. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονά φασι μέλλοντα ἐπιστρατεύειν τῇ Τροίᾳ μὴ πρότερον ἐξορμῆσαι, πρὶν ἀοιδόν τινα καταλιπεῖν φύλακα τῆς σωφροσύνης τῆς ἰδίας γυναικὸς Κλυταιμνήστρας. ὅθεν ὁ Αἴγισθος ἐθέλων ἐθελούσῃ οὐκ ἠδυνήθη αὐτῇ συγγενέσθαι, πρὶν τὸν ἀοιδὸν διέφθειρεν ἔν τινι νήσῳ ἐρήμῃ καλουμένῃ. καὶ τότε αὐτὴν ἀνήγαγεν εἰς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ οἶκον, ὡς δηλοῖ τὰ Ὁμηρικὰ ἔπη. καὶ Συνέσιος δὲ ὁ φιλόσοφος ὁ γενόμενος ὕστερον Κυρήνης ἐπίσκοπος βαρβάρων ἐπιστάντων τῇ Κυρήνῃ διά τινων μελῶν ἔτρεψε τούτους, καὶ φεύγοντες ἔκοπτον ἀλλήλους μηδενὸς διώκοντος.

some raise the objection that if all the mathematical sciences require an understanding of the muses (i.e. liberal arts), why is only one called “music” ? to that we reply that the function of music alone is to heal the afflictions of the soul and body. for this reason, philosophy is the “greatest music”, because it is healer of the afflictions of the soul, from which it is also called medicine of souls. to show that music heals afflictions of souls, they say that once pythagoras, having observed a young man pursue a girl playing a flute, ordered her to stop playing her flute, and when the music ceased, he (thereby) brought an end to the young man’s erotic passions. But even up to today we experience musical enchantment. for when we hear theatrical melodies we become relaxed and tranquil, and when we hear battle music we become the opposite. and livestock are persuaded by just such a shepherd’s pipe to go out into the pasture and again to return to the folds. and the trumpet in battle excites and arouses the horses. But they even say that agamemnon, intending to attack troy, did not set out for battle without first leaving behind some bard to be a guard over the self-control of his own wife, clytemnestra. as a result, when aegisthus wished to

24. an actual number was apparently larger.


sleep with her, he did not coax her into willingness until he had made away with the bard to a certain island said to be deserted. and then he brought her to his own house, as the homeric poems recount. and synesius, the philosopher who became bishop of cyrene, when some barbarians attacked cyrene, defeated them with some songs, and fleeting, they smote one another even though no one was pursuing them (tr. m. roueché25).

elias makes a start with the claim that music can « heal the afflictions of the soul and body » (πάθη ψυχῆς ἰᾶσθαι καὶ σώματος). interestingly, although not being sceptical like sextus empiricus about the examples that he is about to offer, elias nevertheless aspires to convince that a therapeutic power of music achieves its pinnacle in philosophy, the « greatest music » (μεγίστη μουσική), for it is capable of affecting the souls in the most effective way.

to prove his initial statement elias brings seven examples, three of which already feature in ammonius (the story about pythagoras, the theatrical melodies, the military music). four ensuing examples are new, but still fall into the two types of the effects of music as distinguished by ammonius. two of those examples are rather colourless (the control over livestock by a shepherd’s pipe, the trumpet that can arouse the horses), whereas the last two are much more vivid. the one deals with clytemnestra, and the other with the philosopher synesius of cyrene.

strangely, while paraphrasing clytemnestra’ s story elias does not explicitly mention that the bard was controlling the inclinations of agamemnon’s wife by means of music. rather, much more in accordance with the original tradition, elias merely calls him « guard over the self-control of his own wife » (φύλακα τῆς σωφροσύνης τῆς ἰδίας γυναικός). thus, it is only in the context of the passage that one can perceive what elias read into that story.

it is tempting to suggest that the introduction of new examples was a personal input of elias, who, while basing himself predominantly on the available material and the lectures of his predecessors, developed his personal, distinctive approach. Nevertheless, it seems that the illustrative stories (including that of clytemnestra) appear to belong to a common stock of exempla (cf. the introductory formula φασί before the stories of pythagoras and agamemnon). this nonetheless should not be applied to the story about synesius of cyrene, which is very likely to be an allusion to a real historical event that became familiar to elias, maybe in oral form26.

the allusion to the philosopher senesius of cyrene clearly indicates that despite the constraints of the genre there was always space for novelty, inter alia by means of introducing new illustrative examples. those examples could be drawn either from a traditional stock of mythological stories or (although much less often) from personal experience.

it is also necessary to bear in mind that while dealing with such stories that have only an illustrative function one should not exclude the possibility of an

25. in sorabji, The Philosophy of the Commentators I, pp. 302-303.26. see on that story sheppard, « music therapy », p. 153.

134 GriGory Kessel

editorial intervention by a scribe, who may have well felt free enough to add or omit one or another anecdote. we may recognize such editorial tendencies in the transmission of the Prolegomena of david.

the identity of the philosopher david is no less a problem than elias’, but he is conventionally regarded as being, along with elias, a disciple of olympiodorus. some of his works, including the Prolegomena, were early translated into armenian and provide valuable textual evidence for a study of the Greek originals.

david, Proleg., p. 65.3-9 Busseπάνυ δὲ συμβάλλεται ἡ μουσικὴ οὐ μόνον ταῖς τῶν ἀλόγων ψυχαῖς ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν λογικῶν. ὅτι δὲ συμβάλλεται ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν ἀλόγων, δηλοῦσι τὰ πρόβατα ἑπόμενα τῇ ποιμενικῇ σύριγγι ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τῆς φωνῆς ἡδυνόμενα. ὅτι δὲ καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ τῶν λογικῶν ζῴων συμβάλλεται, δηλοῖ ἡ ἐν πολέμῳ σάλπιγξ τὴν ψυχὴν διεγείρουσα, καὶ τὰ θεατρικὰ δὲ ὄργανα δηλοῦσι τὴν ψυχὴν χαλῶντα διὰ τὸ ποιεῖν αὐτὴν ἥδεσθαι.

music raises a response not only among the speechless creatures, but also among those endowed with reason. [an example] that it can raise a response among the speechless beings is given by the cattle following the shepherd’s pipe as if they were enjoying its voice. whereas [an example] that it raises a response among the living beings endowed with reason is given by the trumpet that arouses the soul as well as the theatrical instruments that soothe the soul while making it to take delight.

david makes use of just three examples (the shepherd’s pipe, the military music and theatrical melodies), all of which are known already from elias. what sharply distinguishes david’s approach from his predecessors is a strong emphasis on an ability of music to exert influence on both animals and humans. thus, we are told that whereas the effect on the cattle is that of a guidance, the human reaction (συμβάλλεται) is more complex ; afterwards comes the distinction as introduced by ammonius.

remarkably, the armenian version of the text provides quite a different form of that passage. more precisely, the given passage is absent there, whereas a presentation of the power of music takes a very different form :

david, Proleg., Versio armeniaca27

it should be known that music possesses great power, for it can plunge the soul into various states and restore it to good humour, to which laments and elegies bear witness, for these can dispose the soul accordingly. thus some tell the tale of how [once] when at a feast alexander heard a musician play a war song, at which he instantly took up arms and departed. But when the musician began to play a festive tune he returned to join his fellow guests.

27. B. Kendall - r.w. thomson, Definitions and Divisions of Philosophy by David the Invincible Philosopher, scholars press, chico 1983 (univ. of pennsylvania armenian texts and studies, 5), p. 135.


Given the considerable divergences of the armenian version against the Greek original, it has been recently convincingly demonstrated that at least some of those variants are to be explained as deliberate editorial interventions of a translator aiming at producing a somewhat simplified redaction of that text that would have been palatable to the armenian audience28. particularly, in the case of the given passage Valentina calzolari argues that although bearing the same function of demonstrating a power of music as present in the parallel Greek text, the origin of the armenian variant (not attested by any other relevant source) should be sought for in the armenian tradition, that already early in its history showed a profound interest and esteem towards a figure of alexander the Great29.

IV. ‘Denḥā the Logician’ on the power of music and Clytemnestra’ s infidelityhaving surveyed the extant Prolegomena30 and the way they approach

clytemnestra’ s infidelity, it is now a suitable moment to turn to the quotation

28. V. calzolari, « du pouvoir de la musique dans la version arménienne des Prolegomena de david le platonicien (orphée et alexandre le Grand) », in a. Kolde - a. lukinovich, - a.-l. rey (eds), Κορυφαίῳ ἀνδρί. Mélanges offerts à André Hurst, droz, Genève 2005 (recherches et rencon-tres), pp. 417-431 ; V. calzolari, « aux origines de la formation du corpus philosophique en arménie : quelques remarques sur les versions arméniennes des commentaires grecs de david », in c. d’ancona (ed.), The Libraries of the Neoplatonists. Proceedings of the Meeting of the European Science Foundation Network «Late Antiquity and Arabic Thought : Patterns in the Constitution of European Culture», held in Strasbourg, March 12-14, 2004, Brill, leiden/Boston 2007 (philosophia antiqua, 107), pp. 259-278 ; V. calzolari, « la version arménienne des Prolegomena philosophiae de david et son rapport avec le texte grec », in V. calzolari - J. Barnes (eds), L’œuvre de David l‘Invincible et la transmission de la pensée grecque dans la tradition arménienne et syriaque, Brill, leiden/Boston 2009 (philosophia anti-qua, 116), pp. 39-65 ; G. muradyan, « david the invincible’ s commentary on porphyry’ s Isagoge. a collation of the Greek and armenian Versions », in V. calzolari - J. Barnes (eds), L’œuvre de David l’Invincible, pp. 67-88. furthermore, it is worth noting in passing that the view on music of david (who is venerated in the armenian tradition as a saint) affected a theoretical conceptualization of music and music therapy in the armenian tradition : see N. tagmizyan, « [david the invincible and armenian music] », Sovetskaya muzika 8 (1968), pp. 126-132 ; a. Vardumyan, « [music-therapy in medieval armenia] », Bazmavep : Hayagtakan banasirakan grakan hands 165 (2007), pp. 493-509.

29. calzolari, « du pouvoir de la musique », pp. 425-428. i would like to add some a slight quali-fication to the proposed explanations : a survey of the section dealing with the power of music in the commentary tradition suggests that there may have existed a stock of exempla drawn from the myths and popular history that were used to illustrate a particular statement. apparently, both the lecturers, the students who took the notes and later published the lectures and, last but not least, the scribes, were well aware of those stories and anecdotes. so, given the peculiar character of the alexandrian commen-taries as well as the fluidity of their manuscript transmission, it is very likely that in the course of time a given commentary could be enriched with additional illustrative examples. seen from this perspective, would it not be reasonable to argue that it is the manuscript transmission of david’s text that accounts for the origin of alexander’ s story and not the popularity of that figure in the armenian milieu ?

30. Neither the concise anonymous Prolegomena [p. moraux, « ein unedierter Kurzkommen-tar zu porphyrios’ Isagoge », Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 35 (1979), pp. 55-98] nor that by pseudo-elias (Pseudo-Elias (Pseudo-David). Lectures on Porphyry’ s Isagoge. introduction, text and indices by l.G. westerink, North-holland pub. co., amsterdam 1967) contains a special section on the power of music. however, for justice’ s sake it should be noted that one may find a brief exposition about the power of music in the latter text when the author deals with the subject of the invention of the four mathematical sciences (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy).

136 GriGory Kessel

from a commentary on Isagoge of denḥā as it is provided by elias of Nisibis. i reproduce below the arabic text following the edition of andreas hau while dividing it into five parts for the sake of further analysis.

elias of Nisibis, Epistle (ed. a. hau, Brief, 1969, pp. ٣٥-٣٨)31

}1{ وأما اخلبر الدال على ان االحلان احملزنة واالخبار املزعجة يدفعان هذه الشهوة فهو

خبر زوجة اغامنيون ملك اليونانيني مع اودوسوس صاحب االحلان وذلك ان اودوسوس هذا كان موصوفا في علم املوسيقى

}2{ ولهذا العلم عند اليونانيني تأثيرات عجيبة في اجلسم والقلب ألنه يشفى االمراض

املتضادة اعني التي من هيجان الدم واملرة الصفراء والبلغم واملرة السوداء وتزيل حزن ويلطم يبكي حتى وحتزنه والسرور الطرب من نفسه ميلك ال حتى وتسره احلزين وتغضب احلكمي حتى لو قدر قتل كل من يلقاه وتزيل الغضب حتى لو شمت االنسان وقذف بكل فاحشة لم يغضب وتهيج شهوة اجلماع الى ان تغلب على االنسان وال ميلك نفسه معها وتبطل هذه الشهوة وتعكسها الى العفة حتى يجعل بغضة االنسان

للجماع مثل ما كانت محبته له قبل ذلك }3{ وكان اودسوس املقدم ذكره ماهرا في هذا العلم واتفق ان اغامنيون ملك الونانيني

دعته احلاجة الى قصد مدينة ايليون حملاربة اهلها فاستدعى اودسوس ورسم له مالزمة املقصورة التى فيها زوجته وجواره ومداومة استعمال االحلان التى جتلب العفة وكانت زوجة اغامنيون تهوى ابن عم له وهو ايضا يهواها فكانا قد توافقا قبل مسير امللك على انه متى غاب اجمتعا فلما سار امللك وجعل اودسوس يلحن أحلان العفة بطل هواها ألبن عم امللك وزالت شهوتها لالجمتاع معه وطلبت العفة فلما رأى ابن عم امللك ذلك وعرف العلة فيه احتال على اودسوس وقتله ومع قتله صارت املرأة له واجمتعت معه وملكته نفسها

تفسير في املنطقي دنحا اورده وقد اليونانيني اخبار في مشروح اخلبر وهذا }4{

ايساغوجي لفرفوريوس}5{ وذلك مما يدل على ان في االحلان ما يزيد في الشهوة وفيها ما ينقص منها ومما

نوح او صوت يغمه الشهوة وسمع خبرا له اذا عرضت االنسان ان اخلبر هذا يؤيد فانه يقل من شهوته مبقدار ما ينال قلبه من احلزن ولذلك تستعمل او بكاء مظلوم الرهبان والعباد االحلان الباعثة على اجلزع واجلالبة احلزن وذلك مما يدل على انه اذا سمع

االنسان حلنا محزنا او خبرا مزعجا زالت الشهوة القبيحة عن قلبه}1{ as for the proof for the statement that sad melodies and disturbing news can expel sexual desire, then [we can adduce] this story about the wife of

31. the edition of a. hau is based on the manuscript Vatican ar. 126 (1688 ce). for other known copies of the text see : r. caspar - a. charfi - Kh. s. samir, « Bibliographie du dialogue islamo-chrétien », Islamochristiana 3 (1977), p. 278 and Kessel, « a fragment », p. 110 n. 5 ; mon-ferrer sala, « elias of Nisibis » p. 740.


agamemnon, the king of the Greeks, and aoidos32, the master of melodies. that aoidos excelled in the art of music.}2{ according to the Greeks, that art can profoundly affect body and soul, for it is able to heal opposed diseases – i mean those that [are caused] by the agitation of blood, yellow bile, phlegm or black bile. it drives away the sadness from the dejected one and can make him rejoice to the point when he can no longer control himself because of joy and delight. [on the other hand, the music] can grieve so much that one [starts to] weep and slaps his face. it can make a wise man so furious that he would have killed anybody if he had run into him. [on the other hand,] it can drive away wrath so that a man will not be furious [even] if he is abused or dishonoured by whatever vile deed. it is capable of exciting the desire for sexual intercourse until [that desire] overcomes a man and then he is no longer able to restrain himself. however, it can also quell that desire and turn it into continence so that it makes man’s hatred to sexual intercourse, no matter how great was his love for it before.}3{ the above-mentioned aoidos was skilled in this art. when agamemnon, the king of the Greeks, was obliged to set out to the city of ilion in order to wage war against its people, he summoned the aoidos and ordered him to remain in the part of the palace in which his wife and his maids [resided], and constantly perform the melodies that can bring about continence. the wife of agamemnon was in love with [her husband’s] cousin, and he loved her. Before the departure of the king they had agreed to meet as soon as the king is left. however, as the king departed and the aoidos began to play the melodies [that arouse] continence, her love towards the king’ s cousin waned, her desire for a meeting with him vanished and she set her sights on continence. as the king’ s cousin noticed that and recognized its cause, he deceived aoidos and killed him. as he was killed, the woman turned [again] to him [her lover], met with him and gave herself in to him.}4{ this story is presented33 in the accounts of the Greeks. and it is cited by denḥa the logician in the commentary on the Isagoge of porphyry. }5{ this proves that there is something in the melodies that can either increase or diminish sexual desire. and what supports this statement is that if man were subject to sexual desire and heard disturbing news, a wailing voice or a weeping of a maltreated person, then that would reduce his sexual desire as much as sadness overwhelms his soul. and for that reason monks and the pious ones resort to the melodies that provoke sorrow and bring about sadness. this proves that if somebody hears a sad melody or disturbing news the vile sexual desire will vanish from his soul.

32. the arabic text provides slightly different variant readings that resemble the personal name “odysseus” (that is why in the translation of hau we find “odysseus” instead of the proper “aoidos” (cf. hau, Brief, pp. 57-59) ; that was retained also in Griffith, « the Virtue of continence », pp. 37-38). all of those readings appear to be corrupted forms of an original word that must have been a transliteration from the Greek [that trait evokes the syriac mirror-translations of the 7th-8th c. as exposed in numerous studies of Brock, e.g. in s. p. Brock, « changing fashions in syriac translation technique : the background to syriac translations under the abbasids », Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4 (2004), pp. 3-14]. apparently in the course of time the meaning of that transliteration was forgotten and the scribes had nothing else to do but to assimilate it to the better known name of odysseus.

33. arabic mašrūḥ has also the meaning of “to be commented upon”. one wonders whether elias refers here to other Prolegomena that were known to him.

138 GriGory Kessel

in § 1 we find elias’ introductory statement concerning the power of music to expel the lust and sexual desire that he is going to prove while resorting to a story of clytemnestra and agamemnon. the name of clytemnestra does not feature in the passage where she is referred to simply as agamemnon’s wife. the same is true for her beloved one, aegisthus, who is introduced as a cousin of clytemnestra’ s husband.

however, before coming to clytemnestra’ s case, we approach in § 2 a succinct theoretical background for the theory about the power of music, an illustration of which we are offered afterwards in § 3. what the author sketches with reference to the “Greeks” is nothing else than one of the fundamental elements of the late antique Galenic medicine that is usually labelled as humoral pathology. according to that theory, the body is made of four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) the balance and imbalance of which is responsible for health and disease. Based on that notion a key therapeutic principle was formed, namely that « opposites are cured by opposites » (this, probably, explains the somewhat odd expression “opposed diseases” in elias’ Letter). the teaching about the four humours, although present already in the Corpus Hippocraticum and later refined and established by Galen became a normative part of the medical science (at the expense of other, alternative approaches) in late antique alexandria. on the other hand, the therapeutic role of music was well known not only in classical antiquity but well into the medieval period and its practical application can be perceived, for instance, in hospitals, both in the west and east34 as well as in the development of music therapy, especially in the islamic tradition35. however, what appears to be important for our author is the ability of music to control the sexual desire. as argued by the author, music is powerful enough to make a human being lose any control over himself and give in to sexual desire and, on the other hand, it is capable of converting this carnal desire into its opposite, continence. a marked accent on the value of music in diminishing sexual desire seems to be an indication that the author of § 2 is elias of Nisibis, whose purpose is this treatise was to demonstrate that it is possible for a human to be freed from sexual desires36. however, we cannot exclude that some form of medical background features in the commentary of denḥā as well37.

34. p. horden, « religion as medicine : music in medieval hospitals », in p. Biller - J. Ziegler (eds), Religion and Medicine in the Middle Ages, york medieval press, york 2001 (york studies in medieval theology, 3), pp. 135-153.

35. literature on music therapy in the islamic tradition is abundant. again, just a few suggestions for an orientation : ch. Burnett, « Spiritual Medicine : music and healing in islam and its influence in western medicine », in p. Gouk (ed.), Musical Healing in Cultural Contexts, ashgate, aldershot 2000, pp. 85-91 ; a. shiloah, « Jewish and muslim traditions of music therapy », in p. horden (ed.), Music as Medicine The History of Music Therapy since Antiquity, ashgate, aldershot 2000, pp. 69-83.

36. as far as i was able to check, elias is not known as an author of any medical text. however, it should not surprise us that a well-learned intellectual of the 11th c. was familiar with the basic principles of medicine. it should be also noted that the brother of elias must have been a physician who produced a number of treatises on medicine : cf. Kh. s. samir, « Note sur le médecin Zāhid al-ʿulamāʾ, frère d’Élie de Nisibe », Oriens Christianus 69 (1985), pp. 168-183.

37. in support of denḥā’ s authorship of § 2 one could also allude to the fact that within the late alexandrian school the study of philosophy and medicine was closely intertwined : see l. G. west-


in the following section, § 3, we, finally, approach the story of clytemnestra. unlike the preceding section, whose origin is not absolutely clear, the paraphrase of clytemnestra’ s story must be seen with confidence as coming from the commentary of denḥā. denḥā’ s paraphrase is the most elaborate if compared with those presented earlier in this study. in fact, what we have here can be qualified as a brief dramatized love story, that presents clytemnestra and aegisthus as lovers who were hampered in their love affair by a bard left by agamemnon. we can only guess whether that elaborate paraphrase was borrowed by denḥā word for word from his source or if it was his personal input.

a distinctive trait of denḥā’ s paraphrase is the straightforward association of clytemnestra’ s sexual desire or of its absence with the bard’s music. thus, if in the Odyssey as well as in the later accounts the bard is considered as a guard who was charged to supervise clytemnestra and exhort her to a virtuous behaviour (e.g, in athen., φύλακα καὶ παραινετῆρα), but the actual way how the bard did his service is not specified, denḥā elaborates on the point and claims that the power of music can exercise radical influence on the inclinations of man. denḥā’ s view in that respect betrays a Neoplatonic concern about the effects of music on emotions. a striking similarity with elias’ Prolegomena serves as a reliable indication of the source of denḥā’ s inspiration.

in § 4 we find elias’ s reference to the source he used and immediately after, in § 5, he offers his concluding remarks, that summarize his position in the debate. we may only wonder if he is reporting from his personal experience while talking about monks’ use of music to arouse sorrow.

to sum up, in order to support his position in the debate over the possibility of lifelong sexual continence elias resorts to the fact that music can affect the emotions of man. this ability of music was a widely known idea in the classical tradition, that was later developed also in the islamic world. to illustrate his argument elias offers a paraphrase of clytemnestra’ s story that is borrowed from the commentary on the Isagoge of denḥā the logician. it is probable that only that part (§ 3) of the passage comes from denḥā’ s work, whereas the preceding piece (§ 2) that deals with the theoretical background of the power of music based on humoral pathology was authored by elias.

a study of other quotations in the Epistle of elias suggests that in reproducing his sources he is more often faithful than unfaithful38. it is probable therefore that also in the case of the given quotation from denḥā’ s work elias did not

erink, « philosophy and medicine in late antiquity », Janus 51 (1964), pp. 169-177 ; p. pormann, « medical education in late antiquity. from alexandria to montpellier », in m. horstmanshoff (ed.), Hippocrates and Medical Education, Brill, leiden/Boston 2010 (studies in ancient medicine, 35), pp. 419-441. hence it is not unusual to come across a treatment of medical issues in the works on philosophy. on pseudo-elias’ interest in medicine see Pseudo-Elias, Lectures on Porphyry’ s Isa-goge, pp. xiii-xv westerink.

38. Kessel, « a fragment » ; w. witakowski, « elias Bar shenaya’ s chronicle », in w. J. van Bekkum - J. w. drijvers - a. c. Klugkist (eds), Syriac Polemics. Studies in Honour of Gerrit Jan Reinink, peeters, leuven 2007 (ola, 170), pp. 219-237, pp. 233-237.

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make an exception and accurately copied the text. however, a slight adaptation on the level of syntax and vocabulary should not be completely ruled out.

V. Identity of “Denḥā the Logician”having clarified the provenance of the quotation from denḥā’ s

commentary it is appropriate to have a look at the author, his identity and historical background. regrettably, there is not much to tell because the extant information about denḥā is extremely scarce and what we have is just a handful of references not all without contradiction.

one of the essential sources for the literary activity of the syriac christians (especially of the east syriac tradition) is the Catalogue of the Syriac writers that was compiled at the beginning of the 14th c. by a prolific east syriac author, ʿabdīšōʿ bar Brīḫā, who was bishop of Nisibis (d. 1318 ce)39. there is good ground to identify “denḥā the logician” with denḥā40 who is presented as the author of a commentary on aristotle’ s logic (puššāqā da-mlīlūtā d-Arisṭaṭalīs)41. Besides that, the very same denḥā composed also a commentary on the Psalter, as well as on the “second part” of works of Gregory of Nazianzus42 and, finally, some works that dealt with canon law. None of the works listed by ʿabdīšōʿ bar Brīḫā appears to have survived, although there is a chance that denḥā’ s commentary on the Psalter is preserved in a number of copies43.

39. J. w. childers, s.v. « ʿ abdishoʿ bar Brikha », in Brock - Butts – Kiraz - Van rompay, The Syriac Heritage, pp. 3-4.

40. the Catalogue of the Syriac writers is not edited critically. in the edition of assemani one reads the name of the author as “iba” cf. Bibliotheca orientalis Clementino-Vaticana : in qua manu-scriptos codices Syriacos, Arabicos, Persicos, Turcicos, Hebraicos, Samaritanos, Armenicos, Æthiopicos, Græcos, Ægyptiacos, Ibericos, et Malabaricos ... recensuit, digessit, et genuina scripta a spuriis secrevit, addita singulorum auctorum vita J. S. Assemani, sacrae congregationis de propaganda fide, romae 1719-1728, vol. 3.1 (roma 1725), pp. 175-176) ; whereas the reading “denḥā” is provided by the edi-tion of ecchelensis : cf. Ope domini nostri Iesu Christi incipimus scribere tractatum continentem cata-logum librorum Chaldaeorum, tam ecclesiasticorum, quam profanorum auctore Hebediesu Metropolita Sobensi ; latinitati donatum et notis illustrarum ab Abrahamo Ecchellensi Syriacae linguae in almo urbis gymnasio publico lectore..., sacrae congregationis de propaganda fide, romae 1653, p. 82).

41. there is no entry on denḥā in r. Goulet (ed.), Dictionnaire des Philosophes Antiques and he is not mentioned in h. lagerlund (ed.), Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Philosophy between 500 and 1500, springer, dordrecht/New york 2011, but he deserved a note by h. daiber, « die syrische tradition in frühislamischer Zeit », in u. rudolph - r. würsch (eds), Grundriss der Ge-schichte der Philosophie (Abt. 8, 1). Die Philosophie in der Islamischen welt. Band 1. (8.‒10. Jahrhun-dert), schwabe, Basel 2012, pp. 40-54, p. 51.

42. a. de halleux, « la version syriaque des discours de Grégoire de Nazianze », in J. mossay (ed.), II. Symposium Nazianzenum (Louvain-la-Neuve, 25-28 aout 1981), actes du colloque in-ternational organisé avec le soutien du fonds National belge de la recherche scientifique et de la Gorres-Gesellschaft zur pflege der wissenschaft, ferdinand schoningh, paderborn 1983 (studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des altertums, 2), pp. 75-111, p. 76 n. 10 and p. 89.

43. the manuscripts bear a double attribution to a certain rabban denḥā and a rabban Grigor and the issue of authorship has not been resolved so far. the commentary was not edited in full and prop-erly studied. it has however been established that the commentary belongs to the east syriac exegetical tradition and is heavily influenced by the exegesis of theodore of mopsuestia. for some remarks and observations on the text cf. l. van rompay, Théodore de Mopsueste. Fragments syriaques du Commen-


since ʿabdīšōʿ himself does not give any biographical information about the author there were offered two different dates for denḥā’ s floruit. thus, J.s. assemani surmised that denḥā has to be placed in the 8th c. at the time of catholicos pethiōn (731-741 ce). the proposed date was not accepted by the scholars of syriac literature who were more inclined to follow a marginal note in a Grammatical treatise by another east syriac author John bar Zoʿbī (12th/13th c.)44 that identifies a citation in the text as coming from the « Commentary on [Prior] Analytics of aristotle by rabban denḥā, a disciple of mar catholicos Īšōʿbarnūn ». following that identification we can consider that denḥā was active in the first half of the 9th c., since catholicos Īšōʿbarnūn occupied a patriarchal see in the period from 823 till 828 ce. few other pieces of evidence have been brought to light all supporting a mid-9th c. date45.

thus, we see that there is good reason to identify “denḥā the logician” whose commentary on the Isagoge was used by elias of Nisibis with a 9th c. east syriac scholar denḥā. if so, then besides an already known citation in syriac from denḥā’ s commentary on aristotle’ s Prior Analytics46 a passage preserved in the Letter of elias of Nisibis must be seen as coming from another commentary of denḥā, namely that on the Isagoge. the recovered evidence indicates that denḥā’ s commentaries on aristotle’ s logic perfectly fit to the alexandrian

taire des Psaumes (Psaume 118 et Psaumes 138-148), peeters, louvain 1982 (csco 436. scriptores syri 190), pp. xi-xxviii ; l. van rompay, « development of Biblical interpretation in the syrian churches of the middle ages », in m. sæbø (ed.), Hebrew Bible / Old Testament. The History of Its Interpretation. Volume I : From the Beginnings to the Middle Ages (until 1300). Part 2 : The Middle Ages, Vandenhoeck & ruprecht, Gottingen 2000, p. 572 ; c. leonhard, « ps 119 and 139-147 in east-syrian commen-taries. the interdependence of the commentaries of theodore of mopsuestia, Īšōʿdād of merw and denḥa (ms. mingana 58) : first soundings », in w. arnolds - m. Jursa - w. müller - s. procházka (eds), Philologisches und Historisches zwischen Anatolien und Sokotra. Analecta Semitica in Memo-riam Alexander Sima, harrassowitz, wiesbaden 2009, pp. 181-206.

44. s. p. Brock, « yoḥannan bar Zoʿbi », in Brock-Butts-Kiraz-Van rompay, The Syriac Herit-age, pp. 440-441.

45. it remains to be settled whether the same denḥā should be identified with the christian the-ologian and philosopher abū Zakariyyāʾ denḥā who debated with the muslim historian al-masʿūdī on the subject of the trinity about the year 925 ce (as reported by al-masʿūdī in his Kitāb al-tanbīh wa-l-išraf : accedunt indices et glossarium ad tomos VII et VIII [40,41], ed. de Goeje, Brill, leiden 1894 [Bibliotheca geographorum arabicorum, 8], p. 155*). the debate is regularly mentioned in the studies on the history of christian-muslim relations but, as far as i was able to check, scholars usually do not attempt to identify that denḥā, cf. for instance, r. haddad, La Trinité divine chez les théologiens arabes : 750-1050, Beauchesne, paris 1985, p. 33 and J. l. Kremer, Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam : The Cultural Revival During the Buyid Age, leiden 1992 (studies in islamic culture and history, 7), p. 104. however, although daiber considers this identification as possible (daiber, « die syrische tradition », p. 51) there are pointers that make it problematic : according to al-masʿūdī, that denḥā was, first, a « Jacobite » and, secondly, the debates took places in the so-called “Green church” in takrit that belonged to the syrian orthodox community (J. m. fiey, « tagrit. esquisse de l’histoire chrétienne », L’Orient Syrien 8 (1963), pp. 289-342, pp. 333-334).

46. regrettably, despite easy availability of copies of John bar Zoʿbī’ s Grammar no research has been done on that passage. No surprise that it was not even mentioned as extant evidence for denḥā’ s output (daiber, « die syrische tradition », p. 51). however, a glance at that passage allows us to conclude that it deals with the figures of syllogisms based on arist., An. Pr. i, 4-6.

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commentary tradition of the Organon : it is preceded by Prolegomena philosophiae that is followed by the analysis of the Isagoge.

furthermore, besides commenting on the Organon, denḥā evidently authored also treatises on specific philosophic problems. according to an account found in the Treatise on the fourth figure of the figures of the categorical syllogism of the islamic scholar ibn al-Ṣalāḥ (d. 1153 ce) he had access to the work of “denḥā the priest” (Denḥā al-qass) entitled The fourth figure of Galen (bi-l-šakl al-rābiʿa li-Ǧalīnūs) that was dealing with the problematic fourth figure of the categorical syllogism and its attribution to Galen47. we may draw two implications from that record. first, it may be regarded as evidence that denḥā’ s logical oeuvre covered not only the logica vetus (terminating with the Prior Analytics i 7)48 but dealt also with the rest of the Organon49. second, since ibn al-Ṣalāḥ consulted the text in the arabic translation, this very fact indicates that at least some of the works of denḥā were translated into arabic and were available to the interested readers up until the 12th c. the logical works of denḥā should indeed have exercised considerable influence as can also be seen in the epithet attested by elias of Nisibis, namely “denḥā the logician”.

the evidence of John bar Zoʿbī quoting from denḥā’ s commentary on the Prior Analytics as well as a record in the Catalogue of the Syriac writers of ʿabdīšōʿ bar Brīḫā indicates that denḥā was writing his works in syriac. hence elias of Nisibis must have had at his disposal denḥā’ s commentary on the Isagoge in its original, syriac version. it was in fact very common for elias to use syriac sources for his arabic works. as a rule, elias made an ad hoc translation of the relevant passage and his renderings tend to be quite faithful.

to pursue the study of the quotation from denḥā’ s commentary further one would need to inquire into an actual source wherefrom denḥā had drawn a paraphrase of clytemnestra’ s story. unfortunately, not much can be done

47. N. rescher, Galen and the Syllogism, univ. of pittsburgh press, pittsburg 1966, p. 76 (ed.), p. 53 (tr.), later in the text ibn al-Ṣalāḥ expresses his sharp disagreement with denḥā on some specific points : rescher, Galen and the Syllogism, p. 86 (ed.), pp. 71-72 (tr.). on ibn al-Ṣalāḥ cf. c. Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur [1-3], Supplementband, Bill, leiden 1937-1942, Supplement i (leiden 1937), p. 857.

48. as is now well established, the syriac commentary tradition was not uniform and the treat-ment of the rest of the Organon is also attested, cf. s. p. Brock, « the syriac commentary tradi-tion », in ch. Burnett (ed.), Glosses and Commentaries on Aristotelian Logical Texts. The Syriac, Arabic and Medieval Latin Traditions, the warburg institute, london 1993 (warburg institute surveys and texts, 23), pp. 3-18 ; h. daiber, « die aristotelesrezeption in der syrischen literatur », in d. Kuhn - h. stahl (eds), Die Gegenwart des Altertums. Formen und Funktionen des Altertumsbezugs in den Hochkulturen der Alten welt, edition forum, heidelberg 2001, pp. 327-345 ; J. w. watt, « al-fārābī and the history of the syriac organon », in G. Kiraz (ed.), Malphono w-Rabo d-Malphone : Studies in Honor of Sebastian P. Brock, Gorgias press, piscataway NJ 2008 (Gorgias eastern christian-ity studies 3), pp. 751-778 ; h. hugonnard-roche, « la tradition gréco-syriaque des commentaires d’aristote », in V. calzolari - J. Barnes (eds), L’œuvre de David l ’Invincible, pp. 153-173 ; u. Vagel-pohl, « the Prior Analytics in the syriac and arabic tradition », Vivarium 48 (2010), pp. 134-158.

49. for a significance of that record cf. sh. pines, « a parallel in the east to the Logica Vetus », in J. p. Beckmann - w. Kluxen (eds), Philosophie im Mittelalter : Entwicklungslinien und Paradig-men, f. meiner, hamburg 1987, pp. 125-129 ; daiber, « die aristotelesrezeption », pp. 330-331.


in that direction, first of all, due to a loss of a number of Greek Prolegomena and, secondly, because of a general underdevelopment in the study of syriac philosophical literature50. i doubt that we can consider elias’ Prolegomena as being a source of denḥā, because the version of the latter is more extensive and contains some details that are lacking in the former. in my opinion, one ought to consider as denḥā’ s possible source either one of the lost Prolegomena or an earlier syriac commentary (but that would ultimately nevertheless depend on a Greek model). with regard to the lost Greek texts, some Prolegomena were produced by eutocius, olympiodorus, philoponus and stephanus the philosopher51. as for the syriac commentary tradition, then among the extant and available texts (notwithstanding a notable influence of the alexandrian tradition) none contains the given locus52. moreover, we should not discard yet another option, a compilation put together on the basis of different late alexandrian commentaries53. the question of the actual source of denḥā’ s paraphrase of clytemnestra’ s story must therefore remain open. similarly difficult to ascertain is whether denḥā had any command of the Greek.

despite the just presented uncertainties, we may pinpoint with reasonable confidence a plausible Synodicon Orientale background for the scholarly activity of denḥā. as recently demonstrated in a number of publications on the school movement in the church of the east in the 6th-9th c., a study of aristotelian logic along with patristic texts (among which those of Gregory of Nazianzus occupied one of the most prominent positions54) and exegesis of the Bible gained a major

50. Brock, « the syriac commentary tradition », pp. 8-9.51. for a survey cf. m. roueché, « the definitions of philosophy and a new fragment of

stephanus the philosopher », Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 40 (1990), pp. 107-128 ; ch. militello, I Commentari all’Isagoge di Porfirio tra V e VI secolo, Bonanno, acireale 2010. moreo-ver, as recently demonstrated by mossman roueché, an earlier hypothesis about stephanus’ author-ship of the Prolegomena by pseudo-elias has to be abandoned, cf. m. roueché, « stephanus the philosopher and ps. elias : a case of mistaken identity », Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 36 (2012), pp. 120-138.

52. for a survey of the extant commentaries on the Isagoge see Brock, « the syriac commen-tary tradition », pp. 11-12. from Brock’ s list texts 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.3, 1.6 and 1.7 contain material akin to the alexandrian Prolegomena but none deals with the subject of the power of music. it is worth stressing that the extant syriac texts related to the reception of the Isagoge and Prolegom-ena have only barely been studied and some texts remain unedited and unidentified. to complicate the matter even further, one should say that (as it was noticed by scholars who studied a particular treatise) it is hardly possible to establish a direct relationship between the syriac commentaries and their possible Greek sources, cf. e.g. d. Gutas, « paul the persian on the classification of the parts of aristotle’ s philosophy : a milestone between alexandria and Baghdad », Der Islam 60 (1983), pp. 231-267. it is worth observing that the arabic commentary tradition is remarkably similar in this respect ; for a possible explanation cf. f. w. Zimmermann, « some observations on al-farabi and logical tradition », in s. m. stern - a. hourani - V. Brown (eds), Islamic Philosophy and the Classical Tradition. essays presented by his friends and pupils to richard walzer on his seventi-eth Birthday, cassirer, oxford 1972 (oriental studies, 5), pp. 517-546.

53. the existence of such compilation is advocated by hans daiber, cf. h. daiber, « ein ver-gessener syrischer text : Bar Zoʿbī über die teile der philosophie », Oriens Christianus 69 (1985), pp. 73-80 and id., « die aristotelesrezeption », pp. 337-339.

54. Being considered as one of the main authorities in theology, the works of Gregory of Nazi-anzus were the object of refined philological scrutiny and an echo of his pivotal significance can be

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significance55. in this respect denḥā must have been stemming from a long tradition of scholarly enterprise that was pursued at the monasteries. among his predecessors one may mention the catholicos mar aba ii of Kaškar (d. 751 ce)56 who reportedly produced commentaries on the works of Gregory of Nazianzus, aristotle’ s logic and also commented upon the Bible and occupied himself with canon law. likewise, the catholicos timothy i (d. 823 ce)57 is not only well known for his contribution to Biblical studies, but he also wrote a commentary on the text of Gregory of Nazianzus, participated in the arabic translation of the Topica and, probably, supervised the establishment of the synodicon orientale, a collection of canons issued by the synods of the church of the east. finally, an immediate master of denḥā, catholicos Īšōʿbarnūn58 was active in various areas, including canonic law, but his main work was a commentary on the entire Bible in the form of questions and answers (significantly, a study of his exegesis revealed the strong influence of theology of Gregory of Nazianzus whom he respectfully calls « the theologian »)59.

although much of the literary output of the above-mentioned scholars has not survived, we are fortunate to have first-hand accounts about the concerns of the schools that are preserved in the epistolary corpus of timothy i. particularly, Letter 42, being a reply to the questions addressed to timothy i by the students at the Great monastery on mount izla, provides a vivid illustration of their preoccupation with logic (particularly some problems in the Isagoge and Categories are being clarified) as well as with the Homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus60. the libraries of the monastic schools must have been exceptionally rich in all the disciplines covered by the curriculum. for example,

found also in later christian arabic scholars, cf. J. w. watt, « les pères grecs dans le curriculum théologique et philologique des écoles syriaques », in a. schmidt - d. Gonnet (eds), Les Pères grecs dans la tradition syriaque, Geuthner, paris 2007 (Études syriaques, 4), pp. 27-41.

55. e.g. p. Bettiolo, « scuole e ambienti intellettuali nelle chiese di siria », in c. d’ancona (ed.), Storia della filosofia nell’Islam medievale, 2 vols., einaudi, torino 2005, vol. i, pp. 48-100 ; V. Berti, « la scuola di Bāšōš nella storia e nella cultura siro-orientale », in d. righi (ed.), La letteratura arabo-cristiana e le scienze nel periodo abbaside (750-1250). atti del 2° convegno di studi arabo-cristiani (roma, 9-10 marzo 2007), Zamorani, torino 2009 (patrimonio culturale arabo cristiano, 11), pp. 123-140 ; V. Berti, « libri e biblioteche cristiane nell’iraq dell’Viii secolo. una testimonianza dell’epistolario del patriarca siro-orientale timoteo i (727-823) », in d’ancona, The Libraries of the Neoplatonists, pp. 307-317.

56. G. J. reinink, s.v. « aba ii of Kashkar », in Brock-Butts-Kiraz-Van rompay, The Syriac Heritage, pp. 1-2.

57. d. Bundy, s.v. « timotheos i », in Brock-Butts-Kiraz-Van rompay, The Syriac Herit-age, pp. 414-415 ; V. Berti, Vita e studi di Timoteo I, Patriarca cristiano di Baghdad. Ricerche sull’epistolario e sulle fonti contigue, association pour l’avancement des études iraniennes - peeters, paris/leuven 2009 (studia iranica. cahier, 41).

58. l. van rompay, s.v. « ishoʿ Bar Nun », Brock-Butts-Kiraz-Van rompay, The Syriac Herit-age, p. 215.

59. Īšōʿbarnūn was associated with different monasteries (for instance, in seleucia-ctesiphon, the Great monastery of on mount izla, and mar eliyya in mosul) in the course of his life so it is quite problematic to suggest where he could give lessons to denḥā.

60. for its analysis cf. m. heimgartner, Die Briefe 42-58 des Ostsyrischen Patriarchen Timotheos I, peeters, leuven 2012 (csco, 645. scriptores syri, 249), pp. xxii-l.


Letter 19 witnesses to the availability of the commentaries on the Organon by olympiodorus and stephanus the philosopher61.

VI. Conclusionselias of Nisibis (975-1046 ce) preserved in his apologetic treatise a quotation

from an otherwise unknown and lost commentary on the Isagoge of porphyry written by a certain “denḥā the logician”. the quotation deals with the power of music to divest oneself of sexual desire. the statement is attractively illustrated by means of a paraphrase of the story of clytemnestra’ s adultery. despite the chrestomathic nature of the story it was possible to detect a possible source that could have been used by denḥā. an introduction to the study of philosophy as practised in late antique alexandria customarily dealt with the position of music among other sciences as well as with its power. such an introduction (originally in the form of lectures that were later put into a written form), called Prolegomena (sometimes featuring as a mere introduction to the commentary on the Isagoge), was introduced by ammonius and apparently all the subsequent professors of philosophy in alexandria followed his steps. despite the highly stereotyped nature of the genre, every author was able to remodel (e.g., to add, omit, rearrange) the text as he felt best. thus, if ammonius offers us nothing more than a succinct statement concerning the powerful ability of music to affect the soul in two different ways, that is illustrated through a story of pythagoras and some observations about the effect of the trumpets and theatrical melodies, then elias’ s treatment is much more extensive and contains a larger supplementary material (that may partially be drawn from the contemporary oral tradition) among which features a story about clytemnestra. the Prolegomena of david (apparently being one of the last examples of the genre) introduces a new accent into the treatment of the power of music while arguing that music can affect not only humans but also animals.

the story of clytemnestra’ s infidelity underwent a considerable reinterpretation in the course of time. in the Odyssey as well as in later paraphrases the role of the bard seems to be that of supervision over clytemnestra’ s morals : music did not matter a lot in that respect, what was crucial is that being a bard was considered as a token of that person’s upright behaviour. the story was reinterpreted in milieus that valued music in general and in particular its ability to exercise influence. apparently it was known to the theoreticians of music and eventually caught the attention of the Neoplatonists. the story, along with many others, evidently formed a stock of illustrative examples used to demonstrate the power of music.

seeing from the context of the usage of clytemnestra’ s story, denḥā’ s paraphrase shows an interesting development. whereas elias presents the story his account does not pay heed to the actual function of music, denḥā, on the

61. the text is analysed in Berti, « libri e biblioteche ».

146 GriGory Kessel

contrary, straightforwardly associates the actual means that were used by the bard to moderate clytemnestra with playing music62.

although denḥā’ s connection with and influence from the alexandrian commentary tradition can be securely postulated, the actual source of denḥā remains unclear (the original Greek text of one of the Prolegomena, its syriac translation, a compilation of different commentaries or an earlier syriac commentary that was itself following an alexandrian model).

Be this as it may, the quotation from denḥā’ s commentary along with a few other pieces of evidence suggests that in the person of denḥā we should see a productive east syriac scholar of the mid-9th c. who faithfully in line with his pedigree pursued research in the main areas of scholarly activity as carried out in the monastic schools : logic (Organon), theology (Gregory of Nazianzus), biblical exegesis (Psalter) and canon law. denḥā had a strong interest in philosophy and logic63. he is likely to have commented the Organon and also treated some specific philosophical problems separately. his works were known not only in the syriac speaking milieu but (at least some of them) were also translated into arabic. Both syriac and arabic copies of his works were available up until the 12th century.

Based on the available information about denḥā we can consider him as being one of the representatives of the community of learned east syrian scholars that were destined to implement the enormous project of translating the Greek scientific texts into arabic. his activity as a scholar in the first half of the 9th c. demonstrates anew the vitality of the alexandrian philosophy in that period among syrian christians. we should not be surprised therefore that the syrian christians faithfully handed on their appreciation to the arabs and thereby formed a solid fundament of the rising islamic philosophy, that was firmly rooted in alexandrian philosophy64.

62. interestingly, precisely the same interpretation of clytemnestra’ s infidelity with an empha-sis on the power of music to affect morals can be found in some european theoretical musical trea-tises, particularly in early modern times : e.g. p. laumonier, (ed.), Œuvres completes de P. de Ronsard, vol. 7, a. lemerre, paris 1914-1919, pp. 17-18 (the author provides also the story about alexander the Great) ; G. Zarlino, Le istitutioni harmoniche, francesco senese, Venice 1562, p. 70 (the author provides the story about alexander the Great and refers also to ammonius’ In Isag. and Boethius’ De Inst. mus.) ; m. praetorius, Syntagma musicum i, wittenberg 1614, p. 222 (perhaps borrowing from the encyclopedia Theatrum humanae vitae Theodori Zuingeri Bas. Tertiatione nouem voluminibus locupletatum, interpolatum, renouatum. Cum tergemino elencho, methodi scilicet, titulorum & exem-plorum, Basel 1587, p. 1290). unfortunately i was unable to trace its origin. it could be introduced simply from scratch as that kind of interpretation easily suggests itself ; if not (what is perhaps more likely, as all mentioned authors evidently drew examples from available literary sources) then one could think of an alexandrian tradition that was introduced into europe with Boethius (however, it is not present in his In Isag. or De Institutione musica that does not survive in full) or through medieval translations from arabic.

63. for some other contemporary authors of the 9th c. whose extant works on philosophy re-main understudied cf. h. daiber, « Nestorians of the 9th century iraq as a source of Greek, syriac and arabic. a survey of some unexploited source », ARAM 3 (1991), pp. 45-52.

64. see on that, most recently, ph. Vallat, « alexandrian tradition into arabic : philosophy », in lagerlund Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy, pp. 66-73 and h. daiber, Islamic Thought in the


it has often been speculated about the origins of islamic philosophy and whatever theory one would like to side with, the figure of the philosopher denḥā should call to mind the actual backdrop and milieu saturated by late alexandrian philosophy. despite the substantial loss of the syriac sources that could witness to the peculiarities of its transmission, their cardinal significance can no longer be contestable but only looms large.

Dialogue of Cultures. A Historical and Bibliographical Survey, Brill, leiden/Boston 2012 (themes in islamic studies, 7), pp. 59-63.

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