Bolos di Mendes Pseudo Democrito

Lessico

Bolos di Mendes
Pseudo Democrito

Bolos di Mendes è stato un agronomo greco del III secolo aC. Mendes era il nome greco della capitale del 16° distretto del Basso Egitto e si trovava sul ramo detto Mendesiano del delta del Nilo (ora insabbiato), a circa 35 km ad est di Mansura. Bolos mescolò nella sua opera concetti magici orientali con filosofia e sapienza scientifica greche (soprattutto Democrito e in seconda linea Teofrasto). Scrisse sull'astrologia, sull'alchimia, sui farmaci, sulla simpatia, sull'antipatia e anche sull'agricoltura. È anche designato con il nome di pseudo-Democrito perché ben presto parecchie sue opere circolarono (deliberatamente?) sotto il nome del famoso filosofo. Di conseguenza i suoi trattati furono falsamente attribuiti a Democrito da eruditi posteriori (per esempio Varrone, Columella e Cassiano Basso). È considerato anche un precursore dell'alchimia.

Bolus of Mendes

Bolus of Mendes (4th century BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher and writer of medical works. The Suda, and Eudocia after him, mention a Pythagorean philosopher of Mendes in Egypt, who wrote on marvels, potent remedies, and astronomical phenomena. The Suda, however, also describes a Bolus who was a philosopher of the school of Democritus, who wrote Inquiry, and Medical Art, containing "natural medical remedies from some resources of nature." But, from a passage of Columella, it appears that Bolus of Mendes and the follower of Democritus were one and the same person; and he seems to have lived to the time of Theophrastus, whose work On Plants he appears to have known.

Democritus
scriptor pseudonymus

Democritus nomen est ficticium auctoris de magia et de herbis, Graece scribens, cuius opus nunc est deperditum. Titulus fuit Χειρόκμητα (Chirocmeta sive "manu ficta") aut De sympathetica et antipathetica [Vitruvius, De architectura 9.1.14; Scholia in Nicandri Theriaca 764.]. De hoc libro nonnulli scriptores Graeci et Latini disserunt [Petronius, Satyrica 88.2; Seneca, Epistulae ad Lucium 90.32; Plinius, Naturalis historia 30.8-11; Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 4.13.2, 10.12.1.].

Exstant in Geoponicis Constantino Porphyrogenito dicatis nonnulla excerpta Democrito tributa, dua etiam in libris Agriculturae Palladii, unum apud Columellam, , unum in Fragmentis Anatolii de bubus in corpore Hippiatricorum servatis, unum longissimum apud Plinium. In glossis multilinguis quae ad opus Dioscoridis De materia medica pertinent, tres glossae Democrito tribuuntur.

Olim eruditi falso credebant id opus a philosopho Democrito Abderita scriptum esse, et apud Plinium legimus: "Democriti certe chirocmeta esse constat ... post Pythagoram Magorum studiosissimus". Sed illius fragmenti a Columella et Palladio servati "auctor" dicitur "memorabilis Dolus Mendesius, [dolus mendesius manuscripti Columellae; civis mendesius vel sim. manuscripti Palladii; Bolus Mendesius coniecit Reinesius] cuius commenta, quae appellantur Χειροκίμητα [sic], sub nomine Democriti falso produntur". [Columellae Rei rusticae libri 7.5.17; Palladii Opus agriculturae 14.32.6.] "Bolus Mendesius Pythagorius" et "Bolus Democritus" reperiuntur et in lexico cuius titulus est Suda [Suda s.v. Bolos].

Fragmenta servata apud scriptores de re rustica et de herbis

Crateuas (ed. Max Wellmann) 18.14.
Columella, Rei rusticae libri 7.5.17, Palladii Opus agriculturae 14.32.6: de peste ovium.
Columella, Rei rusticae libri 11.3.53, 61, 64.
Dioscorides, De materia medica: glossae 2.139, 4.9, 68.
Plinius, Naturalis historia 24.160-167, cf. 25.23, 28.112: de mirabilia plantorum.
Palladii Opus agriculturae 1.35.7, Geoponica 5.50, 10.89: usus cancrorum fluviatilium contra bestas.
Fragmenta Anatolii de bubus in corpore Hippiatricorum servata [E. Oder, K. Hoppe, Corpus hippiatricorum Graecorum vol. 2 (Lipsiae, 1927) vol. 2 pp. 330-336.].
Geoponica 1.5.3, 1.12: prognosticatio temporum; 2.6: de aqua reperienda; 2.14, 41, 42: de satione; 4.7, 10; 5.2, 4, 35, 42, 43, 50; 6.19; 7.4, 8, 27, 32; 8.31, 41; 9.12, 25; 10.5, 14, 25, 35, 47, 60, 67, 73, 79, 89; 11.5, 13, 16, 18; 12.6; 13.1, 8, 9, 11, 14; 14.5, 8, 9; 15.2, 7, 9; 17.4, 9, 14; 18.6; 19.4, 7, 8; 20.4, 6.

Bibliographia

W. Gemoll in Programm, Städtisches Realprogymnasium zu Striegau (1884) pp. 3-6.
M. Berthelot, C. E. Ruelle, Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs (Lutetiae, 1888) pp. 41-56.
H. Diels, W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker vol. 2, ed. 6a (Berolini 1952) pp. 130-224: vide fragmenta 26f-28 et 300.1-20.
F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griecheischen Historiker no. 263.
Matthew W. Dickie in The World of Ancient Magic. Bergen, 1999.
Matthew W. Dickie, Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World. Londinii: Routledge, 2001

Bolos de Mendès
Pseudo Démocrite

Le pseudo-Démocrite est en fait Bolos de Mendès. Il fut l'auteur d'un très célèbre traité sur l'agriculture au III siècle av. J.-C. qui circula sous le nom de Démocrite.

Bolos de Mendès est un écrivain grec du IIIe s. av. JC originaire de Mendès en Egypte. Il est l’un des plus connu et peut-être le premier représentant d’un courant de pensée populaire qui consistait à « mélanger » des éléments de la pensée scientifique et philosophique grecques et des savoirs issus de la tradition magique de l’Orient. Sa réflexion scientifique s’appuyait surtout sur Démocrite (et en deuxième lieu sur Théophraste) c’est pourquoi on le nomme parfois Bolos le démocritéen. De plus, plusieurs de ses œuvres circulèrent très rapidement sous le nom de Démocrite sans que l’on puisse dire si la falsification était délibéré. Il est donc aussi qualifié de pseudo-Démocrite.

Il cherchait à retrouver les forces qui, en même temps que les éléments semblables ou opposés (sympathie et antipathie), agissait sur la nature organique ou inorganique. Il voulait les employer pour améliorer le bien-être physique et morale des hommes. Bolos appartient aussi au courant de la paradoxographie, genre littéraire qui traite des phénomènes anormaux ou inexpliqués. Il ne reste que des fragments de ses œuvres sur les moyens naturels de soins et sur les soins de l’esprit, et sur les prodiges, et aussi un célèbre traité sur l’agriculture attribué à Démocrite par les auteurs postérieurs.

La Souda mentionne deux Bolos, l’un philosophe et disciple de Démocrite, l’autre originaire de Mendès et pythagoricien. Il est admis de nos jours qu’il s’agit d’un seul et même Bolos.

Sources

(de) Bolos von Mendes dans Lexikon der antiker Autoren, (1972) de P. Kroh.
(it) Bolo dans Dizionario della civilità classica, 2de éd. (2001) de F.Ferrari, M.Mantuzzi, M.C. Martinelli, M.S. Mirto.

Georgika

Georgika ou Géorgique est le nom d'un traité sur l'agriculture écrit au III siècle av. J.-C. Il circula dès l'antiquité sous le nom du philosophe Démocrite d'Abdère mais il a en fait été composé par Bolos de Mendes.

Ce traité, maintenant perdu, était célèbre dans l'antiquité et influença la plupart des agronomes postérieurs notamment romains. Columelle en cite explicitement quelques passages dans son De re rustica (IX, 12, 5 ; IX, 14, 6 ; XI, 3, 2)..

Mendès

Mendès est une cité antique égyptienne d'ordre religieux où vivait le dieu Banebdjedet, représenté sous la forme d'un bélier. On y vénérait également la déesse Hatméhyt. Sa fondation remonte au début de l'Ancien Empire et comme Bouto eût un rôle mythologique important pendant les périodes qui suivirent.
Actuellement le site porte le nom de Tell el-Rub'a et se présente comme beaucoup de sites du delta comme une vaste zone de buttes de décombres s'étendant sur 3 km, formés par les nombreuses strates de la ville antique (voir Bubastis, Tanis) desquels émergent des blocs épars, fracassés, restes romantiques de l'ancienne zone des temples. Seul un grand naos monolithe, dédié au dieu Chou, perce cet horizon de ruines, encore debout sur ses fondations, et qui initialement appartenait à un groupe de quatre grands naos groupés dans le sanctuaire du principal temple de la ville. Les restes des trois autres naos gisent encore au sol.

Mendès fut la capitale de la XXIXe dynastie qui reprit son indépendance au conquérant Perse peu de temps après la première invasion. Quatre pharaons sont attestés dans les listes de Manéthon: Néphéritès Ier, Psammouthis, Achôris et Néphéritès II.

Le site fait l'objet depuis une dizaine d'année de fouilles par la mission menée par Donald B. Redford, qui ont révélé que la ville subit des destructions importantes au IVe siècle av. J.-C., sans doute à l'occasion de la reconquête par Artaxerxès III qui est réputé avoir profané la nécropole des béliers sacrés et notamment la tombe de Néphéritès.

Grâce à ces fouilles, nous savons maintenant que la ville ne fut pas abandonnée et continua à jouer un rôle important notamment dans le commerce avec la Méditerranée et ce jusqu'à l'époque romaine.

Une grande stèle commémorative fut élevée par Ptolémée II et dédiée au dieu de Mendès. Comme d'autres exemples de cette époque elle proclame les travaux qu'entreprit le roi dans cette partie de l'Égypte.

Mendes
Tell El-Ruba

Mendes (Μένδης), the Greek name of Ancient Egyptian city of Djedet, also known in Ancient Egypt as Per-Banebdjedet ("The Domain of the Ram Lord of Djedet") and Anpet, is known today as Tell El-Ruba. The city is located in the eastern Nile delta ( 30°57'30"N, 31°30'57"E) and was the capital of the 16th Lower Egyptian nome of Kha, until it was replaced by Thmuis in Greco-Roman Egypt. The two cities are only several hundred meters apart. During the 29th dynasty, Mendes was also the capital of Ancient Egypt, which lies on the Mendesian branch of the Nile (now silted up), about 35 km east of al-Mansurah.

History

Mendes was a famous city in ancient times, attracting notice of most ancient geographers and historians, including Herodotus (ii. 42, 46. 166), Diodorus (i. 84), Strabo (xvii. p. 802), Mela (i. 9 § 9), Pliny the Elder (v. 10. s. 12), Ptolemy (iv. 5. § 51), and Stephanus of Byzantium (s. v.). The city was the capital of the Mendesian nome, situated at the point where the Mendesian arm of the Nile flows into the lake of Tanis. Archaeological evidence attests to the existence of the town at least as far back as the Naqada II period. Under the first Pharaohs, Mendes quickly became a strong seat of provincial government and remained so throughout the Ancient Egyptian period. In Classical times, the nome it governed was one of the nomes assigned to that division of the native army which was called the Calasirii, and the city was celebrated for the manufacture of a perfume designated as the Mendesium unguentum. (Plin. xiii. 1. s. 2.) Mendes, however, declined early, and disappears in the first century AD; since both Ptolemy (l. c.) and P. Aelius Aristides (iii. p. 160) mention Thmuis as the only town of note in the Mendesian nome. From its position at the junction of the river and the lake, it was probably encroached upon by their waters, after the canals fell into neglect under the Macedonian kings, and when they were repaired by Augustus (Sueton. Aug. 18, 63) Thmuis had attracted its trade and population.

Religion

The chief deities of Mendes were the ram deity Banebdjedet (lit. Ba of the Lord of Djedet), who was the Ba of Osiris, and his consort, the fish goddess Hatmehit. With their child Har-pa-khered ("Horus the Child"), they formed the triad of Mendes.

The ram deity of Mendes was described by Herodotus in his History (Book II, 42)[Robin Waterfield translation] as being represented with the head and fleece of a goat: “...whereas anyone with a sanctuary of Mendes or who comes from the province of Mendes, will have nothing to do with (sacrificing) goats, but uses sheep as his sacrificial animals... They say that Heracles’ overriding desire was to see Zeus, but Zeus was refusing to let him do so. Eventually, as a result of Heracles’ pleading, Zeus came up with a plan. He skinned a ram and cut off his head, then he held the head in front of himself, wore the fleece, and showed himself to Heracles like that. That is why the Egyptian statues of Zeus have a ram’s head, is why rams are sacred to the Thebans, and they do not use them as sacrificial animals. However there is just one day of the year--the day of the festival of Zeus--when they chop up a single ram, skin it, dress the statue of Zeus in the way mentioned, and then bring the statue of Heracles up close to the statue of Zeus. Then everyone around the sanctuary mourns the death of the ram and finally they bury it in a sacred tomb.”

Presumably following Herodotus' description, the occultist Eliphas Levi in his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855) called his goat-headed conception of Baphomet the "Baphomet of Mendes", thus popularizing and perpetuating this incorrect attribution, which has given rise to a flood of spurious connections, such as "The Goat of Mendes" by the black metal band Akercocke.

Ruins

The site is today the largest surviving tell in the Nile delta, and consists of both Tell El-Ruba (the site of the main temple enclosure) and Tell El-Timai (the settlement site of Thmuis to the south). Overall, Mendes is about 3km long from north to south and averages about 900m east-to-west. An Old Kingdom necropolis is estimated to contain over 9,000 interments. Several campaigns of 20th-century excavations have been led by North American institutions, including New York University and the University of Toronto, as well as a Pennsylvania State University team led by Donald Redford. Under the direction of Prof. Redford, the current excavations are concentrating on a number of areas in and around the main temple. Work on the New Kingdom processional-style temple has recently uncovered foundation deposits of Merenptah below the second pylon. It is thought that four separate pylons or gates existed for each of the avatars of the main deity worshiped here. Evidence has suggested that their construction dates from at least the Middle Kingdom, as foundation deposits were uncovered. The original structures were buried, added to, or incorporated into later ones over time by later rulers. Billy Morin, now with the Archaeological Department at the University of Cambridge in England, led a team that investigated these and uncovered a mud-brick wall. Eighteen of those bricks were stamped with the cartouche of Menkheperre, the pre-nomen of Thutmose III. A cemetery of sacred rams was discovered in the northwest corner of Tell El-Ruba. Monuments bearing the names of Ramesses II, Merneptah. and Ramesses III were also found. A temple attested by its foundation deposits was built by Amasis. The tomb of Nepherites I, which was probably destroyed by the Persians, was discovered by a joint team from the University of Washington and the University of Toronto in 1992-1993. On the edge of the temple mound, a sondage supervised by Matthew J. Adams has revealed uninterrupted stratification from the late Old Kingdom/First Intermediate Period down to the First Dynasty. Coring results suggest that future excavations in that sondage should expect to take the stratification down into the early Naqada Period. The material excavated so far is already the longest uninterrupted stratification for all of the Nile Delta, and possibly for all of Egypt. An architectural and ceramic report on this unprecedented sequence is currently in progress.

References

Redford, Donald Bruce. 2001. "Mendes". In The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, edited by Donald Bruce Redford. Vol. 2 of 3 vols. Oxford, New York, and Cairo: Oxford University Press and The American University in Cairo Press. 376–377.

2004. Excavations at Mendes. Volume 1: The Royal Necropolis. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 20. Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill. ISBN 90-04-13674-6

2005. "Mendes: City of the Ram God." Egyptian Archaeology: The Bulletin of the Egyptian Exploration Society 26:8–12.

Baines & Malek 2000: Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt, Checkmarks Books. ISBN 0-8160-4036-2

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).