The topos of the Great King

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In multiple ancient Greek texts, the phrase 'the Great King' (ὁ μέγας ὁ βασιλεύς) makes a frequent appearance. This phrase, when it was introduced to the ancient Greek world, referred to the ancient Persian kings such as Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius and Artaxerxes. In addition, it also referred to the leaders of hierarchically organised governances. However, Pseudo-Aristotle(De mundo 398a.30), Maximus of Tyre (Dissertationes 11.12), Aelius Aristides (Orationes 26.27) and Philo of Alexandria (De decalogo 61, 177-8, De opificio mundi 71, De somniis 140-1) adopted this phrase in a distinctive way. This phrase entails an image of the monarchical system of governance, in which the Great King, who stays hidden in his palace, rules over his empire through his satraps, his eyes and ears and the beacon-signals. These four authors utilisedthis image of the phrase 'the Great King', which consists of the Great King, his subjects and the beacon-signals. These elements imply the main components of a Middle Platonic frame of the cosmos: 1) the prime god who is transcendent from the cosmos, 2) his divine mediators who are immanent in the cosmos and 3) the hierarchical order, according to which all existential beings are arranged. Consequently, it becomes clear that these four authors utilised this imageto develop their own arguments on the basis of the Middle Platonic understanding of the cosmos prevalent in their time. Because of the function and implication of this image, thisthesis labels the image as a topos, which indicates a conventional way of dealing with a traditional moral-philosophical topic. The main concern of this thesis is indeed to demonstrate that the image of the Great King as used by these authors is a moral-philosophical topos and toshow how this topos is used in the respective texts.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University