Erotic Date-Palms in Ammianus Marcellinus (Res gestae, XXIV,3,12–13)

• Authors: Hilton John
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Herodotus, Theophrastus, Pliny the Elder, Achilles Tatius, Philostratus, and other writers in antiquity provide similar descriptions of the fertilization of date palms in Mesopotamia. However, although all these narratives bear a general resemblance to one another, none can be proven to be the direct source of Ammianus Marcellinus’s version (Res Gestae, XXIV,3,12–13). Instead this article argues that his account was influenced by contemporary oral retellings of an Assyrian fertility myth.

Keywords

EN

Ammianus Marcellinus; sources; date palms; mythology; cross-cultural transmission

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Listy filologické (Folia philologica)
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 138
• Issue: 3-4
• Pages: 213-229

Contributors

author

Hilton John

• School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal, Memorial Tower Building G019, Howard College, Durban, South Africa