Während seines Gastaufenthalts im Rahmen des „Dahlem Junior Host Program“ (DHC) bei FSGS-Doktorand Carsten Flaig, der der Erforschung allegorisierender Verfahren bei Philon von Alexandria gewidmet ist, wird William Winning (Cambridge University) einen Vortrag zur Geschichte der allegorischen Interpretation bei Platon und der frühen Stoa halten. Der Vortrag trägt den Titel „On remembering and forgetting Hesiod: Zeno of Citium, Plato's Cratylus and Hesiod's Theogony“.

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William Winning on his talk

The paper I deliver in Berlin arises within the context of two main projects which occupy me at present. On the one hand, a reconstruction of Zeno of Citium’s reading of Hesiod’s Theogony fits into a broader interest of mine in the ways in which ancient philosophers discussed poetic texts, in particular through so-called “allegorical interpretation”.

Understanding why and how Zeno discussed Hesiod's poem will help (I hope) to question many of our assumptions concerning Stoic allegoresis.

On the other hand, as my argument seeks to demonstrate, Zeno's reading of Hesiod was mediated, or at least influenced, by a tradition of engagement with poetry that is more fully attested in texts such as Plato’s Cratylus.

Attempting to understand that tradition through a close reading of Plato’s text will bring out new aspects of that dialogue and may shine a light on those features of contemporary intellectual culture against which Plato was reacting in his own work.