Religion And Apuleius Golden Ass

This volume examines Apuleius’ comic donkey novel, The Golden Ass, within the context of the popular beliefs and Jewish and Christian writings that were part of the intellectual culture of his own day in 2nd century C.E. North Africa, a culture which can also be glimpsed in some early Arabic writings. The novel was written against a cultural and religious background in which the donkey had various connotations, both positive and negative, but tended to be admired in Jewish, Christian, and later, in Muslim writings. Smith explores the influence of such popular opinions on The Golden Ass and how Apuleius presented Isis and Osiris as desirable alternatives to the claims of both Christianity and magic, offering hope of spiritual renewal partly modelled on contemporary religious apocalyptic literature. Complemented by images of contemporary art, including amulets and terra cotta figures, this volume gives readers a better understanding of how Apuleius, ostensibly a Platonist and member of the Roman establishment, could maintain an intellectual independence in a North African milieu while still drawing on hope in the salvation of the gods. Religion and Apuleius’ Golden Ass provides a fascinating new approach to this much disputed novel, of interest not only to students and scholars of Apuleius and Roman literature, but also scholars interested in Christian and Jewish literature and beliefs of the early centuries of the first millennium C.E.

This new monograph on Apuleius' Isis Book not only brings together the striking diversity of opinions that continues to enliven the discussion about Book Eleven, but also sets new trends in reading the narrative in its literary, religious, archaeological and cultural context. Through a variety of approaches, including religious studies (ancient mystery cult), textual criticism, literary analysis, Greek philosophy, and archaeology, the volume sheds new light on important aspects of Book XI, such as the relation with Plutarch’s De Iside et Osiride; aspects of Lucius’ multifarious physical self-presentation as an Isiac convert; aspects of style and language (wordplay), textual problems in relation to problems of interpretation; the role of Providence and Platonic philosophy, and numerous metaliterary and intertextual aspects.

Apuleius’ Metamorphoses is probably best known as the literary source for the myth of Eros and Psyche and as a primary source of information about mystery religions in the ancient world. There is another realm of the Metamorphoses which has, until now, received relatively little attention — namely, the many dreams found within it. The Religious Dreamworld of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses offers an engaging portrait of the second-century dreamworld. Recognizing the centrality of the religious function and spiritual interpretation of dreams, this book illustrates their vital importance in the ancient world and the wide variety of meanings attributed to them. James Gollnick draws deeply from historical and psychological studies and provides a historical background on the current interest in the role of dreams in psychological and spiritual transformation. This study of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses adds to an appreciation of Apuleius the dreamer and the second-century dreamworld in which he lived and wrote.

Written towards the end of the second century AD, The Golden Ass tells the story of the many adventures of a young man whose fascination with witchcraft leads him to be transformed into a donkey. The bewitched Lucius passes from owner to owner - encountering a desperate gang of robbers and being forced to perform lewd 'human' tricks on stage - until the Goddess Isis finally breaks the spell and Lucius is initiated into her cult. Apuleius' enchanting story has inspired generations of writers such as Boccaccio, Shakespeare, Cervantes and Keats with its dazzling combination of allegory, satire, bawdiness and sheer exuberance, and remains the most continuously and accessibly amusing book to have survived from Classical antiquity.

The Golden Ass is the only Ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. The protagonist of the novel is called Lucius, like the author. At the end of the novel, he is revealed to be from Madaurus, the hometown of Apuleius himself. The plot revolves around the protagonist's curiosity (curiositas) and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he is accidentally transformed into an ass. This leads to a long journey, literal and metaphorical, filled with in-set tales. He finally finds salvation through the intervention of the goddess Isis, whose cult he joins.

In the fourth century, Saint Augustine called Metamorphoses "The Golden Ass," and since then this name has become better known than the book's actual title. The phrase "golden ass" may derive from the golden, or esteemed, status the book achieved; it may also contrast the opposite connotations of "golden" and "ass," since the donkey had an ignominious reputation in Apuleius's time, being associated in the Egyptian religion with the evil god Seth, an enemy of the god Isis.Typical of second century authors, Apuleius does not invent his basic plot but shows his education by taking it from a Greek work, probably one written by Lucian, who was rewriting a tale by Lucius of Patrae or an earlier Greek author. Consequently, Apuleius begins by depicting his character Lucius as a Greek, who apologizes for his unfamiliarity with Latin. Such an apology also allows Apuleius to excuse any foreign--in his case, African--idioms that might have found their way into his novel, but its intention most probably is to make the readers wonder at his highly rhetorical mastery of the language and to serve as a disguise for him. Near the end, however, his narrator Lucius describes himself as a "Maudauran," a reference to Apuleius's birthplace, as if Apuleius were revealing himself to be the narrator, but just briefly enough to leave readers wondering if the word, inappropriate to the character Lucius, might be a scribal error.Even if, as Saint Augustine presumed, the protagonist Lucius were a self-portrait of the book's author, Apuleius still manages to distance himself from most of the book, which consists of stories told to Lucius. These stories serve as parallels for the main narrative, since, like it, the stories are tales of suffering that lead to knowledge about the supernatural. In a general way, then, they resemble what was known about the mystery religions of the time: These religions were institutions with harrowing initiations that allegedly brought their initiates enlightenment.The Golden Ass begins with Lucius traveling to Thessaly, the land of his mother's family and an area famous for witchcraft. This introduces the pervasive theme of the novel--a connection of the feminine (particularly the maternal) and magic. Lucius hears a tale about a man named Socrates, who, like the philosopher Socrates, is rendered miserable by a shrewish woman, but in this case through her sorcery, which kills him when he reveals that she is an old witch. Although this story ought to frighten Lucius away from prying into magic, it incites his curiosity, as it may the readers'. Thereafter, despite warnings, Lucius seduces Fotis, a servant of the witch Pamphile, to learn the witch's secrets. Lucius wishes to turn himself into an owl (symbolic of wisdom) but instead becomes a donkey (symbolic of ignorance), since he has stolen the witch's magic. Tantalizingly, several times during the narrative, Lucius comes in close contact with roses, the antidote needed to transform him back into his human form; roses were associated with the grace of various mother goddesses. Not until the novel's end, however, does he have an opportunity to eat roses and return to human form. Most of the other characters are punished by divinely powerful maternal figures, including the goddesses Isis, Venus, and Fortune, as well as by witches, who are said to control the heavens.

Relihan uses alliteration and assonance, rhythm and rhyme, the occasional archaism, the rare neologism, and devices of punctuation and typography, to create a sparkling, luxurious, and readable translation that reproduces something of the linguistic and comic effects of the original Latin. The general Introduction is a masterpiece of clarity, orienting the reader in matters of authorship, narration, genre, religion, structure and style. A generous and browsable index, select bibliography, and maps are included.

Addressed to readers of modern literature as well as to those interested in Greco-Roman literature and in religious history, Auctor and Actor examines Apuleius's The Golden Ass as an early example of self-consciousness in narrative. Entering into the spirit of the novel's crafty playfulness, John J. Winkler carries the reader on a journey that is, like that of the hero Lucius, both entertaining and enlightening. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1986.