The Herculanean History of Stoicism

• Applicant: Dr. Kilian Fleischer
• Subject Area: Greek and Latin Philology
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 523369850

The so-called Index Stoicorum is a work on the history of philosophy written by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus of Gadara, which is only preserved in a carbonized papyrus from Herculaneum (PHerc. 1018). The outstanding value of this treatise for the history of Stoicism and ancient philosophy lies in the fact that it contains several otherwise lost information on leading early Stoics, from Zeno to the pupils of Panaetius. Newly available Multispectral images (MSI) and Hyperspectral images (HSI) allow to read this dark papyrus far better than previous editors. Passages of the original that are invisible to the human eye can be deciphered now. In addition, new bibliometric-mathematical methods help to establish the order of the fragments and to determine the extent of lost passages. Along with the Index Academicorum, the Index Stoicorum is the other well-preserved volume of Philodemus’ syntaxis ("Arrangement of Philosophers"), which embraced ten books at least. In the course of my previous DFG project I was able to improve the text on the Academy by about 30%, which implies a great deal of new information on Plato and his successors. With a new edition and commentary of the Index Stoicorum, the next logical step shall be undertaken. Based on a new editorial system I developed, based on innovative imaging techniques and an interdisciplinary analysis, this text, which is equally interesting for classicists, historians of philosophy and literary scholars, shall be re-edited and profoundly reassessed, thereby shedding new light on the history of Stoicism. The last edition of the text, provided without the help of the new images, was subject to some criticism, so that a new edition of this key Herculanean text represents, as it were, a desideratum of research. Moreover, the sources Philodemus drew upon, shall be inquired more closely and the treatise shall be discussed in the context of Philodemus’ philosophical-historical oeuvre and the work of Diogenes Laertius. My own short preliminary examination of the papyrus as well as recent research contributions show that the text can be improved substantially. My intended new edition/monograph of the Index Stoicorum aims at offering an easy access while at the same time providing philological-papyrological depth; additionally, the text shall be made available as a digital edition. A new edition of the Index Stoicorum, which is intended to have convergences in method and presentation to the (soon scheduled) edition of the Index Academicorum, is not only desirable (and partly essential) for various future collections of fragments and research projects of others, but also a welcome contribution to the study of Hellenistic philosophy and Herculanean papyrology in general.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants