The Strange Significance of the Name Carpocrates in Early Christian Polemic
In this philological study we establish and reckon with the fact that the nameCarpocrates was exceedingly rare and strange in antiquity. The rarity, we argue, was due to the name being a variant spelling or (purposeful) misspelling of the Greco-Egyptian deity Harpokrates. We also show how bizarre an...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Scholar's Press
2023
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| In: |
Journal of Biblical literature
Year: 2023, Volume: 142, Issue: 4, Pages: 717-733 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Harpokrates, God
/ Karpokrates, von Alexandrien ca. 2. Jh.
/ Onomastics
/ Greek language
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity TB Antiquity ZB Sociology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In this philological study we establish and reckon with the fact that the nameCarpocrates was exceedingly rare and strange in antiquity. The rarity, we argue, was due to the name being a variant spelling or (purposeful) misspelling of the Greco-Egyptian deity Harpokrates. We also show how bizarre and even comical the name would have sounded to Hellenephone audiences. Greek parents, so far as the evidence suggests, were not naming their sons Carpocrates. We further explain how both the rarity and strangeness of the name functioned as a polemical weapon in the hands of some early Christian writers. |
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| ISSN: | 1934-3876 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Biblical literature
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