Demons in Late Antiquity: Their Perception and Transformation in Different Literary Genres (Transformationen der Antike Book 54)

 The Collaborative Research Centre "Transformations of Antiquity" consisted of eleven disciplines from the social sciencesand humanities at the HumboldtU niversity of Berlin as wellaso ne each at the Free University of Berlin and the Max Planck Institutefor the History of Science. The workofthe Collaborative Research Centreaimed at overcomingthe highlycompartmentalized waystudies in antiquity and its reception have been conducted in the past: "Die Antikes tand niemals fest,n och war sie feststellbar.S ie war als unbezweifelbareL eitkultur der nachantiken europäischen Kulturens tets dynamisches Potenzial, sie wurde in den Epochen der europäischen Geschichtebis in die Gegenwart stetsv erändert,a ngeeignet und neu gefunden wie erfunden.T ransformationen generieren Dynamikenk ulturellen Wandels,d ie nicht aufd ie einseitige Aneignungd urch eine Aufnahmekultur,a uf bloße Rezeption, reduziert werden können. Die einzelnen Teilaneignungsprozesse sind nicht zählbar, sie bilden nur bedingt rekonstruierbare langwellige Transformationsketten." (www.sfb-antike.de/ 29.05. 2018) The transformation typology which was developed in the context of the Center provides the possibility to trace the different modi of culturalchange and to makecomplex processes of transformation moretransparent,togainamoredifferentiated idea of the process of transformation. The project "Demons and salvation",p resided over by Christoph Markschies,e xaminedt ransformations from antiquity to late antiquity.Wet ried to examine the particularities of this change with the typology developed by the Research Center 'Transformations of Antiquity'.The conference was organized by Christoph Markschies, Anna Rack-Teuteberg, Eva Elm and Nicole Hartmann. Since the perception of demons in antiquity depended on particular cultural and religious milieus, the authors in this volume take into view various texts – ranging from amulets, spells, apocalypses, martyrdom literature to hagiography – and focus specifically on literary aspects of the transformation of demons and their contextualization. Are specific conceptions of demons characteristic for a certain genre or, rather, for particular religious contexts, so that they appear as topoi independent of genre? Do certain representations of demons prevail in pagan, Jewish and Christian circles alike, irrespective of religious background? How do notions of demons function in apocalypses, hymns, hagiographies or texts from healing procedures and what interdependencies of genre and social context can be traced? These questions are analysed from diverse disciplinary perspectives that offer some fresh and surprising answers. Contents Introduction 1. Demons and Disease 2. Disease and Healing in a Changing World. “Medical” Vocabulary and Exorcism in the Vetus Latina Luke 3. On Demons in Early Martyrology 4. Demons of the Underworld in the Christian Literature of Late Antiquity 5. Demons in Early Latin Hagiography 6. Hilarion and the Bactrian Camel. Demons and Genre in Jerome’s Life of Hilarion 7. The Ambiguity of the Devil. A Discourse-Linguistic Reading of Sulpicius Severus’ Vita Martini 21 and 24 8. Demonic Speech in Hagiography and Hymnography Demons: An Epilogue About the Authors "The perception of demons in late antiquity was determined by the cultural and religious contexts. Therefore the authors of this volume take into consideration a wide variety of texts stemming from different religious milieus ranging from spells, apocalypses, martyrdom literature to hagiography and focus specifically on literary aspects of the transformation of the demonic in this period of transition." -- Book cover. The perception of demons in late antiquity was determined by the cultural and religious contexts. Therefore the authors of this volume take into consideration a wide variety of texts stemming from different religious milieus ranging from spells, apocalypses, martyrdom literature to hagiography and focus specifically on the literary aspects of the transformation of the demonic in this period of transition.