Cornelius Labeo
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Cornelius Labeo was an ancient Roman theologian and antiquarian who wrote on such topics as the
Roman calendar The Roman calendar was the calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic. The term often includes the Julian calendar established by the reforms of the dictator Julius Caesar and emperor Augustus in the late 1stcenturyBC and sometim ...
and the teachings of Etruscan religion ''(Etrusca disciplina)''. His works survive only in fragments and '' testimonia.'' He has been dated "plausibly but not provably" to the 3rd century AD. Labeo has been called "the most important Roman theologian" after
Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
, whose work seems to have influenced him strongly. He is usually considered a
Neoplatonist Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...
. Labeo and
Censorinus Censorinus was a Roman grammarian and miscellaneous writer from the 3rd century AD. Biography He was the author of a lost work ''De Accentibus'' and of an extant treatise ''De Die Natali'', written in 238, and dedicated to his patron Quintus ...
are the only authors with demonstrable interests in writing about
Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...
during the
Crisis of the Third Century The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis (AD 235–284), was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed. The crisis ended due to the military victories of Aurelian and with the ascensio ...
, a time of "military anarchy" between the death of
Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...
and the accession of Diocletian when scholarship seems mostly to have ground to a halt.Phillips, "Approaching Roman Religion," p. 15. Because religious and civil law in ancient Rome may overlap, the fragments of this Labeo are sometimes confused with those of the jurists
Pacuvius Labeo Pacuvius Labeo (died 42 BC) was a Roman jurist and senator, and one of the murderers of Julius Caesar. He was father of the more eminent jurist Marcus Antistius Labeo, who lived under the emperor Augustus. Pacuvius was one of the disciples of S ...
and
Marcus Antistius Labeo Marcus Antistius Labeo (d. 10 or 11 AD) was a Roman jurist. Marcus Antistius Labeo was the son of Pacuvius Labeo, a jurist who caused himself to be slain after the defeat of his party at Philippi. Since his name was different from his father's, ...
.


Influence

Labeo was among the sources used by Macrobius,
John Lydus John the Lydian or John Lydus ( el, ; la, Ioannes Laurentius Lydus) (ca. AD 490 – ca. 565) was a Byzantine administrator and writer on antiquarian subjects. Life and career He was born in 490 AD at Philadelphia in Lydia, whence his cognome ...
, and Servius. It has sometimes been supposed that the Orphic verses given by Macrobius in the first book of his ''Saturnalia'' are taken from Labeo. His works were influential enough that he was targeted for criticism by
Church Father The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical pe ...
s such as
Arnobius Arnobius (died c. 330) was an early Christian apologist of Berber origin during the reign of Diocletian (284–305). According to Jerome's ''Chronicle,'' Arnobius, before his conversion, was a distinguished Numidian rhetorician at Sicca Ven ...
and
Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...
. He may have been Arnobius's intermediate source for Porphyry, and possibly
Martianus Capella Martianus Minneus Felix Capella (fl. c. 410–420) was a jurist, polymath and Latin prose writer of late antiquity, one of the earliest developers of the system of the seven liberal arts that structured early medieval education. He was a nati ...
's for Iamblichus. Labeo was interested in such problems as the existence of good and bad '' numina'', and whether intermediate beings should be called ''daimones'' (δαίμονες, daemons) or ''angeloi'' (ἄγγελοι,
angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...
s).Lambertson, ''Homer the Theologian'', p. 250. Labeo is one of the Greek and Roman authors with whom Augustine of Hippo debates over the nature of "demons" in Book 8, '' On the City of God''. In particular, he rejects Labeo's distinction between good and bad ''daimones'', claiming that they are all impure spirits and thus evil. In classifying divine figures as gods, demigods, and heroes, Labeo placed
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
among demigods such as
Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...
and Romulus. In ''De mensibus'' ("On the months"), Lydus cites Labeo as his source for a list of thirty names for
Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols inclu ...
(
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
) and for explanations of customs pertaining to the calendar such as the etymologies of the names of the months. Labeo supported the view that the Roman goddess Maia was the Earth ''(Terra)'', named for her great size ''(magnitudine)'', to be identified with the Great Mother (
Magna Mater Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible foreru ...
) and the Good Goddess (
Bona Dea Bona Dea (; 'Good Goddess') was a goddess in ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility in Roman women, healing, and the protection of the state and people of Rome. According to Roman literary sources, she was brought ...
), to whom a temple was dedicated on the
Kalends The calends or kalends ( la, kalendae) is the first day of every month in the Roman calendar. The English word "calendar" is derived from this word. Use The Romans called the first day of every month the ''calends'', signifying the start of a n ...
of May.


Apollo and Iao

Labeo wrote a book ''De oraculo Apollinis Clarii'' that has provided a key passage for understanding monotheistic tendencies in
ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
and Roman religious thought. When asked "Who is the supreme God?"
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...
responded:
Alas, you have not come to enquire about small matters.
You want to know who is the king of heaven
Whom even I do not know, yet revere according to tradition.
Apollo says that the supreme God is superior to him, ineffable and unknowable. Labeo also reports that an interpretation was sought for the Orphic verse "
Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...
is One, Hades is One, Helios is One,
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...
is One." According to Macrobius:
The authority of this line rests on an oracle of Clarian Apollo, in which another name for the Sun, too, is added, who is given among other names, in the same holy lines, that of Iao. For the Clarian Apollo, upon being asked which of the gods was meant by Iao, spoke as follows: "Initiates must hold their secrets—yet know! Iao is Hades in the winter, Zeus in spring, Helios in summer, and Iao in autumn." The force of this oracular saying, and the interpretation of the divinity and the name, whereby Father Liber and Sol are meant by Iao, Cornelius Labeo treats in his book titled ''On the Oracle of the Clarian Apollo''.
This passage has been called "the most far-reaching and prominent evidence for the concept of theocrasy in pagan antiquity." "Many gods,"
Ramsay MacMullen Ramsay MacMullen (March 3, 1928 – November 28, 2022) was an American historian who was Emeritus Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught from 1967 to his retirement in 1993 as Dunham Professor of History and Classics. His scholar ...
observed, "were really aspects of a single god." "Iao" (Ἰαώ) is not explicitly identified as the god of the Jews, but the name was already established in Latin usage as such. Labeo tried to find a way to situate the Jewish god in the Olympian system. In
late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
, "Iao" has a "magical potency" that came to embody the unifying tendency of Neopythagoreanism and
Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some i ...
.


Text

The most extensive treatment of Cornelius Labeo, including the collected fragments, is that of the Italian scholar P. Mastandrea, ''Un Neoplatonico Latino: Cornelio Labeone, testimonianze e frammenti'' (Leiden, 1979). English translation of the fragments appears i
Hooker (tr.), ''John Lydus: On the Months'' (2017)
pp. 200–205. The work ''Peri keraunôn (Περὶ κεραυνῶν, On Lightnings)'' has sometimes been wrongly ascribed to him."Wrongly" as noted by Stefan Weinstock, "Libri fulgurales," ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' 19 (1951), p. 138.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelius Labeo 3rd-century Romans 3rd-century theologians Post–Silver Age Latin writers 3rd-century Latin writers Ancient Roman antiquarians Ancient Roman scholars of religion
Labeo ''Labeo'' is a genus of carps in the family Cyprinidae. They are found in freshwater habitats in the tropics and subtropics of Africa and Asia. It contains the typical labeos in the subfamily Labeoninae, which may not be a valid group, however ...
Neoplatonists