Are Demiurge and His Cosmos in Plato’s Timaeus of Mediterranean Origin?

Ježić, Mislav. (2015). Are Demiurge and His Cosmos in Plato’s Timaeus of Mediterranean Origin?. Filozofska istraživanja, 35(1). pp. 5-20. ISSN 1848-2309

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Abstract

In Plato’s dialogue it is Timaeus from Locri in Italy who describes cosmogony to his Athenian friends – a very Mediterranean narrative framework. However, many motifs in the cosmogony of Timaeus have their parallels in an Indian Upaniṣad, Aitareya-Upaniṣad, and possible partial parallels in the traditions of Iranians, Slavs, and especially Germans. That seems to imply Indo-European, and not Mediterranean origin (which does not exclude possible further correspondences). On the other hand, that cosmogonic model seems to have influenced the (Greek) terminology of the Christian formulations in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed concerning the Creator and creation. Although not of Mediterranean origin, the creation model from the dialogue Timaeus became widely spread in the Mediterranean area.

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