IL ΠΕΡΙ ΣΤΥΓΟΣ DI PORFIRIO (FRR. 372-380 SMITH = 1-9 CASTELLETTI): SULLO STIGE O SULLA (DEA) STIGE?

Abstract

Quite fortunately, John of Stobi (Stobaeus) draws some excerpts from a work by Porphyry, the On the Styx, which would have been lost otherwise. Possibly, the Anthologist, by preserving a description of the Homeric Hades and the sort of the souls in the Beyond, does not save the core of the work, and the title seems to deal – better than with the flood – with the goddess Styx and a cosmic theodicy: for the description of Hades and of the punishers reserved to humans are useful to describe the Tartarus and the goddess Styx, who punishes gods – or better demons – authors of misdeeds, as indicated in a key-passage. Accordingly, the On the Styx, despite what remains in Stobaeus, is to be considered a piece on demonology.